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California, out I come, back from where I started from

California, out I come, back from where I started from

Last updated on: December 17, 2024 at 3:32 pm by Dan Peterson

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California, out I come, back from where I started from 2024-12-17T15:32:39-07:00 Dan Peterson

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The Newport Beach California Temple, the first temple to be constructed in California’s Orange County, is just a few minutes’ drive from where we typically stay when we’re in the area. (LDS Media Library).

I love California. I grew up there. I earned my doctorate there. I typically go back to California several times annually. I’ve missed only one year, I think, of going to California. That was during my mission to Switzerland. Once, several years ago, I realized that I hadn’t gone back at all — with my parents and my brother gone, I don’t have quite the same pressing need to return that I once did — so I began thinking, somewhat seriously, of driving at least to somewhere along the California/Nevada border and sticking my toe across the state line. As it turned out, though, I did eventually have a legitimate reason to go to California, so all was well.

But California has changed a little bit since I last had a permanent residence there. (Critics might say that the average kindness and decency of its residents increased immediately upon my moving out.) So here is a video from the Babylon Bee inviting visits from out-of-state tourists: Visit California: It’s America’s Future. It’s less than two minutes long:

The recently dedicated Red Cliffs Utah Temple is the second temple within the city limits of St. George. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Last night, I watched what I consider to be a remarkable 33-minute CNN interview with Senator Mitt Romney, who is relinquishing his office with the end of the current Senate term: I commend it to your attention: Mitt Romney reflects on his storied career as he prepares to leave politics: Senator and former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney sits down with CNN’s Jake Tapper for a wide-ranging interview as he prepares to leave office.

I am probably more conservative than Senator Romney, more inclined to a strict federalism and to laissez-faire economics. But he is a principled, intelligent, competent, and thoughtful man. A good man. Arguably, in my judgment, a great one (and not merely for his political attainments). I admire him enormously and I think that he would have made a wonderful president. I’m proud that he represented my adoptive home state in the Senate, and I deeply regret his retirement from political life, though his departure is understandable at his age and given his devotion to his family. (Please note that, despite its outward appearance, this is not an invitation to a partisan political discussion.)

Here are three interesting responses from others to the interview and to his final, farewell speech in the Senate:

LDS Daily: “Mitt Romney on CNN: Politics, Principles, and Leadership”
The Dispatch: “Mitt Romney’s American Theology: His farewell address—and entire political outlook—are steeped in teachings of his faith.” (Also in The Dispatch, and by the same author: “The Latter-Day Saint Theology of Immigration: Migration is tied up in the church’s history and identity.”)
Current: “Just how “Mormon” is Mitt Romney’s political theology?”

A part of the greater St. George area, with the 1877 St. George Utah Temple, brilliantly white, at roughly the center of the photograph and with Pine Valley Mountain looming in the background (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

I’ve been shocked to discover that one of the most active participants over at the Peterson Obsession Board posted an entry there a few days ago in which, quite unexpectedly and unprovoked, and despite dutifully reiterating his disdain for my church and my religious beliefs, he declared that I’m not actually a “monster” or even a “bad guy.” His remarks seem to have pretty much sucked the life out of the thread in which he posted them, and few if any of the chief prosecutors there joined to endorse or even acknowledge what he had written. I suspect that they were quite disoriented by his comments. But I appreciate them. I may, though, need to recline for a while and put my feet up. And where are the smelling salts?

The St. George Utah Temple is the oldest temple still in use by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the first built by the Saints in Utah after their exodus from the United States. (LDS.org)

I hate to ruin the holiday season with toxic materials from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™, but the meaningless cosmos in which we live, a universe of made up of random particles and the void, has somehow imposed a moral duty upon me to do so. Here accordingly, are several horrifying dispatches from the Hitchens File:

“Light the World Campaign Distributes Food to People with Disabilities in Liberia: Gratitude expressed in handshakes and hugs”

“Light the World in Ghana Distributes Food to Needy: Nearly 1,400 Bags of Food Distributed”

“Donation to Women’s Hospital in Bolivia Aims to Decrease Infant Mortality: Modern medical equipment that helps support children and mothers during childbirth now available in La Paz”

“First Giving Machines in Africa Open in Nairobi, Kenya: Nairobi, Kenya, Becomes First and Only City in Africa with Giving Machines”

“Thousands Light the World in Mexico on National Day of Service: Volunteers cleaned and painted schools, donated food, and improved walkways in a show of love and unity for their communities”

“Love from Above 2024 – Operation Christmas Drop: Latter-day Saints Support Air Force Parachuting Gifts to Micronesia’s Outer Islands”

“The Church and Midwest Food Bank Unite to Fight Hunger”

For today’s Hitchens File selection of music appropriate to Christmas, I offer a video of the great American soprano Renée Fleming and the Tabernacle Choir, accompanied by the Orchestra at Temple Square (and others), performing Mack Wilberg’s arrangement of “Angels, from the Realms of Glory”:

It scarcely needs to be pointed out that the Winter Solstice holiday season would be a much happier time of the year had it not been blighted by all of this unpleasant religious detritus.

But there’s still more: To cap it all off, here’s a brief account of the sordid background to these Tabernacle Choir broadcasts: “The perks of performing with the Tabernacle Choir — according to Mrs. Patmore from ‘Downton Abbey’: A year after the concerts, which will soon air on PBS and BYUtv, what sticks out most to Lesley Nicol and Broadway star Michael Maliakel is something viewers don’t necessarily get to see”

Posted from St. George, Utah

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