Thanks to Cody Quirk for calling my attention to this item:   http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/melissa-mullins/2015/11/23/new-york-times-overplays-mass-resignations-harmful-mormon-church   It reminds me of a conversation that Bill Hamblin and I had with the American feminist Gloria Steinem many years ago in Cairo, when we were both graduate students there.  She had come to Egypt to deliver a major public lecture addressing the topic of sexism in religion.  We attended, and we were deeply impressed by the courage demonstrated in her remarks, which concentrated... Read more

      You may think the answer obvious.   And understandably so.   But the book that I discussed in this 2014 column for the Deseret News might cause you to see things quite differently:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865610336/Is-Islam-a-primary-cause-of-international-violence.html?pg=all   I myself was prepared to resist Graham Fuller’s thesis, but he’s surprisingly persuasive.   And it occurs to me that it’s time, once again, to call attention to my column, and — much more importantly — to his book.   Posted... Read more

    The sorrow for the dead is the only sorrow from which we refuse to be divorced.  Every other wound we seek to heal — every other affliction to forget: but this wound we consider it a duty to keep open — this affliction we cherish and brood over in solitude. Washington Irving (1783-1859) Posted from Marbella, Spain Read more

        Here’s the text of a column that I published in the Deseret News on Thanksgiving 2012:   William Ernest Henley’s famous Victorian-era poem “Invictus” provided the title and the theme for Clint Eastwood’s inspiring 2009 film about Nelson Mandela. It also provided the memorable claim “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” It’s a stirring assertion, and, in a very real sense, true. A great proportion of what we... Read more

    Important reflections from one of the premier social, legal, and political thinkers in the United States:   http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2015/11/16037/   Posted from Marbella, Spain     Read more

    A brief little vehicle for reflection on a Sabbath day:   http://www.ldsliving.com/Mormon-Channel-Creates-Stunning-Inspiring-Video-Nearer-My-God-to-Thee/s/80603?utm_source=ldsliving&utm_medium=email   Posted from Marbella, Spain     Read more

    This is mere grandstanding silliness:   http://kutv.com/news/offbeat/do-not-publish-marcie-read-group-creates-opt-out-web-site-for-lds-baptism-for-the-dead   From the Latter-day Saint point of view, the ultimate “opt out” power remains with each individual even beyond death:  Nobody will be compelled to accept vicarious baptism performed on his or her behalf.  The dead, in LDS belief, remain conscious individuals with volition and agency.   From the atheistic point of view represented by the so-called “Satanic Temple,” individuals can’t be compelled to accept vicarious baptisms done on their behalf... Read more

    The outpouring of grief in Paris has been moving.  Among the memorials has been the playing of piano music near the nightclub where so many innocent people were massacred.   I wasn’t so thrilled, though, about the selection of John Lennon’s “Imagine” for one of the memorial performances.   I wrote this column about “Imagine” back in August 2012:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765597245/John-Lennon-was-wrong-but-right-at-the-same-time.html?pg=all   I haven’t changed my opinion of the song since then.   Posted from Marbella, Spain   Read more

    We’re past Halloween, of course, but this piece (“The Pumpkin”) by the American Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) is directly relevant to Thanksgiving and to the time of harvest.  Please enjoy it:   Oh, greenly and fair in the lands of the sun, The vines of the gourd and the rich melon run, And the rock and the tree and the cottage enfold, With broad leaves all greenness and blossoms all gold, Like that which o’er Nineveh’s prophet... Read more

    Here’s the text of a column that I published in the Deseret News on Thanksgiving Day 2011:   Autumn harvest festivals were and are common across Europe, and, as every American schoolchild once learned, our modern Thanksgiving celebrations descend from a meal shared between Massachusetts Pilgrims and Native Americans in 1621.   It was not until 3 October 1863, however, that a uniform national holiday was established by presidential proclamation. Writing well into the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln declared that... Read more