Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 856

The Continuing Crisis

    A news report this morning says that Mr. Donald Trump is thinking seriously about breaking with tradition at the upcoming Republican national convention:  He may speak all four evenings.   Good grief.  If this doesn’t demonstrate the fact that Trumpism is a weird political personality cult, that it’s an American instantiation of the [Read More...]

Responding to Robert Bowman

    Robert M. Bowman, Jr., is a professional Evangelical polemicist often writes and speaks against Mormonism.  To his considerable credit, he’s both much brighter and substantially nicer and more civil than many in his profession, and my interactions with him have been relatively pleasant.   Here, though, are three pieces in which the redoubtable Robert [Read More...]

“Book Review: ‘Let Your Hearts and Minds Expand: Reflections on Faith, Reason, Charity, and Beauty'”

    A new book is out, anthologizing essays by the Latter-day Saint Russian scholar and playwright Thomas F. Rogers.   Tom has been a friend of mine since I was a student and he was the director of BYU’s Honors Program.  My wife, while an undergraduate, directed his stage adaptation of Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man [Read More...]

Science and Mormonism 1: “Cosmos, Earth, and Man”

    Just a quick reminder of yet another publication from the Interpreter Foundation:   https://www.amazon.com/Science-Mormon...   We hope that many will enjoy and profit from this volume.    

BOM Alma 22

    A brief note on Alma 22:   As I pointed out a couple of days ago, forbearance and charity can have a huge impact on others.  It’s so in this case, where Lamoni’s father, the high king, who had unsuccessfully sought to kill Ammon in Alma 20, is now open to the preaching [Read More...]

“Stolen World: ‘Planet 9’ Likely Came from Another Star”

    I grew up believing that there were nine planets.  And then, partially thanks to our Vatican astronomer friend Dr. Guy Consolmagno, who spoke to the Interpreter Foundation conference on science and Mormonism earlier this year, Pluto was demoted, kicked out of the planetary club.   Of late, though, people are again talking about [Read More...]

The Ruth M. Stephens Article Prize

    I would like to remind people out there of this year’s Ruth M. Stephens Article Prize:   The Ruth M. Stephens Article Prize   There’s still time, but the window is closing.    

Integrity as a requirement for leadership

    The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity.  Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office. Dwight D. Eisenhower  

Mr. Trump’s attempt to intimidate a U.S. federal judge and unduly influence a court case

    I caught just about sixty seconds, last night, of Bill O’Reilly’s show.  To my dismay, that was enough time for me to hear Mr. O’Reilly suggest that, although (as Mr. O’Reilly himself says) Gonzalo Curiel has done nothing wrong beyond being the son of Mexican immigrants who came legal to the United States where they obtained [Read More...]

A wonderful personal story of Muhammad Ali, with a Utah connection

    Diane Larsen, the “Cruise Lady” — for whom I accompany at least one international tour every year — passed a fantastic story on to me the other day, regarding an opportunity that she and her son had to visit with the legendary Muhammad Ali.  It will show him in a very different light, perhaps, than [Read More...]