Take a look at this story.  Apparently, an LDS-themed private school in Pleasant Grove is thriving even amid the recession.  One of the reasons?

more and more conservative families around the nation, put off by increasingly liberal textbooks and public school curriculum, are looking for established alternatives with a Mormon bent.

My question is:  what is going on with Utah public schools (where presumably Mormons are the majority) where anyone would want to spend extra money to send their kid to a private school?  Please note:  My kids are all in the public schools, and I plan on keeping them there, but I’m carefully monitoring what they’re taught.

Please read this story.  Marjorie Christoffersen has been forced to resign from the El Coyote restaurant in West Hollywood because she dared to give $100 to the Prop. 8 campaign.  All people interested in religious liberty should condemn the hate campaign of the No on Prop. 8 forces.  If you don’t think this affects you, just wait.  It may affect you sooner than you think.

Meanwhile, Marjorie, if you read this, I hope you are taking comfort from Matthew 5:11.

Why does the Book of Mormon not name the Brother of Jared (later named by Joseph Smith as Mahonri Moriancumer)?

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This post is not about real prophets. Real prophets, the kind you hear speak at General Conference twice a year, are optimists and preach about the “good news,” the Gospel. This post is about the guy who speaks out in Gospel Doctrine class saying, “these are the worst times ever.” Or the, ahem, Mormon talk radio host Glenn Beck, whose shows these days could be summarized as, “the sky is falling, we’re all going to die.” Or the apocalyptic global warming fanatic who tells you to soon expect tropical weather in Winnipeg.

My message to these “prophets” is, to paraphrase Dickens, “it is the worst of times, but it’s also the best of times.” It all depends on what you want to spend your time thinking about.

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Please read this article. Here’s the highlight:

On the last day of the election, anti-Prop 8 forces ran a “home invasion” ad depicting two young Mormon missionaries ransacking homes. The ad further accuses Mormons in California of trying to take over the government because, as citizens, they participated in the political process by voting and donating to a cause they believed in. A week after the election The Los Angeles Times editorial board opined that No on Prop 8 forces should run more “hard-hitting” ads like “home invasion,” along with more “in-your-face radicalism.”

On the “Dr. Phil” show last week I sat next to a powerful politician — Mayor Gavin Newsom — who ritually rejected violence but refused to decry these extraordinary threats to ordinary voters’ livelihoods. I also sat next to Joe Solmonese, head of the Human Rights Campaign, when a young Mormon in the audience asked him, “Why are you singling out my faith when so many other people supported Prop 8?” Did Joe, an amiable guy, take a moment to call his troops to back off from religious bigotry, to refocus on the larger problem — 7 million Californians disagree with his organization’s gay marriage civil rights dogma?

No. I sat silent, dumbfounded, next to Joe when he pointed at the young man and cried, “We are going to go after your church every day for the next two years unless and until Prop 8 is overturned.”

Is there any doubt that we are in the middle of a cultural war?
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