In today’s reading, Mosiah 11, we meet one of the most notorious villains in the Book of Mormon:  King Noah.   I’ve always thought that monarchy has the potential of being an excellent form of government:  After all, if you knew for a certainty that a particular child would someday be king or queen, that child could be given all of the specific kinds of education and training that would equip him or her to assume that role competently and well.  ... Read more

    https://cnstopstories.com/2016/03/23/muslim-restorers-feel-history-in-work-on-mosaics-above-jesus-burial-site/   Thanks to Jabra Ghneim for bringing this wonderfully positive story to my notice.     Read more

    “One of the cardinal tenets of this Church is that of unbounded toleration for the beliefs and religious practices of others.” James E. Talmage   (Thanks to Ashby Boyle for alerting me to this passage from the late Elder Talmage, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles until his death in 1933.)     Read more

    http://theweek.com/articles/614206/gop-needs-more-mormons   There is a considerable Mormon population in Arizona.  One indicator of this is the fact that the state has five temples, including the one shown above, with a sixth under construction.   But, plainly, there weren’t enough Mormons, proportionally speaking, to save Arizona from the historic blunder it committed in yesterday’s presidential primary, even though the state’s Mormon Republican senator, Jeff Flake, and its Mormon Republican congressman, Matt Salmon, publicly backed non-Trumpist candidates.   Thus, as Damon... Read more

    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/brussels-attacks-american-victims-families-sebastien-bellin-mason-wells-boston-marathon-bombings/   I hope that these things have no lasting ill effects on him, psychologically speaking.  It would be easy to become somewhat uneasy about public places given even one such experience.     Read more

    Four years ago today, at just about this time, I received the shocking and utterly unexpected news that my brother — strictly speaking, my half-brother — my only sibling, to whom I was very close, had died.   I was devastated.  I still think of him, and miss him, every day.   I’ve made it my practice, on this blog, to post something about him (typically my hastily composed and inadequate remarks at his funeral in South Pasadena,... Read more

    The first telegram sent from Utah over the newly completed transcontinental wire was written and dispatched by President Brigham Young in 1861, during the early stages of the American Civil War :  “Utah,” he said, “is firm for the constitution and laws of our once happy country.”   It would be difficult for me to be more proud of my adopted state than I am right now.  Overwhelmingly, the people of Utah again stood firm for the Constitution, as... Read more

    http://ldsliving.com/The-Incredible-Story-of-the-Stake-Center-That-Became-a-Jewish-Synagogue/s/81488     Read more

    http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/03/22/at-least-9-americans-wounded-in-belgium-attacks-officials-say.html?intcmp=hpbt1#   Including some Latter-day Saint missionaries.     Read more

    Two brief observations regarding today’s reading, Mosiah 10:   1.    “Now, the Lamanites knew nothing concerning the Lord,” says verse 11,  “nor the strength of the Lord, therefore they depended upon their own strength. Yet they were a strong people, as to the strength of men.”   The Lamanites could survive such arrogance in their conflicts with the Nephites because, throughout the narrative of the Book of Mormon, they typically outnumbered the Nephites.  Usually by a considerable margin.   By... Read more