Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1194

Mormonism and torture

    The CIA, the Bush administration, alleged torture, and alleged cover-ups are all in the news.   Two Latter-day Saints were involved in some of this, and certain critics of the Church are exploiting their involvement in order to (surprise!) attack Mormonism.   Even some fairly sophisticated people, including some members of the Church, [Read More...]

This April in the Holy Land!

    There are, I’m told, still a few places in the group:   http://www.cruiselady.com/tour-detail...   Posted from Orlando, Florida    

“5 ways other religions have made me a better Latter-day Saint”

    An interesting blog post out of Texas:   http://www.aggielandmormons.org/2014/...   I completely agree with the spirit of the post.  I’ve been talking and writing about Krister Stendahl’s concept of “holy envy” for many years.  (I used it in these oral remarks from 2000, for example.)   I don’t like the concept of “tolerance” [Read More...]

Pranking Harvard

    Those who know me will find it easy to believe that I would give my eye teeth to have pulled something like this off:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuubO...   And those who know me really well will be aware, perhaps, that one or two pranks in which I was involved as an undergraduate have found [Read More...]

“10 Sublime Wonders of Science”

    This writer doesn’t seem to me to have much to say, really, about “meaning,” though he plainly thinks he does:   http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/g...   But his list does include some real wonders — including a few that should leave him and others wondering.   Posted from Orlando, Florida    

“The Unremarkable Call to Love Our Gay Neighbors”

    Unfortunately, the link will give you only a small portion of this article from the excellent Evangelical magazine Christianity Today:   http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2...   I agree, though, that the idea of Christian love for those acting in ways of which we disapprove is entirely “unremarkable.”   If any of you out there have an [Read More...]

Music of Christmas 14

    The first recording of Do You Hear What I Hear? was made by the Harry Simeone Chorale shortly after Thanksgiving 1962, and sold so well during that Christmas season that Bing Crosby eventually recorded it also – making it, by means of his star power, a mega-hit.   Here is that very first choral [Read More...]

The 2014 Nobel Peace Prize

    Malala Yousafzai,  a seventeen-year-old Pakistani Muslim girl, and Kailash Satyarthi, a Hindu from India, have now formally received the Nobel Peace Prize:   http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30...   Both are crusaders for the rights of children.   The Peace Prize has sometimes gone to underserving recipients.  These two aren’t among them.   Posted from Orlando, Florida   [Read More...]

On demonizing people for tiny political deviations

    I like Mona Charen’s columns.  I’ve also had some people call me a RINO (and those were the nice ones) in the wake of, for example, my expressed reluctance to demonize and excommunicate Harry Reid despite our many political disagreements.  So I appreciate what she has to say here:   http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/...   Posted from [Read More...]

O what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to be PC!

    The perils of a modern progressive college president:   http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/12/10/...   And she wasn’t even talking about unborn babies!   Posted from Orlando, Florida