-
•
•
24 responses
That may sound like the introduction to a bad joke, but I actually have a serious answer. Read More
-
•
•
30 responses
A favorite perennial topic of discussion is the ever-elusive distinction between church culture and doctrine (or officially sanctioned practice or attitude). Read More
-
•
•
120 responses
So David Archuleta hinted last week that he might not serve an LDS mission. Read More
-
•
•
28 responses
I recently read Terry Eagleton’s After Theory (Basic Books, 2003), in which Eagleton manages (in a very entertaining way) to be critical of just about everything, including fundamentalism and “Utah” (a term he seems to be using as a proxy for Mormonism). He makes an interesting argument about fundamentalism, suggesting that it is rooted in how certain people (“fundamentalists”) read texts. His references to Utah suggest he sees Mormonism as practicing a fundamentalist approach to truth. I think I disagree with both points. Some fundamentalist movements might be based on how certain texts are read, but not all, and Mormons… Read More
-
•
•
12 responses
Comment here on the Notes From All Over for the past week. Read More
-
•
•
83 responses
This month’s Ensign contains a talk by Elder Douglas L Callister of the Seventy (a slightly edited reprint of a prior talk, actually) titled, “Our Refined Heavenly Home.” Some thoughts on reading over the talk: Read More
-
•
•
39 responses
It’s been a good week for the gay rights movement. Read More
-
•
•
10 responses
The historical grandeur of Islamic intellectual achievement has been both a blessing and a burden for modern Muslims. There is, on the one hand, a great and justified sense of pride in the accomplishments of the giants of the tradition—the Sibawaihs, Ibn Sinas, Ibn Haythams, and Al-Ghazalis. Read More
-
•
•
134 responses
The Sotomayor nomination has put the strangest ideas into circulation. The latest rallying cry is that — brace yourself — she is a judge who might have empathy. Oh, no! This is apparently a very bad thing. Read More
-
•
•
40 responses
I was in Mozambique. I felt safe. Read More
-
•
•
34 responses
Comment here on the Notes From All Over for the past week. Read More
-
•
•
8 responses
A website with answers. That’s what Time Magazine calls the new religion website Patheos.com in “What Do Religions Believe? A Website with Answers.” The Time article describes the new site as one “that sets out to explain the differences among religions as well as illuminate the areas of common ground.” Just today the site unveiled its Mormon Gateway section, a menu of resources designed to complement the more detailed information presented in the Library section of the site. Read More
-
•
•
13 responses
I learned earlier this week that the Church College of New Zealand is scheduled to close later this year, at the end of a 3-year-long process announced in June of 2006. What caught my attention, however, was a news report on opposition to the Church’s plan to dismantle the buildings that made up the school. Read More
-
•
•
8 responses
Although Moroni was anxious about the Nephites’ “weakness in writing,” he does note that the Nephites were able to “speak much,” and that their spoken words were “powerful and great” (see Ether 12:23–27). Read More
-
•
•
58 responses
When my wife and I talked with our missionary son recently, he said he was glad to be in Carson City, Nevada, instead of Las Vegas. When I asked why, he said: Gated Communities. Read More
-
•
•
20 responses
Here is the last installment of our 12 Questions with Marvin Perkins, comprised of Brother Perkins’ responses to our last two questions. We’d like to thank Brother Perkins for the time and effort he’s put in to giving us a set of very substantive and thought-provoking responses. Read More
-
•
•
16 responses
The Pew study has this awesome little database for comparing religious groups. Check it out. Did you know 7% of Mormons are Hispanic and 22% are Democrat or lean Democrat? And only 44% of Mormon adults are men? We need affirmative action!! Read More
-
•
•
19 responses
Comment here on the Notes From All Over for the past week. Read More
-
•
•
3 responses
Here is Part Three of our 12 Questions with Marvin Perkins, comprised of Brother Perkins’ responses to our next five questions. See Parts One, Two, and Four for our introduction of Brother Perkins and his responses to our other questions. Read More
-
•
•
20 responses
The LDS Church’s Chief Information Officer, Joel Dehlin, called for help Wednesday in a post titled Mormon Open Source Open for Business. The project seeks help with a number of LDS Church projects, including, first on the list, a rewrite of the software that runs the Stake and Ward Websites. Read More
-
•
•
14 responses
My paternal grandfather, Marc Ricks, is 98 years old. He was born in September 1910, just a few months after President Hinckley. Read More
-
•
•
54 responses
It’s not easy being a theologian in the 21st century. One of the main reasons is that science provides credible, non-theistic explanations for many of those “where did we come from?” questions that religion once had all to itself. Evolution seems to pose a particular challenge. John Haught, a professor of theology at Georgetown, tries to tackle the problem head-on in his book God After Darwin: A Theology of Evolution (Westview, 2000). Read More
-
•
•
10 responses
Here is Part Two of our 12 Questions with Marvin Perkins, comprised of Brother Perkins’ responses to our next four questions. See Parts One, Three and Four for our introduction of Brother Perkins and his responses to our other questions. Read More
-
•
•
73 responses
In General Conference of April 2009, Elder Russell M. Nelson reminded us: Read More
-
•
•
51 responses
Comment here on the Notes From All Over for the past week. Read More
-
•
•
18 responses
After reading the post from a couple days ago about optimal tithing rates, I started to think about some of the unanswered questions that have come to mind while I’ve been playing Brick Breaker in Elder’s Quorum pondering the mysteries of the Gospel. It seems like this audience might be able to offer some differing perspectives on these conundrums that, up to now, have kept me at a loss. A lot of you seem to be much smarter than I am. Have at them. Read More
-
•
•
46 responses
A recent DNA study has gotten some attention, both on our sidebar and in a post by J. Nelson-Seawright at By Common Consent. The Mormon question that inevitably comes up from such a study is does it cast any light on the question of whether Lehi really landed in the Americas long ago? J. Nelson-Seawright discusses some possible ramifications if the study (or ones like it) do matter. Let me make clear that, for those who think Lehi landed in an already populated America, this study is basically irrelevant. Read More
-
•
•
57 responses
Yettaw, who is Mormon according to several news reports, is now in detention in a Burmese jail. Worse, he has managed to get Burma‘s Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was nearing the end of house arrest under a 6-year sentence, arrested also. Read More