Monthly Archives: April 2010

Parents accuse BYU of socialist conspiracy

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Maybe this is yet another sign that—despite my wishes—I really should leave Utah. The Daily Herald reports:

Some local parents are leveling serious charges against Alpine School District and Brigham Young University.

Parents are saying district and university officials are participating in “a deliberate course of action to subvert the moral fabric of a society with the goal to eliminate the worship of deity and replace it with the worship of man.”

These parents acknowledge their argument is both complex and far-reaching. If true, the charge means the school district is either wittingly or unwittingly part of a nationwide socialist movement. Parents say it is the manifestation of a specific warning given by LDS Church President Ezra Taft Benson, who had named names in the warning.

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The Book of Mormon goes to Broadway

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I heard rumors of this last year, but now it’s finally confirmed: South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are writing a musical about Mormonism. Here’s the skinny from The New York Post:

The show is called “The Book of Mormon,” and it will open on Broadway next March. Parker is co-directing with Jason Moore (“Q,” “Shrek”), and the producers are Scott Rudin (“God of Carnage,” “Fences”) and Anne Garefino, the executive producer of Comedy Central’s “South Park.”

The musical tells the story of two young Mormon missionaries sent off to spread the word in a dangerous part of Uganda.

Their tale is told alongside the story of Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Latter-day Saints.

“There’s a lot of Mormon stuff in our work because Matt and I both grew up around a lot of Mormons,” says Parker. “I’ve never met a Mormon I didn’t like. They’re really nice people. They’re so Disney. They’re so Rodgers and Hammerstein.”

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LDS leader look-a-likes

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In a post last month, I noted that Sam Harris bears an uncanny resemblance to Seth Green and Ben Stiller. Then later, while watching LDS General Conference, it dawned on me that I should think of some look-a-likes for Mormon leaders.

Here goes…


Thomas S. Monson and Senator Arlen Specter


M. Russell Ballard and Dave Thomas


Henry B. Eyring and the American Gothic farmer

Gordon B. Hinckley and Alan Greenspan


Boyd K. Packer and Donald Rumsfeld


Heber J. Grant and Sigmund Freud

Quentin L. Cook and Jason Alexander


Spencer W. Kimball and the Six Flags guy


Howard W. Hunter and Peter Boyle


Bruce R. McConkie and Senator Al Franken


Dallin H. Oaks and Kurtwood Smith


George Albert Smith and (the more handsome) Dr. Charlie Huenemann

Joseph Smith and Nikola Tesla

Hat-tip to the Salamander Society for a few of the ideas. If you have any LDS leader look-a-like suggestions, do share! Also, I hope no one was offended—it was all in good fun.

Dawkins and Hitchens: Arrest the Pope

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Ugh. The Sunday Times reports:

Richard Dawkins, the atheist campaigner, is planning a legal ambush to have the Pope arrested during his state visit to Britain “for crimes against humanity”.

Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, the atheist author, have asked human rights lawyers to produce a case for charging Pope Benedict XVI over his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church.

The pair believe they can exploit the same legal principle used to arrest Augusto Pinochet, the late Chilean dictator, when he visited Britain in 1998.

Dawkins and Hitchens believe the Pope would be unable to claim diplomatic immunity from arrest because, although his tour is categorised as a state visit, he is not the head of a state recognised by the United Nations.

They have commissioned the barrister Geoffrey Robertson and Mark Stephens, a solicitor, to present a justification for legal action.

The lawyers believe they can ask the Crown Prosecution Service to initiate criminal proceedings against the Pope, launch their own civil action against him or refer his case to the International Criminal Court.

Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, said: “This is a man whose first instinct when his priests are caught with their pants down is to cover up the scandal and damn the young victims to silence.”

Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great, said: “This man is not above or outside the law. The institutionalised concealment of child rape is a crime under any law and demands not private ceremonies of repentance or church-funded payoffs, but justice and punishment.

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