By the way, in a bid to cement the status of this blog as your one-stop news source, I promise to keep you posted if I receive any really interesting tidbits from the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of Defense, the Director of the CIA, the Vice President of the United States, or the Director of National Intelligence. I’ll try my darnedest to ensure that you learn of such stuff before even the Russians, the Iranians, the Houthis, and the Chinese do!
During 1978, 1979, and 1980, Hugh Nibley taught a Doctrine and Covenants Sunday School class. Cassette recordings were made of these classes and some have survived and were digitized by Steve Whitlock and recently enhanced by Nick Galieti. Most of the tapes were in pretty bad condition. The original recordings usually don’t stop or start at the beginning of the class and there is some background noise. Volumes vary, probably depending upon where the recorder was placed in the room. Many are very low volume but in most cases it’s possible to understand the words. In a couple of cases the ends of one class were put on some space left over from a different class. There’s some mixup around D&C 90-100 that couldn’t be figured out so those recordings are as they were on the tapes. Even with these flaws and missing classes, we believe these these will be interesting to listen to and valuable to your Come, Follow Me study program.
This week we have one lecture relevant to the March 31 – April 6 Come, Follow Me lesson, “Jesus Christ Will Gather His People” covering D&C 29.
Once again, through the Interpreter Foundation, Jonn Claybaugh has furnished students and teachers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with a helpful set of concise study notes.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)
Sometimes, alas, accounts of the evils wrought by theists and by theism are enough to turn the stomach of even the most hardened secular militant. Here is a significant report, for example — remember, you have been warned! — that I’ve recovered from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™. So brazenly unashamed are these religious fanatics of their meddling in the affairs of innocent other people that the report even includes several videos: “A World of Caring: A Closer Look at the Church’s Global Assistance Efforts: The 2024 caring summary outlines how the faith is carrying out Christ’s commandments to love God and serve others” Here is a quick, undefiled summary:
The 2024 “Caring for Those in Need” summary highlights the Church’s commitment to welfare, self-reliance, humanitarian aid, emergency relief, and volunteer service, with expenditures totaling US$1.45 billion. The Church provided assistance in 192 countries and territories, showing its global reach. This included 3,836 humanitarian projects. Church members volunteered 6.6 million hours of service at Church Welfare and Self-reliance facilities, in service missions, and in community service projects, demonstrating their dedication to caring for God’s children. (bolding in the original)
As you can already tell, you’re getting a megadose today from the Hitchens File. I realize that, if you woke up this morning with a sense of reassuring optimism about the decline of religious faith now and in the future, this may come as something of a punch to the gut for you. But you need to face reality: Theists continue to do vast harm, worldwide. Globally. You need to face the threat head-on. So I also recommend that you watch this nine-minute video, in which Blaine Maxfield, managing director for Welfare and Self-Reliance Services for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Camille N. Johnson, Relief Society General President; Irene Caso; Gérald Caussé, Presiding Bishop; and Kristin M. Yee of the Relief Society General Presidency discuss the Church’s 2024 caring summary at the Bishops’ Central Storehouse in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 25 March 2025: “Christlike Service: Church Leaders Emphasize Community-Level Outreach in 2024 Caring Summary”
By the way, given that my adopted home state of Utah — sometimes called “Utard” by those who know it for what it truly is — is a heavily religious state and, indeed, that it the seat of one of the most noxious cults on Planet Earth. So ardent opponents of theism and theists are accustomed to bad news emanating from the place. Even so, however, this report has to be seen as deeply and unexpectedly discouraging: “Financial donations increased in this year’s Feed Utah Food Drive: This year’s drive saw a significant increase in financial donations, following a trend from the last few years”
And I found this in the Hitchens File. The title doesn’t indicate that it contains material about the baleful effects of religious belief and religious people but it does: “President Holland Builds Bridge With Black Canadian Trailblazer”
Are you aware of how deeply even some of the most beloved and seemingly secular elements in our culture have been corrupted by evil religious influences? Consider this: “Why JRR Tolkien Made March 25 the Day the Ring Was Destroyed: From the Shire to Mount Doom, Frodo’s path was mapped with the Church calendar in mind — a quiet testament to Tolkien’s Catholic imagination.”
Please, though, don’t despair. Happily, there are dedicated folks out there who are trying limit the evil effects of religious do-gooders. Here’s an example: “Wisconsin Denies the Religious Dimensions of Charity”
“The arc of the moral universe is long,” said Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., “but it bends toward justice.” Of course, consistently naturalistic thinkers understand that there is really no such thing as “the moral universe” and that the cosmos in which we live arcs toward nothing at all because it has no purpose and is completely indifferent to us and our quaint moral notions. But it’s a nice thought. And one can take comfort in it if, like Alice, one tries really, really hard to believe three impossible things before breakfast.
Posted from the Kohala Coast, the Island of Hawaiʻi, Hawaiʻi
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