Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1163

Writing and higher education

    “Everywhere I go I’m asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don’t stifle enough of them.” Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964)    

New Testament 73

    Matthew 7:15-20 Compare Luke 6:43-45   These verses contain one of the most obviously useful rules in scripture.   Sound religious teaching should have positive implications in day-to-day life.   Obviously, of course, any particular religious individual may be inferior, in terms of behavior, etc., to some particular irreligious or theologically-different individual.  And [Read More...]

A new editor for “Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought”

    I let my subscription to Dialogue lapse many years ago, and haven’t paid much attention to it since.   Doing so was partly a (tiny) protest.  I’m sure that nobody noticed it, there or anywhere else.   Mostly, though, it was because I’d been finding the journal boring, predictable, and depressing.  Every time [Read More...]

“John Dehlin and the Art of Interpersonal Terrorism”

    I myself am tired of the subject.   But there are things that, I think, need to be said, and things that need to be understood.  Particularly because there’s a great deal of posing and misrepresentation going on.  So, for those who’re still following the Dehlin case, I provide yet another link:   [Read More...]

“But where are the golden plates?”

    The latest in my four-year-long series of offenses in the Deseret News against reason, honesty, and good sense has now appeared:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86...    

Obsession with celebrity

    “A man who is being delivered from the danger of a fierce lion doesn’t object, whether this service is performed by an unknown or an illustrious individual. Why, therefore, do people seek knowledge from celebrities?.” al-Ghazali (d. AD 1111)    

“Why the LDS Church’s statement on LGBT families is good for America”

    I’ve participated with David Blankenhorn — a resident of New York City who is, by the way, a Democrat, and not a Latter-day Saint — in small multi-day dialogues between Western and Middle Eastern intellectuals that have taken place on the Mediterranean island of Malta, in Malaga (Spain), and at the Carter Center [Read More...]

Is stupidity the solution?

    “If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can’t it get us out?”  - Will Rogers (1879-1935)    

For those who want more background in order to understand the John Dehlin matter

    Here are three useful resources:   http://ldsmag.com/why-john-dehlin-fac...   https://dearjohndehlin.wordpress.com/... (Thanks to Hales Swift for bringing this to my notice.)   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/greg... (A pivotal bit of research posted nearly two years ago.)    

“The Real War on Science”

    I don’t think that I posted a link to this:   http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/201...