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Category: News and Politics
Politics – Current Events – Media
What I Found Interesting and Unusual in the Pew Report
For Pioneer Day, the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religious & Public Life released its report on Mormonism, based on responses to its 2007 Religious Landscape Survey. I was surprised that the initial coverage was so mundane, but when I read the report, so many details were fascinating!
Notes From All Over For Week Ended July 25
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Notes From All Over For Week Ended July 18
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The Question of Pacifism
I’m not, by nature, a pacifist.
Notes From All Over For Week Ended July 11
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Notes From All Over For Week Ended July 4
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Explaining the Puzzle of Cross-State Differences in Bankruptcy Rates
Bankruptcy rates vary alot across states. With a fairly simple statistical model, Lars Lefgren and I explain about 70% of these differences in a paper just published in the Journal of Law and Economics. For cross sectional work using survey data, where you are looking across states at a point in time, explaining 70% is pretty darn impressive.
Morality Polling
Suppose you take a “wisdom of the crowds” approach to morality (not that you should). Well then what could be more informative than a poll telling you what actions are morally wrong and what aren’t? Enter Gallup’s recent poll… Tip: Adultery is still wrong. Polygamy also out.
Notes From All Over – through June 27
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Notes From All Over – through June 20
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Notes from All Over – through June 14
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Where Will National Mormon Politicians Come From?
That may sound like the introduction to a bad joke, but I actually have a serious answer.
Notes from All Over – through June 7
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Live Free or Die
It’s been a good week for the gay rights movement.
Political Sentiments and Religious Sentiments
My own politics ocillate between liberalism (in the grand historical sense) and conservatism.
Whenever did empathy become a bad thing?
The Sotomayor nomination has put the strangest ideas into circulation. The latest rallying cry is that — brace yourself — she is a judge who might have empathy. Oh, no! This is apparently a very bad thing.
Safety in Mozambique and Elsewhere
I was in Mozambique. I felt safe.
Notes From All Over – thru May 24
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In the Eye of the Beholder
I learned earlier this week that the Church College of New Zealand is scheduled to close later this year, at the end of a 3-year-long process announced in June of 2006. What caught my attention, however, was a news report on opposition to the Church’s plan to dismantle the buildings that made up the school.
Are Gated Communities Moral?
When my wife and I talked with our missionary son recently, he said he was glad to be in Carson City, Nevada, instead of Las Vegas. When I asked why, he said: Gated Communities.
Notes From All Over – thru May 24
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KBYU in Danger of Being Stripped of PBS Affiliation
According to a Washington Post article set to appear in tomorrow’s paper, KBYU may be in serious danger of losing its PBS affiliation if it continues to air Latter-day Saint devotionals and other religious programming.
Uber-Deep and Important Doctrinal Questions
After reading the post from a couple days ago about optimal tithing rates, I started to think about some of the unanswered questions that have come to mind while I’ve been playing Brick Breaker in Elder’s Quorum pondering the mysteries of the Gospel. It seems like this audience might be able to offer some differing perspectives on these conundrums that, up to now, have kept me at a loss. A lot of you seem to be much smarter than I am. Have at them.
Anyone Know John William Yettaw?
Yettaw, who is Mormon according to several news reports, is now in detention in a Burmese jail. Worse, he has managed to get Burma‘s Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was nearing the end of house arrest under a 6-year sentence, arrested also.
Notes From All Over – for week ended May 9
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Protest Temples
Its only been a problem once, but we didn’t expect our Temple to be like this.
Obama’s Mom, Holocaust Survivors and Proxy Temple Work
The Mormon practice of proxy ordinance work has once again made its way into the news, this time involving someone no less prominent than our U.S. President’s late mother.
When Should the News Mention Religious Affiliation?
When I was a youth (pre-1978), a magazine article about the Church hit the newsstands in Washington D.C., and we, local members, were ecstatic with what we considered great coverage of the Church. So I was very surprised at the negative reaction of the missionaries in our ward. It seems that the article had a few negative things to say that we thought were minor (and accurate), and the missionaries felt were major derogatory statements that put the Church in a bad light. While the situation isn’t the same, I read a similar reaction yesterday, objecting to the mention in news articles of someone’s religion. In this case it is one I don’t agree with.
Notes From All Over — for Week Ended 2 May
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