Monuments to the Faith
For a long time in the U.S. there has been a battle between people who want to be able to display religious symbols, particularly the Ten Commandments, on government property (such as city parks, government buildings, etc.) and those who think the First Amendment prohibits such things. Christians who want vehemently to display the Ten [...]
The True Mirror of Our Doctrine
The conduct of our lives is the true mirror of our doctrine. – Montaigne
The other day I saw a news article that said that Glenn Beck, a nationally-syndicated political talk show host who also has a TV show, a man who has millions of listeners/viewers, told them that if their churches mentioned “social justice” or [...]
The True Believer by Eric Hoffer; book review
I recently read for the third time a book I was introduced to in PoliSci 101 as an extra credit assignment. In the past, to me The True Believer; Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer was an interesting theoretical book about sociology, based on observations of the past. This time, its [...]
Watch your tongue
As any English-speaker who has learned a Romance language knows, there are a lot of cognates, both true and false, between English and Romance languages. A cognate is a word that resembles its counterpart in another language. For example, even if you don’t speak Spanish, you can probably guess the meaning of the [...]
“Resurrection” by Leo Tolstoy – Book Review
Tolstoy’s very readable tale of Prince Dmitry Ivanich Nekhlyudov, a man humbled by the results of his past sins and attempting to right wrongs and redeem himself, is a timeless criticism of human attempts at civilization and self-rule. In the process of the story, Tolstoy skewers high society, the church, the government, the military, [...]
This Land is Whose Land?
How many times have we read Christ’s parable of the vineyard and assumed its application is long in the past? It’s easy to interpret as the history of the Jews, who were given the Abrahamic Covenant but then failed in their stewardship by rejecting the prophets and ultimately killing the Master’s Son.
But [...]
An Explanation of Mormons’ Support of Proposition 8
I’m no theologian nor do I speak for the LDS Church, but I would like to lay out the doctrinal reasons I think the Church supported a ban on homosexual marriage under Proposition 8 in California. I will try to cite as much as possible from the Church’s publications, primarily from chapters 2 and [...]
America’s Religion of Wealth
In the New Testament, there are two occurrences of the word wealth: a silversmith of Ephesus said to his fellow idol-makers “. . . ye know that by this craft we have our wealth” (Acts 19:25); and from Paul to the Corinthians, “Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth” (1 Cor [...]
American Messianism
In his book The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Eric Hoffer gives various reasons why people join mass movements. Most have to do with the believer’s desire that the movement absorb and absolve his unworthiness into a higher cause. As James said, “he which converteth the sinner from the [...]
“Over-Zealous to Inherit”
In the book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon, a man named Zeniff wanted to reclaim the “land of [his people’s] fathers’ first inheritance,” at his time occupied by an enemy people. Looking back on his decision years later after he had led his people into a trap that locked them into a [...]