“Religion builds hospitals. Science builds hydrogen bombs.”

Last updated on: September 21, 2023 at 7:22 pm By Dan Peterson

What the bomb left — The fruits of science? This photo shows Hiroshima after the explosion of the atomic bomb there on 6 August 1945.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

A few days ago, I published a post here in which I replied to the silly atheist slogan “Science flies men to the moon. Religion flies planes into buildings.” Responding to my response, an occasional participant on the Peterson Obsession Board who does not appear to be as reflexively hostile to theism as many of the others there — an (American?) physicist teaching in Germany who has never been a Latter-day Saint — offered an alternative slogan: “Religion builds hospitals. Science builds hydrogen bombs.” Given his profession as a physicist and the recent box office success of the biographical film Oppenheimer, it’s a fairly obvious riposte. And it’s certainly at least as “true” (which is to say, at least as much of a caricature and very nearly as false) as the first one.

However, one of the regulars on the Obsession Board quickly answered that the revised slogan isn’t really available to Latter-day Saints, since the (greedy, unfeeling, uncharitable) Church doesn’t build hospitals.

But this is deeply misleading. As the Wikipedia article on “Intermountain Health” explains, “Intermountain Health [initially “Intermountain Healthcare”] was founded on April 1, 1975, after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated fifteen hospitals, as a system, to what would become Intermountain Health.” Moreover, the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™ positively overflows with examples of the Church not only providing humanitarian aid around the globe but donating cash and medical equipment and the like to clinics in impoverished areas. I’ve been posting account after account after account here of such donations.

In a curiously related matter, I read a post online at another location in which a critic blamed Utah’s high rates of obesity and diabetes on Latter-day Saint culture. Others immediately joined the chorus of condemnation. So l looked up data, by state, on obesity (also here, where Utah ranked thirty-seventh of the fifty states) and diabetes.

My question is whether the folks who make such allegations ever consult anything, before they post, beside their burning hostility toward the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Girls' camp girls — The fruits of religion: Three authentic young Latter-day Saint women at a girls’ camp
(LDS.org)

I’m always astounded when I see confident declarations that there simply were no Book of Mormon plates. One might imagine, given the consistent testimony of multiple, seemingly credible eyewitnesses to the literal, tangible, physical existence of those plates, that folks who flatly deny that existence would want to cite some evidence or present some kind of an argument.

Although I judge them to be manifestly losing arguments, I can easily understand those who want to contend that all of the seventeen or eighteen witnesses (or more) who claim to have seen, hefted, and/or handled the plates were either hallucinating or lying. But one should probably advance some evidence and an argument to that effect, if one cares at all about being taken seriously. I can also imagine arguing that there were plates, but that they were in some sense bogus. In such a case too, though, one should probably at least nod in the direction of evidence and rational argument.

But to simply, complacently, announce — without even the slightest attempt to justify the assertion — that Joseph Smith never possessed any actual plates of any kind? That’s not worthy of being taken seriously. It’s not a serious position.

In response, I offer the relevant historical works of Richard Lloyd Anderson as a starter (notably Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses), as well as the films Witnesses and Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, the Interpreter Foundation’s series of Insights videos, and the Witnesses of the Book of Mormon website. After that, I can point to still more.

Godzilla recharging his batteries — A representative product of science — in this case, specifically of nuclear physics. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons)

Let’s assume, for the moment and for purposes of discussion, that absolutely every accusation made against Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad is true, even the most lurid ones. (I have no particular reason, personally, to believe that any of the accusations is true, but I could easily be wrong.)

Over on the Peterson Obsession Board, my Malevolent Stalker is suggesting that I resign from my role in the Interpreter Foundation and with the Foundation’s Six Days in August film project because of the cloud that my close association with OUR and Tim Ballard has put them under. My close association? Somebody over there even described us as “close friends.”

But, so far as I’m aware, I’ve never met Tim Ballard nor even corresponded with him or spoken with him. I read about OUR’s efforts to liberate children from sexual servitude, thought it an exceptionally noble cause, decided to donate money to support it, and decided to invite others to do so. That’s it. (Also at about that time, I did the same with respect to what is now called the Bountiful Children’s Foundation.)

Baseless suggestions that I was attracted to OUR precisely because of its allegedly abusive and corrupt character — relatively recent charges that are, as yet, quite undemonstrated — are too contemptible to merit serious comment.

Another charge that is being leveled on the Obsession Board claims that the alleged actions of Tim Ballard are indicative of the evils done by religion. To which I respond, Really? Seriously? In the cases found in the illustrious Hitchens File™, the actions described are motivated by religious belief and, quite commonly, sponsored and/or organized by a religious organization. Can anybody seriously maintain that Tim Ballard became too physically intimate with women other than his wife (as some have charged, though thus far over his denials and without demonstrating it to be true, and without indictment, let alone conviction) in accordance with the teachings of his Church rather than in direct opposition to them?

A Genesee farmer and his family pose for a photo — A representative product of religion: A happy, faithful, nineteenth-century family — that of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith. James Jordan persuaded them to sit for this informal family portrait — perhaps the first ever taken in color — during production of the Interpreter Foundation’s “Witnesses” film.

But let’s get back to some relatively recent materials from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™:

That should do for now to give at least some slight sense of the horrors inflicted upon humankind by religions and religious people. When will it ever end?

Posted from Park City, Utah

A Baptismal Witness of the Covenant

Last updated on: September 15, 2023 at 5:04 pm By Dan Peterson

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dpsa[0908u7dgfya. m Ribble ordinances — A scene from the set of “Six Days in August: Baptisms during the mission of the Twelve to England

Two new articles went up today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:

“Witness of the Covenant,” written by Loren Blake Spendlove

Abstract: Although much has been taught about covenants in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, little attention has been given to the witnesses of those covenants. In this paper I focus on the importance of witnessing the covenants that we make with God — especially the gospel covenant — rather than on the process of making them. Instead of emphasizing the teachings of Latter-day Saint leaders and authors, I prioritize the standard works of the Church in my analysis of this topic. I begin with a discussion of covenants and witnesses in the Hebrew Bible, and then proceed with an examination of the same from the Book of Mormon. I identify the ordinances of baptism and the sacrament as witnesses of the gospel covenant and clarify that it is through the blood of Christ that we are cleansed from sin rather than through the waters of baptism. I conclude by observing the importance of faithfully witnessing the gospel covenant to serve God and keep his commandments.

“Interpreting Interpreter: A Baptismal Witness,” written by Kyler Rasmussen

This post is a summary of the article “Witness of the Covenant” by Loren Blake Spendlove in Volume 58 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. All of the articles may be seen at https://interpreterfoundation.org/category/summaries/. An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreter series is available at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought/.

The Takeaway: Spendlove outlines examples of “witnesses”—signs or tokens that accompany scriptural covenants—and argues that the ordinances of baptism and the sacrament are intended to be witnesses to covenants rather than the covenants themselves. He believes that covenantal witnesses should receive greater emphasis in gospel teaching, to the point that we could encourage individuals to enter a covenant to live the gospel even before being baptized.

ai87ytufghbjdkop'a;poyeuhf;vbeubvuejnbwnniejwj — Director Mark Goodman discusses a scene in “Six Days in August” with some of the actors.

Today is Day 5 of filming for the Interpreter Foundation’s new Six Days in August movie project — I’m grateful to Russell Richins and James Jordan for sharing still photographs of the work thus far — and the critical reviews are already rolling in!

Over at the Peterson Obsession Board, my longtime Malevolent Stalker points out that the clothing used in Six Days in August (which is primarily set in rural frontier America during the period 1828-1844) is embarrassingly similar to the costuming in our previous film, Witnesses (which is primarily set in rural frontier America during the period 1828-1844). But I have a defense against this complaint: Most people on the American frontier during the Jacksonian era of the early Republic were simply unable to afford the leopard-skin tights, sequined propeller beanies, leather lace-up Brunello Cucinelli hiking boots, Sergeant Pepper’s jackets with epaulets and tassels, and retro designer sunglasses that the Stalker favors for daily wear. We’re just trying to be accurate to the place and the period.

Mark sets up a scene — More direction from director Mark Goodman, from the set of “Six Days in August”

Coming home this afternoon, I was pleased to find among our mail a package containing two copies of a new book: Avram R. Shannon and Kerry Hull, eds., A Hundredth Part: Exploring the History and Teachings of the Book of Mormon (Provo: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, and Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2023). An accompanying note explained that

This volume represents some of the more compelling articles on the Book of Mormon that have been previously published in numerous Religious Studies Center publications. Each has advanced the field of Book of Mormon studies in unique and innovative ways and have provided insights into the doctrine, history, and message of the Book of Mormon.

Here’s the background of the two editors:

Avram Shannon is an assistant professor in the Department of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University. He was born in Quantico, Virginia, and spent most of his young life in Virginia. He earned a BA in ancient Near Eastern studies from Brigham Young University (2007), a master of studies in Jewish studies from the University of Oxford (2008), and a PhD in Near Eastern languages and cultures with a graduate interdisciplinary specialization in religions of the ancient Mediterranean from The Ohio State University (2015).

Kerry Hull is a professor in the Department of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University. He earned a BA in Spanish and BA in French in 1992 from Utah State University. He received an MS in applied linguistics from Georgetown University in 1993. He completed a PhD in linguistic anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin in 2003. His academic interests include Maya linguistics and anthropology, Polynesian linguistics, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and Maya epigraphic studies. He has conducted linguistic, ethnographic, and archaeological fieldwork in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. He specializes in the language and culture of the Ch’orti’ Maya of southern Guatemala.

The book — I doubt that any Bengali edition actually exists! — contains nineteen chapters, including an introduction by President Dallin H. Oaks and articles by such writers as (among others) Jared Ludlow, Andrew Skinner, Noel Reynolds, Jennifer Lane, Joseph Spencer, Jan Martin, Ugo Perego, Dana Pike, John Gee, Matthew Roper, and RoseAnn Benson.

I’m pleased to say that my own article on “Priesthood in Mosiah” is also included in A Hundredth Part, though not in the expanded form that I prefer, which appeared as Daniel C. Peterson, “Authority in the Book of Mosiah,” in Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 18/1 (2006): 149-185.

Brigham Young is sick — but not of Mark Goodman’s directorial counsel!

Finally, I have no plans to move to Moab in the immediate future. But I was pleased to discover that Moab possesses one of the assets that are absolutely necessary to civilized life: at least one good Thai restaurant. With our friends, we enjoyed a really tasty meal at Thai Bella. I recommend it for whenever you’re there in Moab, or at Arches National Park, or at Canyonlands, or at Dead Horse Point. It’s a wonderful way to finish off a day of wonders.

Should heaven make a difference on earth?

Last updated on: May 28, 2023 at 7:01 pm By Dan Peterson

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Dr. Mary Neal — Mary C. Neal, MD
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)

Mary C. Neal, MD, is an orthopedic surgeon (“fellowship-trained as a spinal surgeon”) who earned her medical degree in the School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and completed her orthopedic residency at the University of Southern California (USC). Like her husband, who is also a physician, she lives and practices medicine in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. In January of 1999, she suffered a catastrophic kayaking accident on a river in a remote area of Chile and had an extraordinary near-death experience. She recounted that experience in To Heaven and Back, which reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list. Here, I will share some passages that I marked during my reading of Mary C. Neal, 7 Lessons from Heaven: How Dying Taught Me to Live a Joy-Filled Life (New York: Convergent Books, 2017.

A 2009 study conducted at the Pew Research Center demonstrated that more than 30 percent of Americans say that have “felt to be in touch with someone who has already died,” and nearly half of all Americans claim to have had a religious or mystical experience (defined as “a moment of sudden religious insight or awakening”), including 18 percent of self-described atheists, agnostics, and the secularly unaffiliated. What’s more, 13 percent claim to have seen or sensed the presence of an angel in the previous year, and at least 5 percent have had a near-death experience. (224)

In 7 Lessons from Heaven, Dr. Neal shares several stories other than her own. Here is one such account:

Lynn died on an operating room table and had a near-death experience. She saw her sobbing parents in a nearby room, but once she realized they would be fine, as she tells it now, she entered a horizontal tunnel leading to a bright light from which emerged two of her previously deceased and beloved dogs. They were radiating brilliance from within, and she felt nothing but gratitude when they came running to her and joyfully smothered her with kisses. They accompanied her as she walked toward a light that she described as a warm, loving thing that contained all colors. She saw many people, including her grandparents and an uncle; everyone glowed with an inner light. Before returning to her physical body, she was able to ask Jesus whether it was true, as her elementary-school teacher had told her, that she had been given a lifelong heart condition so she would have a cross to carry like He had. She heard the voice of Christ vibrate through her as He said, “No, this heart condition is a challenge to help you grow and stay compassionate.” (158)

And here is a brief account from “Justin,” in Fort Worth, Texas:

I worked for the phone company when I was a young man and got electrocuted one day when I was up on a telephone pole. The first thing I remember was looking down from somewhere in the sky and seeing one of my buddies doing CPR. I felt peaceful and surrounded by God’s love. When I started moving down a bright path, I recognized my grandpa. He told me to “go back,” and suddenly I was in the ambulance. I tried to tell my wife about this, but she told me that it was just because I hit my head. I never told anyone else until now, and that was thirty-two years ago. (224-225)

Another report comes from “Cindy,” in Midland, Michigan:

When I was three years old, I fell off a dock when no one was looking. I didn’t know how to swim and immediately sank to the bottom of the lake. I had the most loving encounter with Jesus. He held my hand while we talked but then told me I couldn’t stay.

Suddenly, I popped to the surface right by the shore. My brother laughed and said I was lying when I told him I fell in and met Jesus. So I kept it to myself for many, many years. I remember this like it was yesterday and have never forgotten how much love I felt. (225)

Permit me to just comment here that, although more than a few accounts of near-death experiences mention encountering Jesus, I’m inclined to think that, in almost all of these experiences, the personage who is met is not Jesus. Worldwide, there are something on the order of 335,000 deaths per day, which means that there are approximately 14,000 deaths per hour and not quite 250 deaths per minute. I understand that time may function rather differently in the next world, but I still doubt that Jesus is personally present in even a significant percentage of deaths. Indeed, most NDE accounts don’t report encounters with Jesus, though a fair proportion do mention a “being of light” who often remains unidentified but, when named, is sometimes variously identified (often with the name of a prophet or holy personage from the religious background of the person relating the experience). There are relatively few cases in which the personage explicitly and verbally identifies himself as Jesus. (Are there any? Probably.) I expect that, in very many of these cases, the dying individual who feels strong love and acceptance emanating from a glorious person simply identifies that person as the most holy figure he or she can name (e.g., Jesus, Muhammad, Krishna, etc.). Doctrine and Covenants 1:38 may be apropos here, with the Lord declaring that “my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.”

ETA: On the other hand, as a friend writes to remind me — I read both of Dr. Neal’s books quite some time ago, and am only now extracting my notes from this one — her own description of her experience seems clearly to indicate an encounter with Jesus. (I don’t have the book with me at the moment to look.) I have no reason to believe that such encounters don’t occur. In fact, I think they probably do. On a slightly different front, at least two other people claim that I’m now admitting that NDEs are all purely subjective or imaginary, but that isn’t my position at all. Quite the contrary. I’m simply saying that, when encountering a being of glorious light, perfect compassion, and supreme holiness, it’s entirely to be expected that near-death experiencers from Christian backgrounds would be inclined to identify that being as Jesus. And that there is actually sound theological reason (in the principle of divine investiture) for the “error.” (Over on the Peterson Obsession Board, my Malevolent Stalker says that I’ve accused NDErs of “lying.” Consider the source. No further response is necessary.)

Finally, I share a reflection from Dr. Neal that I found important:

Your life and mine today can look radically different because of the reality of heaven. Or you can decide you’re mildly intrigued by the stories . . . and walk away unchanged. If you walk, you would be deciding that every account, including mine, falls into the category of heartwarming stories — sweet, something you might even return to in the future, but not something that alters your thinking and remakes your heart and soul. . . .

I want to show you how your life can be different because of what you’ve discovered. I want to rescue you from a sweet but ultimately unimportant story time for grown-ups.

Make no mistake, this is extremely serious business. Today, I know without a doubt that this world is separated by the thinnest of veils from the next, and that both worlds belong to God. I know now that you and I already live right next to, even inside of, eternity, and that one day, the veil between it and time — along with all its schedules, clocks, tragedies, and eons of history — will vanish. On that day, everything that happened in time will be made good, right, and beautiful by God himself. (191-192)

Hearts of Darkness

Last updated on: May 25, 2023 at 10:13 am By Dan Peterson

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These are great photos — James Jordan, Elder Willy Binene, Léon (driver), Jeff Bradshaw, and Russ Richins after returning to Mbuji-Mayi following a long jeep ride from Luputa.

Another note, inspired by John W . Welch, et al., eds., Knowing Why: 137 Evidences That the Book of Mormon Is True (American Fork: Covenant Communications, 2017), and very relevant to the two Interpreter articles that I mentioned in my blog entry for last Friday:

“What Is It to Speak with the Tongue of Angels?” (143-145)

2 Nephi 32:2 seems to suggest an implicit doctrine of human deification in the Book of Mormon — a text from which, critics have alleged, the Nauvoo-period teaching of human exaltation is wholly absent.

To this, I would add 3 Nephi 28:10, where the Nephite disciples are promised that “ye shall be even as I am, and I am even as the Father; and the Father and I are one.”

In an analogy to the transitive property of equivalence known from mathematics — according to which, if a=b and b=c, it follows necessarily that a=c — if the disciples will be like the Son, and the Son is like the Father, the disciples will be like the Father.

Congolese baptism — A group of members reenacting the baptism of Elder Binene and others in Lac Golf, Kolwezi.

If one is in just the right mood, the Peterson Obsession Board can be a weirdly amusing place, as well as a psychologically fascinating one. In recent days, the PO Board has taken predictably negative note of the Interpreter Foundation’s current film project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (See the photographs accompanying this blog entry, as well as those featured here, here, and here.)

Jeff Bradshaw, who serves as the Interpreter Foundation’s director of special projects and on its board, conceived the idea of a film project devoted to the emergence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the DR Congo. His fondness for the area and the stories of the Saints there comes naturally to him; between July 2016 and September 2019, he and his wife Kathleen served missions first in the Democratic Republic of Congo Kinshasa Mission office and then in the DR Congo Kinshasa Temple. He is back in the Congo at the moment, along with Russell Richins and James Jordan, who previously served as, among other things, respectively the producer and associate producer of the Interpreter Foundation projects Robert Cundick: A Sacred Service of Music, and Witnesses, and Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, as well as the Foundation’s short Insights videos.

President Kimball's worldwide effect — Elder Willy Binene watching the reenactment of a scene in which a younger version of “himself” reads a life-changing passage in “The Miracle of Forgiveness”

We have enough money behind the project to do the filming there in the Congo, but have not as yet raised the money for post-production (e.g., editing the raw footage, adding music, dubbing, and the like). There is no plan to take the films to theaters but, otherwise, we haven’t decided how to distribute them. Perhaps the most likely scenario is simply posting them online and making them available online, as we did with Robert Cundick: A Sacred Service of Music. We have never seen them as a source of revenue; instead, they represent the sort of thing for which we use whatever revenue we generate (which comes mostly in the form of donations). We think that the story and the stories of the Congolese Saints are worth telling, and worthy of the attention of other members of the Church.

Binene marriage proposal, again — A crowd of local people watching the reenactment of Elder Binene’s marriage proposal to his wife.

As seen from the perspective of the PO Board, though, our effort to make a series of short films about the Church and its members in the DR Congo is an “incredibly smelly” exercise in “colonialism.” It’s also “incredibly slimy.” We’re using people there as mere “props” in order to tell a faith-promoting story. (It’s their story, of course, so I’m at a bit of a loss to know how we would be able to tell their story without featuring any people in it.) Our project is mere “exploitation and priestcraft.” Our interviews of Congolese members are actually “interrogations” and “lectures.”

This is all “disturbing” to posters on the PO Board, “if not outright distasteful.” “Distasteful at best, and connivingly racist at worst.” Interpreter is on “exceptionally thin ice” with all this, because the Foundation is “exploiting” impoverished Africans for “propaganda” purposes. One commenter describes himself as feeling “unsettled” about this horrible affair, and “uncomfortable” about the fact that, unlike the denizens of the PO Board, the poor Congolese have no idea what kind of horrible people are now seeking to “exploit” them. (The verb to exploit shows up repeatedly in comments on our film project.)

Elder Ndalamba Ilunga, a newly called Seventy from Lubumbashi, and his wife after having described their feelings at the announcement of a temple in their southern city.

The photos that I’ve shared here, says my Malevolent Stalker, glorify “leering” white males. In fact, notes another member of the PO Board, there is a distinct lack of adult male Congolese in the photos that I’ve shared — except, I suppose, for the blind tailor pictured in one of them, the jeep driver Léon, and Elder Willy Sabwe Binene and Elder Ndalamba Ilunga of the Third Quorum of the Seventy, and others — indicating to folks on the PO Board that the Church is enjoying very little success among men in the Congo. (Apparently, they’re under the impression that the photos I’ve shared heretofore offer a representative demographic sample of Congolese Church membership — which, on that assumption, appears to be mostly made up of young children.)

Damnably, Interpreter’s visiting trio of filmmakers is building no homes for people in the Congo during its roughly three-week stint there, providing no meals or clean water, nor even teaching any Church classes. “The apologists aren’t even bothering to claim that they’re doing something good for the people of the DRC.” With regard to the film project, they’re just “fooling around with drones” and, well, using that drone and their other equipment to gather footage for a set of films.

And what is Interpreter’s end goal? It is to “exploit” Africans in order to secure lucrative donations for the Foundation and, ultimately, pour moi. And, of course, to pay for our forthcoming “anti-Community of Christ Brigham Young biopic.”

Early DR Congo Sunday School class — Reenactment of an early Sunday School lesson in Kolwezi.

One commenter at the PO Board tried a couple of times to push gently back against some of these accusations. When viewed in the context of Africa’s historic experiences with such violent phenomena as Arab imperialism and subsequent European colonialism, he observed, Interpreter’s little film project seems “comparatively benign.” I thought that concession remarkably generous of him: Our greed-driven brutality will be fairly limited.

But the bottom line, most others agreed — and “bottom line” is very much the appropriate phrase here — is that both the Church and the Interpreter Foundation are “exploiting a foreign people for financial gain.” The Church’s “business model” for Africa is a form of “neocolonialism”: It is using BYU Pathway and the Perpetual Education Fund in order to secure cheap local education for Africans. And that sounds good, doesn’t it? Well, it isn’t! The Church wants them to gain educations so that they can eventually occupy elite positions in business and government in such a way that the Church will accumulate power and influence. (One respondent grudgingly allows that the Church might be benefiting the Congolese a little bit. But he immediately points out that Mussolini supposedly made the trains run on time, and that even the Ku Klux Klan may have done some good somewhere, sometime.) The Church is setting up “franchise locations” so that it can harvest tithes from Africa that it can then feed into Ensign Peak Advisors back in Utah — which seems to be the very “definition of colonialism.” This is “so the poor church doesn’t starve to death in Salt Lake City.” And the Interpreter Foundation is following the Church’s wicked model: Our movie effort is “a purely ‘extractive’ project,” in which we’re “rolling in, filming some videos, and then heading back to the US to try and use the footage to milk donations out of people.”

PO Board commenters grant that the Church has expressed disapproval of the customary African practice of dowries, which tend to oppress young Africans economically and to discourage marriage and family formation. But don’t get carried away! This is not because the Church suddenly cares about marriage and families. No, the real motivation is that President Nelson and his cronies dislike the idea that all that dowry money stays local. Instead, they want it to come to the Church via tithing. Sure, the Church might invest a few “pennies” in Africa in order to get things going there, as seed money, but what Church leaders want is a “sustainable investment.” And “success,” as viewed from Salt Lake City, means a flow of tithes to Utah and, most importantly, to Ensign Peak Advisors. It is, plainly, “imperialism.” And, likewise, “The Interpreter Foundation is using the Congolese people to make a quick buck.” My own time, in fact, is dedicated to scheming about how to “extract the maximum dollar amount from prospective donors.”

A venerable Congolese Church couple — In the home of the Simon Mukadi Kakel Kat couple, Church pioneers in Kolwezi and Luputa.

One side issue, though: P.O. Board members want to know why I’m not there in the Congo. Hmmm? Inquiring minds, and all that. But, in fact, minds on the PO Board already know: It’s not because I’m not a professional filmmaker and would be essentially useless there. It’s not because my spoken French is, at best, mediocre. (By contrast, in addition to his two French-speaking missions in the Congo, Jeff Bradshaw served his first mission as a young man in France and Belgium and, subsequently, lived twice with his family in France.) It’s because the rural Congo lacks the five-star accommodations and dining that I require. This is “about DCP gorging himself on beef pizza or washing down two orders of tikka masala with a diet soda.”

Bad enough, you think? Ah, but it’s far worse even than that. Why am I not in the Congo? “It is,” says my Malevolent Stalker, “impossible to escape the racial implications here.” (He’s probably quite right that it’s impossible for him, at least, not to detect “racial implications here.” After all, it’s what he does.) “Has DCP traveled to any predominantly Black country?” he asks. (The answer, by the way, is Yes. And I loved both trips. I wonder whether my Malevolent Stalker has spent any time in majority-Black countries.)

The Church builds better than this. — Within the building, now a school for abandoned children, where the Church first met in Kolwezi,.

But here is the really pressing question: What will the Interpreter Foundation do with the massive profits that will somehow accrue from our short Congo-related videos? Will we donate even a tiny portion of our treasure hoard to the Congolese Latter-day Saints that we’re exploiting? “I think,” says one PO Board participant who has specialized for years in making up defamatory fictions about me, “the more likely outcome is that 100% of the money they make on this project will be used for DCP’s travel, meals and his anti-Community of Christ film, 6 Days in August.”

Of course, responds Kerry Shirts, another PO Board stalwart, “if DCP donates a laptop and a few pencils, and a few scratch pads of paper, it will be outdoing the donations of the church.”

Curious, I spent about fifteen seconds this afternoon in the relevant subfolder of the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™, and I came up with these four irrefutable confirmations of Mr. Shirts’s claim:

“LDS Charities $1M in Aid Will Help Those Suffering in DR Congo Crisis: Donation hits milestone with United Nations’ World Food Programme” (2018)

“Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Eliminated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Latter-day Saint Charities participates with partners in global effort” (2019)

“Church Gives Supplies to War Victims in Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo: One of the 12,000 grateful recipients remarked the donation ‘has given us back a smile and hope that we lost for a while.’” (2022)

“Church Joins Forces with Catholic Relief Services and Caritas to Help Refugees in Eastern DR Congo” (2023)

There are probably other stories that I might have found, but these four should suffice for weighing the reliability of Mr. Shirts’s allegation.

Neither the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints nor the Interpreter Foundation has ever viewed the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a lucrative source of wealth — except in the sense that its people are children of God and, in themselves, a treasure beyond price. The Church’s investments in regional temples and meetinghouses, its educational expenditures, and its humanitarian efforts are given in imitation of the Savior, “who went about doing good” (Acts 10:38), and not with any eye to financial payback. (Church leaders would be crazy, as well as evil, to seek to profit from the Congolese Latter-day Saints.) Similarly, the Interpreter Foundation wants to preserve the stories of the Saints in the Congo because we value them as our brothers and sisters. We have no plan to make a buck, whether quick or otherwise, by “exploiting” them, and we have no way to do so. The very accusation, I think, tells a great deal about those who level it against us.

A note on Latter-day Saint attitudes toward other religious faiths

Last updated on: April 20, 2023 at 3:56 pm By Dan Peterson

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Oakland viaduct in 1989 — The Cypress Street viaduct, in Oakland, California, following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

First, though, a thought about earthquakes and divine providence. I submitted this column to Meridian way back on 27 February, and I had to re-read it this morning to see whether I still agreed with it. (I do.) I’m grateful that it has finally appeared:

“A Purpose in Life’s Earthquakes”

No other planet in our solar system has plate tectonics, which seems to be unique to Earth. Other planets—exoplanets—revolving around other stars may possess similar geology but, if so, we haven’t found them. But why might plate tectonics, and specifically subduction, be vital for life on Earth?

I’m indebted to Bart Kowallis, whom I’ve known since we were on the same freshman dormitory floor at Brigham Young University prior to our missions, for his willingness to read the essay through before I submitted it. He’s not to be blamed for any surviving errors in the column, of course, but I wanted to be sure that I had committed no egregious or crippling scientific errors.

Christy Constitutional Convention — “George Washington Presiding at the Constitutional Convention”
(Howard Chandler Christy, 1939) (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

An important case with implications for religious liberty is currently before the Supreme Court of the United States. Here are two links regarding the matter:

“What the Supreme Court said Tuesday about working on the Sabbath: In its Sabbath case, the Supreme Court can clarify a confusing ruling from 1977. But at what cost?”

“Another key test for religious liberty”

A large number of outside individuals and groups have filed separate amici curiae (“friends of the court”) briefs in this case. If you would like to read the brief in support of the petitioner, Gerald E. Groff, that was jointly filed with the Supreme Court of the United States by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Anti-Defamation League, it is available here: No. 22-174 In the Supreme Court of the United States A quotation from the Prophet Joseph Smith is apropos here. He uses the term priests, of course, simply to refer to clergy of other faiths:

Priests cry out concerning me and ask “why is it this babbler gains so many followers, and retains them”? I answer, it is because I possess the principle of love, all I can offer the world is a good heart and a good hand. The Saints can testify whether I am willing to lay down my life for my brethren. If it has been demonstrated that I have been willing to die for a Mormon, I am bold to declare before heaven that I am just as ready to die in defending the rights of a Presbyterian, a Baptist or a good man of any other denomination; for the same principle which would trample upon the rights of the Latter day Saints would trample upon the rights of the Roman Catholics or of any other denomination who may be unpopular and too weak to defend themselves. It is a love of liberty which inspires my Soul, civil and religious liberty to the whole of the human race, love of liberty was diffused into my Soul by my grandfathers, while they dandled me on their knees; and shall I want friends? No.

(Joseph Smith, Jr., History of the Church 5:498, 9 July 1843, slightly less than a year before he and his brother Hyrum were assassinated by an anti-Mormon mob in Carthage, Illinois)

Which reminds me very much of this:

“A recent religious poll highlights a unique Latter-day Saint quality we can be proud of: A phenomenon highlighted in a recent Pew survey could be a sign that Latter-day Saints are trying to be kind and nonjudgmental to those around them.”

In a recent tweet, McKay Coppins, a Latter-day Saint writer at The Atlantic, commented as follows:A fascinating (and kind of hilarious) finding in this Pew survey: Mormons are among the least popular religious groups in America. They are also the only group that expresses a net favorable opinion of *every other group,* including Muslims and atheists. pewresearch.org/religion/2023/. Or, as he summarizes it, “You probably don’t like us, but we like you!”

Pew chart — Fascinating data on several levels

A new entry has appeared on the unfortunately necessary Neville-Neville Land blog:

“Jonathan Neville tried to blackmail me”

I’m disappointed by the “personal” turn that things have now taken. Of course, it’s always been “personal” in a sense. As I’ve tried to say on multiple prior occasions, I’m quite unconcerned by “Heartland” geographical models for the Book of Mormon. I’m not persuaded by them, but I’m not especially upset that not a few others are persuaded. What concerns me is the tendency of some “Heartlanders” to regard Book of Mormon geography as a central doctrine of the Gospel and, accordingly, to cast public doubt on the loyalty to the Church, the Restoration, and the Gospel of those who publicly affirm views that differ from theirs. That’s why, alas, I’ve found the Neville-Neville Land blog “necessary.” It chronicles such poor and inappropriate behavior. And now I’m further dismayed by the gleeful willingness of at least two zealous “Heartlander” advocates to make common cause with avowed, vocal critics the Church, the Restoration, and the Gospel against those whose views on Book of Mormon geography fail to toe the “Heartland” line.

This new kerfuffle strikes me as a tempest in the proverbial teapot. As Gertrude Stein once wrote about Oakland, California, where she grew up, “there’s no there there.” Especially bemusing to me is the central role in it that is now being assigned to me both by Mr. Jonathan Neville and by my Malevolent Stalker and his epigones. I’m so peripheral to this story, as intrinsically insignificant as it is, that one would need a high-powered telescope even to see me from the periphery.

The operating principle over at the Peterson Obsession Board and in its suburbs, however, seems to taken from their revision of Amos 3:6: “Shall there be evil in a city, and Daniel Peterson hath not done it?”

A 2011 eruption at Mt. Etna — The entrance to Hell? Or merely the Utah state line?
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)

But let’s end on a genuinely chilling note from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™:

“The Church and LifeMoves Help the Homeless in the San Francisco Bay Area: Latter-day Saints also donate time and labor to help prepare new “navigation center””

“Local” Planetary Conditions

Last updated on: February 12, 2023 at 12:32 pm By Dan Peterson

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Earth from the Moon — Earthrise, from the Moon
(NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center / Arizona State University)
Wikimedia Commons public domain image

I carry on now with my appropriation, for my own undoubtedly wicked purposes, of material drawn largely (though not quite entirely) from the online “List of Fine-Tuning Parameters” compiled by Jay W. Richards. (My first entry taken from his list, and explicitly dependent upon it, was this one: “An initial survey of the “four fundamental forces” and the “cosmological constant.””). My second was ““Initial Conditions and ‘Brute Facts.’”) As I said in both of those blog posts, I claim no originality for these entries, and I repeat that statement here. Moreover, although I intend to expand and rework what I’ve begun in this regard, I may never claim any originality on the topic. (It’s not, after all, exactly my area of special expertise.) I do, however, intend to eventually rework these notes in successive stages as I draw upon and incorporate materials from other sources for a much larger project that I have in mind). Dr. Richards follows his list of five “Cosmic Constants” with a list of four “Initial Conditions and ‘Brute Facts’.” Those were, respectively, the topics of my previous two entries. In this blog post, I’ll briefly list and summarize at least a few of what he terms ““Local” Planetary Conditions”:

Even in a universe that is arguably fine-tuned overall, at the cosmic level, conditions can and do vary dramatically from one far distant location to another. Life exists on Earth, of course, but almost certainly not on Jupiter or Mercury or in the asteroid belt. Even in this fine-tuned universe — as critics of cosmic fine-tuning delight in pointing out (a point, in fact, to which I will respond at some future time) — the vast majority of places in the universe, to say nothing of space itself, are unsuited for life. In an interesting book entitled The Privileged Planet, astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez and his co-author, Jay Richards himself, identify twelve broad, widely recognized fine-tuning factors that appear to be required to build a single, habitable planet. (A quite distinct book on a closely related subject — I own and have read both it and Privileged Planet — is Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe [2003], by paleontologist Peter D. Ward and astrophysicist Donald Brownlee, both of the University of Washington.) As it happens, every one of the dozen factors listed by Gonzalez and Richards can be found together in the Earth. And there may well be many more such factors. In fact, observes Richards, most of them could reasonably be split out to make sub-factors, since each of them contributes in multiple ways to the habitability of a planet:

Steady plate tectonics with right kind of geological interior — This allows the carbon cycle, which appears to be essential to the rise and survival of life, and it generates a protective magnetic field). If the Earth’s crust were significantly thicker, plate tectonic recycling could not take place. (And, yes, I’m aware that plate tectonics or, perhaps more precisely, the process of subduction can be and is a destructive factor, leading to such events as the recent lethal earthquake in Türkiye. I’ll be commenting on that topic shortly, either here or in an article for Meridian Magazine.)
Right amount of water in crust — This provides the universal solvent for life. A neighbor and friend of mine, a retired Ph.D. nuclear chemist, once observed to me that, in and of itself, water was a compelling “natural theology” argument for the existence of God. For years, he promised an article for Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship laying out his thoughts on the matter. But alas, he recently passed away. Happily, though, there are now some good treatments of the “miraculous” character of water out there, probably beginning with the Harvard chemist and physician Lawrence Henderson’s 1913 The Fitness of the Environment and continuing, much more recently, with The Wonder of Water: Water’s Profound Fitness for Life on Earth and Mankind (2017), by Michael Denton, M.D., Ph.D., which I have not yet read.
Large moon with right planetary rotation period — This factor stabilizes a planet’s tilt and contributes to tides. In the case of the Earth, the gravitational pull of its moon stabilizes the angle of its axis at a nearly constant 23.5 degrees. This ensures relatively temperate seasonal changes, and, so far as current biology and science can ascertain, provides the only climate in our solar system that is mild enough to sustain complex living organisms.
Proper concentration of sulfur — This is essential for several vitally important biological processes.
Right planetary mass — This allows a planet to retain the right type and the right thickness of atmosphere. If the Earth were smaller, its magnetic field would be weaker, which would allow the solar wind to strip away our atmosphere, slowly transforming our planet into a dead, barren world. That may have been what happened to the planet Mars.
Near inner edge of circumstellar habitable zone — Such a location allows a planet to maintain the right amount of liquid water on its surface. (See above, regarding water.) If the Earth were just five percent (5%) closer to the Sun, it would experience a runaway greenhouse effect, with temperatures rising to nearly nine hundred degrees (900º) Fahrenheit. This is basically the condition of the planet Venus. On the other hand, if the Earth were roughly twenty percent (20%) further from the Sun, it would be subject to runaway glaciations — which, again, would resemble the situation of Mars, which appears thus far to be biologically sterile
A few, large Jupiter-mass planetary neighbors in large circular orbits — This factor protects the habitable zone of a solar system — and, specifically, our solar system — from too many comet bombardments. If Earth were not protected by the enormous gravitational pulls of Jupiter and Saturn, it would be far more susceptible to collisions with devastating comets that would cause mass extinctions. As it is, the larger planets in our solar system provide significant protection to the Earth from the most dangerous comets. Think of them, perhaps, as something like vast vacuum cleaners.
Outside spiral arm of galaxy — This factor allows a planet such as Earth — and, indeed, our entire solar system — to stay safely away from supernovae, which could very easily be catastrophically destructive to minorities and women.

And yes, by the way, I’m well aware of the late Douglas Adams’s “sentient puddle” spoof of fine-tuning arguments. I’ll post a response to it in the very near future.

P.S. I notice that the exceptionally mendacious person to whom I’ve occasionally referred as my “Mini-Stalker,” one of my lesser critics over at the Peterson Obsession Board, has just announced with breathless excitement that the blog entry above, like its two predecessors (mentioned above), depends to a large degree upon a piece by Jay Richards of the Discovery Institute. I thought that I had said that very thing pretty clearly above and in the two prior posts, but perhaps I should repeat it here, even more clearly: This blog entry, like its two predecessors (mentioned above), depends to a large degree upon a piece by Jay Richards of the Discovery Institute.

My Mini-Stalker also seeks to discredit the late biochemist Lawrence Henderson, whom I mention above, on the grounds that he is an associate of the Discovery Institute, a group that, Mini-Stalker triumphantly points out, many people disdain. Alas, though, Professor Henderson, who taught at Harvard Medical School (and who was, by the way, evidently a religious agnostic), died in early 1942, and his book The Fitness of the Environment, which I own and have read in a reprint edition and which I also mention above, was published in 1913. (A German edition followed in 1914.) However, the Discovery Institute was founded in 1990. Presumably, Professor Henderson isn’t affiliated with them or on their payroll.

An entry on some critics

Last updated on: January 22, 2023 at 8:16 pm By Dan Peterson

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Africa's second temple, I think. — The Accra Ghana Temple by night (LDS Media Library)

I mentioned the other day that I had responded to an online article in Newsweek entitled “Black Mormon told they can’t marry white members because “seed is cursed.”” Almost immediately, a clutch of vocal anti-Mormons showed up to target me, personally. I wasn’t surprised. It’s happened many times before. So, basically, I backed out of the “discussion,” realizing that no real discussion was ever actually going to occur. Today, though, somebody calling himself “Clarence” appeared, responding to me with a claim of purported fact. He’s referring to the claim of the person interviewed in the article that Latter-day Saint leaders today believe that the Black “race” is “cursed” and that mixed-“race” marriages deserve condemnation:

It is likely true. What we ALL know as fact that Mormons in general believe that and certainly the leaders of the Church believe that. there is no debating that fact.

Seeing his comment, I felt that I needed to contradict it for the sake of the public record. I responded as follows:

Actually, there is. And I deny it.

If you have actual evidence to demonstrate that contemporary Latter-day Saints in general and current Church leaders in particular believe that mixed-race marriages are “cursed,” I hope that you’ll share it.

As it is, I suspect that Elder Gerrit Gong, an ethnically Chinese member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who is married to a Caucasian woman, DOESN’T believe that mixed-race marriages are cursed.

Nor, I suspect, does Elder Peter Johnson, a Black member of the Seventy who is married to a White woman.

Nor, probably, does Brother Ahmad Corbitt, a Black man married to a White woman. Brother Corbitt has served as a stake president and as a mission president and he now serves in the Young Men’s general presidency of the Church.

Nor, I’m guessing, does Sister Tracy Browning, who is both a counselor in the Primary general presidency of the Church and a Black woman married to a White man.

Nor, presumably, do the Church leaders through whom their appointments came.

Nor, probably, does Brother Alex Boyé, a popular English-born Latter-day Saint performing artist (formerly a member of the Tabernacle Choir) of Nigerian background who is married to a White woman.

I could go on, but those, I think, are sufficient grounds for dissent from your declaration that “there is no debating” your claim.

But my reply never appeared. Instead, I received this message from the anonymous Newsweek editor:

Your comment on “Black Mormon told they can’t marry white members because “seed is cursed”” violates the community guidelines and has been rejected.

I’m puzzled. I can’t seem to see how or why my response was inappropriate. I thought it quite irenic and to the point, and I still do. Of course, I’m also puzzled by the fact that the folks on the Peterson Obsession Board seem to believe that the comments posted after the Newsweek article make me look bad.

But then, life is weird: This afternoon, for instance, I was cruising northward on Orem Main Street — which isn’t a very main Main Street — at just slightly over the speed limit when a car pulled out in front of me so suddenly and unexpectedly that I was obliged to slam on my brakes in order to avoid a collision. I didn’t honk my horn, though, or otherwise react. However, since there was nobody behind me I was more than a little bit puzzled as to why the driver felt such an urgent need to pull into the street just when he did. And then, only about two hundred yards further along Main Street, he abruptly pulled off into a shallow parking lot to the right and stopped parallel to the road. Out of curiosity, I looked over to see for myself who this marvelous creature might be. And he flipped me off. He flipped me off. As I say, life is weird.

Back to Newsweek, though: An interesting side product of this little episode was the appearance of one “Lance Hemmert” in the Newsweek exchanges. I’ve seen him before, in other online “discussions” of the Church. I agree with the assessment given by a participant in one of those earlier encounters that he seems to be both unpleasant and rather obsessive. This time, though, he posted as his own and essentially verbatim an entire paragraph that had previously been posted over at the Peterson Obsession Board by the character that I call my “Malevolent Stalker.” (The Stalker has been after me anonymously, day in and day out, for something on the order of fifteen years now.) Either he stole the Stalker’s words without attribution — a whole paragraph, remember, basically verbatim — or he is the Stalker. If he’s not the Stalker, he may be another anonymous character whose online moniker appears to refer to Cameron, North Carolina (“CamNC”).

***

Another item from the Tales-of-the-Weird Department: It’s being confidently asserted over on the Peterson Obsession Board that I’ve banned this blog’s most consistent multi-year atheist commenter, who goes — or, anyway, went — under the moniker of “gemli.” In the dispassionate judgment of at least some of those on the POB, his was the only voice here that was worth reading.

But I haven’t banned him.

It’s true that he hasn’t commented here for several weeks. And I’ve been aware of his absence. However, for all I know, perhaps he’s given up, having realized that we here are too perverse and too devoid of intellectual integrity ever to be persuaded by his invincible logic, by the powerful evidence that he marshals, and by his open-minded but honest truth-seeking skepticism. Maybe he’s taking the missionary lessons. Perhaps, for all I know, he’s passed through the veil into the next world and has reconsidered all of his major assumptions. (I had once deduced his real-life name, but I’ve long since forgotten it. So I can’t do a search for him.)

I hope that he’s well. However, assuming that he is, he’s entirely free to comment here . . . or not to comment here.

But I’ll give it a shot: Gemli, if you’re still out there please let us know that you’re okay.

Some Ways to Light the World

Last updated on: December 1, 2022 at 5:57 pm By Dan Peterson

The plaque on the central eastern spire of the Salt Lake Temple that reads, among other things, “Holiness to the Lord / The House of the Lord” Photo taken by Derek P. Moore on 27 February 2007.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Four new links have appeared on the website of the Interpreter Foundation over roughly the past twenty-four hours. I hope that you enjoy them:

“Nibley Lectures: Time Vindicates the Prophets — Prophets and Miracles”

Between 7 March 1954 and 17 October 1954, Hugh Nibley delivered a series of thirty weekly lectures on KSL Radio that were also published as pamphlets. The series, which was called “Time Vindicates the Prophets,” was given in answer to those who were challenging the right of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to call themselves Christians.

This lecture looks at the idea of miracles within the Church and compares them with those found in the world.

Come, Follow Me — Old Testament Study and Teaching Helps: Lesson 50, December 5–11: Haggai; Zechariah 1–3; 7–14 — “Holiness unto the Lord”

Once again, Jonn Claybaugh has generously contributed one of his sets of brief notes for students and teachers of the Church’s “Come, Follow Me” curriculum.

Audio Roundtable: Come, Follow Me Old Testament Lesson 50: “Holiness unto the Lord”: Haggai; Zechariah 1–3; 7–14

The Interpreter Radio Roundtable for Come, Follow Me Old Testament Lesson 50, “Holiness unto the Lord” on Haggai; Zechariah 1–3; 7–14 featured Martin Tanner and Terry Hutchinson. This roundtable has now been extracted from the 30 October 2022 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show, liberated from commercial and other extraneous interruptions, and made available to you at no charge. The complete show may be heard at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreter-radio-show-October-30-2022/. The weekly Interpreter Radio Show can be heard every Sunday evening from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640. Or — hallelujah! — you can listen to it live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com.

And here is an archived presentation from 2013:

Conference Talks: “Science vs. Religion: Can This Marriage Be Saved?” (David H. Bailey)

This essay examines the details of ongoing wars between science and religion and shows why they are not only futile and senseless, but also unnecessary. Sometimes such battles cause people to forget important ideals that science and religion hold in common. It is important for religious movements to stay focused on religion and not embrace in their central belief systems some particular scientific theory or worldview that will eventually become obsolete with continued research advances. As Holmes Rolston observed, “The religion that is married to science today will be a widow tomorrow.” Both scientists and religious believers can stand in awe at the majesty of the universe. So why all the fighting?

Hearst Castle — This isn’t actually my home. Back in the day when I was first beginning to earn my enormous salary as an apologist, we thought of buying it. But the daily commute from San Simeon to Provo was just a bit too long. (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo by Anke Meskens)

My Facebook fundraiser for the Interpreter Foundation is now up: https://www.facebook.com/donate/490604776226909/. I’m not sure, though, that it will work for anybody who isn’t on Facebook. For other methods of donation, see here.

Incidentally, my Malevolent Stalker, who has volunteered his own labor over the past fifteen years or more to the noble cause of anonymously defaming me online, refuses to allow that I myself might be as selflessly public-spirited as he and, thus, capable of volunteering time and effort without any personal financial benefit. In response to the fundraiser mentioned immediately above, he insists that I’ve profited (enormously, he often suggests) from my connections with both the Interpreter Foundation and the Cruise Lady company (now Bountiful Travel). In fact, the connection between the two is relatively recent and only occasional — my most recent tours to Israel and Egypt, for example, had nothing at all to do with the Interpreter Foundation — and I’ve profited from neither of them. I expect that he knows this. But his behavior reminds me of a statement often attributed to Sir Winston Churchill: Occasionally he stumbles over the truth, but he always picks himself up and hurries on as if nothing has happened.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, from Project Gutenberg

I posted something yesterday that I had written back in 2012 about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (See “How inexpressibly sad are all holidays.”) In response to my post, a reader by the name of Regan Grandi kindly called my attention to a forthcoming film entitled I Heard the Bells that is directly relevant to what I had written. I had not heard of it before, but now I look forward very much to seeing it.

Leland Stanford Junior University — A view of Stanford University, in California (Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

You may perhaps have missed this charming little story out of Palo Alto, California: “Stanford band stages controversial halftime skit during football game against BYU.” And here’s a follow-up story: “Stanford Athletics says it ‘deeply regrets’ offense caused by band’s halftime show: The Daily Universe reported that the Stanford athletic department addressed the halftime show performed during its football game against the BYU Cougars.” Diversity, you see, is a very important value in today’s American higher education. Perhaps the most important of all values. But not diversity in ideas or beliefs.

Newfane, VT white church — A church from the 1830s in Newfane, Vermont (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

This looks to be both fascinating and rich: “New religion census: That means more numbers, more maps and more hooks for news stories”. I’m coming to regard Ryan Burge as one of the most consistently interesting commentators around on the current state of religion and religious belief in the United States. And I’ve resolved to pay closer and more regular attention to what he has to say.

Peter's late brother — The eponymous Christopher Hitchens, speaking in Colorado in 2005
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Finally, here’s a seasonally appropriate horror from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File©: “50 Ideas to Share Light for #LightTheWorld 2022: Throughout December, find new ways to share light with others”

And, if that’s not enough by itself to chill your blood, there’s some material in the video here that should thoroughly horrify and appall you: “San Juan Puerto Rico Temple Open House Offers Hope to Storm-Tossed Island: First house of the Lord in Puerto Rico opens its doors to the public.”

Lost causes, lost worlds, and lost monsters

Last updated on: August 23, 2022 at 3:45 pm By Dan Peterson

A view of Urquhart Castle, with Loch Ness in the background
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph by Lorna M. Campbell)

A few folks out there in my audience continue to be deeply interested in my personal finances and, it seems, rather disturbed by my travels. So, yet again, I’m going to endeavor to set their minds at ease, even though it’s really none of their business:

My wife and I like to travel. We love history and the humanities. And, accordingly, we’ve very deliberately configured our finances in order to be able to travel. We’ve set aside a certain amount each year to make that possible. And we tend not to spend as much money on other things as we might otherwise do. For example, we have a single car between us, and the mileage on it is very high. Likewise, we’ve never put new carpet in our home since first moving in, and we haven’t redone our kitchen or redesigned our backyard.

But very conscious frugality in certain matters isn’t the only factor that facilitates our wanderings. We’re fortunate that both of us come from reasonably affluent families. Not, as my Malevolent Stalker likes to portray me, from elite privilege and wealth, but from the securely upper middle class. (My brother and I were the first people in our family line to have graduated from college.) And the generosity of our families allowed us to leave graduate school — and to get into a house — without debt. (Fellowship money and summer employment in the family construction business also helped).

“An Incident in the Rebellion of 1745” (i.e., at the Battle of Culloden), attributed to David Morier (ca. 1705-1770)
Wikimedia Commons public domain image

But let me talk specifically about this current trip:

I am, right now, accompanying a tour group on a cruise around the United Kingdom — though it both commenced in Amsterdam and will conclude there — on behalf of Bountiful Travel (the successor company to Cruise Lady). I draw no pay for doing so and invariably spend some of my own money on these trips (e.g., tips for local guides, and the like), although Bountiful Travel does cover the cost of flights and cruise for me and my wife. My principal duty on the tour is to give two informal lectures on each of the cruise’s at-sea days. I also see it as my role to go on the land tours with our group (the cost of which Bountiful Travel covers) and to join them for dinner every evening. Why does Bountiful Travel have me come along? It’s a business decision. Clearly — whether rightly or wrongly — they calculate that my coming along enhances their bottom line by attracting customers — at least sufficiently to justify their expenditures on airfare and the cruise for me and my wife.

Bountiful Travel paid our way to Europe. We came over early, though, in order to avail ourselves of the generous offer of a friend: A native of Switzerland, he still owns the home in Matten bei Interlaken in which he grew up, and he offered us the use of it. That was something that we could scarcely pass up!

A 2007 Wikimedia Commons public domain photo of the three “Clava Cairns” by Bob Embleton. The nearest cairn has a north-east passageway designed so that the interior would be illuminated by the setting sun on the shortest day of the year. The cairn furthest away has a southwest passage. The central cairn has no passageway at all. Note, too, the orthostats or standing stones seemingly scattered around the cairns. I also noticed one that was several hundred yards distant.

Now, I suppose that this next set of questions is of some public relevance, so I want to answer them as clearly and unambiguously as I know how to do: Does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pay me for apologetics? No. Not a cent. Is it largesse from the Church that makes my travels possible? No. Not a nickel. Do donations given to the Interpreter Foundation support my travels? No. Absolutely not. I work for the Interpreter Foundation as a volunteer, as (for that matter) does my wife. In fact, my wife and I are regular donors to Interpreter.

I’m fully aware that the explanation that I’ve just given — which follows several previously-given explanations that have said essentially the same thing — won’t help my most obsessive and hostile critics. That’s sad, but it’s okay. There’s really nothing that I can do for them. They’re determined to regard everything I say as a lie and everything I do as mean-spirited and deceptive. Still, perhaps what I’ve written here will assist in calming those down who have recently expressed curiosity and concern about how I spend my money, where I get it, how much of it I may have, and how I can possibly afford to travel so often.

Today, we docked at Invergordon and, after disembarking from our ship, drove up to Inverness and the area around it. We visited Urquhart Castle and then boarded a boat to sail on Loch Ness and the Caledonian Canal. (I’ve cruised on Loch Ness at least twice before and, alas, I still haven’t seen the Loch Ness monster, or Nessie.) Thereafter, we visited an exhibition that is clearly designed to debunk belief in Nessie — which, in my case, didn’t take much. (We had already seen a distinct but analogous display quite a few years ago.) We had lunch at The Clansman, wandered around a bit in Inverness itself (where, in Leakey’s Bookshop — so many books, so little time! — I bought two used volumes that are relevant to the history of the Scottish branch of my family tree). Next, we visited the site of the tragic 16 April 1746 Battle of Culloden. And, finally, we spent some time at the intriguing Bronze Age cemetery called the “Clava Cairns” (which reminded me, curiously, of the considerably older pagan center at Gamla Uppsala, in Sweden).

I especially enjoyed our guide today, Doug Redwood, who holds a master’s degree in archaeology and is connected with the Centre for History at the University of the Highlands and Islands. He has done substantial fieldwork in the area of the Scottish Highlands and on the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides to the west, and he has a particular interest in the Clava Cairns. During the hour-long ride back to our ship, he and I had a long and really enjoyable conversation about archaeological and historical matters.

Posted from the North Sea

Two great opportunities to learn more about temples

Last updated on: September 18, 2022 at 12:23 am By Dan Peterson

The tabernacle temple in Vernal — The Vernal Utah Temple (much of which is actually underground) by night
(LDS Media Library)

Please mark your calendars for the 2022 Temple on Mount Zion Conference, which is coming up on 5 November 2022.

My understanding, by the way, is that the new book by Jeffrey Mark Bradshaw, Freemasonry and the Origins of Latter-day Saint Temple Ordinances, is now available, as of today:

The topic of this book has been of interest to me for decades. Over the years, many researchers have asked me about similarities between the endowment introduced by the Prophet Joseph Smith and Freemasonry, often pointing out similarities to me. I explain that Joseph adopted and adapted, the then-popular pedagogical system of Freemasonry to teach eternal principles and that therefore they should look for the differences between the endowment and Masonic rituals if they want to find the essence of what the Lord revealed to Joseph.

What I have enjoyed about Jeff’s work over the years is that, unlike many students of this topic, he has not confused form and substance. His work has tracked the substance of the endowment ceremony to ancient sources and shown that the Lord revealed much of it to Joseph before he reached Nauvoo and joined a Masonic lodge established there. I trust that reading this book will heighten your intellectual comprehension and deepen your spiritual understanding.

— Richard E. Turley, Jr., former Assistant Church Historian

From the all-seeing eye on the Salt Lake temple to the turbaned angel and compass and square on the Nauvoo temple’s weathervane, and from ritualized hosanna shouts to traversing the veil, Latter-day Saint temples share elements in common with Freemasonry. Why? And how does this square with modern temple worship as a restoration of ancient temple practices? Jeffrey M. Bradshaw’s closely argued and beautifully illustrated Freemasonry and the Origins of Latter-day Saint Temple Ordinances illuminates these mysteries, beginning with a concise history and appreciative explanation of Freemasonry.

With intellectual rigor and spiritual insight, the author compares Latter-day Saint temple worship both to the modern Masonry amidst which it emerged and to the ancient Near-Eastern and early Christian rituals it restores. He presents Joseph Smith’s revelation of ancient temple ritual and his encounters with Freemasonry not as competing accounts of the origin of Latter-day Saint temple worship but as aspects of one and the same divinely guided process. I can’t imagine anyone coming away from this book without deeper insight into the origin and meaning of temple worship.

— Don Bradley, historian, author The Lost 116 Pages: Reconstructing the Book of Mormon’s Missing Stories

While Freemasonry certainly isn’t a necessary prerequisite to understanding the doctrines learned within the Holy Temple, my membership as a Mason has given me a quicker comprehension of the magnificence of eternal principles. I am grateful for the blessings of the Temple and for the knowledge that those fundamentals I learned years ago have an even more significant impact when viewed with an eternal perspective.

— From the Foreword by William S. Kranz, longtime Freemason

The Church's newest temple -- for a few weeks, at least. — The Concepción Chile Temple (LDS Media Library)

I’ve just listened to an interesting commentary on the Church’s official text “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” by Brent Andrewsen. I remember when the Proclamation was first issued in 1995. Many wondered why such a statement of obvious truisms was even necessary. Now, though, affirming it is controversial and indeed risky. It’s a nice illustration of modern prophets and apostles doing their jobs. Brother Andrewsen and subsequent speakers called our attention to a website that is dedicated to the Proclamation, and to which I intend to pay some real attention:

thefamilyproclamation.org

And here are a couple of items from the Neville-Neville Land blog that also concern prophets and apostles. And one of them is explicitly and directly connected with a speech that was just given today at the FAIR Conferenc :

“The First Presidency reviewed Saints before publication”

“President Nelson and the attention to detail in Saints”

It's temporarily closed. — The Jordan River Utah Temple (LDS Media Library)
Perspective matters: I was living in Israel when a “Jordan River Temple” was announced. I remember reacting with astonishment: “But we don’t have enough MEMBERS around here!” I thought for just a moment.

I haven’t been seeking them out, but I’ve been pleased to notice yet other articles expressing admiration and gratitude for Vin Scully since I published my blog entry on Scully’s death (“The passing of a legend who meant very much to me and my family”) yesterday. Among them are these:

Wall Street Journal: “Vin Scully’s Perfect Baseball Melody: An appreciation of the legendary Dodgers voice, now departed at age 94”

National Review: “Vin Scully’s Verbal and Vocal Genius”

National Review: “Vin Scully: A Personal Remembrance: Vin Scully was my hero. Of course he was: he was family.”

Chorley's LDS temple — The Preston England Temple in winter. (LDS Media Library)

Elsewhere — even now, after approximately fifteen years of this sort of thing, he hasn’t quite lost the capacity to astonish me — my Malevolent Stalker is describing that little blog entry of mine as a shameless attempt to exploit Scully’s passing for “Mopologetic” purposes. He wonders aloud whether there is anything that I won’t abuse in order to serve my nefarious goals. This reminds me of the common observation that, often, individual people and even national governments accuse those whom they oppose of doing the very things that they themselves are doing. Is there anything at all that the Stalker won’t seek to weaponize as a means of slandering me?

The hook on which he hangs this newest accusation is my mention of the fact that Vin Scully was a quietly devout Catholic. This was, evidently, a slam against atheists. (I can, by the way, state with strong confidence that it was not.) In response to a reader’s question in the comments following that earlier blog entry, I explained that “the proximate prompt” for my mention of his quiet Catholic devotion was a passage in the National Review eulogy that I had read: “Scully had a devout but unshowy Catholic faith. He was a communicant at St. Jude the Apostle in Westlake Village, California.” At this, the Stalker complains that there was much more in the National Review article than merely that allusion to Scully’s religious faith, but that I shamelessly omitted it. If, though, I had borrowed more from it, he would surely have accused me of stealing from the article. I know how the game is played. He’s been playing it for a decade and a half.

By the way, the Stalker also points to my response to news of Christopher Hitchens’s death, which he describes as mocking and derisive. I would love to see exactly what I wrote, and where it appeared. My very first blog entry was published on 8 February 2012. Christopher Hitchens had already died nearly three months before, on 15 December 2011. So my alleged happy cackling when I heard about Mr. Hitchens’s death doesn’t seem to have been recorded here.

Speaking of Mr. Hitchens, though, here’s an item that I’ve located among the terrifyingly inexhaustible treasures of the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File©. It ‘s simply yet another redundant example of the horrific damage wrought by theistic belief:

“Amos C. Brown Fellowship to Ghana Begins: This group is the fruit of a collaboration between the NAACP and the Church of Jesus Christ”