http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2016-04-19/in-conservative-utah-naming-road-for-gay-leader-stands-out   I understand what’s going on.  Municipal leaders across the country are pretty much obliged to name streets after Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez, and, now, Harvey Milk.   Why?   Because many genuinely revere them, of course.   But also because, given the way liberalism has evolved since the days of Lyndon Johnson, the Great Society, and George McGovern,  failure to toe the progressive line on matters involving race, gender, and sexuality is a sure demonstration... Read more

  I think, while I’m underway over these next few weeks, that I’ll revisit a few of my columns for the Deseret News — which I’ve now been contributing for just slightly more than six years — that are connected with Israel.  This will be in lieu of my running commentary on the Book of Mormon, which I think I just won’t have time to do while traveling.   Newspaper columns are ephemeral things, forgotten almost immediately even by those who... Read more

    A nice (and very short) little Q&A with Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D.:   http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/03/150319-three-questions-francis-collins-nih-science/     Read more

    This is sad news.  And I don’t think that it can be blamed entirely on the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   What can be done to help?  As a matter of policy, but also on a more personal basis?   If there is anybody reading this out there who flirts with the idea of self-destruction, I hope that that person will seek and find help.  If nothing else, please write to me.... Read more

    A bit on the strange side, but there it is:   https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/04/21/raunchy-prince-was-actually-a-conservative-christian-who-reportedly-opposed-gay-marriage/     Read more

    I especially like the background (and the name!) of the first sister missionary featured in the article:   http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/faith_and_values/2016/04/22/no-title-found-.html     Read more

    “If there were no God, there would be no atheists.”  (G.K. Chesterton)     Read more

    I’m running out of time right now, but I’ll offer one very quick note on today’s reading, Alma 10:   What can we make of the name Zeezrom?  Does it have any actual meaning?  If so, is that name relevant to the story recounted in Alma 10?   Here’s some brief but informed speculation on those questions:   https://onoma.lib.byu.edu/index.php/ZEEZROM     Read more

    Robert Boylan looks at the question of whether Latter-day Saint use of Isaiah’s prophecy about the house of the Lord being built in the tops of the mountains can really refer to the construction of the temple in Salt Lake City:   http://scripturalmormonism.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-lds-use-of-isaiah-22-5.html     Read more

    Dr. Qanta Ahmed, herself a Muslim, offers a worthwhile perspective on the problem of extremism within the Islamic community:   http://www.nationalreview.com/article/434339/islamism-pluralist-muslims-europe-america-west     Read more