The tide in the American culture wars has definitely turned.  And, on the whole, it has turned against religious believers:   http://www.wsj.com/article_email/why-are-companies-taking-sides-against-religious-liberty-1460320357-lMyQjAxMTE2NjEyMTExODE2Wj     Read more

    “I have actually — believe it or not, I have a lot of friends that are Muslim . . .  In most cases, they’re very rich Muslims, OK? . . .  They’ll come in.  And you’ll have exceptions.” Mr. Donald Trump, as quoted on MSNBC   It’s who you know, after all.     And, of course, there are some areas in which the help of immigrants is absolutely required.  Here, for example, is the first former Mrs.... Read more

    With today’s reading, Alma 1, we enter into the single longest book within the Book of Mormon.   One of the things that strike me about it is its depiction of persecution, first directed against the Church and its members by apostates but then, inappropriately and unrighteously, returned by Church members against their persecutors.   This is a persistent temptation for those who seek to defend the Kingdom, and the contentiousness that it has engendered has essentially ruined many... Read more

    Man in Black:  You’re that smart? Vizzini:  Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates? Man in Black:  Yes. Vizzini:  Morons. (From The Princess Bride)   My life has been about victories.  I’ve won a lot.  I win a lot.  I win — when I do something, I win.  And even in sports, I always won.  I was always a good athlete.  And I always won.  In golf, I’ve won many club... Read more

    Well, who knows?  I don’t.  And I’m only half-way serious.  If that.  But maybe.   At any rate, the universe seems to have a whole lot more stuff in it than we can see, touch, taste, or feel:   http://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2016/04/11/how_can_we_know_that_dark_matter_exists_109597.html   As I’ve pointed out elsewhere, “Materialism isn’t what it used to be.”   There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,  Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Hamlet I.v.167-168     Read more

    I’m not sure that I’ve ever been a believer in scriptural inerrancy, and, truth be told, I just don’t see much point in the notion.  But some Evangelical or Fundamentalist Protestants regard it as very, very, very important, and they really try to defend it.  Here’s a response to one such defense from the invaluable Robert Boylan, in Ireland:   http://scripturalmormonism.blogspot.com/2016/04/mental-gymnastics-eisegesis-and.html     Read more

    This actually has some relevance to the Middle Eastern roots of the Book of Mormon.   Were the Israelites around the time of Lehi and Nephi largely illiterate?  Was literacy very rare?   (Thanks to Charles Dayton for bringing this article to my notice.)     Read more

    I made the mistake, just now, of turning on the news while I was lacing up my shoes and getting ready to head out the door in a few minutes.  It was a mistake because, as almost always happens, the news was about Mr. Donald Trump.  And then there was Mr. Donald Trump himself, speaking live at a rally in Albany, New York:  “Lying Ted Cruz,” he said, in one of his most substantial policy pronouncements of the presidential... Read more

  This is a wonderful story.   Normal people desperately want to see at least some signs of kindness, of humanity, in the region.  Such people will be pleased, I hope, by this account:   http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-doctors-spies-rally-to-save-5-year-old-syrian-girl/   Thanks to Darren Zechiel for calling it to my attention.     Read more

    “Nothing teaches us about the preciousness of the Creator as much as when we learn the emptiness of everything else.” C. H. Spurgeon   I doubt that Spurgeon, a prominent nineteenth-century British Protestant evangelist, really intended to say that love within families, natural beauty, powerful music, profound literature, and other such things are really — absolutely — empty.  If so, I surely don’t agree with him.  But, relatively speaking, I think he has an important point.   I... Read more