Wow.  This article presents a troubling view, with implications for the status of science, the effectiveness of peer review, and a host of other important topics.   Posted from London, England     Read more

    There are a lot of niqab-wearing women in London, and particularly in the area, adjacent to Hyde Park, where we’ve been staying.   I’ll be candid:  Despite all my sympathies for Islam and for Muslims, I heartily dislike the niqab, which seems to me deeply dehumanizing and alienating.   But, while I disapprove, I also believe in liberty — including the liberty, within only the very broadest of constraints or limits, to follow religious practices that I don’t endorse... Read more

    I’ve fallen far behind on calling attention to columns by the brilliant young movie-and-pop-culture writer for the Deseret News.  But here’s one:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865658409/Why-6Rogue-One7-will-be-more-than-just-another-new-Star-Wars-movie.html   This article is more than a month old.  I’m so out of touch that I don’t know:  Has the movie even come out yet?   Posted from London, England     Read more

    It seems appropriate to repost William Blake’s Jerusalem, which some have proposed as a new national anthem to replace the 300-year-old God Save the Queen [King].  (For one thing, they point out, it seems odd to sing God Save the Queen, thus invoking divine aid against the monarch’s enemies, when England plays against intra-UK rival Wales.)   Anyway, here is the poem by Blake (d. 1827):   And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England’s mountains green?... Read more

    I actually believe that one of the worst things about supporting Mr. Donald Trump for the presidency of the United States — and one of the most compelling arguments against doing so — is the damage that such support does to the moral status, intellectual integrity, and credibility of the person supporting him.   This article expresses something of my viewpoint on the topic:   http://www.nationalreview.com/article/439326/jerry-falwell-jr-donald-trump-2016-evangelical-christians-public-witness-dishonor   Posted from London, England     Read more

    This article is written from a mainstream Christian theological viewpoint:   http://www.christiantoday.com/article/aliens.for.neighbours.how.the.discovery.of.a.new.planet.challenges.christians/93949.htm   Latter-day Saints come to this topic with a slightly different set of assumptions, and would, accordingly, face somewhat different issues.  But, as it happens, we’ve always expected there to be life out there in the universe beyond Earth.   Posted from London, England     Read more

    Some people fail to see much difference between the United States Constitution’s prohibition of the establishment of religion and French secularism, or laïcité.   They are very distinct, as this story illustrates:   http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/25/europe/burkini-ban-protest-london-french-embassy/index.html   Posted from London, England     Read more

    As it has done week in and week out for over four years now, the Interpreter Foundation greets Friday with a new article:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/reading-a-pentecostal-reads-the-book-of-mormon/#more-9235   Posted from London, England     Read more

    One positive way of looking at the Newsmax list of the fifty most influential Mormons to which I linked yesterday is to note that it includes three contributors to Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture:   Mitt Romney Clayton Christensen Orson Scott Card   Additionally, for what little it’s worth, I know others on the list, and one of them (Richard Bushman) contributed to the FARMS Review while I edited it.   Posted from London, England     Read more

    The Deseret News, the daily newspaper owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, responds to a prominent Trumpist’s recent attack on Church leaders:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865660771/In-our-opinion-Deseret-News-responds-to-Breitbart-attack-on-LDS-immigration-policy.html   Posted from London, England     Read more