“I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.” C. S. Lewis     Read more

    David Wills calls my attention, from Australia, to this brief exposition of what once would have been regarded as pretty much unexceptional common sense:   http://www.acpeds.org/the-college-speaks/position-statements/gender-ideology-harms-children   Common sense, however, is under heavy ideological fire.  In the public restrooms of North Carolina, for example:   http://www.nationalreview.com/article/433423/north-carolina-house-bill-2-bathroom-bill-common-sense     Read more

    One particular Facebook commenter will serve to represent a larger group:   He has, he says, lost a great deal of respect for Mitt Romney.   But he has lost even more respect for me, because of what he twice terms our “hate” for Donald Trump.   I feel no “hatred” toward Donald Trump.  I strongly disagree with many of his political views, to the very limited extent that it’s possible to discern what they are, and I deeply... Read more

    I was sent a photograph, yesterday, of a December rally in Dearborn, Michigan — a town with a very high Arab and Muslim population (they’re not necessarily the same thing) — in which ISIS flags were flying proudly from American cars, etc.   The object of sending me the photo, of course, was to demonstrate that I’m a naïve Pollyanna and a fool for failing to recognize that They need to be expelled from the country because They’re... Read more

    The always-interesting Ralph Hancock offers a reflection prompted by a 1972 general conference talk, accompanied by a glance at current public affairs:   Grace Merged with Works: Mormonism in Theory and Practice   And here’s a curiously related though completely independent piece by Michael Barone, one of the most insightful political observers in America, that briefly discusses the Mormons along its way.     Read more

    It’s pretty funny.  But Stephen Fry — whom I’ve really enjoyed in several roles (particularly that of Jeeves) — is flatly (and pretty obviously) making things up:     Of course, his gullible/snooty audience would be only too eager to believe his description of the ridiculous antics of the Mormon rubes out in the cultural backwater of Utah.  They wouldn’t be inclined to be critical.     Read more

    1.   Today’s reading, Mosiah 16, suggests to me that it isn’t mere honest, sincere error that God punishes, but actual rebellion.   The wicked, says verse 2, are those who “would not hearken unto the voice of the Lord.”  (The would not here probably isn’t a simple past tense of the intransitive auxiliary verb will; rather, it’s the past tense of the transitive verb to will [something].)  In other words, they choose not to do so.   A wicked person, says verse 5, is in... Read more

    http://www.nationalreview.com/article/433422/donald-trump-corey-lewandowski-thuggish-campaign     Read more

    “It’s discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.” Noël Coward, Blithe Spirit       Read more

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensavage/2016/03/26/vermont-driven-gmo-labeling-questions-and-potential-unintended-consequences/#1871291e20d8         Read more