“We must recognize,” argues this article, “that single events have multiple causes.”   An obvious point.  Or so one might imagine.   But, very often, people don’t seem to realize it.   And why not?   It’s the Jews’ fault.   Or the Mexicans’.   Or the Mormons’.   Or the big corporations’.   Posted from Newport Beach, California     Read more

    “Why Mormons and evangelicals may diverge on Trump and what that means”   “Mormons have prayed at four of the GOP’s past five national conventions”   “Religious Conservatives and Donald Trump — the Cheapest Date in Politics?” Posted from Newport Beach, California     Read more

    Sigh.  As I’ve already said, while I harbor deep sympathies for libertarianism, I have a number of serious reservations about the full Libertarian Party platform — and very specific reservations about this year’s Libertarian Party presidential nominee, Gary Johnson, the former Republican governor of New Mexico.   Unfortunately, Mr. Johnson has just made it far more difficult for me to choose him as my 2016 protest vehicle:   http://www.millennialstar.org/gary-johnson-sees-no-value-in-religious-liberty-and-implies-that-mormons-want-religious-liberty-so-they-can-shoot-people-dead/   Posted from Newport Beach, California     Read more

    “The death of a beloved is an amputation.”  (C. S. Lewis)   We had a pleasant afternoon and evening yesterday with my nephew and his wife and their very young son and infant daughter.  I couldn’t help but think, though, of my brother, and of the fact that these grandchildren never knew him.   When I come to southern California, my mind unavoidably turns to my brother and to my parents, who lived here and who are buried here.... Read more

    The tactic, described in Alma 56, of having a swift group of fighters — in this case, Helaman’s young “stripling warriors” — go out before an enemy army in order to tempt them into an ill-advised pursuit while another group of fighters, allied with the first, pursue that army from behind — was used by Muslim forces, if memory serves, several times in the Crusades.  As I read the accounts, decades ago, I wondered why on earth the... Read more

    I think that it may be time to call attention again to this important statement:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/the-imperative-for-a-historical-book-of-mormon/   Posted from Newport Beach, California     Read more

    http://www.nationalreview.com/sponsored?prx_t=pEECAOOMHAbNUMA   We might as well enjoy this year’s presidential campaign horror show . . .   Another appropriate film, of course, would be Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.   Posted from Newport Beach, California     Read more

    The onslaught continues:   http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/july-web-only/california-sb-1146-religious-freedom.html   Posted from Newport Beach, California     Read more

    Oddly, I’m perfectly open to considering the possibility that St. Joan’s voices were real.  Plainly, though, some folks aren’t.  Nobody in this article, for example, seems even to recognize it as an option:   http://www.livescience.com/55597-joan-of-arc-voices-epilepsy.html   I thoroughly enjoyed the docudrama on Joan of Arc that was produced a few years back by BYUtv.  And the BYU Theater Department staged an original play before that in which the voices were taken very seriously.  I thought it one of... Read more

    A group of us made the decision to establish the Interpreter Foundation over lunch at Provo’s Olive Garden restaurant back in July of 2012.  It has been approximately 204.5 weeks since that lunch meeting.  Today marks the 203rd consecutive Friday on which the Foundation’s principal publication, Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture, has published at least one article:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/perhaps-close-can-count-in-more-than-horseshoes/   (This was actually the second piece published today.)   Those who confidently predicted an early death for Interpreter... Read more