![\"President](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2024\/10\/1_9-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a>Yesterday began in a one-hour conversation with my friend Safi Kaskas<\/a>, about faith and religion from Latter-day Saint and Muslim points of view. \u00a0He has been in town for the 31st Annual International Law and Religion Symposium of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies<\/a> at Brigham Young University. \u00a0Anybody who is interested can watch a video of our discussion at this link: \u00a0https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/scl\/fi\/x4cxlmuj0tpow1b38adms\/Safi-Kaskas-Daniel-Peterson.mp4?rlkey=v2mkpzhtxzxk8il5ncg8uviqs&st=c0s5z85s&dl=0<\/a><\/p>\n Last night, we had the formal premiere of Six Days in August<\/em> at Thanksgiving Point, in Lehi. \u00a0Somewhat more than five hundred people were in attendance. \u00a0Among them \u2014 I think that I dare mention this, since they certainly weren\u2019t hidden and since, with their permission, I announced their presence to the audience \u2014 were President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>, his wife, Kristen, and members of their family; Elder Gary E. Stevenson, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with his wife, Lesa; Elder Kevin W. Pearson, of the Seventy, who currently serves as president of the Utah Area of the Church, with his wife, June; and\u00a0Elder Robert C. Gay, an emeritus member of the Presidency of the Seventy, and his wife, Lynette.<\/p>\n The audience seems to have enjoyed the film. \u00a0(Even for the actors, this was their first opportunity to see the whole thing.) \u00a0They reacted in the right way at the appropriate moments, and many told me how much they had enjoyed it. \u00a0I myself liked it, even more than I had liked it on the four previous<\/em> occasions that I\u2019ve seen the entire movie.<\/p>\n Over at the Peterson Obsession Board, at least two anonymous individuals had claimed, on the basis of information that they had purportedly obtained from Unidentified Inside Sources, that President Russell M. Nelson was intending to announce a Church-wide all-media fast at October conference. \u00a0In response, several members of the Obsession Board chorus gleefully predicted that this announcement would annihilate the box office receipts for the opening weekend of Six Days in August<\/em>.<\/p>\n It appears, however, that no such all-media fast was announced. \u00a0(I trust that you\u2019re as surprised at the falsity of the prediction as I was.)<\/p>\n And, speaking of Six Days in August<\/em>, it opens tonight<\/strong><\/em> in eighty-eight theaters scattered across sixteen states, with more confirmed for the following weeks.<\/p>\n I hope that you\u2019ll go out and see Six Days in August<\/em> <\/a>\u2014 early and often! \u00a0Of course, if you don\u2019t like<\/em> it, we hope that you\u2019ll remain completely mum about it.\u00a0 Forget that you ever saw<\/em> it.\u00a0 \u201cThese aren\u2019t the droids you\u2019re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n If you do<\/em> like it, though, please say<\/em> so to friends, relatives, neighbors, ward members, your dentist, any and all shoe salesmen, your hair stylist, the waiter, and (of course) total strangers on the street, on buses and trams, and those who sit next to you on airplanes. \u00a0Please say so on social media.\u00a0 Our advertising budget is modest, especially beyond the so-called \u201cMormon corridor,\u201d so we need your help to get the word out.<\/p>\n Again, if you do<\/em> like it, we hope that at least some of you will post positive online reviews.\u00a0 This is very important\u2014not least to counter the reviews that will inevitably be posted by critics of the Church or of Brigham Young himself who may never have actually seen the film.\u00a0 (This isn\u2019t our first rodeo; we saw lots of such behavior with Witnesses<\/em>.) \u00a0As with the movie itself, this is a part of\u00a0\u201ctelling our own story\u201d instead of letting others tell it for us.<\/p>\n Today, the far-flung editorial team for Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em> is having its first in-person face-to-face meeting. \u00a0We\u2019ve never done this before; things are typically done virtually and, even more, by email. \u00a0I was able to be with them up until almost lunchtime, and then I had to scurry back home to join in on the regular monthly virtual coordinating meeting that the leaders of the Interpreter Foundation hold with the leaders of FAIR and Scripture Central and the B. H. Roberts Foundation.<\/p>\n Coming up this Saturday, please don\u2019t miss Understanding and Defending the History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: A Virtual Conference by FAIR (Faithful Answers, Informed Response).<\/a>\u00a0 The program for the conference looks extremely interesting, and I\u2019m hoping to catch most if not all of it.<\/p>\n Also, by the way, I hope that those of you who will be attending the BYU\/Arizona game on Saturday will keep an eye out for the widower Brigham Young and his new bride, Mary Ann Angell Young. \u00a0They tell me that they hope to be there.<\/p>\n This topic continues to be controversial in certain circles: \u00a0\u201c\u2018Epic\u2019 Salt Lake Temple renovation \u2018is the biggest preservation project\u2019 in Latter-day Saint history:\u00a0Project managers, historian say the temple is not a museum that excludes people but a flagship to the world\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Also in the news: \u00a0\u201cBYU names inaugural dean of medical school:\u00a0The founding dean of the BYU Medical School is a University of Utah graduate and surgeon who has worked at Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Stanford\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n But I close with a couple of horrors from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u2122:<\/p>\n \u201c6,000 Latter-day Saints Bring Relief to Hurricane Helene Victims:\u00a0Volunteers from 400 congregations restore faith and hope in affected communities\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>