An opinion from the Middle East, from one of Iran’s neighbors:   http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/8935.htm#_end     Read more

    A calm, believing voice:   http://mormanity.blogspot.com/2016/01/faithful-latter-day-saints-dealing-with.html     Read more

    Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture wishes you a very happy Friday and a pleasant weekend with yet another article:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/untangling-scripture-from-the-philosophies-of-men/     Read more

    http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/12/31/christian-printer-punished-by-the-govt-for-refusing-to-print-gay-pride-t-shirts-scored-a-major-victory-earlier-this-year-but-the-battle-isnt-over/   (Thanks to Kevin Taylor for alerting me to this item.)   Is a Jewish printer legally obligated to produce materials for the American Nazi Party if the Nazis request his services?   Should a black tailor be compelled to create robes for the Ku Klux Klan?   Must a homosexual owner of billboards rent them out for use by, say, Westboro Baptist Church?     Read more

    In this final entry from his recent trip to archaeological sites in Mesoamerica, Neal Rappleye reports on the magnificent ruins of a large Preclassic Maya city — El Mirador, in lowland Guatemala’s Petén — reflecting along the way on the potential significance of some of its features for understanding the Book of Mormon:   http://www.studioetquoquefide.com/2016/01/look-over-all-land-round-about-el.html#more   If you enjoy this entry, you’ll probably also enjoy the several previous reports from his trip that precede this one on his... Read more

    My wife and I were very saddened this morning — though not altogether surprised, since he had been ailing for quite some time — to learn that our dear friend Bob Cundick, distinguished composer and former Tabernacle organist and one of the kindest, humblest, most sincere men we’ve ever known, had passed away.   We first came to know Bob and his wife, Cholly, in the first half of 1993, when they were a service couple at BYU’s... Read more

    There is much, very much, that could be discussed in the comparatively long chapter of 1 Nephi 13.  But, mercifully constrained by the life-saving, self-imposed requirement that I be brief, I’ll limit myself to passing mention of two items.   1.   It’s in this chapter that we meet Nephi’s famous “great and abominable church.”   Many Latter-day Saints, at least during my formative years, thought that this phrase clearly referred to the Roman Catholic Church.  (Many probably still do.)... Read more

    I’m a really, really serious editor, and I’m really, really dedicated to proper punctuation.  Why?  Because it matters.   Fortunately, I’m not quite the only person who thinks this way.  Lynne Truss does, as well.  Here are three quotations from her:   “A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air. “‘Why?’ asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The... Read more

    It would be inaccurate to say that my vote would count for nothing at Wheaton College, near Chicago.  On the contrary:  With regard to theology, my vote, coming from a Mormon, would almost certainly do substantial damage to anyone or anything receiving it.   But I do want to publicly say, for what it’s worth, that I stand with Larycia Hawkins:  Muslims, Christians, and Jews do indeed worship the same God.   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865644951/Larycia-Hawkins-6flabbergasted7-by-Wheaton7s-move-to-fire-her.html   As it happens, I also seem to... Read more

    Useful background, I think, to the standoff in Oregon:   http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/160104-oregon-protest-malheur-national-wildlife-refuge/     Read more