Religious believers and believers in liberty must take urgent notice:   http://www.nationalreview.com/article/439481/religious-liberty-attacked-courts-religious-minorities-must-unite-protect-freedom     Read more

    Two additional interesting items about the soon-to-be-dedicated Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple:   This one includes a not-quite-six-minute-long radio program and interview.   This one features a beloved figure in BYU, NFL, and Philadelphia sports.       Read more

    Is the new orthodox consensus on homosexuality and gender issues wrong?  Even harmful?   Here’s something worth considering:   http://www.thenewatlantis.com/docLib/20160819_TNA50SexualityandGender.pdf   The authors are Lawrence Mayer and Paul McHugh, both of whom are associated with the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, which consistently ranks among the most distinguished in the world.   I expect them to be dismissed as bigoted haters.  As I will be.   That won’t be a cogent response.     Read more

    “A sculptor does not use a ‘manicure set’ to reduce the crude, unshapely marble to a thing of beauty. The saw, the hammer and the chisel are cruel tools, but without them the rough stone must remain forever formless and unbeautiful. To do His supreme work of grace within you, God will take from your heart everything you love most. Everything you trust in will go from you. Piles of ashes will lie where your most precious treasures... Read more

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2016/08/27/ask-ethan-how-do-we-know-the-universe-is-13-8-billion-years-old/#658a7b4737d4     Read more

    https://www.facebook.com/BYU/photos/a.10150181753837888.324925.89253832887/10154493447902888/?type=3&theater     Read more

    Many in America have felt considerable sympathy for the anti-immigration Dutch politician Geert Wilders.  I understand this.   However, with his new proposals to close mosques in the Netherlands and altogether to ban the Qur’an, he makes the name of his “Freedom Party” a bad joke.   The Freedom Party is leading in the polls for next year’s elections.   Some of the world’s most distinguished scholars of Islam — e.g., Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, Hans Jansen, M. J. de... Read more

      Shallow ignorance on a national sports show.   http://www.sltrib.com/home/4291503-155/scott-d-pierce-espn-analyst-desmond   Shocking.       Read more

    “Love is not just tolerance.  It’s not just distant appreciation.  It’s a warm sense of, ‘I am enjoying the fact that you are you.'” N. T. Wright     Read more

    More than once, a strong undercurrent of anti-Mormonism has been obvious on the Trumpist propaganda site Breitbart News.  (And that’s without even looking at the Breitbart reader comments, which can be bloodcurdling.)   Breitbart’s boss, Mr. Stephen Bannon, now heads up Mr. Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign.   I’ve already mentioned this item from Breitbart, and this response.   Now, though, there’s this lovely blast from Mr. Bannon’s own past:   https://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/trump-campaign-ceo-cited-mormon-missionary-service-to-slam-r?utm_term=.ac4wqPK9k#.ye1rvwZJ0   One can only wonder what Mr. Bannon — who,... Read more