Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1147

An anniversary that I’ll never forget

    Precisely three years ago, I woke up happily unaware that I was beginning the worst day of my life to that point, and that it would mark the beginning of the worst several months that I had ever experienced.  The year 2012 was a miserable one for me.  This was the most painful thing, but [Read More...]

“America must pummel ISIS”

    An interesting statement of a hawkish stance on responding to the so-called “Islamic State”:   http://nationalinterest.org/feature/u...   My attention was caught by the authors’ distinction, and how they made it, between the military vulnerability of the “Islamic State” and the relatively elusive character of al-Qa‘ida.   It parallels quite closely the distinction that [Read More...]

“Can space expand faster than the speed of light?”

        For those of you who woke up this morning wondering about relativity, this will be an interesting read:   https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang...   Posted from Vancouver, British Columbia    

On a Sinking Ship and Its Captain

    My friend and former Maxwell Institute colleague has posted a remarkable story of what seems pretty clearly to be academic incompetence and malfeasance:   http://fornspollfira.blogspot.ca/2015...   This story didn’t occur at Brigham Young University.   Posted from Langley, British Columbia    

“Evidences and Witnesses of the Book of Mormon”

    On Saturday, I spoke to a relatively small audience at the University of British Columbia’s downtown Vancouver Robson campus on “The Perplexing Book of Mormon.”  That evening, I spoke to another modest audience at the Vancouver Stake Center about some of my favorite pieces of evidence for the authenticity and antiquity of the Book [Read More...]

On not taking certain critics seriously

    I don’t know anything about Cara Lynn Shultz.  But she seems to have some of the same anonymous critics that I do:   “It’s hard to take someone seriously when they leave you a note saying, ‘Your ugly.’ My ugly what? The idiot didn’t even know the difference between your and you’re.” Cara [Read More...]

“Islam’s Improbable Reformer”

    A really interesting Wall Street Journal interview with President al-Sisi of Egypt:   http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-weeke...   Posted from Langley, British Columbia  

Are 12-Step programs effective tools for fighting addiction?

    The most famous twelve-step program, of course, is that of Alcoholics Anonymous.   Some of my readers will be aware of the fact that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has adopted a modified form of such a twelve-step program for combating all sorts of addictions.   When I was a bishop, [Read More...]

“Same-sex marriage and missing churches”

    Here’s a brief but thought-provoking look at some intriguing data:   http://juicyecumenism.com/2015/03/20/...   It reminds me of a famous book from many years ago by Dean M. Kelley:  Why Conservative Churches are Growing.   Posted from Langley, British Columbia  

How this Mormon got over childhood sex abuse

    https://jpbottema.wordpress.com/2015/...   One correction, though:  As far as I’m aware, Elder Busche is still very much alive.  (His autobiography, by the way, is superb:  Yearning for the Living God.)   Posted from Langley, British Columbia