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Travel and Religion
More apologizing, eh?

More apologizing, eh?

Last updated on: August 10, 2026 at 11:19 pm by Dan Peterson

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More apologizing, eh? 2026-08-10T23:19:34-06:00 Dan Peterson

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Brigham Young’s “Lion House” in Salt Lake City, Utah (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo). Brigham Young was sometimes called “The Lion of the Lord.” Please note the decorative lion on the front of the building.

The newest installment of our ongoing Becoming Brigham series went up this morning, weighing in at just slightly more than 19.5 minutes: “Inside the Lion’s House — Becoming Brigham, Episode 29.”

I encourage you to watch it and, if you haven’t already done so, to subscribe to the series on YouTube. (Subscribing is free.) And to share it with your neighbors, your family, your friends, your dog walker, your scullery maid, and your manservant.

And, while I’m at it, I want to notify you of a new competition that I hope will catch your interest and inspire your involvement. The anonymous Peterson Obsession Board obsessive who goes by a pseudonym that resembles “Everybody’s WC,” a careful observer and continual commentator on all things Peterson and a person of absolutely indisputable honesty, has called the attention of his credulous audience to my dependence on a cane in Becoming Brigham, which, in his mind, visually demonstrates the consequences of my unvarying daily diet of country fried steaks, double bacon cheeseburgers, onion rings, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and chocolate milkshakes. So I’m very pleased to be able to announce the inaugural round of Mr. EWC’s “Find the Cane!” Contest. The rules are simple: Anybody who locates a photograph or a segment in the currently extant installments of Becoming Brigham (i.e., in episodes 1-29) in which I’m shown relying on a cane will receive free lifetime online subscriptions both to Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship and to Becoming Brigham.

I cannot confirm this, but it is commonly reported that all United States nuclear submarines rise to periscope depth at irregular intervals in order to download the Interpreter Foundation’s podcasts because they’re proven morale boosters during lengthy undersea . (Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

I recorded a conversation last night with Terry Hutchinson for one or perhaps two forthcoming installments of Interpreter Insights. I enjoyed it. I hope that he also did, and that one or two others might eventually enjoy it, as well.

And, the other night, my wife and I finished the available episodes of a subtitled miniseries, The Noble Detective, that is set in 1820s Estonia. I’ve never watched anything in Estonian before. It was enjoyable, but it also left the resolution of one of the significant subplots hanging. So, in that sense, it was a bit unsatisfying.

“Soleil couchant sur le Vercors” (Wikimedia Commons © Guillaume Piolle / CC BY 3.0)

I continue to learn more about Chandler Hendry, a young Latter-day Saint podcaster and apologist who was killed in a tragic automobile accident on Friday morning, possibly en route to the FAIR Conference: “Our hearts are broken. We remember our brother Chandler “Chuck” Hendry, defender of the faith.”

The Washington National Cathedral. Officially called the “Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington,” this is the most prominent Episcopalian church in the United States. Wikimedia Commons public domain photo by iclifford )

I’m excited about this event, which is coming up on 16 September 2026 in Washington National Cathedral: “Faith, Freedom and the Common Good with Dallin H. Oaks.”

On the eve of Constitution Day, join us for an evening program exploring the enduring relationship between religious faith and American democracy. Dallin H. Oaks, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will open with a keynote address reflecting on faith, religious liberty and the founding document that continues to shape American public life.

Brigham Young in a discussion with Elder Lyman Wight, as depicted in the 2024 Interpreter Foundation theatrical film Six Days in August. Still photograph by James Jordan.

An article by Amy Ortiz and Jacob Hess appeared in the Deseret News on Friday, 7 August, under the title “6 things overheard at this Latter-day Saint apologetics conference: At FAIR Conference 2026, presenters tackled topics such as temple worship and Brigham Young’s character — with a consistent call for context and fairness.” Happily, their article probably needed to be filed before I spoke, so I escaped condemnation and they heard only good talks.

I spent a little bit of time, though, glancing through reader comments, and some of them were, I confess, a tad discouraging. Here are some specimens:

“Brigham was just irredeemable . . . He wasn’t a good dude. Claiming to be inspired by God doesn’t change that, it actually makes him even worse.”

This is the kind of misjudgment that Becoming Brigham is directly trying to address.

“How many of the dozens of LDS settlers who perpetrated the murders of 120 or so non-LDS emigrants were ever brought to justice? Answer: one. This says a whole lot about Brigham Young’s commitment to justice. I suspect he might have made a greater push for justice if the 120 who were murdered were LDS and their murderers were non-LDS.”

There ensue several letters essentially blaming Brigham Young for the Mountain Meadows Massacre. As if Rick Turley, Glen Leonard, Ron Walker, Barbara Jones Brown, Janiece Johnson, and, for that matter, Juanita Brooks had never published a line about the subject.

But I’ll admit that the fire from supposedly friendly readers — presumably, they’re committed and believing Latter-day Saints — could be really discouraging if I were to permit it to have that effect. Here, for instance, is a note from someone that, for ease of reference, I’ll call Brother Malaprop:

“I feel sorry for any Latter-day Saint who “feels the need” to apologize for the Lord’s church. That’s not valiancy. Sadly, these folks appear to fit with what’s given in D&C 76:79.”

Just in case the content of the verse to which Brother Malaprop directs readers doesn’t come instantly to your mind, I’ll provide it here for you in full:

“These are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus; wherefore, they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of our God.”

And then another apparently active Latter-day Saint joins in, responding with this:

“some apparently want to come to apologize for church (and Christ’s) teachings and church doctrine. That reminds me of what Christ said of the Pharisees: “For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” — John 12:43”

Sigh. Happily, somebody wrote in to correct Brother Malaprop about the correct relevant meaning of apologetics and the verb to apologize, which isn’t about saying “I’m sorry” but, rather, about offering a defense or providing an answer. (Use of the verb to apologize in the sense of saying “I’m sorry” is actually later in English, by a century or perhaps even two centuries, than is the meaning of “to say one is sorry,” .

But the correction didn’t help poor Brother Malaprop, who was soon back, repeating his judgmental misunderstanding:

“D&C 76:79. Applies to those who choose to apologize for the church and its teachings.”

Oh well. If I had taken up the cause of defending the Restoration and the Restored Church in order to be universally liked, understood, and appreciated, I would be surprised. But I didn’t, and I’m not.

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