Dale Morgan, 1914-1971. Lowell Dale Morgan (who commonly went by simply Dale Morgan) was an American historian (and former Mormon) who influenced such authors as Juanita Brooks and Fawn Brodie. Morgan left behind an interesting collection of personal letters and correspondences that has been published by Signature Books. In reading through his letters, I was struck … Read more
This quote from Andrew Steane is insightful. Atheists fear that theism is oppressive because it sets an all-powerful judge over us. Obviously, all good things can be abused, but theism is not oppressive when it connects God profoundly to weakness, not power when it comes to personal relationships. It does include judgement, because caring about … Read more
Below is the link to my latest article with the Student Review. Link. I had to be objective and impartial in my reporting for the Student Review. Now that I’m on my blog, however, I get to be opinionated. 1. I thought the panel discussion was largely a disaster. The original intent of the panel … Read more
As reported by Allen Wyatt, the ex-Mormon “mass resignation” event this morning seems to have been a flop. It appears that a whopping . . . 34 people resigned their membership. By contrast, 2013 saw 282,945 convert baptisms. (Link) This is not to make light of these individuals’ unfortunate decision to leave the Church. I hope … Read more
At least according to this press release they will. I generally don’t like promoting stuff from brazen atheist activists like David Silverman, but I really just wanted an excuse to post the image above. (For those who don’t know the reference, it’s from Futurama, one of my favorite animated shows.) I also wanted to draw … Read more
Elder Dallin H. Oaks (b. 1932). Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles recently gave a devotional at Brigham Young University–Idaho on the subject of atheism and secular humanism. Elder Oaks’ comments are topical, as many recent polls have noted growing trends of irreligion (especially among those of my own generation) … Read more
The Creation of Adam (1512) by Michelangelo. In an episode of Family Guy (“Road to the Multiverse”), Stewie and Brian go into a parallel universe where Christianity never existed. Because Christianity and its attending superstitions never existed in this alternate universe, the gag runs, civilization was able to progress more rapidly, so when Stewie and Brian … Read more
Thomas Nagel (b. 1937). I have not yet had a chance to read Thomas Nagel’s recent book Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False (Oxford University Press, 2012). However, given the negative reaction of some outspoken atheistic materialists to the book, as chronicled by Andrew Ferguson at The … Read more