Conservatives seem to have a problem: we don’t make it easy for others to admit we are right. Of course, it is usually difficult for anyone to admit their previously held position is incorrect, no matter how loosely or adamantly it was held. And it doesn’t help that the most popular conservative pundits will not…
The July 2023 issue of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, a publication of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU, included an interesting review of the book Visions in a Seer Stone: Joseph Smith and the Making of the Book of Mormon, written by William L. Davis and published in…
The Daily Universe, the official newspaper of Brigham Young University, recently published a piece highlighting the pro-LGBTQ group Encircle; this makes Encircle the second pro-LGBTQ organization highlighted by The Daily Universe within a few months. Recently, The Daily Universe published a similar puff piece on the student-run pro-LGBTQ group The RaYnbow Collective; The Cougar Chronicle…
A Flawed Supreme Court Ruling I took a government class in high school four years prior to the Dobbs Decision. A focal part of the class was a study on various landmark Supreme Court rulings. I remember one case that was especially highlighted: Roe v Wade. Roe’s decision was based on the implied “right to…
PORNOGRAPHY AS A VIRUS The Prophets have repeatedly warned of the dangers and consequences of pornography use. However, despite these warnings, pornography has become more pervasive throughout all aspects of our culture. What would have been considered “softcore” porn forty years ago is now rampant in PG-13 movies. Additionally, between 80-90% of men regularly use…
June 19th is perhaps an unusual day to celebrate the end of slavery in the United States. It is not the day the Emancipation Proclamation was issued- September 22nd- or the day it took effect- January 1st- or the day that the 13th Amendment was ratified- December 18th. Rather, June 19th, 1865 was the day…
Dear BYU Administration, My name is Thomas Stevenson and my friends know me as Tommy. Consider this a personal letter. I just graduated, and you may think that I am happy to rid myself of my “woke experience.” The reality is that nothing could be further from the truth. It is true that I am…
The Problem I was catching up with a good friend of mine the other day. He’s not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but our families both have roots in a farming community in Northern California. We attended a small school together from kindergarten to eighth grade. As such, we…
SEE ADDTIONAL UPDATE HERE: Complaints of ‘disrespectful’ Speaker Used to Cancel Abortion Debate Appear Unfounded The recent petition to ban Elder Holland from speaking at Southern Utah University’s Commencement ceremony has once again sparked a debate over cancel culture throughout the Wasatch front. This attempt to cancel Elder Holland perhaps carries an extra dose of…
While hiking last October in Seoul, a North Korean refugee shared her story with me of how she gained freedom from an oppressive regime. First, she escaped to Laos. However, even once she arrived there, she had to carefully hide her identity. Laos and North Korea are close allies, and if discovered, she would have…