- rogerdhansen on A Review: Chosen Land: How Christianity Made America and Americans Remade Christianity: “American is not necessarily Christian nation. The native americans were here thousands of years ago. They weren’t Christian. The Europeans brought Christianity. Some assert that the founding fathers were Christian. But many were not. Jefferson edited the NT to takeout the miracles. Many were Unitarian theists. They clearly wanted separation between religion and government. President Oaks wants religious freedom. Freedom from government interference. Others want freedom from religion. A government that is free from religious interference. Theoretically the 2 should be allies. But the bone of contention is social issues. Religion wants a say in areas it has no business being in. And secularists are too strident. Right now the conservative religious right has the edge. An amoral President is pandering the conservatives. He’s stacked the Scotus with political hacks. And has a rubber stamp Congress. Hopefully, the pendulum will swing back. America the beautiful is multicultural.” Mar 16, 10:50
- on Latter-day Saint Where’s Waldo and Stephen Biesty Cross-Sections: “The historian/illustrator David McCaulay published some amazing books that illuminate historical activities and explain how things work: gothic cathedrals, Medieval castles, ancient Rome, etc. They are very enlightening. They demonstrate the power of illustration. Years ago, in college, I was interested in social history. At the time the field was in its infancy. Since that time, a wide variety of fields have expanded our knowledge of how people lived, including archeology, nutrition, engineering, etc. AI will help bring these diverse studies into a coherent whole. And AI illustrations will certainly be an important ingredient in this activity. What did ancient Rome look like What did Medieval London look like. We need to remember that AI is in its infancy. What is possible in the future is pretty unimaginable. We will move past slop.” Mar 16, 06:36
- on What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/8?: “Kent, you are right, I shouldn’t have taken the shot at Elder Packer. He and I had different views of the world, and that’s fine. As an aside, a while back I attended a F&T meeting in Africa. Some nonmember friends wanted to attend with me. I was a little concerned that this would be their first introduction to Mormonism. But I needn’t have worried, they seemed to enjoy the meeting.” Mar 16, 06:02
- on What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/8?: “Roger, why are you posting here a criticism of F&T meeting? I don’t think the OP called for that. You cited Elder Packer, but you don’t tell us what YOU got out of a F&T meeting. Nor do you tell us why you are focusing on what others did wrong, instead of how YOU reacted. Please, complaints about how the meetings work appear in MANY different places. I think everyone has heard them. Instead, we’re asking here about how to take what does happen and get something out of it. It is every bit as much our responsibility to mold what happens into something we benefit from, as it is for the speaker/testifier to provide good material. Elder Packer’s own example suggests this. He talked about speakers who only bring a thimble full of good material AND about audiences that used umbrellas to avoid getting wet. You are complaining about the speaker only bringing a thimble full, and ignoring the question of your umbrella.” Mar 15, 15:28
- on What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 3/8?: “President Packer stated that a testimony should contain 5 things with no storytelling. In fact, Deseret book sold a glove for the Primary kids to remind them of the 5 elements. Sort of the ultimate in Mormon kitsch. The most memorable F&T meeting I attended involved a member grieving over the loss of a grandchild. He filled about 15 minutes. But it didn’t matter. The members felt they were assisting with the grieving process. Storytelling and short doctrinal talks would be interesting. Maybe poetry and musical numbers. As long as the presenter stayed away from politics and the mysteries. A 2-1/2 time limit might be nice. That could be waved in special circumstances. I don’t think the current format for F&T meeting works.” Mar 15, 14:23
- on My Meeting with the Pope: “Nothing like that would ever happen in our church, of course. :)” Mar 14, 20:40
- on My Meeting with the Pope: “There’s definitely a history of people having an audience and then immediately insinuating to the media that the Pope is on their side, wink wink, and I’m sure people abusing audiences like that can get exhausting for the pontiff.” Mar 14, 18:23
- on My Meeting with the Pope: “That is a great picture–tell your coauthor he’s the one who really looks like a missionary. And you got the perfect missionaries-with-a-convert pose. I’m sure Pope Leo appreciates you keeping the discussion private, even though I imagine he was still circumspect just in case. I think it would be fascinating to have an unguarded conversation about law and politics with President Oaks, but I presume that never happens for the same reason.” Mar 14, 17:12
- on B. H. Roberts Beginner’s Guide Update: “Because of the initial free release, I didn’t think that publishers would be interested in it.” Mar 14, 15:20
