Defense of Truth

The scientific process of hypothesis testing and experimentation to arrive at knowledge describes exactly the process of faith building, because faith is "the evidence of things not seen". Atheists and the like interpret Paul's words to mean somehow blind belief stands in for evidence, but that's just backwards from his plain meaning. The thing is that in this world there are some things so difficult to prove fully, even though there's plenty of evidence for them, that people can go a long way in their ongoing process of faithful experimentation before they are brought to a point where the evidence no longer supports their hypothesis. I daresay the vast majority of humankind has died without understanding basic truths about God, about His requirements for Celestial life, etc. LDS doctrine makes room for these. The Book of Mormon conceives of life as a testing period, just as the Bible obviously does. And it talks plainly of a waiting place, a time between death a...

Part of my creed as a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (nicknamed the Mormons ) came as a response of founding prophet Joseph Smith to a journalist who was essentially asking what made us different. The text goes as follows: "We claim the privilege of worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men [sic] the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may." I've had this eleventh verse in a series now known as the thirteen Articles of Faith memorized since I was about 10 years old, and still regard it as a profound and profoundly tolerant moral code for how I should regard the deeply held beliefs of others. This does not mean that I should not use all the persuasive powers I can muster to bring those with false beliefs into a knowledge of a true basis for judgment--this was the essence of my reason for volunteering to serve a two-year mission in the Côte d'Ivoire as I did--bu...

We pause our current series on "The Mormons" to write briefly about a truth and a core principle based in religious thought, but bearing more directly on the political. It's time to make some quick notes on liberty. The American founding fathers conceived that all men (and I will not hesitate to correct: all human beings ) are created equal. When you consider the diversity of talents, abilities, height, weight, growth, intelligences (While there are obvious problems with Gardner's theory and taxonomy of "multiple intelligences" per this , it makes intuitive conceptual sense to use the concept as a tool as explained briefly here ), socio-historical economic circumstances, etc. it's patently absurd to believe this equality is an equality of result, or even an equality of opportunity (since the very diversity of natures and contexts we're discussing here constrain the nature of each opportunity differently), but rather an equality of treatment before an...