Category: News and Politics

  • Evans Political Bull-Bear Indicator: August 2007

    Matt Evans

    The people who bet money on their ability to predict political events are bullish on Mitt Romney.

  • Mormonism and Pluralism

    Ben Huff

    Mormonism and Pluralism In the U.S. today, many people are wary of religion because they feel it often supports a kind of intolerance. Mitt Romney’s presidential candidacy provides an interesting case study on the relationship between faith and pluralism. On the one hand, we see clear examples of religious intolerance from people like Bill Keller.…

  • What if . . . ?

    Jim F.

    What if I didn’t believe in God? Would I still be a Mormon?

  • Markets and Consumer Activism

    Frank McIntyre

    With fair regularity, one hears someone talking of efforts to buy less of some commercial product, either out of a desire for global conservation or because he doesn’t like how it is produced or whatever. Invariably, he comments that his own effect on the market is small, but he wishes to “send a message” or…

  • The ordinary

    Jim F.

    However well we do in school or our jobs or in our church callings or in any endeavor, most of our lives are and will be ordinary.

  • Making Money off the Mormons: Sacrament Butt-pads

    Michael McBride

    When I was a senior in college, I worked at Seagull Book and Tape, an LDS book and trinket store across the street from the LA Temple. (The pay was lousy, but working with books was fun. So it turned out to be a decent job.) I was amazed by all the stuff that Mormons…

  • Movie Review: An Inconvenient Truth

    Julie M. Smith

    A review in four parts:

  • O Jerusalem, Jerusalem

    Patrick Mason

    My wife and I were in Jerusalem for a week in March. Below are some thoughts on the city, its religious heritage, and the current conflict.

  • How perfect a union?

    Ben Huff

    Are the United States substantially a moral union–a union on moral questions? This question has bearing on what belongs in the Constitution.

  • The Real Danger?

    John Fowles

    [NOTE: After initially posting this, I soon removed it because I was made aware that it was unnecessarily divisive. This was not my intent. However, I am putting it back up, unaltered, in the interest of debate. Additionally, one commenter pointed out that it was unfair to delete the post after people had commented, something…

  • Tomorrow morning, at 2 AM

    John David Payne

    Once a year, after enduring a grueling six hours of church in one day, I lay down to sleep knowing that during the wee hours of the night I will be robbed of one whole hour. It is time to forever abolish Daylight Saving Time.

  • Defining terrorism

    John David Payne

    By request, this morning I am going to talk about defining terrorism. The first important thing you need to realize is that there is no single widely accepted definition, either in academia or in the policy world. Everyone uses their own. So we’re going to talk about how you can build your own definition of…

  • Infertility

    A A A A A A A

    Infertility is a huge topic, as large in its own way as the topic of birth control. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to do it justice. I fully recognize that this can be an extremely sensitive issue for couples for many reasons. I absolutely do not judge any patients for making choices in dealing…

  • Postfertilization effects of birth control methods

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    In considering options of which birth control method to use, couples have a variety of factors that they may consider.

  • Embryonic stem cell research

    A A A A A A A

    The issue of embryonic stem cells has been discussed in this forum before, here, here and here. Ongoing current events, however, make this issue salient for another examination.

  • Mormonsploitation!!

    Greg Call

    That is the name of a film series currently going on at the Pioneer Theater in Manhattan’s East Village.

  • Go See “States of Grace”!

    Ben Huff

    Dutcher captures the wrenching beauty of the struggle to follow Christ. “States of Grace: God’s Army 2” is really good. Go.

  • Someone’s got it in for me, they’re planting stories in the press

    Frank McIntyre

    I see that Slate now puts the odds of Harriet Miers confirmation at 70%. Silly Slate, don’t they know that niche is taken? As I’ve mentioned before, the best bet, literally, is to follow the gamblers. And as of press time, they are betting that Miers has a 3 in 10 chance of making it…

  • Anne comes home

    Frank McIntyre

    I read and enjoyed Orson Scott Card’s book Sarah. In fact, that book sparked an interest in me to find out more about what exactly we knew of ancient times, both New and Old World.

  • Health Care: What to Do?

    Julie M. Smith

    This from a new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research Educational Trust: “The average cost of health insurance for a family of four has soared past $10,800 — exceeding the annual income of a minimum-wage earner, according to a survey released Wednesday.”

  • Blood on the Doorposts

    Julie M. Smith

    Let’s call her Sister Jones. We both taught seminary in Northern California a few years ago. I liked her from day one: faithful, funny, and willing to lend out anything from her complete collection of Sunstone back issues. (This was in the days before full Internet access, you see.)

  • The 12th Article of Faith and East Germany

    Kirsten M. Christensen

    “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.” This statement of our belief never troubled me until I lived in the German Democratic Republic, otherwise known as East Germany.

  • I Shall Be Free

    Frank McIntyre

    I got my bill today and it turns out that there really is something cheaper than a Germanist these days.

  • A Beautiful Place

    Ben Huff

    This week I spent a few days in Nauvoo, the last place the Latter-day Saints tried to build a temple before being forced to leave the United States.

  • An Experiment in Blog Discussion

    Jim F.

    One thing usually missing from discussion on this blog and, from what I have seen, all others, is extended, thoughtful discussion.

  • Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Bob Dylan

    Greg Call

    Bob Dylan’s Chronicles, published last year, is not so much a memoir or autobiography, but rather a series of snapshots, each drenched in cultural references, that together create a approximation of Mr. Zimmerman’s character. One of those snapshots gives us Dylan living in an apartment in Greenwich Village owned by a mysterious autodidact named Ray.…

  • Mormons and Markets, III: Strangers and Neighbors

    Nate Oman

    In my last post on this subject, I argued that one of things that markets do well is coordinate dispersed information. Another thing that markets do fairly well is facilitate cooperation among strangers. This is worth thinking about.

  • Fat Makes a Comeback

    Frank McIntyre

    The CDC is airing its dirty laundry this week, as a new report comes out claiming that last year’s CDC report on obesity is basically hogwash. In the old numbers, obesity was this bomb descending on America that was going to wipe us out. It claimed that obesity caused 400,000 deaths/year, making it the number…

  • Macrocosm and Microcosm

    Nate Oman

    Every so often, I have one of those horrifying little experiences that leads me to question my firmly held belief that most of Freud’s thought is utter nonsense.

  • Getting Down to Brass Tacks: Right to Life, State Responsibility, Family Input

    Kaimi Wenger

    Despite John Welch’s admirable asserted desire to keep the Schiavo thread on the topic of “what does LDS theology tell us about end of life care options?,” much of the discussion has predictably become a political slugfest. So be it. However, it hasn’t been, in my mind, a particularly useful political discussion. And a primary…