Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 60

“Innovations and Initiatives at BYU and BYU-Idaho”

  Last night, I was part of a group of people who had been invited to a meeting with Elder Clark G. Gilbert, a member of the Seventy, who currently serves as Commissioner of Education for the Church Educational System; Elder Alvin F. Meredith III, who is also a member of the Seventy and who […]

“Objective Public Proof”?

  I occasionally use the expression objective public proof.  I’ve recently been asked what I mean by it. Let me take the phrase apart just a bit. “Proof,” as the word is typically used and as I am using it here, is a fact or a piece of information that demonstrates the existence of something […]

Some Notes on “Fine-Tuning” and the Multiverse

  Over the past few decades — I, at least, certainly didn’t notice such claims when I was in high school — a number of physicists, philosophers, and others have begun to maintain that many aspects of the physical cosmos appear to be ‘fine-tuned’ for life, which is to say that various aspects of the […]

Offense and Defense

  I think that apologetics, as such, is inevitable.  Stripped of specifically religious elements, it’s merely the defense of a position.  Scholars defend positions all the time, as they should.  So do all the rest of us. Whenever there is disagreement — e.g., over religion, politics, political candidates, even favorite restaurants or best vacation destinations […]

One Investigator’s Story

  For many years now, my most devoted atheist commenter here (never a Latter-day Saint) has repeatedly (and repetitiously) asserted that religious claims can neither be examined, tested, nor investigated.  (Which, I’m guessing, is intended to show — in what might perhaps be a kind of folk echo or pop version of once-fashionable logical positivism […]

Was Jesus funny?

  I agree with this article, which was written by a Roman Catholic:  “Does Jesus Have a Sense of Humor? Jesus is fully God and fully man. He is like us in every way except sin. This includes having a sense of humor.” It reminds me of the review of a book from another Catholic […]

“Oh say, what is truth?”

  Cody Quirk has kindly called to my notice an article about an interesting discovery in Central America:  “Archaeologists in Panama find ancient tomb filled with gold treasure — and sacrificial victims.” Although the site and the golden artifacts that were found by the archaeologists date to a period that is a few centuries after […]

A clear rebuke in the House of the Lord at Kirtland

  I hope that I don’t offend or violate any confidences with the little story that I’m about to tell.  I wasn’t asked to keep it confidential, and I won’t share the crucial personal name — not least because, having never known it, I’m unable to share it.  Moreover, I hope that I’m accurately recalling […]

A few more thoughts on the Kirtland Temple deal

  Amidst the general rejoicing among Latter-day Saints at our church’s recovery of the Kirtland Temple (and other properties in Kirtland and in Nauvoo) — joy in which I enthusiastically share — we should probably not forget that the transaction has caused deep sadness among not a few members of the Community of Christ, including […]

This is a banner day!

  For anybody who cares about the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, today’s news is absolutely thrilling.  I have been hoping for these developments for a many decades: “Responsibility and Ownership of Sacred Sites and Historic Documents Transfer to Church of Jesus Christ: Acquisitions include Kirtland Temple, historic buildings in […]