I’m fairly happy.  I guess maybe I shouldn’t admit that, though . . .   http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/04/why-so-many-smart-people-arent-happy/479832/   Posted from Petra, Jordan     Read more

    We were up fairly early this morning and off for a visit to the extensive and impressive ruins of Jerash, which was known anciently as Gerasa (or Γέρασα).  Although the site seems to have been inhabited from prehistoric times, the city as we know it was founded by Alexander the Great, apparently as a kind of retirement community for his aging Macedonian soldiers.  (The word γῆρας or gēras means “old age” in ancient Greek.)  Think of St. George, or Del Webb’s Sun City,... Read more

    I’m proud to say that, this article notwithstanding, my wife and I chose perfectly normal American names for our twelve children:  LaFritz, George Quayle, Pride of Panguitch, VerDonihah, Wasatch Lon, Mahonri Moriankoomer, Bathsheba, Mitt Romney, Ponderize, Deseret Ann, Akish Lynn, and Dieter.   Odd baby names show Mormons are unique … like everyone else   Posted from Petra, Jordan     Read more

    Have you encountered the claim that Jesus is merely a more or less (or even entirely) fictional character who parallels the lives of, among others, such figures as Krishna, Osiris, and similar semi-historical or completely mythical heroes?   It’s really popular in some pop-atheist circles.  And the triumphant form in which I’ve commonly encountered it is simply . . .  well, the technical term is stupid.  Here’s a brief column on the subject:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765576518/Parallels-of-prophets-not-parallel.html   Posted from... Read more

    Half of disbelief in God in the world is caused by people who make religion look ugly due to their bad conduct and ignorance. al-Ghazali (d. AD 1111)   Posted from Amman, Jordan     Read more

    Did Mars actually have oceans at one time?  If so, was its water brought by asteroids?   http://news.discovery.com/space/did-asteroid-impacts-melt-up-mars-ancient-oceans-160425.htm   Although — I’m reliably informed by atheist critics who don’t actually know me — I hate and fear science, I find much of it quite fascinating.  (My two chief interests are astronomy/cosmology and geology.)  Please don’t tell anyone, okay?   Posted from Amman, Jordan   Read more

    http://www.npr.org/2016/04/24/475473657/idaho-muslims?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=religion   I was in Idaho Falls a few weeks ago for a Mormon/Muslim dialogue.   My Muslim counterpart for that dialogue was a professor at Idaho State University, in Pocatello, Idaho.   I believe that he told me that the majority of the anti-Muslim activity in Pocatello (to the fairly limited extent that any occurs) comes from one particular Evangelical church there — a church that is also, in my experience, rather vocally anti-Mormon.  (Big surprise!)  I... Read more

    Have you wondered what you might do to help refugees, to rise to the challenge of the “I was a stranger” effort recently announced by the Church?   Do you live in Parowan, or in Bountiful, or even in deepest Orem, where no such refugees are to be seen?   Do you think “I’m only one person.  What can I do?”   This is an inspiring story, and it may give you an idea.   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865652875/Power-of-one-BYU-grad-hopes-to-help-solve-big-problem-in-refugee-camps.html   Thanks to... Read more

    The formal tour doesn’t start until tonight, Jordan time.  But most of our people are already here, so we joined together for a relatively brief city tour.   We drove through several of the districts of the city, which has changed dramatically since I first visited it in 1978.  (For one thing, the population has more than quadrupled, to somewhere between four and four and a half million.)  We passed by the King Abdullah I Mosque:    ... Read more

    I don’t deny for a moment that there are major problems in the Islamic world today, and that a great deal of evil has been and is being committed by Muslims in the name of Islam.   I don’t appreciate being told, as I routinely am in emails and elsewhere, that I’m whitewashing the Islamic world, that I’m defending ISIS, that I see no problem with Muslims beheading Christians, and so forth.   Such statements are either ignorant... Read more