Last night, about seventy-five officers, volunteers, and friends of the Interpreter Foundation gathered to celebrate its fourth birthday.  We had a great meal, thanks especially to Bruce Webster, a long-time participant in our scripture roundtables who has just joined our board and who, it turns out, is an expert smoker of meats.  A good time was had, I hope, by all.   Here are some statistics, current as of last night   Weeks since founding: 212.5 Consecutive Fridays... Read more

    He’s a clever filmmaker.  But, this article suggests, perhaps he’s not a really good scholar of Judaism.   Woody Allen is wrong about the afterlife     Read more

    Patrick Mason was the first FairMormon speaker on Friday afternoon.  His remarks, entitled “The Courage of Our Convictions: Embracing Mormonism in a Secular Age,” seemed to draw from his recent book Planted, and were well received.  He argued for kindness and openness in our relations with those who harbor questions, entertain doubts, differ with the Church on social/moral issues, and/or become disaffected.  I liked the talk.   Ralph Hancock didn’t follow Patrick Mason (and Grant Hardy, the speaker... Read more

    A genuine puzzle:   http://www.seeker.com/alien-megastructure-star-just-got-even-weirder-1960906224.html?source=realclearscience.com   Are the invaders coming to get us?   Aieeeeeeee!     Read more

    A rather decent account — betraying only relatively slight traces of cynicism — of the Hill Cumorah Pageant (or, as the article’s subtitle puts it, of “the real Book of Mormon“):   http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/americas-largest-outdoor-theatre-event-features-700-lip-syncing-mormons     Read more

    http://www.npr.org/sections/thetorch/2016/08/05/488435043/an-american-muslim-fencer-lunges-into-u-s-olympic-history-in-rio?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=religion     Read more

    A somewhat more in-depth (or, at least, more interesting) treatment than we often see in such stories:   A new Mormon temple rises in Ben Franklin’s Philadelphia     Read more

     After his own marriage Luther’s tone shifted to a stress upon the home as a school for character. It is the area where the Christian virtues find their readiest exemplification, and, whereas in Catholicism monasticism is the sphere for the cultivation of the counsels of perfection, in Protestantism the home is as it were a functional substitute. Roland Bainton     Read more

    Utah’s deer seasons are approaching.  And so, with that in mind, I bring you this classic video.  The image quality is terrible; I wish I could find a better version but, though I’ve tried, I haven’t located one.   Still, it’s wonderful.     Read more

    “The Supreme Court Is Not a Sufficient Reason to Vote for Trump”   “Where Is the Evidence That Trump Would Defend the Constitution?”     Read more