Watching a special about Christopher Columbus a few weeks ago, I was struck by the importance of names. What a place is named – who decides what something gets to be named. In Christopher Columbus’ case, he renamed places that already had names – giving them European names. Some of…
Ken Jennings interviewed by “friendly atheist” Hemant Mehta
Be sure to check out this fabulous interview! My favorite highlights:
Atheist pride . . .?
Normally I hate it when I see atheism accused of being just another religion (or worse: just another faith) because of, well, the usual “is bald a hair color?” (or “Is ‘not collecting stamps’ a hobby?”) argument that I won’t waste your time repeating here today. Yet I was perversely…
Mormon Politics Time Out?
Mark Brown would probably like George Orwell’s aphorism: “To see what is in front of our nose requires a constant struggle.” In the wake of Harry Reid’s speech at BYU, ‘naclers have been struggling with the role of politics in our religion.
Church to Privatize, Switch to “Managed Faith”
LDS Church officials announced today that the church is beginning a transition to a privately held corporation in hopes of more efficient and profitable operations. Church spokesman John LeFever explained, “In today’s world of rising testimony-care costs, we felt that it was in the best interests of the church and…
Should the LDS church “raise the bar” to exclude liberals and NOMs?
We got an interesting comment from Remeny the other day regarding the ‘Naclers (including us) who have criticized President Beck’s talk: The church has raised the bar for missionaries to serve. Since then the number of missionaries have decreased, but the quality of missionary has increased. So it should be…
Be careful what you wish for…
Tuesday’s rehearsal passed like the previous Thursday’s, with no particularly special attention from Walter. I was getting desperate and felt like I had to do something. Read the rest of the story »
Let the Healing Begin
I saw a movie yesterday. No, it wasn’t September Dawn. It was a little indie film by film maker Brian Patrick called Burying the Past: Legacy of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. I wasn’t prepared for the emotion it evoked in me. I wasn’t prepared for the rage. I wasn’t prepared…
New Joseph Smith Manual
A new Melchizedek Priesthood/Relief Society lesson manual is available on lds.org: Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith. I skimmed through it and didn’t find anything unusual. For example, it only mentions the 1838 account of the first vision and avoids discussion of Joseph’s polygamous marriages. It’s more of…
Children — not possessions, not position, not prestige — are our greatest status symbols
OK, I know I probably shouldn’t be posting my own personal complaint about the talk that has already been deconstructed all over the Bloggernacle. But all this debate over career vs. getting your whites whiter than white seems to have missed what (to me) was the most disturbing thing in…