Sunstone has announced all the pertinent details on the upcoming 2005 Northwest Sunstone Symposium, which will be held in Seattle on October 15.

As is typical of regional Sunstone symposia, there are a smaller number of papers and the event lasts only a day. But lunch is available (hint: go with the American hero).

Here are two sessions that caught my eye: (more…)

There’s an interesting new study out suggesting that Societies are worse off ‘when they have God on their side’. Why might that be? I suspect that the study will be controversial. And it may be refined. (i.e. what other things are going on that may correlate stronger) However it often does seem that religious communities want to pretend that problems aren’t present that are. Or worse hide problems rather than dealing with them so as to make it appear they are outwardly religious. It was a problem oft mentioned in the New Testament and I suspect is a problem all peoples face.

Yesterday, Doug Fabrizio had Werner Fornos, President of the Population Institute, as a guest on his show on Radio West to talk about the “problem” of overpopulation in lesser developed countries (LDCs). The new euphemism of “responsible family planning” was a main focus of the show, which lamented, among other things, the fact that the Pope won’t “take responsibility” any time soon to teach people in LDCs that they should be using birth control to limit their number. Brazil, however, was praised in the show because it has the highest rate of birth control for any “Catholic” country. (more…)

Journalists are so enamoured of the Scopes trial that they just keep rewriting the story everytime evolution and religion show up in court. The latest reenactment is just getting underway in a Pennsylvania courtroom. Biologists just don’t seem to get any respect outside the classroom; the adversarial drama of the courtroom is their fight for vindication. Likewise, the ID proponents, who just can’t get mainstream biologists to take them seriously, see the courtroom as their chance to squeeze some legitimacy from one of the few public institutions that is forced to consider the merits of their position. Anyone’s guess whether the gospel of biology will defeat the gospel of creationism in this round of the ongoing struggle for the hearts and minds of young biology students.

Welcome back, fair denizens of the Bloggernacle.

We are still stretching our legs, getting back into the familiar patterns of blogging, ranting and raving about SSM and other topics. Good to see that the ‘Nacle has been industrious and has already begun its fall madness.

On to the show! (more…)

This week provides Utahns, or anyone planning to visit Utah, some prime opportunities to hobnob with some leading lights among Mormon historians.

First, on Wednesday, September 28th, Edward L. Kimball, author of the newly published Lengthen Your Stride: The Presidency of Spencer W. Kimball, will speak at the University of Utah from 7-8 p.m. in the library’s Gould Auditorium. A Q&A with the audience will follow the presentation. More information is available here.

Second, on Saturday, October 1, Richard L. Bushman, author of the brand new biography Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, will be signing copies of his book from noon to 2 p.m. at the ZCMI Deseret Book. It’s scheduled to allow General Conference goers a chance to slip into the store between the morning and afternoon Saturday sessions. (The ZCMI Deseret Book event calendar also lists a Bushman signing on October 27.) The appearance of Bushman’s biography comes nearly sixty years after the publication of Fawn Brodie’s No Man Knows My History, which remains in print.