This is a guest post by Pratt Hokanson

Last night I was reading a semi interesting book, “Saint Saul : a Skeleton Key to the Historical Jesus” by Donald Akenson and he was making the point that after the temple destruction in about 70 AD, the Jewish religion of the time was gutted. The Essenes, the Sadducees, the Zealots et al disappeared, leaving remnants of the Pharisees to rebuild a religion without the central temple. He lumps Christianity in with the Pharisees and sees rabbinic Judaism and Christianity as two compteting Pharisaic bodies that somehow managed to survive.

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Sure, this is a minor thing, but it can really make a difference. It can mean the difference between the lessons you teach going smoothly and the lessons being disrupted. I don’t mind the girls being late for church much because it doesn’t directly affect my schedule and plans (though half an hour late each week does baffle me), but when a teacher is late every week and seems oblivious, well… then I must complain about it within the bloggernacle.

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Utah Democrats are very happy with the Church’s new statement on political participation. Here’s a story on their happiness. In addition to the usual urge to vote and consider the candidates carefully, the Church said: “Principles compatible with the gospel may be found in the platforms of all major political parties.”

I know there have been numerous posts on this in the Bloggernacle, and I am a bit late even discussing this. By I would like to add one spin from a person who currently votes Republican: this is very good news and an appropriate gesture by the Church. The Church cannot afford to be tied to one political party. Who knows what direction the Republicans will take in the years ahead. From a missionary standpoint, we risk alienating half of the country — and countless millions overseas — by being seen as a “Republican church.” Kudos to the Church for this reminder.

This article pretty much sums up the attitude of Boston’s Left toward Mitt Romney as he reaches out for a nationwide stage. To summarize: Mitt has done nothing good for Massachusetts but he’s good at promoting himself. At some point, this attitude will have to confront the harsh reality of the Massachusetts economy, which has done very well. Mitt is widely recognized as a capable manager and will run on his record of competence, which will likely trump the claims of the left. But it’s interesting to see the Left’s talking points.

UPDATE: Check out this amazingly positive article in today’s NRO by Rich Lowry on Romney. Lowry is a very respected political analyst, and he touts Romney as either number two or three behind McCain. Wow!

The below thread on Big Love and the Slippery Slope has gotten a few responses from commenters to the effect that “the government should get out of the marriage business.” In this post, I will argue that people expressing this opinion are underestimating the importance of traditional marriage in our society. I will attempt to show that promoting marriage is one of the relatively few things that a good government should do. I will also argue that this is one of the reasons that the Church has entered this discussion.

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