Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 238

Toward a Better Life

    I offer a few more items from Paul McFate, 52 Good Reasons to Go to Church, Besides the Obvious Ones (Chicago: ACTA Publications, 2004) — a little book or booklet that I commend to you (though it may be hard to find).  Every single one of them is board-certified as appropriate for inclusion in […]

Are NDEs caused by carbon dioxide overload? And what about psychedelics?

    Notes from Pim van Lommel, Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience (New York: HarperCollins, 2010), 119-121:   Oxygen deficiency is accompanied by an increase of carbon dioxide, and this increase has been suggested as a possible cause for near-death experiences.  Patients breathing in unusual quantities of carbon dioxide have been known to […]

“A Native American Perspective on Juneteenth”

    A neighbor, good friend, and valued Interpreter Foundation volunteer sent me the extremely interesting post below.  With his generous permission, I share it here:   A Native American Perspective on Juneteenth by Tom Pittman   Given that North America had about 388,000 African slaves, and at least 2.5 million Native American slaves, the […]

“Ever ready to share his conviction”

    A very slight little essay (by me) has appeared today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:   “A Note in Favor of Rereading Great Works, Including the Scriptures” Abstract: When I was young, I learned an important lesson that has stayed with me through my life. This lesson has led me, […]

My sorry career as a religious bigot

    I have an anonymous critic — I call him my Malevolent Stalker — who has been publicly faulting my character, my appearance, my literary tastes, my religious views, my travels, my scholarship, my friends, and indeed all my works almost every single day for the past fifteen years or so.  Yesterday, he accused […]

The Murder of Martin Harris

    From Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter, Martin Harris: Uncompromising Witness of the Book of Mormon (Provo: BYU Studies, 2018), 317-319:   In 1841, rumor spread through the national press in the United States and even in England that Martin Harris had been murdered — shot through the head — somewhere in the vicinity […]

Are NDEs caused by oxygen deficiency in the brain? (Part 2)

    Continuing with a subject that I raised yesterday, here are some notes based on Pim van Lommel, Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience (New York: HarperCollins, 2010), 114-116.  Dr. van Lommel is a Dutch cardiologist.  This is what he said.  This is what Pim van Lommel said:   Some have sought to account […]

“Finding the Roots of Religion in Saudi Arabia” (and Its Ambiguous Status in the West)

    My latest column for the Deseret News has appeared:   “Finding the roots of religion in Saudi Arabia”   ***   Continuing with the theme that I opened up yesterday (“Islam and the West[s]”), I share yet another passage from Olivier Roy, Secularism Confronts Islam, translated by George Holoch (New York City: Columbia University […]

“And you know that I know that it is true.”

    From Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter, Martin Harris: Uncompromising Witness of the Book of Mormon (Provo: BYU Studies, 2018), 252-253, an account of Elder David Dille, an 1842 Nauvoo convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who was now, in 1853, on his way from the Valley of the Great […]

Are NDEs caused by oxygen deficiency in the brain? (Part 1)

    One of the hypotheses that have been offered to account for near-death experiences or NDEs suggests that they result from oxygen deficiency in the brain of the experiencer.  An extremely severe and life-threatening oxygen deficit results in a brief spell of abnormal brain activity, which is followed first by reduced activity and, finally, […]