I have a tendency towards long posts, so I’ve gone through all the ones below and inserted ‘more’ tags after the first paragraph or two. In a few cases, I’ve slightly edited the entry in order to make the break more natural. In all, it should make the blog easier to browse. ..bruce..
I’ve actually been tracking this over on my other blog (And Still I Persist) but felt it was more appropriate here at Adventures in Mormonism. The rest of this posting is a slightly updated version of my original post explaining why I’m walking 1305 miles by early October. Now I’ve got to go walk my 11 miles today. ..bfw..
A friend of mine used to say that if I wasn’t playing in a ‘big enough game’ (referring to life itself, not World of Warcraft or even The Lord of the Rings Online, which, uh, I actually am playing in), that I’d screw things up in order to make things more interesting. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately, since — in my own opinion — I’ve been mostly coasting for the past year or more. On top of that, I’ve been unhappy with my general state of physical fitness, including my weight and blood pressure (both stubbornly high).
And thus was born the Trek: I plan to walk 1305 miles between April 1 and October 6 of this year.
Why 1305 miles and why those particular dates? Funny you should ask.
Via Hugh Hewitt’s website, comes this choice sound bite from the Reverend Al, apparently during a debate with Christopher Hitchins:
“And as for the one Mormon running for office, those that really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don’t worry about that, that’s a temporary, that’s a temporary, uh, situation.” [laughter from audience]
Being from California, my general attitude to such comments is summed up by my all-time-favorite bumper sticker, which first appeared there some 30-40 years ago: “I used to be disgusted, but now I’m just amused.”
In a previous post, I stated my objections to the portrayal of LDS Church disciplinary councils and procedures in the PBS show, “The Mormons”. I felt the same segment (about the excommunication of the “September Six”) left some misleading impressions regarding the role of education and intellect in the LDS Church — in particular, that the LDS Church somehow devalues, denigrates, or is afraid of education and intellect, or that Mormons who pursue the intellect end up leaving the LDS Church.
Actually, just the opposite is true.
The PBS show “The Mormons” discussed the excommunication back in 1994 of several so-called “Mormon intellectuals”. While I think the incident itself was a fair one to raise, I thought the segment was both far too long and very unbalanced for a number of reasons, which, of course, I’ll now discuss at length.
