“Protesters, Counter Protesters ‘Clash’ in Dallas in Heartwarming Way”   “Dallas Police Chief David Brown Is Helping Pull a Nation Back from the Brink”   “Milwaukee Police Chief Explodes on Protesters for Willfully Ignoring Crime’s ‘Greatest Racial Disparity’ After Being Verbally Attacked in Meeting”       Read more

    I’ll mention just a few interesting aspects of Alma 51.   1.   It’s scarcely surprising that the “kingmen,” who sought the restoration of the monarchy, “were those of high birth” (51:8).  After all, had Mosiah II not abolished the Nephite monarchy a mere twenty-five years before, they would have been aristocrats.  They were probably the children of those who had acquiesced in Mosiah’s reform.  But they weren’t at all resigned to their parents’ decision.  They resented it.   2.... Read more

    Sadly, there is this.  But, fortunately, there’s also this:   http://www.inquisitr.com/3293616/najih-shaker-al-baldawi-iraqi-muslim-hugs-suicide-bomber-to-stop-him-from-entering-shrine-sacrificing-his-life-to-save-dozens-of-others/   رحمه الله‎‎     Read more

    “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”  (James 1:27)   I wrote briefly yesterday about the tragic death of a young man, the son of friends and (until very recently) neighbors, who leaves behind a family of seven, including a newborn.   It’s an unspeakably sad story.   Here’s a chance to help:   https://www.gofundme.com/2dxqapq4   Even a... Read more

    I spend a fair amount of time and energy attempting to resist the demonization of Islam and Muslims.  But I’m far from blind to the problems posed by extremist Islamism and the mass importation of refugees (real or not).   This was (and continues to be) a terrible situation:   http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/437682/germanys-rape-jihad-was-worse-you-thought     Read more

    http://www.realclearscience.com/journal_club/2016/07/11/an_asteroid_extinction_you_havent_heard_of.html     Read more

    In this, the 170th scripture roundtable posted by the Interpreter Foundation, Bruce Webster and Martin Tanner discuss Lesson 26 from the 2016 Gospel Doctrine manual, which is focused on Alma 23-24, 26-29: http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/scripture-roundtable-170-book-of-mormon-gospel-doctrine-lesson-26-converted-unto-the-lord/     Read more

    http://www.codyenterprise.com/news/local/article_c7e6408c-47a5-11e6-ac2c-6fd768157379.html   For background, see here and here.     Read more

    Harold Bloom is an atheist — or, if not an atheist (he denies it), something like one.  He’s certainly not an orthodox Jewish believer, let alone a devout Christian.  So his remarks below have to be viewed as in some sense metaphorical.  Still, they’re remarkable:   “Whatever his lapses, Smith was an authentic religious genius, unique in our national history.” – Harold Bloom, The American Religion: The Emergence of the Post-Christian Nation (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992), p... Read more

    My wife and I were stunned and deeply saddened today to learn that a young man who grew up just a few houses down the street from us, the son of good friends and himself the father of seven children (one of them just two weeks old), was accidentally killed a couple of days ago.   I can easily understand how some conclude that there is no God.  But I’ve never been able to understand how anyone can regard the... Read more