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Sea to Sky

Sea to Sky

Last updated on: July 16, 2026 at 11:09 pm by Dan Peterson

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Sea to Sky 2026-07-16T23:09:51-06:00 Dan Peterson

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A detail of the Israel Museum’s marvelous model of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus (to which I love to take my tour groups), showing the principal buildings of Herod’s temple
(A public domain image from Wikimedia Commons)

Here’s an item that was newly posted earlier today on the moribund website of the Interpreter Foundation, where, in fulfillment of a venerable prophecy that was published online many years ago, nothing new ever appears: The Interpreter Insights Podcast — 16 July 2026: “The Psalms, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Their Application to the Ancient Temple,” with Terry Hutchinson and Kevin Christensen

If you’re looking for a single image that will effectively convey the baleful impact on society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this one may well be it. Plainly, Utard — where vast mindless herds of Morgbots or Mor(m)ons predominate — is a kind of hellscape for women and children.

Back, quickly, to the story that I mentioned yesterday, about CNBC’s list of the ten worst states in America in which to live. (Hint: Utah came in at number six, and all ten of the worst states vote Republican.) Take a look at this, from the Deseret News: “Opinion: CNBC just gave a master class in why so many people distrust the media: ‘Reproductive rights’ aren’t what most people consider in deciding where to live.”

I’ve decided that I’m going to run my own survey of the states (“America’s Ten Best”), a survey that will be more candid and open about its ideological commitments than even CNBC was. Although the top three places on my projected list have already, on principle, been reserved for Massachusetts, New York, and California — their precise order is yet to be determined — I’ve quickly developed ten categories or criteria by which the other seven states will be judged and ranked. In each instance, the higher the number the more points that will be awarded to the state in question. Here are my criteria:

Percentage of voting age population voting for Democrats
Rate of taxation
Number of abortions performed per capita
Percentage of population that identifies as LGBTQIA+
Proportion of population living on welfare
Level of business regulation
Percentage of population that moves out of the state each year
Number of workers per capita employed in local, state, and federal jobs
Percentage of children who identify as furries
Crime rate

A Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph taken by Ivan Andreevich at Porteau Cove Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada, at sunset, facing to the southwest

We spent today traveling to and from and around the famous British Columbia ski resort town of Whistler. If I’m not misinformed, Whistler is the largest ski resort in North America, and it was a site for the Winter Olympics in 1968, 1976, and 2010. (Although the 2010 Winter Games were billed as the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, it was actually Whistler that hosted most of the alpine events, including the Nordic, luge, skeleton, and bobsled competitions.)

A real high point — the pun wasn’t deliberately intended, but it will serve — was taking the Sea to Sky Gondola, near Squamish, up into the mountains. It’s a genuinely spectacular ride, and I recommend it to anybody who might someday visit this area.

We enjoyed driving and stopping along Howe Sound. At times, as the clouds wreathed the mountains, I thought of some of the Chinese landscape paintings that I’ve seen. (It’s an artistic genre of which I’m especially fond.) And when, occasionally, rays of the Sun pierced through the clouds, it reminded me of the almost clichéd (but still beautiful and, in real life, quite powerful) images that one still often sees on religious books and pamphlets.

In Brandywine Falls Provincial Park (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

We especially loved the evening view from Porteau Cove Provincial Park and, earlier in the day, the gentle hike through the forest and past curious volcanic rocks to Brandywine Falls and the beautiful view of the waterfall itself. (Approximately thirteen thousand years ago, I’m told, the temperature in the area where the waterfall now, umm, falls reached an unseasonably high one thousand degrees Celsius during the eruption of a local volcano.)

On the way home, I frankly confess, we stopped off at the pleasant little ferry-port town of Horseshoe Bay for dinner. And yes, I admit that I enjoyed the fish and chips — actually, I ate none of the chips, but the cod and the halibut were excellent — and the prawns that I ate. (Unlike the ascetics at the Peterson Obsession Board, who may never actually have partaken of earthly nutriments, I sometimes like to eat.) I do not believe, however, that I’ll ever manage to take a genuine liking to poutine.

The Second Baptist Church of Dover, Duchess County, New York, was originally built in the 1830s. (Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

Some will perhaps find this interesting. (I did.) It was published in Mere Orthodoxy: “Is the Era of Mere Christianity Over? We may be entering an era marked by the continued decline of denominationalism alongside an increase in theological factionalism.”

It pairs nicely, I think, with this one, from the National Catholic Reporter: “Can civil religion make a comeback?” And with this one, from FactCheck.org: “No Clear Evidence Religion Is ‘Bigger and Stronger’ in U.S., Despite Trump Claim.”

The Cochabamba Bolivia Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS.org)

On a regular and consistent basis, the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™ produces a veritable cluster-bomb of horrors, a wide-ranging and representative sample of grievous abominations that have been shamelessly visited upon the world by one particularly odious sect of fanatical religious zealots. Here’s the latest: “Latter-day Saints Around the World: July 2026: Healthcare is strengthened in Jamaica while wheelchair donations expand mobility in Argentina: Newsroom features stories from its dozens of websites worldwide to show what members and leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are doing to serve their communities. Today, we feature news from Africa, Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, England, Jamaica, Paraguay, Peru and South Korea.“

One can only weep with impotent rage.

Posted from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

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