Here’s a bit of thinking outside the box:   Some missionaries from the Montana Billings Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints preach the Gospel in “rap”:   https://www.facebook.com/unitedlatterdaysaints/videos/1394588410591860/?pnref=story   Thanks to Cody Quirk for calling my attention to this video.     Read more

    “The Christian faith allows us to see further and deeper, to appreciate that nature is studded with signs, radiant with reminders, and emblazoned with symbols of God, our creator and redeemer.” Alister McGrath     Read more

    For anybody who cares, I’ll be giving a fireside tonight up in Salt Lake City.   I believe that it’s at 7 PM, in the chapel where the Federal Heights and Arlington Hills wards meet (located at Virginia St. [= 1340 East] and Fairfax Rd. [= 355 North]).   Sorry that I can’t be more certain about the time.  We’re having dinner with our hosts at their house prior to the fireside, and then we’re heading over from there.... Read more

    http://www.sltrib.com/home/4358490-155/philly-to-mormons-come-come-ye   It’s actually rather ingenious, to construct a temple in a densely-occupied urban area and to control the quality of its immediate surroundings by erecting other nice buildings near it, including one that will generate revenues to offset the cost and operating expenses of a building that, by its nature, will consume revenues rather than creating them.   I like it.     Read more

    The Church is involved in a major way with the world’s current refugee crisis:   http://www.mormonnewsroom.org.uk/article/presiding-bishop-visits-refugee-shelters-in-berlin     Read more

    “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.” Marcus Aurelius     Read more

    There has been considerable discussion at various places online over the past day or two about a brief article that is quite critical of the three campuses of Brigham Young University in Utah, Idaho, and Hawaii:   Not Even Close: Faculty Gender Balance at the BYUs   I’ll assume that the numbers supplied in the article are accurate.  I might quibble a bit with the author’s interpretation of them, but what I really object to is the suggestion that there... Read more

    This is a new effort from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that, among other things, pretty clearly illustrates how seriously concerned the Church’s leaders are about the issue of religious liberty.  I encourage you to browse through it:   https://lds.org/religious-freedom?cid=HP_SU_11-9-2016_dPAD_fMLIB_xLIDyL2-1_     Read more

    I’ve been astonished at some of the responses to my question about why a faithful member of the Church might hate BYU and wish it to do badly.   I’ve been accused of “arrogance” and “intellectual dishonesty” and of claiming that people who didn’t attend BYU or who cheer for other schools are lesser Saints or not really believers.   This is genuinely amazing to me.   The topic of BYU is plainly a far more emotional one... Read more

    The latest installment of the bi-weekly Hamblin-Peterson Deseret News column is now up:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865662631/Rich-history-in-roots-of-religious-terms.html         Read more