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Daniel Peterson
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:12 pm
by Grizzly Adams
Can someone explain why this board is obsessed with Daniel Peterson? I started reading through thread titles a minute ago and three of the four most recent threads are about Peterson.
Re: Daniel Peterson
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:22 pm
by drumdude
If you can find another believing Mormon who engages with this board I will happily switch to discussing their rebuttals.
Dan was tasked by his boss to not allow any “slam dunks” against Mormonism. So he feels it’s necessary to respond to criticism of Mormonism and not just ignore it like every other church apologist does.
I started by arguing with Daniel on his blog, but he quickly bans most critics except a handful of regulars who aren’t very effective at debating him. So then we are left with what Daniel wants, this weird form of communication where we argue in this incredibly stupid way on different websites.
It can look obsessive until you understand that it’s a dialogue, even if it’s a very limited one. Daniel can say “oh look how obsessed they are with me” which is completely disingenuous when he’s forced this situation by banning everyone from his blog.
Re: Daniel Peterson
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:27 pm
by Grizzly Adams
drumdude wrote: ↑Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:22 pm
If you can find another believing Mormon who engages with this board I will happily switch to discussing their rebuttals.
Dan was tasked by his boss to not allow any “slam dunks” against Mormonism. So he feels it’s necessary to respond to criticism of Mormonism and not just ignore it like every other church apologist does.
I started by arguing with Daniel on his blog, but he quickly bans most critics except a handful of regulars who aren’t very effective at debating him. So then we are left with what Daniel wants, this weird form of communication where we argue in this incredibly stupid way on different websites.
It can look obsessive until you understand that it’s a dialogue, even if it’s a very limited one. Daniel can say “oh look how obsessed they are with me” which is completely disingenuous when he’s forced this situation by banning everyone from his blog.
Luckily this board believes in free speech
Re: Daniel Peterson
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:38 pm
by huckelberry
This board has had a wide variety of discussions on different subjects.Some of those have been quite interesting some ok some a bore. Which one fits which type might depend upon ones individual interests.
For some people other discussions of which there have been a large number are complete, for now or forever. The subject of Peterson is space filler. I do not follow him but it appears he may be the ongoing voice of Mormon resistance to criticism of LDS claims. He is an available subject when conversation dries up. I do not know for sure but sometimes I wonder if there could be a delusional Peterson obsession factor at work as well at times. Some comments have seemed pointlessly extreme.
Re: Daniel Peterson
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:50 pm
by canpakes
Grizzly Adams wrote: ↑Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:27 pm
Luckily this board believes in free speech
Indeed it does. Shades got rid of the ‘dollar per post’ fee a few years ago.
Re: Daniel Peterson
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 5:48 pm
by Fence Sitter
canpakes wrote: ↑Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:50 pm
Grizzly Adams wrote: ↑Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:27 pm
Luckily this board believes in free speech
Indeed it does. Shades got rid of the ‘dollar per post’ fee a few years ago.
Wait, what?
No one told me.
Shades owes me a lot of money!
Re: Daniel Peterson
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 5:49 pm
by Fence Sitter
Grizzly Adams wrote: ↑Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:12 pm
Can someone explain why this board is obsessed with Daniel Peterson? I started reading through thread titles a minute ago and three of the four most recent threads are about Peterson.
It's a two-way street which both sides enjoy.
Re: Daniel Peterson
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 6:15 pm
by Chap
Fence Sitter wrote: ↑Sun Jul 03, 2022 5:49 pm
Grizzly Adams wrote: ↑Sun Jul 03, 2022 4:12 pm
Can someone explain why this board is obsessed with Daniel Peterson? I started reading through thread titles a minute ago and three of the four most recent threads are about Peterson.
It's a two-way street which both sides enjoy.
A few years back, Mormon apologists actually used to come on this board to defend their points of view.
Daniel Peterson was one of the most prominent and active of those. To cut a long story short, things did not go well for them. Unlike on the board that used to be called "Mormon Discussions" (what is it nowadays?), where anyone who seemed to be about to make an effective criticism of a Mormon apologist's ideas was swiftly silenced (for things like "lack of respect" or just plain "that's enough from you"), the apologists simply ran into critics who were too well informed and effective in controversy for them to be able to cope with. So they gathered up their skirts and left.
But Peterson's attempts to put over his views in more heavily controlled environments (there was "The World Table" and now his Patheos blog) still attract some interest. And since he still frequently shows signs of reading this board, and even comments on it, despite the fact that he does not dare to post here, he draws some attention.
Re: Daniel Peterson
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 6:41 pm
by DrStakhanovite
Welcome to the forums! (or welcome back, as may be the case),
We have a complicated history with Daniel, he even used to be an active participant on the previous iteration of this board. There are a couple of factors that help ensure Daniel remains a consistent topic on the Terrestrial sub-forum (he is discussed much less frequently on the other sub-forums):
(i): Daniel is prolific. He creates a steady stream of content that he will consistently relate to apologetic topics. This isn’t just a favorite hobbyhorse, but something that amounts to a kind of religious calling and Daniel takes apologetics seriously. The vast majority of church apologists are more like dilettantes, who show up irregularly to make a contribution before disappearing from the scene for years at a time, but Daniel is a mainstay whose creative efforts have established religious nonprofits and full blown docu-dramas with decent production value.
(ii): Mormon Apologetics experiences frequent content droughts and for a general want of material, a lot of us go to Daniel’s blog to get content for posts. It is very difficult to find public apologists who generate material that one could actually interact with. Take the “Midnight Mormons” for example, they generate apologetic material, but they are so stupid as to actually be painful. For all his faults and accounting for everything else I rake him over the coals for, Daniel is a veritable Hugh Trevor-Roper when compared to Midnight Mormons.
(iii): Daniel has a bit of an ego and a penchant for drama. The man feuds with everybody: colleagues at BYU, Christian clergy, ex-Mormons, atheists, Anti-Islamic partisans, other Mormon apologists, and so on. There is no space to be a friendly critic who engages in spirited disagreement, you are either his true friend and ally or you are part of the teeming mass of haters. There can be no middle ground. Antagonism simply becomes the default.
(iv): Most of us are banned from commenting on his blog. Instead of cycling through an endless supply of socks and creating more administrative work for him, we simply respect his wishes and do our commenting over here. We try to respect his space by having this space.
There is much more I could say, but I think the above four related points explain why you see Daniel as the topic of discussion here so frequently.
Re: Daniel Peterson
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 11:39 pm
by drumdude
DrStakhanovite wrote: ↑Sun Jul 03, 2022 6:41 pm
Welcome to the forums! (or welcome back, as may be the case),
We have a complicated history with Daniel, he even used to be an active participant on the previous iteration of this board. There are a couple of factors that help ensure Daniel remains a consistent topic on the Terrestrial sub-forum (he is discussed much less frequently on the other sub-forums):
(i): Daniel is prolific. He creates a steady stream of content that he will consistently relate to apologetic topics. This isn’t just a favorite hobbyhorse, but something that amounts to a kind of religious calling and Daniel takes apologetics seriously. The vast majority of church apologists are more like dilettantes, who show up irregularly to make a contribution before disappearing from the scene for years at a time, but Daniel is a mainstay whose creative efforts have established religious nonprofits and full blown docu-dramas with decent production value.
(ii): Mormon Apologetics experiences frequent content droughts and for a general want of material, a lot of us go to Daniel’s blog to get content for posts. It is very difficult to find public apologists who generate material that one could actually interact with. Take the “Midnight Mormons” for example, they generate apologetic material, but they are so stupid as to actually be painful. For all his faults and accounting for everything else I rake him over the coals for, Daniel is a veritable Hugh Trevor-Roper when compared to Midnight Mormons.
(iii): Daniel has a bit of an ego and a penchant for drama. The man feuds with everybody: colleagues at BYU, Christian clergy, ex-Mormons, atheists, Anti-Islamic partisans, other Mormon apologists, and so on. There is no space to be a friendly critic who engages in spirited disagreement, you are either his true friend and ally or you are part of the teeming mass of haters. There can be no middle ground. Antagonism simply becomes the default.
(iv): Most of us are banned from commenting on his blog. Instead of cycling through an endless supply of socks and creating more administrative work for him, we simply respect his wishes and do our commenting over here. We try to respect his space by having this space.
There is much more I could say, but I think the above four related points explain why you see Daniel as the topic of discussion here so frequently.
Well said!
