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“Nobody Likes Us”

“Nobody Likes Us”

Last updated on: October 30, 2025 at 9:14 pm by Dan Peterson

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“Nobody Likes Us” 2025-10-30T21:14:59-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This house, commonly called “Hearst’s Castle,” isn’t actually my home. However, back in the day when I was just beginning to rake in my enormous salary as an apologist, we thought of buying it. But the daily commute from San Simeon to Provo was, unfortunately, just a bit too long, even with my private apolo-jet. (Foto Anke Meskens)

It’s actually more than a little bit embarrassing to post the notice below. But regularly, each week, I call attention to our Thursday “reprints.” So, for the sake of consistency, I won’t make an exception this time: Steadfast in Defense of Faith: “The Covenant to Defend the Kingdom of God,” written by John Gee:

Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in Steadfast in Defense of Faith: Essays in Honor of Daniel C. Peterson, edited by Shirley Ricks, Stephen D. Ricks, and Louis Midgley. For more information, go to https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/steadfast-in-defense-of-faith/.

“Dan Peterson has been a close friend for a long time. We have many overlapping interests and experiences—more than can fit in a single essay. Dan has become known for his willingness to defend the kingdom of God, so it is fitting in a Festschrift in his honor to address that theme.”

Helgheim kyrkje i Jølster, ved Jølstravatnet (Helgheim Church in Jølster [Norway], with Lake Jølster]. This photo, from the 1880s or 1890s, shows the little church that my grandmother, a life-long Lutheran, attended until she left for America at eighteen (i.e., during this very time). The farm on which she was born and raised, Søgnesand, is at the very end of the Kjøsnesfjord, the area in the distance, enclosed by mountains, at the center of the photograph. They had to travel to the church by boat or, in the winter, sometimes by walking across the iced-over lake. I’ve visited this area several times, and I love it very much. The farm still belongs to relatives of mine. (Public domain photo from Wikimedia Commons)

My wife and I participated in a session at the Orem Utah Temple this afternoon. It was a pleasure for me to officiate on behalf of a collateral relative of mine — Samuel Hansen — and an especial pleasure to do so on behalf of someone who was christened in Helgheim church on 10 March 1807. That church stands on the shore of Lake Jølster, in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. I know it well; I’ve visited it on several occasions. A number of my ancestors and relatives have been buried there. My grandmother attended it in the late nineteenth century when she was a young girl, up until her emigration to the United States at the age of eighteen. It’s a beautiful little church, situated in an exceptionally beautiful location. It has appeared on a Norwegian postage stamp, and it was the principal illustration for the entry on Norway in a child’s atlas of the world that one of my kids used to own. (Unfortunately, I don’t know where that atlas is now.). We own a painting of it, and even have a Christmas tree ornament that features it.

A view of Yad Vashem (Israel’s museum of the Holocaust) on a rainy day. It is located on the western slope of Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl, which is also known as the Mount of Remembrance.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Tucker Carlson’s rapid decay — or his ever-accelerating self-revelation — astonishes me: “A Time for Choosing on Antisemitism” And may I point out that, so far as I’m aware, the Book of Mormon is the only canonized scriptural text of any significant religious tradition that specifically and expressly condemns anti-Jewish bigotry? There is no room among Latter-day Saints for hatred of the Jews.

4 But thus saith the Lord God: O fools, they shall have a Bible; and it shall proceed forth from the Jews, mine ancient covenant people. And what thank they the Jews for the Bible which they receive from them? Yea, what do the Gentiles mean? Do they remember the travails, and the labors, and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto me, in bringing forth salvation unto the Gentiles?

5 O ye Gentiles, have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant people? Nay; but ye have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not sought to recover them. But behold, I will return all these things upon your own heads; for I the Lord have not forgotten my people. (2 Nephi 29)

The main entrance to the enormous Humanitarian Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah (LDS Church photo)

Deseret News: “86,000 Utah families could lose food benefits. Will the state cover the cost? Shutdown could impact $33 million in Utah SNAP benefits”

Whatever one makes of the current shutdown of the government of the United States, and no matter where one wants to place the blame, and however one may feel about food stamps, here is something from the Deseret News Editorial Board that residents of my adopted state of Utah should consider very seriously (and very soon): “Opinion: With food stamps gone, charitable Utahns need to step up”

Donald Trump says that SNAP will not be allowed to go down come November. We shall see. (Thus far, our national leaders aren’t handling the shutdown especially well.) In any case, an extra donation, even a small one, to the fast offering fund of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or to its humanitarian fund or to a soup kitchen or a food bank of your choice would not be out of order at this time. It is, after all, the season.

The massacre at Haun’s Mill, depicted here in a nineteenth-century painting by C. C. A. Christensen, occurred on 30 October 1838, three days after Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued Missouri Executive Order 44, the so-called “Extermination Order,” in which he declared that “”the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace.” (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

In the meanwhile, this is sobering: “Nobody Likes Us” Today, by the way, marks the 187th anniversary of the infamous Haun’s Mill Massacre. Still, and happily, we’ve gotten off fairly easy thus far:

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. (Matthew 24:9)

They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. (John.16:2-4)

In this article, three authors — none of them a Latter-day Saint — reflect upon violence directed against religious minorities: “Opinion: When our sanctuaries are under fire: The story of faith in the face of violence is, paradoxically, one of persistence”

No politicians were harmed during the making of this blog entry.

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