you had left a piece of yourself behind in it forever

Pocock paused and stepped back from the frame of the shell and put his hands on his hips, carefully studying the work he had so far done. He said for him the craft of building a boat was like religion. It wasn’t enough to master the technical details of it. You had to give yourself up to it spiritually; you had to surrender yourself absolutely to it. When you were done and walked away from the boat, you had to feel that you had left a piece of yourself behind in it forever, a bit of your heart. He turned to Joe. “Rowing,” he said, “is like that. And a lot of life is like that too, the parts that really matter anyway. Do you know what I mean, Joe?

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown. Penguin Books. 2013

the fundamental principles of our religion

The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.

Joseph Smith

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (2007), as found in "The Greatest Easter Story Ever Told," by Gary E. Stevenson. General Conference April 2023

religare, meaning “to tie”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland explained that the English word religion comes from the Latin religare, meaning “to tie” or, more literally, “to re-tie.” Thus, “true religion [is] the tie that binds us to God and to each other.”

Alan T. Phillips

"God Knows and Loves You," General Conference October 2023. See also Jeffrey R. Holland, “Religion: Bound by Loving Ties” (Brigham Young University devotional, Aug. 16, 2016), speeches.byu.edu.

i’m not commanded to do anything but to love

Robert Krulwich: Here is for you the hardest thing. I was just trying to think about how difficult this must be. You have been… Your life has been saved by her. She is, in effect, your savior. And yet your belief is that unless she accepts Jesus, that in some sense she is outside of grace and you know, I don’t know what you believe about hell and heaven, but that she might be punished. So what do you do about this weird combination. She’s insisting nope, not for me and you’re insisting oh no, this is the way it is and oh my gosh… Is it hard for you?

Jim Munroe: No, not at all.

RK: Okay

JM: And I’ll tell you why because it’s not my place to do that. I am very sorry to everyone who listens to this who ever feels like they got judged by a Christian because it’s never their place to do that. And this is where I think most of the times and everybody listening to this podcast is placed as kind of positioned or pigeonholed Christians and what they don’t understand is that I’m not commanded to do anything but to love and to start conversations, right? I’m not the one. I’m not the one who was sent into the world to judge, alright? But what I… so… putting it like that - i know where you want to go with this…

RK: No, this is I’m asking an honest question. You have to love the judge that may not love the woman who saved your life. That’s hard, I think.

JM: Yeah but at the same time it’s… That’s not what I’m.. that’s not my place.

Soren Wheeler: I have to say I think that we were sort of expecting that maybe sharper edge to the differences between JIm and Jennell. But the truth is, in the room that night Jim and Jennells conversation and thus their story start to feel like some kind of allegory, not for any particular religion, or moral code, but for a way of how to move through the world and hold your differences but still be one.

RK: Let me just finish this way. Do you have a sense between the two of you? Because obviously you stay very very good friends. I mean that’s obvious. Is there some...  Something that either of you can say that explains why you can dignifyingly but emphatically disagree and still stay in such extraordinarily close touch?

Jennell Jenney: I think the idea of humility and, as Jim might even say grace, is absolutely essential, no matter your tenets of belief. And that’s really what’s going to get you through conflict so yeah…

RK: And is it because you’re in this big ocean of the world and the two of you are just little little dots in there and so whatever you think it’s still you’re in a big ocean and there you are together? Is that the…

JJ: I think maybe yeah.

JM: Yeah. And…

RK: Do you have her bigness thing? Do you feel small?

JM: Do I feel small?

RK: Yeah

JM: I feel tiny. Humility at its root word it comes… The root is humos. Which means dirt. So when you become humble you become dirt.

RK: That’s better than the sea analogy, I think…

JM: I could keep going. You know, what god does with dirt is he creates things, but I won’t go there. But we become dirt, and I think where we get hung up is that we want to be right. And that hasn’t been brought into this yet. And right and wrong are… The words right and wrong I think in relationship are deadly words. I think saying I’m right, you’re wrong is not good for relationships. I think it’s…

RK: And have you ever said you’re right or you’re wrong to her?

JM: No.

JJ: I haven’t said it to him either, I don’t think.

JM: Never

RK: Well that’s a nice place to land.

JM: I think so.

"Match Made in Marrow," Radiolab. November 9, 2017. 

This piece was reported by Latif Nasser.  It was produced by Annie McEwen, with help from Bethel Habte and Alex Overington.

thou fool!

The rich man was a fool because he permitted the ends for which he lived to become confused with the means by which he lived.  The economic structure of his life absorbed his destiny. Each of us lives in two realms, the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live. These include the house we live in, the car we drive, the clothes we wear, the economic sources we acquire - the material stuff we must have to exist. There is always a danger that we will permit the means by which we live to replace the ends for which we live, the internal to become lost in the external. The rich man was a fool because he failed to keep a line of distinction between means and ends, between structure and destiny. His life was submerged in the rolling waters of his livelihood. This does not mean that the external in our lives is not important. We have both a privilege and a duty to seek the basic material necessities of life. Only an irrelevant religion fails to be concerned about man's economic well-being. Religion at its best realizes that the souls is crushed as long as the body is tortured with hunger pangs and harrowed with the need for shelter. Jesus realized that we need food, clothing, shelter, and economic security. He said in clear and concise terms: "Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of." But Jesus knew that man was more than a dog to be satisfied by a few economic bones. He realized that the internal of a man's life is as significant as the external. So he added, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." The tragedy of the rich man was that he sought the means first, and in the process the ends were swallowed in the means.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Strength to Love by Martin Luther King, Jr. Harper & Row. 1963. Fortress Press Gift Edition 2010. p. 66, 67

science investigates; religion interprets

[Some believe] that there is a conflict between science and religion. But this is not true. There may be a conflict between soft-minded religionists and tough-minded scientists, but not between science and religion. Their respective worlds are different and their methods are dissimilar. Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge that is power; religion gives man wisdom that is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals. They are complementary. Science keeps religion from sinking into the valley of crippling irrationalism and paralyzing obscurantism. Religion prevents science from falling into the marsh of obsolete materialism and moral nihilism.  

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Strength to Love by Martin Luther King, Jr. Harper & Row. 1963. Fortress Press Gift Edition 2010. p. 4

the furious proceedings of the people

On our return, we resumed the subject of the massacre at Carthage, in which it will be remembered, Mr. John Taylor was severely wounded and escaped by a miracle as it were. I told him openly that there must have been some cause for the furious proceedings of the people in Illinois, Missouri, and other places against the Latter-Day Saints; that even those who had extended hospitality to them ended by hating and expelling them, and accusing them of all possible iniquities, especially of horse-thieving, forgery, larceny, and offences against property which on the border are never pardoned - was this smoke quite without fire? He heard me courteously and in perfect temper, replied that no one claimed immaculateness for the Mormons; that the net cast into the sea brought forth evil as well as good fish, and that the Prophet was one of the laborers sent into the vineyard at the eleventh hour. At the same time that when the New Faith was stoutly struggling into existence, it was the object of detraction, odium, persecution - so, said Mr. Taylor, were the Christians in the days of Nero - that the border ruffians, forgers, horse thieves, and other vile fellows followed the Mormons wherever they went; and finally that every fraud and crime was charged upon those whom the populace were disposed by desire for confiscation's sake to believe guilty. Besides the theologic odium there was also the political: the Saints would vote for their favorite candidates, consequently they were never without enemies. He quoted the Mormon rules: - 1. Worship what you like. 2. Leave your neighbor alone. 3. Vote for whom you please; and compared their troubles tot he Western, or, as it is popularly called the Whiskey insurrection in 1794, whose "dreadful night" is still remembered in Pennsylvania. Mr. Taylor remarked that the Saints had been treated by the United States as the colonies had been treated by the Crown.... I heard for the first time this view of the question, and subsequently obtained from the Apostle a manuscript account, written in extenso, of his experience and his sufferings. 

Richard F. Burton

Witness to the Martyrdom: John Taylor's Personal Account of the Last Days of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Edited by Mark H. Taylor. Deseret Book. 1999. p.14,15

from the pulpit

We cannot minister to anyone from the pulpit.

Stake President Paul Thomas, Bishopric Training Meeting, April 12, 2011

the fundamental principles of our religion

The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.


Joseph Smith, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (2007), 49; see also Doctrine and Covenants 20:22–25. As quoted in Quentin L. Cook, "We Follow Jesus Christ." General Conference, April 2010.

the champion of free worship

[Joseph Smith] did not intend to force his religion on anyone. He thought of himself as the champion of free worship. Nauvoo's ordinance for religious freedom listed a dozen religions allowed to practice in the city. Josiah Quincy was surprised to hear Joseph invite a Methodist to preach from a Mormon pulpit. The socialist John Finch noted that “Joe Smith was in the practice of inviting strangers who visited Nauvoo, of every shade of politics and religion, to lecture to his people.” Joseph could honestly say that “it is one of the first principles of my life and one that I have cultivated from my childhood, having been taught it of my father, to allow every one the liberty of conscience.” He made it an article of faith to allow people to “worship how, where, or what they may.” He declared, “I am an advocate of unadulterated freedom.”


Joseph Smith: rough stone rolling By Richard L. Bushman. Random House, Inc., 2005. p. 522, 523

wildness is a mystique

Wilderness, or wildness, is a mystique. A religion, an intense philosophy, a dream of ideal society – these are also mystiques.... As the fisherman depends upon the rivers, lakes, and seas, and the farmer upon the land for his existence, so does mankind in general depend upon the beauty of the world about him for his spiritual and emotional existence.


Ansel Adams, as quoted in A Century of Sanctuary: The Art of Zion National Park By Robert Redford, Peter H. Hassrick, Lyman Hafen, Deborah Reeder, Leslie Courtright, Roland Lee, Erica Cottam. University of Utah Press, 2008. p.108

the premise of the nation was spiritual

The premise of the nation was spiritual, not secular. “Our ancestors who formed this government said, ‘We hold that all men are endowed by their Creator…’ Not by the accident of birth, not by the color of their skins or by anything else, but ‘all men are endowed by their Creator,’” Eisenhower stated. ‘In other words, our form of government has no sense unless it is founded in a deeply felt religious faith, and I don’t care what it is. With us of course it is the Judeo-Christian concept but it must be a religion that [believes] all men are created equal… Even those among us who are, in my opinion, so silly as to doubt the existence of an Almighty, are still members of a religious civilization, because the Founding Fathers said it was a religious concept that they were trying to translate into the political world.” Eisenhower understood something many Americans do not quite grasp even now: that “Nature’s God” resides at the center of the Founding.


American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation by Jon Mecham. Random House. 2006. p.177

the story is about moving forward

The acts of reading, of contemplation and discovery, of writing poems and finding cures and composing symphonies are, for the religious, acts of piety, and of thanksgiving. For the secular, such things may be about the wonders of nature, or of rationality, or of logic. So be it: the point is that we are all on the same odyssey, if for different reasons. In either case, the story is about moving forward, through the darkness, searching for light. Or at least it should be. Extremes make the journey more perilous.

American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation by Jon Mecham. Random House. 2006. p.18

religion & politics

A perfect vision of truth can only follow a complete realization of Ahimsa. To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of Truth face to face one must be able to love the meanest of creation as oneself. And a man who aspires after that cannot afford to keep out of any field of life. That is why my devotion to truth has drawn me into the field of politics; and I can say without the slightest hesitation, and yet in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means.


An autobiography: My Experiments with Truth by Gandhi (Mahatma), Mahadev Haribhai Desai. Beacon Press. 1993. p.504

an unreserved surrender

I have no doubt that there is a key to lock out undesirable thoughts, but everyone has to find it out for himself. Saints and seers have left their experiences for us, but they have given us no infallible and universal prescription. For Perfection or freedom from error comes only from grace, and so seekers after God have left us mantras, such as Ramanama, hallowed by their own austerities and charged with their purity. Without an unreserved surrender to His grace, complete mastery over thought is impossible. This is the teaching of every great book of religion…


An autobiography: My Experiments with Truth by Gandhi (Mahatma), Mahadev Haribhai Desai. Beacon Press. 1993. p.317

prayer in American life

The great irony in the United States today is that while prayer has long played a central role in the life of America, it too often has become a subject best publicly avoided. Even though prayer has pervaded American life consciously and unconsciously throughout history, many people have difficulty discussing it. To paraphrase Nathan Pusey, the late president of Harvard University, we will know that we have become a mature nation when we can speak freely about the importance of prayer in American life without fear of adolescent embarrassment. It is reckless to view prayer solely as an appendage of religion, to see it as divisive, polarizing force in American society. For it is prayer that has infused Americans with a sense of their spiritual identity in a world too often rocked by a lack of moral grounding.

To reduce America to pure vanilla, signifying both everything and nothing, ignores the true intentions of the Founding Fathers and flies in the face of recorded history, particularly when it comes to the subject of prayer. The argument that religious diversity should prevent the public recitation of prayer given the differences between, say, Jews and Christians becomes a fool’s errand. After all, the followers of Jesus Christ have been divided among the Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestants. The children of Israel are defined as Hasidic, Orthodox, Conservative, and Reformed. The heirs to Muhammad identify themselves as Shia, Sunni, and Sufi. Even long-established faiths cannot agree on the proper road to salvation. They do agree, however, on the need and utility of prayer both spiritually and temporally in the world today. Much in the way that America’s motto “E Pluribus Unum” (one out of many) symbolizes unity out of diversity, prayer affords an opportunity to recognize how Americans, despite their diversity, are unified in their spirituality with one another and with a higher being.



One Nation Under God: The History of Prayer in America by James P. Moore, Jr. Doubleday, 2005. p.466, 467

we are a religious people

The U.S. Supreme Court… waded into spiritual waters when the liberal Justice William Douglas, on behalf of the majority in Zorach v. Clauson, a case involving religious instruction, wrote, “We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being.” The court reaffirmed that “prayers” and “references to the Almighty” have always “run through our laws, our public rituals, our ceremonies.”


One Nation Under God: The History of Prayer in America by James P. Moore, Jr. Doubleday, 2005. p.335

three thousand miles wide... three inches deep

Why is it... that the majority of American people believe in God and the Bible, yet do not put the teachings of the Bible into their lives? Gallup and Lindsay had this to say:

Gallup research would indicate that the greatest chink in the bulwark of American religion is the lack of spiritual practices and disciplines actively exercised by religious adherents. Consider, for instance, the following statistic: 93% of Americans have a copy of the Bible or other Scriptures in their household, yet only 42% of the nation can name even five of the Ten Commandments. Spirituality in America may be three thousand miles wide, but it remains only three inches deep.


George Gallup Jr. & D. Michael Lindsay, Surveying the Religious Landscape. 1999. As quoted in "Spirituality in America - Only Three Inches Deep" by Kyle Butt, MA. 09 Feb 2009. OpentheWord.com

Paul Sargent quoted this study in his sacrament meeting talk at the 12 Oaks 2nd Ward yesterday while on assignment as the High Counselor speaker.

a Declaration of Independence

Heaven hath decreed that tottering empire Britain to irretrievable ruin and thanks to God, since Providence hath so determined, America must raise an empire of permanent duration, supported upon the grand pillars of Truth, Freedom, and Religion, encouraged by the smiles of Justice and defended by her own patriotic sons…. Permit me then to recommend from the sincerity of my heart, ready at all times to bleed in my country’s cause, a Declaration of Independence, and call upon the world and the great God who governs it to witness the necessity, propriety and rectitude thereof.


Nathanael Green writing to Samuel Ward in 1776 by David G. McCullough. Simon & Schuster, 2005. p.68

the power to save people temporally

It has always been a cardinal teaching with the Latter-day Saints, that a religion which has not the power to save people temporally and make them prosperous and happy here, cannot be depended upon to save them spiritually, to exalt them in the life to come.


Joseph F. Smith, Sr., Pure Religion: The Story of Church Welfare Since 1930 by Glen L. Rudd. 1995. P.366. Originally in "The Truth about Mormonism," Out West Magazine, Sept. 1905, p. 242