Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 778

A simple basic distinction between science, morality, and religion

    “Religions differ so much in their accidents [i.e., in their specific attributes] that in discussing the religious question we must make it very generic and broad.  What then do we now mean by the religious hypothesis?  Science says things are; morality says some things are better than other things; and religion says essentially [Read More...]

Toronto Star: “Mormon mommies have the best blogs”

    Well, some bloggers might resist that judgment.  Nonetheless, the “Mormon mommy blogger” phenomenon is pretty remarkable, and it’s been remarked quite a few times.  Here’s an article from Friday:   https://www.thestar.com/life/2016/09/...    

“The God of Truth”

    “If we are seeking to serve the God of truth then we should really welcome truth from whatever source it comes. We shouldn’t fear the truth. Some of it will be from science, obviously, but by no means all of it. It will sometimes by perplexing, how this bit of truth relates to [Read More...]

“Scanning software deciphers ancient biblical scroll”

    The Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, or FARMS — which eventually became the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship — was once at the cutting edge of work like this (including the charred papyrus clumps from Herculaneum [near Pompeii], destroyed by Mount Vesuvius in AD 79):   http://bigstory.ap.org/article/60785b...   And, [Read More...]

“Mitt Romney is an extraordinarily, remarkably, astonishingly generous man. A good man. Maybe even a great man.”

    From a New York Post writer who has often been a rather harsh critic of Mitt Romney:   http://nypost.com/2012/09/22/romney-t...   (Thanks to Anne Palmieri from bringing this to my attention.)   And don’t miss what the author has to say about the significance of Governor Romney’s religious faith, and about the difference in charitable [Read More...]

Mr. Cruz endorses Mr. Trump

    I’m very disappointed by Senator Ted Cruz’s decision to endorse Mr. Donald J. Trump for the presidency of the United States of America:   “Cruz: Yeah, I’ll Vote for Trump”   “Awkward . . . “   Leaving aside all of the many, many political and other problems with Mr. Trump, I can [Read More...]

Inadvertent theists and atheists

    Many an atheist is a believer without knowing it just as many a believer is an atheist without knowing it. You can sincerely believe there is no God and live as though there is. You can sincerely believe there is a God and live as though there isn’t. Frederick Buechner    

“Assessing the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Introduction to the Historiography of their Acquisitions, Translations, and Interpretations”

    Wishing you, as always, a very happy Friday, Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture offers you some interesting reading for the weekend:   Assessing the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Introduction to the Historiography of their Acquisitions, Translations, and Interpretations   This is the 218th consecutive week (out of the 219.5 weeks of its existence) [Read More...]

“New Mormon church-owned skyscraper brings high hopes to Salt Lake City”

    http://www.sltrib.com/news/4386439-15...   The howls of outrage have already commenced, many of them (if not most of them) coming from people who don’t contribute to the Church.   This is a misuse of tithing money, they say.  (Actually, it probably doesn’t involve tithing money at all.)   The more rhetorically powerful objection, though, is [Read More...]

“Muslim. Black. Women.”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/m...   Okay.  First of all, this article was published before the attacks in Minnesota, New York, and New Jersey last weekend, and it was presumably written several days earlier than that.   So, yes, the author’s opening complaint about anti-Muslim violence rings a bit off key at the moment, but it wouldn’t have done [Read More...]