![\"Oakland](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/09\/022srUSGSCyprusVia.jpg\")
<\/a>(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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First, though, a thought about earthquakes and divine providence.\u00a0 I submitted this column to Meridian<\/em> way back on 27 February, and I had to re-read it this morning to see whether I still agreed with it.\u00a0 (I do.)\u00a0 I\u2019m grateful that it has finally appeared:<\/p>\n \u201cA Purpose in Life\u2019s Earthquakes\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n No other planet in our solar system has plate tectonics, which seems to be unique to Earth.\u00a0 Other planets\u2014exoplanets\u2014revolving around other stars may possess similar geology but, if so, we haven\u2019t found them. But why might plate tectonics, and specifically subduction, be vital for life on Earth?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I\u2019m indebted to Bart Kowallis<\/a>, whom I\u2019ve known since we were on the same freshman dormitory floor at Brigham Young University prior to our missions, for his willingness to read the essay through before I submitted it.\u00a0 He\u2019s not to be blamed for any surviving errors in the column, of course, but I wanted to be sure that I had committed no egregious or crippling scientific errors.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n An important case with implications for religious liberty is currently before the Supreme Court of the United States.\u00a0 Here are two links regarding the matter:<\/p>\n \u201cWhat the Supreme Court said Tuesday about working on the Sabbath: In its Sabbath case, the Supreme Court can clarify a confusing ruling from 1977. But at what cost?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAnother key test for religious liberty\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n A large number of outside individuals and groups have filed separate amici curiae<\/em> (\u201cfriends of the court\u201d) briefs in this case.\u00a0 If you would like to read the brief\u00a0 in support of the petitioner, Gerald E. Groff,\u00a0 that was jointly filed with the Supreme Court of the United States by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Anti-Defamation League, it is available here:\u00a0 No. 22-174 In the Supreme Court of the United States <\/a>\u00a0 A quotation from the Prophet Joseph Smith is apropos<\/em> here.\u00a0 He uses the term priests<\/em>, of course, simply to refer to clergy of other faiths:<\/p>\n Priests cry out concerning me and ask \u201cwhy is it this babbler gains so many followers, and retains them\u201d? I answer, it is because I possess the principle of love, all I can offer the world is a good heart and a good hand. The Saints can testify whether I am willing to lay down my life for my brethren. If it has been demonstrated that I have been willing to die for a Mormon, I am bold to declare before heaven that I am just as ready to die in defending the rights of a Presbyterian, a Baptist or a good man of any other denomination; for the same principle which would trample upon the rights of the Latter day Saints would trample upon the rights of the Roman Catholics\u200b or of any other denomination who may be unpopular and too weak to defend themselves. It is a love of liberty which inspires my Soul, civil and religious liberty to the whole of the human race, love of liberty was diffused into my Soul by my grandfathers, while they dandled me on their knees; and shall I want friends?\u00a0No<\/span>.<\/p>\n (Joseph Smith, Jr., History of the Church<\/em> 5:498, 9 July 1843, slightly less than a year before he and his brother Hyrum were assassinated by an anti-Mormon mob in Carthage, Illinois)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Which reminds me very much of this:<\/p>\n \u201cA recent religious poll highlights a unique Latter-day Saint quality we can be proud of: A phenomenon highlighted in a recent Pew survey could be a sign that Latter-day Saints are trying to be kind and nonjudgmental to those around them.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n In a recent tweet<\/a>, McKay Coppins, a Latter-day Saint writer at The Atlantic<\/em>, commented as follows:A fascinating (and kind of hilarious) finding in this Pew survey: Mormons<\/a> are among the least popular religious groups in America. They are also the only group that expresses a net favorable opinion of *every other group,* including Muslims and atheists. <\/span>https:\/\/<\/span>pewresearch.org\/religion\/2023\/03\/15\/americans-feel-more-positive-than-negative-about-jews-mainline-protestants-catholics\/<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Or, as he summarizes it, \u201cYou probably don\u2019t like us, but we like you!\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A new entry has appeared on the unfortunately necessary Neville-Neville Land<\/em> blog:<\/p>\n \u201cJonathan Neville tried to blackmail me\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n I\u2019m disappointed by the \u201cpersonal\u201d turn that things have now taken.\u00a0 Of course, it\u2019s always<\/em> been \u201cpersonal\u201d in a sense<\/em>.\u00a0 As I\u2019ve tried to say on multiple prior occasions, I\u2019m quite unconcerned by \u201cHeartland\u201d geographical models for the Book of Mormon.\u00a0 I\u2019m not persuaded by them, but I\u2019m not especially upset that not a few others are<\/em> persuaded.\u00a0 What concerns me is the tendency of some \u201cHeartlanders\u201d to regard Book of Mormon geography as a central doctrine of the Gospel and, accordingly, to cast public doubt on the loyalty to the Church, the Restoration, and the Gospel of those who publicly affirm views that differ from theirs.\u00a0 That\u2019s why, alas, I\u2019ve found the Neville-Neville Land<\/em> blog \u201cnecessary.\u201d\u00a0 It chronicles such poor and inappropriate behavior.\u00a0 And now I\u2019m further dismayed by the gleeful willingness of at least two zealous \u201cHeartlander\u201d advocates to make common cause with avowed, vocal critics the Church, the Restoration, and the Gospel against those whose views on Book of Mormon geography fail to toe the \u201cHeartland\u201d line.<\/p>\n This new kerfuffle strikes me as a tempest in the proverbial teapot.\u00a0\u00a0As Gertrude Stein once wrote about Oakland, California, where she grew up, \u201cthere\u2019s no there there.\u201d\u00a0 Especially bemusing to me is the central role in it that is now being assigned to me both by Mr. Jonathan Neville and by my Malevolent Stalker and his epigones.\u00a0 I\u2019m so peripheral to this story, as intrinsically insignificant as it is, that one would need a high-powered telescope even to see<\/em> me from the periphery.<\/p>\n The operating principle over at the Peterson Obsession Board and in its suburbs, however, seems to taken from their revision of Amos 3:6:\u00a0 \u201cShall there be evil in a city, and Daniel Peterson hath not done it?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>
(Howard Chandler Christy, 1939)\u00a0 (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/a>