“Appreciating Brother Brigham”

January 15, 2025 By Dan Peterson

I delivered relatively brief remarks at the August 2024 FAIR conference under the title “Appreciating Brother Brigham.” (Including the short Q&A session that followed, they lasted just slightly more than thirty-three minutes.) A video of my presentation has now been posted on the FAIR website, where you can watch and listen to those remarks if you’re brave enough to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE_zYtiKB_4 And, speaking of FAIR, they have put a very useful collection of links up on their website... Read more

“Always only one generation away from extinction”

January 14, 2025 By Dan Peterson

0 Comments

A dominant (and gleefully received) narrative among some critics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that the Church is in severe long-term demographic decline and, in particular, that it is hemorrhaging its youth. In this brief interview Elders D. Todd Christofferson and Clark G. Gilbert suggest that that dominant narrative cannot be sustained: “Video: Elder Christofferson challenges narrative, says Spirit working in youth: In new video, Elder D. Todd Christofferson and Elder Clark G. Gilbert discuss... Read more

Latter-day Saints in the West and the Problem of Evil

January 13, 2025 By Dan Peterson

0 Comments

It turns out that weather conditions in Utah and Nevada, where a great many Latter-day Saints live, help to generate the Santa Ana winds. And it is those strong, dry, and often warm winds that bear some significant degree of responsibility for the wildfires that are currently destroying substantial portions of Los Angeles: “What Utah has to do with Santa Ana winds — and California wildfires: Winds formed in the Great Basin blow toward the West Coast.” Which probably means... Read more

Reports from those who’ve seen it

January 12, 2025 By Dan Peterson

0 Comments

The other day, I saw myself characterized over at the Peterson Obsession Board as a very lonely and unpleasant old man. Curiously, though, I don’t actually feel old. However, I do admit to having published a column in Meridian Magazine the other day about a man who, some on the Obsession Board might contend, was an apparently kindred spirit — and who is undeniably quite ancient: “A Tear for King Herod” I haven’t watched American Primeval, and I very... Read more

Disaster in Los Angeles and, Again, “American Primeval”

January 11, 2025 By Dan Peterson

0 Comments

I’d be safe and warmIf I was in L.A. California dreamin’On such a winter’s day Even at this distance, it’s excruciating to see what’s happening to Los Angeles. The sheer human suffering is awful. Several have died thus far, and thousands are homeless. A woman whom we’ve known since she was a little girl playing on the floor during sacrament meetings at her parents’ home in Cairo escaped with her family and the clothes on their backs; their large... Read more

“The Reassuring Doctrine of the Resurrection”

January 10, 2025 By Dan Peterson

0 Comments

My wife’s remarkable father turned ninety-eight at the end of December. Up to just a few months ago, he had been living on his own, in the house that he had shared with my mother-in-law until her death in 2013. He died at 9:30 this morning. He was ready, in fact he was eager, to go. But we will miss him very, very much. Posted just today, a new article in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and... Read more

“American Primeval,” BYU, and the Evil Mormons

January 9, 2025 By Dan Peterson

0 Comments

Jonn Claybaugh kindly (and regularly) provides notes on the website of the Interpreter Foundation for teachers and students of the Church’s Come, Follow Me curriculum. This is the latest installment in his series: Come, Follow Me — D&C Study and Teaching Helps (2025): Joseph Smith—History 1:1–26 January 13–19: “I Saw a Pillar of Light” Also: Our friends at Scripture Central have created a new video that many, I think, will enjoy. Here is an initial glimpse at it, which... Read more

Interpreter is trying to help with “Come, Follow Him”

January 8, 2025 By Dan Peterson

0 Comments

The Sunday School and personal study curriculum of the Church for 2025 will be turning in February to the translation of the Book of Mormon and to the Witnesses. Accordingly, the Interpreter Foundation is calling attention to materials that we’ve already prepared on the subject, which should be of use to teachers and students who are following the Come, Follow Me program. We hope that you’ll take a look at them and that you’ll spread the word. And more... Read more

A curious story from the (real) life of Mark Twain

January 7, 2025 By Dan Peterson

0 Comments

This notice went out on the Witnesses Film Facebook Page earlier today: Hey, all you wonderful people! With this year’s Come, Follow Me gospel study centered on the Restoration, Church History and the Doctrine and Covenants, we wanted to remind everyone that in conjunction with the movies Witnesses and Undaunted, we did a series of short videos on the Witnesses of the Book of Mormon that address various questions that arise from the early history of the Church, and... Read more

Houston, You Have an Opportunity

January 6, 2025 By Dan Peterson

0 Comments

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will shortly be assaulted yet again by the entertainment media, this time in a soon-to-be-released Netflix series entitled American Primeval. Here’s a piece on it that includes a heartwarming trailer: “How did Kim Coates prepare for his role as Brigham Young in American Primeval? Details explored.” The recent Interpreter Foundation film, Six Days in August — which is now available on DVD and Blu-ray through Deseret Book — took a rather... Read more