brade wrote:I don't see what about his actions suggests that he doesn't believe most or all major Mormon claims. He claims to believe, and I'm willing to accept his word about his own mental states.
What does he claim to believe, specifically?
I asked him once if he believed that Smith had the ability to locate treasure buried beneath the earth by looking a stone placed in his hat. Despite the simplicity of the question, he would not answer, yes, or no, choosing instead to answer a question I did not ask.
When someone is not willing to give you a straight answer to a simple question about what they believe, you should not assume that they believe all of the claims that they defend.
+1
God belief is for people who don't want to live life on the universe's terms.
I'm not sure what to make of the OP. On the one hand, I'd call it unhelpful pseudo-psychology. But it already is calling itself that. I guess it is worth pointing out that criticizing your own argument doesn't reverse jinx it into being right.
That said, Daniel C. Peterson has a history of endorsing the work of Paul Vitz. He is famous for arguing that atheism is caused by a metaphysical oedipus complex that results from having defective fathers. (Having bad fathers causes atheists to reject their father in Heaven goes the reasoning.) It's embarrassingly bad and mean-spirited to such a degree that I have a hard time shedding tears if people want to perform pseudo-psych on his motives.