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Après moi le déluge

Après moi le déluge

Last updated on: August 28, 2021 at 9:22 pm by Dan Peterson

Après moi le déluge 2021-08-28T21:22:19-06:00 Dan Peterson

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Edward Hicks, “Noah’s Ark” (1846), Philadelphia Museum of Art. For a while tonight, I thought that we might have missed a memo to build another one of these things.

***

In this space the other day, I mentioned the death of Professor David C. Montgomery, a former teacher of mine. I share, now, his obituary; the photograph that accompanies it is much closer to the way I remember Dr. Montgomery as my intimidating tutor in Turkish and as the teacher who introduced me to the utterly unfamiliar but fascinatingly exotic world of pre-modern Central Asia:

David Christopher Montgomery

***

Some of you are aware of him and perhaps of his work. He will be participating in the Interpreter Foundation’s upcoming lecture tour on ever-interesting Egypt: But this interview with the “Nile Scribes,” Taylor Bryanne Woodcock and Thomas Greiner, will help you come to know him a bit better:

“Meet the BYU Egypt Excavation Project Director Dr. Kerry Muhlestein”

***

Before I forget, I want to mention the gala final event at Freedom Fest, which occurred on Saturday evening, 24 July 2021, a week ago yesterday. The food was good and the speakers (including Senator Mike Lee of Utah) were good and short. But the part that I really enjoyed was the concert portion, which featured the Native American rock band Brulé. They were extremely good. They attempt to bring contemporary rock music together with traditional Native American sensibilities and themes, and their concerts often involve (as they did there in Rapid City) native dancers. Anyway, I commend them to your attention.

***

For those of you who might need continual reminders of the horrors visited by theistic belief upon this otherwise paradisiacal world of ours, here’s an item from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File©:

“LDS Church builds playground for children at Butte Rescue Mission”

And I think that I’ll add this little piece from my own backyard, which, in its humble way, is worthy of inclusion in the Hitchens File:

The rain poured down this evening, In sheets. By the buckets full. Heavier than I’ve seen in quite a few years. Quite unusually for the semi-arid intermountain West. Several homes in our neighborhood suffered flooded basements (including ours, but — happily, unlike two prior occasions when pipes broke — only slightly). So a sizable number of ward members were out helping tonight, or trying to help. Including us. (I dragged one of my available sons out.) It was dark, but I noticed our recently-released former bishop and our stake president, among many others, moving things, working with water vacuums, mopping and brooming and etc. I’m pretty useless, and especially so right now with what seems to be either a bruised or a broken rib. The pain of walking and bending and carrying reminds me vividly that I’m alive. And embodied. Still, it’s important to be out there and to be seen as being helpful!

Seriously, one of the things that I love about Latter-day Saint wards and branches is their willingness to be helpful. Not just to preach about it but to get in and work. Even on a sabbath. Indeed, what better sabbath activity could there possibly be? (The Savior had a fair amount to say on this subject.)

In fact, while I’m at it, I believe that I’ll include a few more links that I may or may not have shared before. (If I have shared them previously, please forgive me.). I’m trying to clean up some of my files from my old computer, and I don’t really see any reason why I should feel obligated to face these horrors of theism by myself:

“Latter-day Saint Charities Sends Humanitarian Aid to Lebanon: Partners help deliver food and medical supplies after devastating explosion”

“Latter-day Saints in Mexico Join Forces to Help More Than 142,000 Fellow Mexicans in Vulnerable Situations: Church members’ donations help purchase 38,500 boxes of food that will be distributed to 32 Cáritas Mexicana food pantry locations throughout the country”

“2020 All Africa Service Day held across West Africa. Day of Service”

“Latter-day Saint Charities has donated nearly $2 million to help after Port of Beirut blast: The Aug. 4 blast at the Port of Beirut killed 200 people and displaced 300,000 more. At least 80,000 children were displaced”

“Colorado Latter-day Saint youth gather close to 16,000 pounds of canned goods for local food bank”

“Jews welcome Utah’s Ancestry making millions of Holocaust records available”

“Ancestry completes digitization of archives featuring 19M Holocaust records: Utah company also launches partnership with USC Shoah Foundation to provide access to a new collection of searchable data from Jewish Holocaust survivor testimonies”

“Ancestry® Digitizes Millions of Holocaust and Nazi Persecution Related Archives Making Them Searchable Online for the First Time Ever”

New York Times: “Ancestry Promises Holocaust Records Will Be Free: The U.S.C. Shoah Foundation has partnered with the genealogy giant, and an initial rollout faced a glitch. But some survivor families don’t want their histories public.”

“Flood Victims in Yemen Receive Help from Latter-day Saint Charities”

“Brazilian Saints Sew and Donate More Than 3 Million Face Masks: Members and friends of the faith mobilize efforts in Helping Hands to Save Lives project”

“Report: People who are highly spiritual tend to be more civic-minded: The Fetzer Institute-sponsored study also found that the more spiritual people said they were, the more inclined they appeared to be to volunteer and donate. But only 36% said their spirituality influences their political actions.”

“Central American Latter-day Saints Provide Humanitarian Relief to Hurricane Survivors: Donated items include 120 tons of food, water, blankets, mattresses, face masks and materials to repair storm-damaged homes”

“Learn how a $3.3 million Latter-day Saint donation will build new housing, pay rent for Utah homeless: Money will also help fund transportation and security for overflow shelter; rental assistance to largely help single parents”

“Church provides $3.3 million to assist in providing shelter, services for Utah’s homeless”

“Why Religious Couples Thrive in a Pandemic”

“Latter-day Saints Around the World: Country Newsroom Websites, June 25, 2021: Featuring service provided in the United States, Chile, Bolivia, Guatemala and New Zealand.”

“A look at how the Church’s wheat supply is providing food for humanitarian efforts and home storage”

“Restoring Eyes and Lives Through the Church’s Global Vision Care Initiative: Simple, vision-restoring surgeries impact individuals and their families in positive ways for generations”

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