Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 960

What is the true measure of a man (or woman)?

    “The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” Samuel Johnson (d. 1784)    

“The Iron Rod”

    I’m grateful to my colleague Mike Bush for calling this remarkable address by President Harold B. Lee to my attention.  It was delivered at the April 1971 conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   I’m sure that I must have heard it when it was delivered.  But it seems to [Read More...]

From the “Gonzaga Bulletin”: “Suits, bicycle helmets and BYU”

    What to make of the Mormons?   http://www.gonzagabulletin.com/opinio...    

BOM 2 Nephi 3

    Today’s reading, 2 Nephi 3, has bothered some because of the remarkable specificity of its prediction of Joseph the Seer, who would be named after his father.   Joseph Smith Jr. and Joseph Smith Sr., right?   Get it?   And that prophecy has caused certain critics a great deal of merriment because, on [Read More...]

Planet 9 from Outer Space

    I actually grew up with nine planets.  Yes, I’m that old.   But I’m not old enough to believe that there were just five of them — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn — orbiting the Earth along with the Sun and Moon.  For that kind of old, you have to go to [Read More...]

“National Review, conservative thinkers stand against Trump”

    Donald Trump picked up the endorsement of Sarah Palin the other day.  I have no interest whatever in Ms. Palin as a political candidate, let alone as a political thinker, but I sadly admit that her backing will almost certainly benefit Mr. Trump.   I myself give much more weight to this:   http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/21/politic... [Read More...]

“Muslim leaders plan summit on protecting non-Muslims in their midst”

    This is really good news:   http://www.religionnews.com/2016/01/2...   I’ve long hoped that the Muslim community would begin to mobilize against the extremists within it.  I’m pleased that there are growing signs of such mobilization.  May they continue to increase and to spread.   Thanks to Jabra Ghneim for calling this article to my [Read More...]

“Muslims challenge extremist preachers”

    An interesting video out of London, kindly brought to my attention by Charles Steinman:   https://www.facebook.com/Channel4News...    

“A Social History of the Early Nephites”

    Brant Gardner delivered these remarks to the annual FAIR conference — now FairMormon — in August 2001:   http://www.fairmormon.org/perspective...   [I'm watching the Facebook "share" number at the bottom of this post (and other recent posts).  That function hasn't been . . . well, functioning for the past two days.  Which means that [Read More...]

“Recent scholarship and the search for the historical Jesus”

    The latest installment of my weekly Deseret News assault on reason, civility, and common sense has appeared:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86...