My Life

In the LDS general conference last weekend (the 3rd and 4th), Dieter Uchtdorf said "There is nothing noble or impressive about being cynical.  Skepticism is easy--anyone can do it."  (The full talk can be found here .) One reason why I wanted to write about this is because I myself often conflated cynicism with skepticism for much of my younger years, and this may possibly have been because to religious people they may seem like the same thing.  First, I'd like to briefly give dictionary definitions for both words (something which, ironically has seemed fairly common in novice Mormon talks in local church meetings at least in the last decade or so). I take these definitions from Dictionary.com. Cynic (n) : a person who believes that only selfishness motivates human actions and who disbelieves in or minimizes selfless acts or disinterested points of view. Skeptic (n) : a person who questions the validity or authenticity of something purporting to be factual. There...

I bring up again the topic of Kim Davis, not to give her specifically more limelight, but to illuminate a phenomenon I see occur in her that I also see happen in other people.  Watching this interview that Megyn Kelly did with Kim Davis made me think of this. First I'd like to highlight the points of the interview that stuck out to me.  Aside from the fact that Megyn seems to be exhibiting an inhuman amount of patience with Kim, there are a few things that in particular caught my attention.  Also, having watched the interview, I do believe that Kim Davis truly believes what she says.  I don't think she's lying or trying to play a political game or anything of the sort.  I believe that she is genuine in her belief and in how she asserts herself. Megyn asks about people who ask "Why are you judging me?  Who are you to judge when you've been married multiple times, you too are a sinner?"  So Kim first asserts that she's not judging anyone.  She ...