http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormonism-news-getting-it-right-may-19-2016   This matter has been much in the news of late, and a not insubstantial portion of the journalistic coverage has been — can you imagine? — unjust and sensationalistic.   Three quick personal comments:   1.   Rape is a terrible thing.  Let me say that right up front, so that I’m not misunderstood and misrepresented.  (Well, I’ll still be misrepresented, but the misrepresentations won’t be fair.)   2.   My experience (at BYU and at other campuses) suggests... Read more

    The indefatigable Robert Boylan takes precise aim at two arguments often deployed by Evangelical Protestants against the claims of the Restoration:   http://scripturalmormonism.blogspot.com/2016/05/2-sam-2411-missing-books-and-word-of.html     Read more

    I was pleased, upon returning home, to see that a box of CDs bearing the title A Latter-day Look at Islam had arrived while we were gone:   https://deseretbook.com/p/cd-latter-day-look-at-islam?variant_id=136007-cd   Approximately 90 minutes long, the jacket says.   I haven’t listened to what’s on them, and probably won’t.  (The thought doesn’t attract me at all.)  I don’t remember exactly what I said, but the lecture may not be altogether horrible.     Read more

    I’m not surprised that there have been no claims of responsibility for the tragedy.   Perhaps, of course, it wasn’t caused by a terrorist attack.   But I’m still not surprised, even if it was.   In Israel/Palestine, by and large, terrorists haven’t targeted tourists.  I can think of only one tourist death resulting from terrorism in a very long time, and I’m inclined to regard that instance as most likely inadvertent.  Palestinians depend upon the tourist trade... Read more

    Have you ever called one of your children by the name of another?  Have you ever called your son or daughter by your dog’s name?   How about by your cat’s name?   Wonder what’s going on?  Worry that you’re going senile?   Here’s an interesting (and brief) article on the subject, based on research at nearby Duke University:   https://today.duke.edu/2016/04/misnaming-study   Posted from Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina     Read more

    I like the idea of this project very, very much, and hope that there can be more such collaborations:     Posted from Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina     Read more

    The principle of liberty and equality, if coupled with mere selfishness, will make men only devils, each trying to be independent that he may fight only for his own interest. And here is the need of religion and its power, to bring in the principle of benevolence and love to men. Senator John Randolph    It seems wrong to have been in Virginia without having ever quoted this great advocate of limited government, who was also one of... Read more

    It being Friday, a new article has appeared in Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/idle-and-slothful-strange-stories-book-of-mormon-origins-and-the-historical-record/   Enjoy!   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    An article by my long-time friend and occasional colleague John Tvedtnes that was published early on the history of Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/variants-in-the-stories-of-the-first-vision-of-joseph-smith-and-the-apostle-paul/   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    http://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/lifestyle/faith/3901745-155/mormonism-the-questions-are-there   I should have been in this book.   No.  Really.  I should have been in it.   Not because I’m so all-fired special.   I was invited to write something for it, but I was too slow.   It’s probably a better book, though, for my absence.   I hope that it will help people.   Posted from Richmond, Virginia   Read more