Thanks to Nathaniel Hancock for making me aware of this interesting little piece:   http://www.truthandcharityforum.org/the-five-phases-of-the-sexual-and-cultural-revolution/     Read more

    Today’s reading, Alma 49, continues the remarkable story of the treacherous and evil Amalickiah.   As is my practice, I’ll comment upon just one element of this chapter:   It’s often remarked of generals that they typically prepare for the “last war,” and that practices and techniques and events of the next one, accordingly, catch them by surprise.  The Maginot Line, for example, was fairly well suited to a relatively static war of the kind (like the trench warfare... Read more

    . . . please let them know about the Ruth M. Stephens Article Prize offered by the Interpreter Foundation.   The deadline is drawing nigh, but there might still be time to write something and submit it.  And, if you have something sitting around that you think might be suitable, please do send it to us!   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/the-ruth-m-stephens-article-prize/     Read more

    I saw this note from my friend Ugo Perego:   Next Sunday, July 17, 2016 at 7pm, I will be giving a fireside at the LDS Church building located at 4586 West Woodbury Circle in West Valley (Utah).  I will be speaking on a few topics related to DNA and family history/Church History/Book of Mormon (you know, the usual stuff).  If you want to stop by and say hi.   Dr. Perego is, by the way, the bishop... Read more

    A two-part response to a recent assault on the credibility of the Witnesses to the Book of Mormon:   http://blog.fairmormon.org/2016/06/19/ces-letter-50-65-three-witnesses/   http://blog.fairmormon.org/2016/06/25/ces-letter-50-65-witnesses-continued/   I myself had a few (derivative) things to say about the Book of Mormon Witnesses in this two-CD set, which was first published back in 2003:     Of course, as in the following little piece that I’ve posted a few times previously (and that I feel prompted to post again now), I regard Dr. Richard... Read more

    http://www.weeklystandard.com/orrin-hatch-pays-tribute-to-elie-wiesel/article/2003215   Or you can watch it here:   http://www.hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2016/7/hatch-pays-tribute-to-elie-wiesel   And I heartily recommend this piece by Allen Hansen, an Israeli Latter-day Saint:   “Soul on Fire: Appreciating Elie Wiesel”   Sober thoughts for a Sabbath.     Read more

    Lord . . . We thank you for your church, founded upon your Word, that challenges us to do more than sing and pray, but go out and work as though the very answer to our prayers depended on us and not upon you. Help us to realize that humanity was created to shine like the stars and live on through all eternity. Keep us, we pray, in perfect peace. Help us to walk together, pray together, sing... Read more

    Some appear to think that it’s only Mormons — or perhaps even only yours truly — who wish that Governor Romney would declare for the presidency.   I don’t think that Michael Levin is a Latter-day Saint.   I’m reasonably confident that Michael Levin isn’t me.   And yet . . .   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michaellevin/mitt-romney-a-nation-turn_b_10864788.html       Read more

    There’s a remarkably revealing passage in Alma 48 in which the prophet and editor of the Book of Mormon — the man for whom it’s named — comments upon his great forerunner as military commander of the Nephites:    11 And Moroni was a strong and a mighty man; he was a man of a perfect understanding; yea, a man that did not delight in bloodshed; a man whose soul did joy in the liberty and the freedom of his country, and his brethren from... Read more

    I was reminded of this famous speech a couple of days ago, at the opening of the conference that I attended on Thursday and Friday.  The meeting was sponsored by BYU’s J. Reuben Clark Law School, and one of those who welcomed the conference audience briefly spoke of the late President J. Reuben Clark, after whom the Law School is named, mentioning this address.   You’re probably already familiar with it.  But it remains a great speech, well worth... Read more