BYU Dictating Speakers at the May 2026 Interpreter Foundation Conference

[drumdude]

I can’t count the number of blog posts Dan has made about how easygoing and jovial he is. How many friends he has and that the rumors of him being a jerk are completely unfounded.


I can’t believe that Dan might be anything other than a saint. It’s not like we have an email from him after his Maxwell firing exposing his true character or anything.


Keep up the good work Dan. You’re looking great in all these videos you keep making featuring, well, you.

[Tom]

Reading more about this situation, I see that Mr. Deane noted on one occasion that he was going to present his paper in a “pre-recorded video.” He stated on another occasion that he was “scheduled to remotely present.” In any case, I am thankful that BYU’s Ecclesiastical Clearance Office (ECO) stepped in to block Mr. Deane from infiltrating BYU’s sacred spaces.

The Afore has endorsed “efforts to ensure that BYU remains a meaningfully and faithfully Latter-day Saint school.” Sure, the Interpreter Foundation has ceded its autonomy to the ECO, but Foundation principals must make small sacrifices to remain “faithfully supportive of the Church of Jesus Christ.”

[Marcus]

Reading more about this situation, I see that Mr. Deane noted on one occasion that he was going to present his paper in a “pre-recorded video.” He stated on another occasion that he was “scheduled to remotely present.” In any case, I am thankful that BYU’s Ecclesiastical Clearance Office (ECO) stepped in to block Mr. Deane from infiltrating BYU’s sacred spaces.

The Afore has endorsed “efforts to ensure that BYU remains a meaningfully and faithfully Latter-day Saint school.” ...

Within that link, DCP has an obvious thought:

And I support efforts to ensure that BYU remains a meaningfully and faithfully Latter-day Saint school...Obviously, I hope and expect that such efforts will be made with kindness, intelligence, sensitivity, and charity...

Obviously, that didn't happen this time.

[Gadianton]

I have to wonder "which part" didn't happen this time, Marcus. He says two things. The first that he supports BYU remaining "meaningfully LDS" and the second that efforts to enforce this filter -- as he interprets keeping the meaningfulness in purely negative terms -- should be done charitably.

I'm inclined to believe that the policy failed to keep BYU more "meaningfully LDS". But if it did succeed, I have to wonder If Interpreter can be said to be corrupted, and less meaningfully LDS, since it has freely published Morgan's work.

[Doctor Scratch]

Once upon a time, the Mopologetic leadership was *enraged* over the fact that BYU authorities censored the “work” of Will Schryver. Now, though?

Given that, I can’t help but think that there is some kind of financial or political pressure being exerted on Interpreter. Like: shut this Deane guy down, or else we’re turning off the faucet and there will be no more free chicken-fried steak and stale cinnamon rolls. And so of course Deane is cast aside.

[Gadianton]

The Afore is certainly acting as if this were an existential matter, but I see no reason to believe it. I see no reason to think this was anything more than a technicality. A phone call or two probably could have seen to an exception. But that was too much effort.

[Doctor Scratch]

Some apparently contradictory comments:

I want to remind you yet again of the 2026 Interpreter Foundation conference on the Small Plates of Nephi, which is approaching rapidly:

“For a Wise Purpose in Him”
The 2026 Small Plates of Nephi Conference
In Honor of President Jeffrey R. Holland

The conference will be held on the Provo campus of Brigham Young University on Friday, 29 May 2026, and Saturday, 30 May 2026. All are welcome and, although we would appreciate prior registration, there is no charge for attending.

“All are welcome”? Really? That feels like a remarkably deceptive statement.

[Tom]

Some apparently contradictory comments:

I want to remind you yet again of the 2026 Interpreter Foundation conference on the Small Plates of Nephi, which is approaching rapidly:

“For a Wise Purpose in Him”
The 2026 Small Plates of Nephi Conference
In Honor of President Jeffrey R. Holland

The conference will be held on the Provo campus of Brigham Young University on Friday, 29 May 2026, and Saturday, 30 May 2026. All are welcome and, although we would appreciate prior registration, there is no charge for attending.

“All are welcome”? Really? That feels like a remarkably deceptive statement.

Amen. Some people are certainly less welcome than others. I expect that BYU’s Whittling and Whistling Brigade would escort Brother Deane from campus if he decided to attend as a listener.

I’ve advised the Relief Society Sister in Parowan that she should not register for the conference. Doing so allows the Ecclesiastical Clearance Office to run a membership and temple recommend check on the potential attendee. It also buys time for senior missionaries working in the Strengthening Church Members Committee offices to check whether the potential attendee has criticized church leaders or supports or promotes any teachings, practices, or doctrines contrary to those of The Republican Party.

Incidentally, the conference program has been updated to include an abstract for the Afore’s address:

A common Christian view of the purpose of life is that the chief end of human existence is to glorify God. By contrast, the Small Plates of the Book of Mormon declare that the chief end of human life is human joy [sic] I will suggest, accordingly, that the doctrine of the Restoration — foreshadowed already in the Book of Mormon but vastly elaborated in the revelations that followed it, [sic] constitutes a form of religious humanism.

A form of religious humanism? Has the Ecclesiastical Clearance Office cleared this address?

Posted from Sodalicious Springs, Utah

[huckelberry]

It also buys time for senior missionaries working in the Strengthening Church Members Committee offices to check whether the potential attendee has criticized church leaders or supports or promotes any teachings, practices, or doctrines contrary to those of The Republican Party.

Incidentally, the conference program has been updated to include an abstract for the Afore’s address:

A common Christian view of the purpose of life is that the chief end of human existence is to glorify God. By contrast, the Small Plates of the Book of Mormon declare that the chief end of human life is human joy [sic] I will suggest, accordingly, that the doctrine of the Restoration — foreshadowed already in the Book of Mormon but vastly elaborated in the revelations that followed it, [sic] constitutes a form of religious humanism.

A form of religious humanism? Has the Ecclesiastical Clearance Office cleared this address?

Posted from Sodalicious Springs, Utah

Tom, I hope this activity of senior mission you observe is tongue in cheek. I think this proposal of Peterson is interesting. I started a thread on the subject wondering how the humanist dimension gets lost. Perhaps someone will explain how if I honored God first I would better appreciate human authority figures and learn to appreciate Trump. However I even read Paul and Jesus in humanistic terms so find that hard. I might see Afore trolling the puritans with his eating pleasures . I find partial agreement with him. Well at least I enjoy ice cream on occasion.