Dave's Mormon Inquiry

The Fate of the Earth

Where did our planet come from? Why is it here (with us, conscious intelligent beings, on it)? Where and how is it going to end? These interesting questions (I've massaged them a bit) are discussed in John Gribbin's Alone in the Universe: Why Our Planet Is Unique (John Wiley and Sons, 2011). Other authors have discussed the same general topic, but Gribben does the best job I've seen of reviewing the many ways in which Earth seems so terribly well positioned to favor the origin and development of life.

Sports as Religious Experience

That's where two talented philosophers, Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrance Kelly, end up when they consider All Things Shining: Reading the Western Classics to Find Meaning in a Secular Age (Free Press, 2011). It's the communal experience of being swept up with the crowd in dramatic moments or of sharing with the onlooking crowd a remarkable moment of peak performance that the authors are embracing:

One of the Newer Churches

The Jedi Church, discussed in a recent post at Get Religion, which recounted the founder's difficulties at a British supermarket when he would not remove his Jedi hood. They have a website, but it doesn't appear there are any brick-and-mortar facilities where you could attend ... Jedi worship.

Life on the Fringe

I've seen several links but no discussion of the Slate piece on the hypothetical future role of Mormons, "The Catholic Church helped preserve Roman civilization. Can Mormonism do the same for America?" It's part of an eight-part series on the theme How is America going to end? by a Slate senior editor.