One of the players at a BYU vs. Duke University volleyball game on August 26, 2022, claims that she was the target of racist verbal harassment by someone in the BYU student section during the game. This claim has ignited a firestorm against BYU, including from many members themselves. But what is the evidence that the accused events happened? This article looks at the details, uses the evidence to draw the strongest, fact-based conclusion about what happened. This article also explores what this whole fiasco has to say about the condition of the modern American media, the acceptability of anti-Mormonism, and the problems with present day “Mormon” culture. None of it is pretty, but it is important.
Correcting The Liahona on the U.S. Constitution
The Liahona, the official magazine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints published an article on the United States Constitution in its September 2022 issue. And boy is it terrible, for numerous reasons. For example, despite having degrees in the subject the author doesn’t even have a basic understanding of human rights or the history of the Constitution and actively tries to justify government tyranny.
This article is a step by step dismantling of the Liahona article and its problems, not only in order to provide Latter-day Saints with a necessary correction for something published in a church magazine, but because such a work will serve as a solid foundation for discarding much of the same kind of dreck (from both academic and amateur sources) that the reader will encounter endlessly elsewhere whenever discussing the Constitution.
The Liberating Power of The First Vision for Women
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is often attacked as being “anti-woman” and as “oppressive” to women by our critics. The attacks are complete nonsense. The very opposite is true. In a world that is constantly denigrating women, that is seeking to even obliterate the reality of women, it is only the Church of Jesus Christ that promotes, defends, and upholds women and womanhood. While all else hate women and womanhood, even those who claim to be feminists, it is only in the Restored Gospel and this church that the ennobling, uplifting, and exalting truths of Divine Womanhood are found and enacted.
What Can Men Do Against Such Reckless Hate?
I recently finished a rewatch of the Lord of the Rings. As always, I was struck by the drama and courage of Théoden and the Riders of Rohan as they made what seemed like a last stand against the overwhelming might of the armies of Saruman. Instead of surrender or retreat they trusted in the words of Gandalf the White and stood against evil no matter what the cost to them, even if it cost their lives. There is a great lesson for us to learn here about how we should live. Using examples from throughout the scriptures I discuss how we can stand against the reckless hate of the world we live in today.
Our Harshest Trials Become Our Greatest Blessings
My life has been filled with trials. I grew up in poverty. I’ve been homeless on multiple occasions. My family broke apart when I was young. My father was an alcoholic. I’ve lost everything I’ve owned and everyone I knew on multiple occasions. Yet, through it all, I have discovered a sublime truth about God’s power and how our deepest trials lead to our greatest blessings. This is that story.
What Mormon Teaches Us About War And Loving Our Enemies
Whenever I point out that Captain Moroni’s example doesn’t justify modern Saints going to war because he lived the Law of Moses and we live the Law of Christ and that modern revelation commands us to renounce war completely the response is inevitable. I always get some version of, “What about Mormon and his son, Moroni? They were baptized Christians who fought in wars. If they can do it, why can’t we?” By looking at what the scriptures, I answer this question and show why Mormon and Moroni do not justify us joining modern day wars.
Cancel Culture Is Nothing New. Neither Is Its Solution.
I was watching “Seinfeld,” recently and made a shocking discovery. Not only did the show directly take on the topic of abortion (and deliver a more pro-life message than is commonly known and maybe even than was intended), but it also took on what we call cancel culture today and showed us how to handle it. When the PC mobs are foaming at the mouth at anyone who dares utter something not already on the 3×5 card of allowable opinion while also destroying the lives of many people who never stray from the Approved Beliefs, it can be hard to know what to do in order to survive as an intelligent and independent human being. But “Seinfeld” showed us how to do it decades ago – call the cancel culture cultists out as the morons they really are and expose their beliefs for their fundamental idiocy.
What To The Latter-day Saint is the Fourth of July?
I find nothing to celebrate on the Fourth of July. It, like all nationalist holidays, is nothing more than the largest, loudest, and obnoxious propaganda program that has ever existed. Through all the parades, fireworks, and barbeques, people rarely ask what exactly are they so effulgently praising and whether or not the should be doing it. As a result, they reaffirm their loyalty to and love for one of the most violent, bloody, and dangerous regimes in the world, one responsible for murdering over 6 million civilians in the last 20 years. The great William Lloyd Garrison called such devotion, “the latest and the most terrible form of idolatry,” and he was correct. As this article explains, it is in direct opposition to the commandments of God and the direction of His prophets.
The Government is the Enemy of Privacy, Safety, and Freedom
The government is the worst danger to human safety and liberty in every single nation on the planet. In this address, Glenn Greenwald cuts through the partisan propaganda and government lies to directly explain how the actions of those in political power directly threaten, violate, and destroy the basic human liberties and safety that we value so much.
Schools Shootings and The Lies of Gun Control
The tragedy of the Uvalde school shooting and the actions (or inactions) of the police during it disprove the claims of gun control advocates once and for all. In school shootings we see the exact claims of gun control advocates put to the test. We see unarmed defenseless individuals threatened by dangerous criminals. And we see just how capable the government is of protecting people. Which is to say, the government is utterly incapable of protecting anyone. The spilt blood of the victims of the Uvalde shooter are proof of this and are proof that gun control only leads to more dead people, not less.