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Last updated on: February 8, 2026 at 5:16 pm by Dan Peterson

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Please help! 2026-02-08T17:16:10-07:00 Dan Peterson

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Jabal Musa, in the Sinai — the traditional site of Moses’ encounter with God
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

This went up yesterday — sorry, but yes, I’m a bit delinquent — on the perpetually unchanging website of the virtually defunct Interpreter Foundation: “Conversations with Interpreter: Episode 2 — “Parallels Between the Book of Moses and Book of Mormon,” Part 1: “Distribution, JST Links”:

In this episode of Conversations with Interpreter, our hosts, Avram and Thora Shannon speak with Jeff Lindsay, a member of the Board of Directors of the Interpreter Foundation. Lindsay’s article was published in two parts in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. This episode looks at the first part, where we discuss the methodology behind the article and the implications of it for the Book of Mormon, for Joseph Smith’s New Translation, and for the relationship between the Bible and the Book of Mormon. The article shows places where the Book of Mormon authors are aware of a Genesis text that has strong affinities to our Book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price, bringing a deeper dimension to Joseph Smith’s translational output.

The “key art” poster for our new “Becoming Brigham” mini-documentary

I have to admit that some conversations at church today left me more than a little bit discouraged. (And, of course, BYU Basketball’s current slide isn’t helping.) Two or three times this morning, people asked me what I’m up to these days and, when I mentioned the Interpreter Foundation’s Becoming Brigham project, they were plainly puzzled and asked me what it was. This in the ward that my wife and I attend, that Becoming Brigham‘s producer and his wife attend, in a stake in which we put on a fireside about Becoming Brigham just the previous weekend, and etc. Becoming Brigham has had coverage in the Deseret News (“New video series seeks to fight back against false claims about a Latter-day Saint prophet: Each episode of ‘Becoming Brigham’ debunks fictions and caricatures of Brigham Young, also known as the American Moses”) and the Salt Lake Tribune (“New docuseries tackles the ‘hard questions’ about LDS leader Brigham Young: “A lot of his harder edges,” historian says, “developed in the wake of Joseph Smith’s murder””) and Meridian Magazine (“Becoming Brigham: The Video Series Premieres”) and on various podcasts. One ward member had even watched my interview on the “Cwic Show” with Greg Matsen but didn’t know about Becoming Brigham.

I’m racking my brain trying to think of other ways to try to get the word out — short, that is, of setting myself or my house on fire in order to capture somebody’s attention.

Clearly, what needs to happen is for those who know about Becoming Brigham to share it with friends, neighbors, family, work colleagues, and ward members. Will this happen? I hope so, but I’m not entirely confident that it will. Please, if you feel that you can do so, talk it up to others. Share it on social media. And, of course, watch it yourself. (A new installment will drop tomorrow, Monday, 9 February.)

Our friends at Emmaus Road Media, who already began their “Parables” series of films with The Good Samaritan, also plan to create a film recounting the New Testament story of the ten virgins. I’m looking forward to this.

Howard Collett, our former neighbor and former bishop — my wife and I still belong to a small reading group (five people!) that includes him and his wife — is in Morocco at the moment. He’s part of a small filmmaking group called Emmaus Road Media, and they’re over there (in what we Arabists call the Maghreb) scouting possible locations for their film series on the parables of Jesus. (They’ve already created The Good Samaritan, and — it’s a complicated story that I don’t especially wish to tell — they’ve finally obtained full rights to it.) Howard has sent me a link to the “Production Diary” that he keeps, and that he’s continuing to keep while underway. You might find it interesting; I certainly do: https://emmausroad.media/blog-1

Howard, and his colleagues James Dalrymple and Jonathan Farrell — see their capsule biographies here — approached us a year or two ago about affiliating their operation with the Interpreter Foundation in our efforts at film production. Unfortunately, though, owing to factors beyond either our control or theirs, we were unable to make it work. However, I’m pleased to see that they’re apparently moving forward, and I wish them well in their efforts. I really do hope to see faithful Latter-day Saint filmmaking make progress and reach new heights. We have vitally important stories to tell. For this to really happen, though, adequate funding is required, as is a large enough audience to support, sustain, and encourage quality productions. I don’t think that we’re there yet, alas, and we have yet to find our Maecenus. (Too much of my time, certainly — and, I’m guessing, too much of theirs — is spent in quest of financial support. It would be wonderful to find a patron or two!)

Sunrise over Earth. (NASA public domain image)

Happily, one tiny ray of light has just pierced the gloom that’s beginning to gather around BYU Basketball. It’s this: “Big 12 fines Oklahoma State $50,000 for ‘inappropriate’ chants during game against BYU: The fine comes as a result of the Big 12’s investigation of the chants, which took place in the midst of Oklahoma State’s upset victory over No. 16 BYU”

The Nuku’alofa Tonga Temple (LDS.org)

If I weren’t such a slacker, I could be sharing hundreds of items with you each and every day from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™. But I also don’t want to overwhelm you and to drive you to utter despair. So I pick a few specimens, several times each week, for sharing. Here are a couple for today. A measured and judicious dose, I think:

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Becoming Brigham

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