Who protects mainstream Christendom’s holiest church?

Last updated on: September 7, 2019 at 10:45 pm By Dan Peterson

I’ve been aware of this curious situation, I think, since I first lived in Jerusalem in 1978. But people need to know about it, and I’m grateful to Jabra Ghneim for alerting me some time ago to this article, which was originally published shortly before Easter 2013: http://www.ibtimes.com/who-guards-most-sacred-site-christendom-two-muslims-1161517 *** Here are three quotations that have been attributed for nearly a millennium and a half to the Islamic prophet Muhammad: To overcome evil with good... Read more

Celebrating President Nelson’s 95th Birthday, Friday Night

Last updated on: September 7, 2019 at 2:31 pm By Dan Peterson

My wife and I and the three other couples with whom we shared dinner and then walked over to the Conference Center thoroughly enjoyed Friday night’s tribute to the remarkable man who currently leads and presides over the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: “Church Celebrates President Nelson’s 95th Birthday and Life of Christlike Service: Latter-day Saint guest artists perform with Tabernacle Choir” If you weren’t there or if you were unable to view the live-streamed... Read more

“Belief, Behavior, and Belonging: How Faith is Indispensable in Preventing and Recovering from Substance Abuse”

Last updated on: September 14, 2019 at 12:15 pm By Dan Peterson

I received a fascinating email from Brian J. Grim this morning entitled “Latter-day Saints’ Addiction Recovery Program Part of National Effort Saving 20,000+ Lives.” It calls attention to a new article just published by Dr. Grim and his daughter in the Journal of Religion and Health. I thought that the reader of my blog (whoever he or she may be) might find the article and its findings as interesting as I do. (And some out... Read more

President Nelson’s Birthday Party Tonight

Last updated on: September 6, 2019 at 3:01 pm By Dan Peterson

I’m quite excited about this. From the description, it may perhaps be the first and only temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that I’ll be able to see from my front yard, as it will be near the northwest shore of Utah Lake: “Saratoga Springs Temple Groundbreaking Date Announced” “We completed a temple in Kirtland and in Nauvoo; and did we not hear the bells of hell toll at the time we... Read more

Repeating a previous note on women and apologetics

Last updated on: September 6, 2019 at 2:23 pm By Dan Peterson

I posted the following item on my blog back 26 January 2019, under the title of “Women and Apologetics (2).” I had entirely forgotten about it, but it has suddenly become relevant again and a friend recalled it to my memory. So I think that I’ll share it once more: Continuing with some thoughts on the subject: Frankly, men tend to dominate apologetics because men are more inclined to be combative and more interested in certain... Read more

What did the Urim and Thummim look like?

Last updated on: September 6, 2019 at 1:05 pm By Dan Peterson

It’s Friday! Thus, as you’ve come to expect, or at least as you should have come to expect — it’s been a consistent pattern now for over seven years — a new article has been published in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: “What Did the Interpreters (Urim and Thummim) Look Like?” by Stan Spencer ABSTRACT: The interpreters were a pair of seer stones used by Book of Mormon prophets and provided to Joseph Smith for translating the Nephite... Read more

No Ma’am, that’s not Islamic history

Last updated on: September 6, 2019 at 1:15 pm By Dan Peterson

A couple of years ago, somebody — I cannot now recall who it was — challenged me to watch Brigitte Gabriel’s 16.5-minute video Islam: The Undeniable Truth, which offers her summation of the somewhat more than fourteen centuries of Islamic history. I finally got around, somewhat later, to looking at the first four minutes of her video. (I tired of it, and I had other things to do. I never got back to it. But I hope to finish... Read more

Johannes Kepler and the supposed war between science and religion

Last updated on: September 5, 2019 at 10:51 pm By Dan Peterson

I published the article below in the 9 August 2018 issue of the Deseret News: Atheists and other religious skeptics often portray the European Renaissance (of the 14th to 17th centuries) and the so-called scientific revolution (of the 17th to 18th centuries) as episodes of liberation from the smothering tyranny of medieval religion, which supposedly favored magic over rationality, suppressed scientific thought and thwarted progress. It’s a moral tale, according to which religion and science are adversaries... Read more

Church history, then and now

Last updated on: September 8, 2019 at 9:21 pm By Dan Peterson

The latest installment of my bi-weekly column for the Deseret News has appeared: “How do you write the biography of Brigham Young?” Here are some articles from the Deseret News that you might have missed regarding President Russell M. Nelson’s just-concluded “ministry tour” to Central and South America: “Colombian leaders thank President Nelson for church’s support of religious liberty in their nation: “We are doing important things together. We are promoting cooperation between religions and... Read more

“Doors of Death”

Last updated on: September 4, 2019 at 6:42 pm By Dan Peterson

While I regret not being able to be back east with the Witnesses film crew, there are some compensations: A friend from Mexico who makes the best chiles rellenos on the planet brought some over to our house for us. *** There is some very interesting material in these videos, produced at the end of President Russell M. Nelson’s South American ministry tour: “Watch: President Nelson Says New Temples, Other Announcements Will Be Made This... Read more