When Christ shared his parable of the Good Samaritan (as recorded in Luke 10), he carefully tuned it to the context of his day. This made it a very provocative and compelling narrative. Because we often lack insight to the culture and context of that time, we tend to miss out on the full effect of his parable. To more completely appreciate Christ’s teachings here, we must first understand the context of his comments, and second, we ought to consider a modern application that similarly pushes boundaries in our own culture.

My family recently visited Craters of the Moon National Park. Shortly after I returned I read a story from the Salt Lake Tribune entitled “Park aims to reduce congestion at Utah’s Delicate Arch trailhead.” The article said that Delicate Arch in Arches National Park is currently receiving 1,000,000 visitors a year, and in its peak season over 2,000 a day. This creates a problem since the trailhead parking lot can only accommodate 73 cars. People often park illegally which blocks traffic and the park authorities are trying to figure out a solution that will allow for as many visitors as possible while protecting the delicate dunes and sandstone arches in the park for future generations.

Another September 11th is here. Two years ago I wrote about what Mormons can learn about 9/11/01 from 9/11/1857. 

I have debated since I started this blog whether to directly address the issue of religious beliefs, whether my own or those of other Utahns. For many of us in Utah, our religious beliefs are not easily left out of anything. It's simply too fundamental a part of who we are. 

I recently listened to a captivating podcast about the Book of Job. There was a lot of good stuff in it, but one thing that jumped out at me as relevant to the tragedies going on in Ferguson (and elsewhere) was the discussion of Job's friends. When Job is in the depths of anger and frustration at the horrible things happening to him, his "comforters" set him straight: no, it isn't possible that Job didn't bring this malady upon himself via sin--God only punishes the wicked! God blesses the righteous--that's an axiom found throughout scripture! Job, you need to repent and admit you've done wrong!

BYU professor Ralph Hancock (somewhat) recently argued that modern liberals have thrown away morals altogether.

Okay, professor. I'll take your "moralier than thou" and raise you a "extra super duper moralier than thou":

Anyone who knows anything about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints knows of its oposition to marriage equality. And while small steps have been make to include members of the LGBTQ community with sources like mormonsandgays.org and anectdotes of particular wards that are especially inclusive, the Church's top leadership are not backing down on the issue. 

Over the past several years, as President Barack Obama has occupied the White House, his detractors have ceaselessly labeled his policies as communist or socialist. Pundits like Glenn Beck often carefully choreographed imagery of the Soviet Union’s hammer and sickle flag, or the Nazi’s swastika when referring to Mr. Obama and his policies. The notion that Democrats support socialism has become a foregone conclusion in conservative communities. As one who formally studied economics and political science at BYU, hearing these terms twisted far from their actual meaning, and observing the comparison of programs like Medicare and the Affordable Care Act to Stalinist Russia, make me cringe. For Republican strategists, the purpose in making such comparisons to the genocidal regimes of Stalin, Mao, or Hitler is obvious- striking fear in their largely uninformed constituents. This messaging strategy has worked marvelously as more and more Americans now simply refuse to even consider the merits of any policy proposal that the GOP punditry has labeled “socialist” or “communist.”

Last Sunday evening, I had the opportunity to volunteer at a Salt Lake County Democratic Party fundraiser.