If you’re interested in the interface between religion and science — both generally and from a Latter-day Saint point of view — you’ll find a treasure trove of material on this website, which is run by Dr. David H. Bailey:   http://www.sciencemeetsreligion.org   Posted from Newport Beach, California     Read more

    A short but interesting article:   http://theweek.com/articles/637390/being-muslim-america   I’m guessing that at least some of what it says will be new to you.  It was new to me.   Posted from Newport Beach, California     Read more

    In my experience, theistic anti-Mormonism is largely (though not entirely) a conservative Protestant or evangelical enterprise.  (Secularist anti-Mormonism is increasingly visible and influential, but it’s another story completely.)   Although there is some Catholic anti-Mormon activity — heck, I’ve even seen a Muslim anti-Mormon pamphlet — Protestants are, by and large, the folks who set up “ministries,” publish newsletters, broadcast radio shows, travel on the lecture circuit, churn out pamphlets, teach divinity school classes, produce videos, hold public seminars, offer... Read more

    An ideologue — one who thinks ideologically — can’t lose.  He can’t lose because his answer, his interpretation and his attitude have been determined in advance of the particular experience or observation.  They are derived from the ideology, and not subject to the facts. James Burnham   Posted from Newport Beach, California     Read more

    Rates of suicide are unusually high among physicians and medical students:   https://www.statnews.com/2016/07/21/depression-suicide-physicians/   Very sad.  And an especially tragic waste of human potential.  So much talent lost.  So much service left unperformed.   Why is this so?  What can be done?   (And how can Mormonism be blamed for it?)   Posted from Newport Beach, California   Read more

    It’s wonderful to belong to an organization that does so much good internationally.   http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/president-uchtdorf-presents-donation-food-program   Posted from Newport Beach, California     Read more

    Someone kindly brought this wonderful story to my notice the other day, and I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t recall who it was.  But I appreciate it:   https://history.lds.org/article/pioneers-in-every-land-nigeria-anthony-obinna?lang=eng   May God bless the memory and the family of Anthony Obinna, and the Saints and the people of Nigeria, where life can be very difficult.   I have a distant but particular interest in the beginnings of the Church in Nigeria (and Ghana) because my own mission... Read more

    Craig Foster, Mike Parker, and Martin Tanner join together in this Interpreter Foundation scripture roundtable for a conversation about 2016 Gospel Doctrine lesson 30, which focuses on Alma 40-42.  It’s the 174th such roundtable posted by the Foundation.  Despite predictions of Interpreter’s imminent death dating back to 2012, it seems that there may eventually be several of these roundtables.   Posted from San Diego, California     Read more

    I doubt that Mr. Kinsley was thinking about anonymous/pseudonymous posters on message boards and in unfiltered newspaper comments when he wrote this, but he certainly could have been:   “He’s nice enough not to want to be associated with a nasty remark but not nice enough not to make it. Lacking the courage of one’s nastiness does not make one nice.”  (Michael Kinsley)   I occasionally wonder what some of them are like in real life.   Posted from San Diego,... Read more

    In the 173rd scripture roundtable posted by the Interpreter Foundation, Daniel Peterson, Martin Tanner, and Bruce Webster focus on Alma 36-39, the chapters covered in lesson 29 of the 2016 Gospel Doctrine manual.   Posted from San Diego, California     Read more