Dave's Mormon Inquiry

Teaching Evolution

At Mormon Insights, a post on the do's and don'ts of teaching evolution to college students.

The author:

I am a happy and content Latter-day Saint who teaches evolution at a non-LDS university. In fact, I have taught evolution in various forums and institutions for 30 years.

The Latest Pew Survey: Losing Your Religion

Lots of stories on the latest Pew Forum survey, "Faith in Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S." Here is the first paragraph from the summary prepared by Pew:

Americans change religious affiliation early and often. In total, about half of American adults have changed religious affiliation at least once during their lives. Most people who change their religion leave their childhood faith before age 24, and many of those who change religion do so more than once.

The Future of Religious Liberty

Does it have a future? Some people view religious liberty as a civil and constitutional right; increasingly, others see it as a problem to be dealt with. The Mirror of Justice post "Securing Religious Liberty in an Age of Growing Intolerance" is a short reflection on what this means for the future of religious liberty.

Dickens on the Mormons

In the Saturday afternoon session of the recent LDS General Conference, Elder Quentin L. Cook, one of the newer members of the Quorum of the Twelve, related a fascinating vignette concerning Charles Dickens as part of his address ("Our Father's Plan—Big Enough For All His Children"). Here is the vignette in its entirety.

What's Wrong With Deseret Book

At the Salt Lake Tribune: "Deseret Book demotes Twilight." "Demote" means that neither Twilight nor the other volumes in the megaselling series by LDS author Stephanie Meyer are now available at Deseret Book stores or even at their online site. Here's the inane company statement provided in respose to questions about the move:

Like any retailer, our purpose is to offer products that are embraced and expected by our customers. When we find products that are met with mixed review, we typically move them to special order status.

Originally posted with comments at Beliefnet.

I've Seen All Good People

We know there are good times and bad times, but are there good people and bad people? Common sense says yes, as does virtue ethics, a branch of philosophical ethics that attempts to identify virtues worth having and tell good people how to get them. Alas, the story is not quite so simple.

Nope, Not a Cult

John Mark Reynolds posted "On America, land of cults," leading off with this provocative statement: "An American cult is what happens when radical individualism meets religion and philosophy." I was expecting the usual treatment when he got around to the Mormons, but was pleasantly surprised to read the following later in the post.

Does Blogging Make You a Better Person?

Does it further the philosophical (or ethical or religious) goal of promoting human flourishing? Have you learned anything? Or is it just a waste of time? These questions come up for discussion from time to time, most recently in light of remarks at LDS General Conference (reviewed in this Nine Moons post) suggesting blogging is a distraction from more important things (which would probably include just about anything except playing video games or watching television). Nine Moons disagrees, and suggests this defense (of blogging, not gaming): "I'm doing a great work and cannot come down."

The Mormon Sort

After seeing a reference or two, I noticed a copy of The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart at the library and gave it a quick read. The thesis is simple: increased income and mobility over the last five decades has enabled Americans to self-sort geographically into communities surrounded by people they are most comfortable with, namely people like themselves.

A Minister Speaks to Mormonism, Faith, and Logic

A Disciples of Christ minister with an LDS girlfriend posting at an LDS group blog: "Faith and Logic: Finding and Navigating an Individual Balance." The short summary: personal religious experience is good, but so is clear thinking; temper your sense of certainty with open discussion and listening.