Isaiah’s remarkable eloquence is yet again on display in today’s reading, 2 Nephi 21 (= Isaiah 11).   He envisions the coming of a just and kind ruler, whom Christians for centuries have taken to be the millennial Christ, who will judge fairly and not according to mere appearances (verse 3) and who will advocate the cause of the oppressed poor and humble (verse four).   Moreover, with the advent of that ruler, there will be genuine peace, such that the... Read more

    I’ve been remiss about this.  Sorry.  My apologies.   Both Louis Midgley and Eric Lopez reminded me that we’re now entering into the Year of the Monkey.   Rather fitting for a presidential election year, don’t you think?   Somebody told me that it’s a good year for swinging through the trees.  I agree.   In any case, swinging through trees sounds like more fun than hanging from one.   Here’s some information about this holiday, which, I... Read more

    If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner. H. L. Mencken    Read more

    I didn’t watch the most recent Republican debate, but I’ve heard almost everywhere that Governor Chris Christie managed to do some rather serious damage to Senator Marco Rubio during one of their exchanges.   I won’t pretend to be happy about that.   Governor Christie, most are saying, didn’t do much good for himself.  We’ll see tomorrow, of course, but it seems probable that his campaign is on the ropes and that he’ll be “suspending” it within a... Read more

    In this, the 152nd scripture roundtable produced by the Interpreter Foundation, Bruce Webster and Martin Tanner discuss 2016 Book of Mormon Gospel Doctrine lesson 8, which focuses on 2 Nephi 9-10:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/scripture-roundtable-152-book-of-mormon-gospel-doctrine-lesson-8-o-how-great-the-goodness-of-our-god/       Read more

    I understand that the Super Bowl was played yesterday, and that it represented some sort of anniversary.  And that my beloved Dodgers didn’t win it.  (I met a distant cousin of my childhood hero Don Drysdale in Fresno about a week ago, by the way!)   Anyway, some advertisements seem to have been run during the Super Bowl.  Apparently, lots of people watch the Super Bowl, and ad time during the game is at a premium.  So the... Read more

    Blake Ostler, one of the most interesting thinkers in contemporary Mormonism, delivered these remarks at 2005’s annual FAIR (now FairMormon) conference:   http://www.fairmormon.org/perspectives/fair-conferences/2005-fair-conference/2005-the-fallacy-of-fundamentalist-assumptions     Read more

    I’m very pleased at the news of this tour, and I’m particularly happy about the places where the choir will be singing:   http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/2016-mormon-tabernacle-choir-european-tour-cities   This is good news.  I wish the choir well.  It will be a great moment for the Church in a region that I care very much about.     Read more

    That’s right.  Your eyes haven’t deceived you.   Bill Clinton — defender of womenfolk everywhere, reverent respecter of the divine feminine, and aspiring First Dude — has called some of the Sanderistas “sexists”:   http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/bill-clinton-bernie-sanders-hillary-218916   Thanks to Cody Quirk for calling that priceless item to my attention.     Read more

    An interesting exchange.  A forthright and brave Arab woman.   I don’t agree with everything here.   Shams Bandar — that’s her name — is a Saudi/Kuwaiti singer.  In this interview, she’s somewhat mischaracterizing and oversimplifying 1400 years of Islamic history, for instance, and contrasting it too starkly with much of Europe’s history over the same period.  The West hasn’t always been that good.   And the interviewer’s notion that it’s the West that has caused all of... Read more