We stumble and fall constantly even when we are most enlightened. But when we are in true spiritual darkness, we do not even know that we have fallen. Thomas Merton   Read more

    On Sunday last, I participated with Dr. Zuhdi Jasser in a fireside at the Phoenix East Stake center.   On the Friday before, I spoke to a  group at the LDS Institute in Tempe (on the campus of Arizona State University) about Islam, and then, after lunch, a fairly large number of us attended the midday prayer at the Tempe, Arizona, mosque (shown above).   The imam of Tempe, Ahmad Shqeirat, was in California on Friday, but he... Read more

    It’s always inspiring to learn more about my family history:   http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/vikings-may-have-first-taken-seas-find-women-slaves     Read more

    An interesting perspective — on reddit, of all places! — from Joseph Smidt:   https://www.reddit.com/r/lds/comments/4fnzde/i_am_convinced_jeremy_runnells_is_the_antimormon/   Thanks to Robert Boylan for alerting me to it.   Before (as will inevitably happen) I’m accused of piling on Mr. Runnells, I’ll simply point out that he’s been receiving unusual attention since his excommunication on Sunday and that, consequently, there have been a number of things posted about him across the Web.  I’m just calling attention to some of them.  ... Read more

    http://www.nationalreview.com/article/434300/donald-trump-republican-primary-process-reform-nomination-process     Read more

    “You are right in speaking of the moral foundations of science, but you cannot turn around and speak of the scientific foundations of morality.” Albert Einstein     Read more

    I had lunch today with Christopher Bradford, the newly elected president of the Mormon Transhumanist Association, whom I’ve known for most of my life and for an even larger majority of his.  He mentioned this soon-to-appear New Yorker article to me . . . et voilà, it has now appeared and he’s sent me the link:   http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/mormon-transhumanism-and-the-immortality-upgrade?utm_content=buffer4ad32&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer   My attitude toward Mormon transhumanism is, as the New Yorker’s author says, one of “cautious interest.”  I first began paying attention to... Read more

    http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/upshot/why-theres-hope-for-the-middle-class-with-help-from-china.html?smid=tw-share&referer=     Read more

    http://www.nationalreview.com/article/434267/donald-trump-new-york-primary-win-changes-nothing     Read more

    I concur with this commentary on the unfortunate case of Jeremy Runnells and his recent excommunication:   http://www.withoutend.org/learn-jeremy-runnells-thoughts-departure-church/     Read more