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Latter-day Saints in the West and the Problem of Evil

Latter-day Saints in the West and the Problem of Evil

Last updated on: January 13, 2025 at 4:53 pm by Dan Peterson

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Latter-day Saints in the West and the Problem of Evil 2025-01-13T16:53:53-07:00 Dan Peterson

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Rafael Flores (d. 1886), “Dante y Virgilio visitando el Infierno” (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

It turns out that weather conditions in Utah and Nevada, where a great many Latter-day Saints live, help to generate the Santa Ana winds. And it is those strong, dry, and often warm winds that bear some significant degree of responsibility for the wildfires that are currently destroying substantial portions of Los Angeles: “What Utah has to do with Santa Ana winds — and California wildfires: Winds formed in the Great Basin blow toward the West Coast.” Which probably means that, to some extent at least, the “Mormons” — and, very specifically, Brigham Young — are to blame. Remember: You heard it here first!

Here’s one Sean T. Collins, who is writing for Decider about “Mormon marauders” in an article entitled “‘American Primeval’ Episode 6 Recap: This Land Was Made for You and Me”:

As I write this review, wildfires brought on by climate change are ravaging Los Angeles. The climate change denier whom a plurality of voters selected to be their president, and who as best I can tell is completely insane, is threatening to bring back American expansionism by conquering Canada and Mexico and Greenland as his conservative Christian backers cheer him on. In this final episode of American Primeval, a fanatical Brigham Young rants about his God purifying the world from wickedness as his Mormons, fresh off a genocidal attack on the Shoshone, solidify their claim on Utah by burning Fort Bridger to the ground. You hear Young’s words over the flames. It feels familiar, is what I’m saying. People will always use fires they themselves started as a smokescreen for their murderous ambition, I guess.

In that sense, at least, the finale makes for grim viewing. The ignominious fate of Jim Bridger, last seen trudging out of the stronghold he built from the ground up as it burns around him with satchels full of Mormon blood money slung over his back, is a pointed barb at sellouts who take the money and run, leaving the problems they’ve enabled to others to take care of. The idea that the American Zion is built on the corpses of hundreds of thousands of Native Americans, too, is rendered pretty much literally.

“The Mormon religion was really like that back then,” announces Kim Coates, the actor who portrays Brigham Young In American Primeval. And if you don’t agree with him that the miniseries offers an entirely accurate account of things wie es eigentlich gewesen (to borrow the famous formulation of Leopold von Ranke), you must be a Mormon apologist who is attempting to deny and to whitewash history.

In related news, here is a story that will concern all fans of BYU football:

BREAKING: The NCAA unexpectedly fires 3 referees who officiated the game between the Colorado Buffaloes and Brigham Young due to their involvement in the largest bribery scandal in NCAA history. Immediately, Buffaloes fans demanded a replay of the game, and here is the NCAA’s response…

And here is an entry from Snopes: “False Rumors of Referee Firings Promoted in Facebook Posts: Users from Indonesia, Nigeria and other countries posted untrue rumors of NBA, NCAA, NFL and NHL referees fired for involvement in bribery scandals.”

For my use here on this blog, Alonso Sánchez Coello (1531-1588) kindly prepared this sketch of a recent Casual Friday meeting of the Interpreter Foundation’s board of directors .

Newly posted on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Interpreter Radio Show —January 5, 2025, including Doctrine and Covenants in Context D&C 3–5

In the 5 January 2025 episode of the Interpreter Radio Show, Martin Tanner, Hales Swift and Brent Schmidt discussed Come, Follow Me Doctrine & Covenants lesson 5 and study aids for D&C and Church history.

Their conversation was recorded, edited to remove commercial breaks, and archived, and is now made available at absolutely no charge for your delirious ecstasy and delight.

The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard on Sunday evenings, each and every week of the year, from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640, or you can listen live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com.

And recently posted on the Interpreter website: “Elder Bruce R. McConkie’s Alternative to Evolution,” written by Dennis B. Horne:

Editor’s note: The information in this post is an overview of Elder Bruce R. McConkie’s teachings and does not necessarily represent official Church understanding. The current information is found on a fairly recent Church History Topic on “Organic Evolution.” It may be found here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/organic-evolution?lang=eng&%20lang=eng#title1

To which I append my own personal note: The Interpreter Foundation holds no official position on questions specifically related to biological evolution. That should be apparent from such Foundation publications as these:

Joseph Smith (Paul Wuthrich) and Martin Harris (Lincoln Hoppe), at work on the translation of the Book of Mormon in a scene from the Interpreter Foundation’s 2021 theatrical film, “Witnesses.”

Here’s something from our friends at Scripture Central that you might find helpful for these early lessons in the Come, Follow Me curriculum: “How Joseph Smith Discovered & Translated the Book of Mormon | Come, Follow Me, JSH 1:27–65″

Of course, the Interpreter Foundation, too, is making materials available in support of this year’s Come, Follow Me course of study, which focuses on the Doctrine and Covenants and the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And there is more to come! Today’s short video Insight is about Kirtland, home of the first modern-day temple. Some of the Restored Church’s darkest hours happened in Kirtland, with financial failures and large-scale apostasy. But this was also one of the greatest periods in early Church history for outpourings of revelation and miracles.

Witnesses of the Book of Mormon—Insights: This is Episode 5 of a series compiled from the many interviews conducted during the course of the Witnesses film project. This series of mini-films is being released each Saturday at 7pm MDT. These additional resources are hosted by Camrey Bagley Fox, who played Emma Smith in Witnesses, as she introduces and visits with a variety of experts. These individuals answer questions or address accusations against the witnesses, also helping viewers understand the context of the times in which the witnesses lived. For this installment, we feature Gerrit Dirkmaat, Associate Professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University. For more information, go to https://witnessesofthebookofmormon.org/. Learn about the documentary movie Undaunted—Witnesses of the Book of Mormon at https://witnessesundaunted.com/.

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