DCP offers a very qualified private viewing of the Interpreter’s finances

[drumdude]

The same malignant individual has been anonymously and obsessively leveling online charges of financial deception and self-serving greed at me—and those are just two of his favorite themes—for well over two decades now. And he has a small chorus who follow his direction. It grew tiresome a very long time ago.

If my accuser is seriously interested in investigating my financial relationship with the Interpreter Foundation, he’s welcome to contact me. I will then try to set up a meeting for us with the people who manage my personal finances and the finances of the Interpreter Foundation, which are not commingled. Obviously, doing so will require him to surrender his anonymity and to scurry out from beneath the rock where he has been hiding for, by my calculation, approximately twenty-one or twenty-two years. If he isn’t actually interested in the facts of the matter—and, candidly, I don’t think that he really is or ever has been—his refusal of my offer will make that plain.

Or, you know, Dan could just be financially transparent and release the documents to everyone. The only disclosures Interpreter does regularly are the legally required ones which offer almost zero insight into the breakdown of income and expenditures, aside from gross totals.

This is eerily similar to how the Epstein files are being viewed in their non-redacted form by congress, behind closed doors with no note taking allowed.

Or how the church history department keeps certain unflattering early church documents hidden behind lock and key.

All of this security and anxiety about public disclosure surely indicates to us poor schmucks that everything is on the up and up.

[I Have Questions]

All Dan has to do is explain just how much, per annum, Interpreter or Red Brick Films has paid in expenses for Dan - travel costs, food costs, hotel costs, etc. It should be relatively easy because Dan has been claiming for many years that the number is zero. In fact, nobody needs full disclosure, it can be as simple as: Dan, how much benefit in kind (travel costs, food costs, hotel costs, entertainment costs, gifts etc) do you receive each year from all your activities with Interpreter, Red Brick Films, Cruise Lady?

[ ] Zero
[ ] More than Zero

Just pick one.

Secondly, do you donate cash to Interpreter, or is it a time donation?

[I Have Questions]

The Afore exaggerates to hide the truth.

At a certain place on the Internet that will remain deservedly nameless, it’s often claimed that my involvement with Latter-day Saint apologetics—and, specifically, with the Interpreter Foundation—funds an opulent lifestyle for me of global travel, lounging poolside at upscale hotels and resorts, and endless high-end dining.

Nobody said opulent, nobody mentioned lounging around poolside (what a horrendous image), nobody mentioned upscale hotels, nor high-end dining.

Hotels, travel, food, funded by Interpreter paying those expenses is what’s been claimed. Are you saying, Dan, that Interpreter, Red Brick Films, and Cruise Lady DON’T fund those things for you? He clarifies, carefully

The large majority of our travel is paid for entirely with our own money, from our own savings. (Again, I think this may still be permitted.)

I can’t think of a case where Interpreter has paid my travel expenses, and it has never paid for my wife’s.

He fails to rule out Red Brick Films and Cruise Lady paying for his tab. I suppose getting Red Brick Films to pick up his expenses, and then in turn invoice Invoice Interpreter within a general invoice for their services, is a crafty way of being able to offer that denial with a straight face. You’ll notice that he admits that some of his travel expenses are not covered by himself and his wife, and he doesn’t rule out entirely that Interpreter has paid for stuff. He just cannot recall it.

Let’s be specific. When he travelled to Carthage to participate with Red Brick Films in filming some of Becoming Brigham, who funded the travel, who funded the food, who funded the lodgings?

P.S. It’s great that Dan thinks this board carries so much influence that he absolutely has to respond to everything on it! Except the plagiarism thing. Strangely silent on that one!

[Everybody Wang Chung]

The Afore is desperately defending a fort that isn't under attack. While the Afore beats the no salary drum, he's conveniently ignoring the reality of his Interpreter funded lifestyle. It doesn't matter if the Afore doesn't receive a paycheck when his flights, hotels, dinners and incidentals are all reimbursed and covered by donor funds. I’m glad the Afore finally admitted to the reimbursement of his expenses, it only took him a decade to concede the obvious.

Folks, you really can't make this stuff up.

[Doctor Scratch]

I'm glad to seem him confirming what I suspected all along: namely, that all his Bowdlerizing Brigham travel expenses were comped. So he absolutely was getting to travel and eat for free. And yet look at him erupting with indignation! My, how angry he is! And why? Is it because it's been suggested that he is billing his expenses to Interpreter? OK--fair enough. He has clarified that it wasn't Interpreter, but rather Redbrick Filmworks that footed the bill.

But here's what I don't understand. The published material on Bowdlerizing Brigham makes it fairly explicit that the film is a *collaboration* between Interpreter and Redbrick Filmworks: the copyright at the end of the films lists them both. So who is actually footing the bill for the films--and, by extension--for the Interpreter President's free travel, lodging, and food? Again: he claims that his fees were comped 100% by Redbrick Filmworks, but where did Redbrick Filmworks get their funding? And is it really true that Interpreter has not put up *ANY* money at all--not one single cent--for this massive film project?

See: I think his latest missive is based on what we might call "creative accounting." I would be willing to bet that donations to Interpreter have, at some point, been turned over to Redbrick Filmworks. (The Afore can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.) That is reasonable and understandable, right? And the Interpreter's President has asked for donations specifically to support this film project, right? So the donations were given to Interpreter by people who understood that they were giving this money in order to help these films get made, and at some point that funding was handed over to Redbrick, which then covered the Afore's travel, dining, and lodging expenses. So while he can *say* that, on paper, it "wasn't Interpreter" that covered the costs of his travel, it would still be dishonest for him to claim that donations played no role whatsoever in covering those same expenses. At some point, one or more donors gave money to the apologists, and this money wound up paying for the Afore's airfare, lodging, and food while he worked on this film project. Period. There shouldn't be any reason for him to continue blubbering about this.

Meanwhile, there are still other questions that haven't been answered. What about the Not By Bread Alone project? Who paid the travel expenses for *that*? Interpreter? Redbrick Filmworks? Was the Interpreter personnel paying for flights to Africa out of their own pocket?

In any case, I doff my hat to the Interpreter President for publicly admitting that he was getting to travel and dine out for free while doing Mopologetics. Hey: if you are able to essentially get paid to do what you love doing, then more power to you!

[Doctor Scratch]

All Dan has to do is explain just how much, per annum, Interpreter or Red Brick Films has paid in expenses for Dan - travel costs, food costs, hotel costs, etc. It should be relatively easy because Dan has been claiming for many years that the number is zero. In fact, nobody needs full disclosure, it can be as simple as: Dan, how much benefit in kind (travel costs, food costs, hotel costs, entertainment costs, gifts etc) do you receive each year from all your activities with Interpreter, Red Brick Films, Cruise Lady?

[ ] Zero
[ ] More than Zero

Just pick one.

Secondly, do you donate cash to Interpreter, or is it a time donation?

I would assume that a cash donation is given to Interpreter. But for me, the more interesting question is: which number is higher--the donation to Interpreter? Or the total cost of his Bowdlerizing Brigham travel expenses?

[Marcus]

Speaking of creative accounting, check out the headliners when Cruise Lady, a.k.a. Bountiful Travel 'collaborates' with the Interpreter Foundation:

Church History and Great Britain with the Interpreter Foundation
14-Day Land Tour
05/05/2026 - 05/19/2026

Join local Blue Badge Guide and British Church historian, Peter Fagg, as well as Daniel Peterson and Kris Frederickson, from the Interpreter Foundation, on a tour that deep dives into the the early history of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England and the contributions of reformers and martyrs.

And

Journeys of Paul Cruise
11-Night Cruise
04/12/2027 - 04/23/2027

Join Steve Densley, Daniel Peterson and the Interpreter Foundation for the ultimate Journeys of Paul cruise.

I noticed that Peterson was careful to say he is never 'paid' for these headliner activities, he only has his air travel, lodging, food, and other trip expenses paid for himself.

He conveniently neglected to mention, although he has admitted it in the past, that his wife goes on these working vacations with him, and all of her expenses are paid also. So, he takes his headlining fee in the form of a reservation for his wife? The cost of the 2026 trip is almost $6000, not including airfare, meals not included in trip, and other expenses, which they cover for Peterson and his wife, based on past information he has revealed. So, a trip that would cost somewhere around $15,000 for Mr and Mrs Peterson is now fully paid for, in exchange for his headliner services. Take out Peterson's expenses, and the rest is creatively accounted for by Peterson as "I'm never paid for my services on these trips." Right.

This is so obvious. Is Peterson doing a mentalgymnast here, wherein he knows his truth-pretzeling is so obvious that it guarantees he will get talked about?

[Doctor Scratch]

Speaking of creative accounting, check out the headliners when Cruise Lady, a.k.a. Bountiful Travel 'collaborates' with the Interpreter Foundation:

Church History and Great Britain with the Interpreter Foundation
14-Day Land Tour
05/05/2026 - 05/19/2026

Join local Blue Badge Guide and British Church historian, Peter Fagg, as well as Daniel Peterson and Kris Frederickson, from the Interpreter Foundation, on a tour that deep dives into the the early history of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England and the contributions of reformers and martyrs.

And

Journeys of Paul Cruise
11-Night Cruise
04/12/2027 - 04/23/2027

Join Steve Densley, Daniel Peterson and the Interpreter Foundation for the ultimate Journeys of Paul cruise.

I noticed that Peterson was careful to say he is never 'paid' for these headliner activities, he only has his air travel, lodging, food, and other trip expenses paid for himself.

He conveniently neglected to mention, although he has admitted it in the past, that his wife goes on these working vacations with him, and all of her expenses are paid also. So, he takes his headlining fee in the form of a reservation for his wife? The cost of the 2026 trip is almost $6000, not including airfare, meals not included in trip, and other expenses, which they cover for Peterson and his wife, based on past information he has revealed. So, a trip that would cost somewhere around $15,000 for Mr and Mrs Peterson is now fully paid for, in exchange for his headliner services. Take out Peterson's expenses, and the rest is creatively accounted for by Peterson as "I'm never paid for my services on these trips." Right.

This is so obvious. Is Peterson doing a mentalgymnast here, wherein he knows his truth-pretzeling is so obvious that it guarantees he will get talked about?

Could be! And you have to wonder what the (feigned?) indignation is all about: he's getting compensated, and if the people paying are getting what they want, then what's the big deal? Meanwhile: yeah--just look at how hard they are pushing the Interpreter "brand" in these advertisements. To claim that the President is somehow *not* profiting off this is a brazen and spectacular lie.

[Shulem]

To claim that the President is somehow *not* profiting off this is a brazen and spectacular lie.

DCP reminds me of President Trump who lies all the time in whatever he says. Mormonism is one big lie and lying for the Lord is what it's all about!

Yep, lying for the Lord is what President P does best. What a shame to have to live that way.

[Gadianton]

wherein he knows his truth-pretzeling is so obvious that it guarantees he will get talked about?

I'd say absolutely. This is more fishing to keep the flame of controversy burning. I seem to recall there was a famous architect fond of boasting he'd never worked a day in his life. Well, clearly he had. That's all he did was work. But if you do what you love, then some feel it doesn't count as "work". In that situation, one could say they get "paid to play." I find it enviable. I wish I was good enough at the things I like to do during my spare time that it afforded me the means to do such things in style and with peace of focus.

If what a person loves to do is travel, eat, stay in nice accommodations, socialize with friends and important people, and get buttered up by acolytes, then money or "payment" is nothing but a intermediary mechanism to the final goal and hardly worth mentioning. For some, money is an end in itself, but for most people, it's a means to an end, as is the case here. Whether the final good was delivered directly or first passes through currency hardly matters.

There should be no problem here. If a person likes getting out into the world and dining while creating transparent propaganda and doing speaking events that don't require much preparation, then so be it. All the better, I would think. I don't like travelling that much but I'm sure I might do something similar myself if I had the chance. No judgment from me at all.

The problem might be a matter of self-judgment. Most would boast of their "paid to play" lifestyle. What gives? Well, the problem seems to be that the propaganda one is "comped" for contains central themes about lifestyles. For instance, the Book of Mormon says quite a lot about preachers who "speak smooth things" unto the people -- tell them what they want to hear. And resources allotted to propping up lifestyles for such people. The narrative holds these as wicked people. In contrast are those who must sacrifice. They must do things they don't want to do, like Alma or Amulek, speak things that people don't want to hear. Suffer material hardships and persecution. King Mosiah, though a king, labored with his own hands along with his people.

And so, by the narrative of the Book of Mormon, if there are people who spend their days communicating religious ideas to the public, you can pick out the good ones by their sacrifice, and the bad ones by their easy circumstances. If a Book of Mormon character is "paid to play" in the capacity of defending religion, then such character is trading in false religion and lies. We might object and say the Book of Mormon is impractical. You don't need to convince me. Even the brethren seem to allow loopholes. For instance, Steve Young was told not to go on a mission because he could do more for the Church as a football star. In this rare case, the teacher of righteousness gets paid to play and is under no condemnation. I mean, the Book of Mormon understands comparative advantage, right? If a person has a gift for smooth speaking and motivates people to righteousness then why not allow the preaching to be done by the low-cost producer? Why force such a person to go on a normal mission that requires drudgery, financing one's own way, and persecution?

It makes total sense to me, please don't shoot the messenger, I'm just pointing out that the Book of Mormon says otherwise, and if your smooth speaking enables your lifestyle of leisure, specifically in terms of travelling and speaking, then your only option is to be an anti-Christ.

I would think there would be a massive incentive to control the narrative about one's activities. Presenting them as real sacrifice and resulting in real persecution rather than a "paid to play" bonanza. Otherwise one cuts off the branch upon which he was sitting. Yeah, that's the fundamental tension, but like I said, one way out is for a person to deflect from the tension and point to Steve Young and the truths of David Ricardo. If one's conscience forbids that route, I suppose that is a mark of character that counts for something that I can respect. It does result in lots of back-and-forth like this, however.