25AR30-05

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AR 30:5 - Astrology is booming

In this issue:

ASTROLOGY - imagine the future for "today's AI-fuelled astrological predictions"

MORMONISM - "little has been done to right the wrongs done to women ... a majority of the active members of the church"

PETERSON, JORDAN B. - We Who Wrestle with God, is "much more about Peterson than ... God or the Bible"

Apologia Report 30:5 (1,694)
February 7, 2025

ASTROLOGY

"Astrology Is Booming, Thanks to Technology and Younger Enthusiasts" (no byline, Economist, Jan 15 '25) -- in regard to "Co-Star, an astrology app, ... your correspondent asked if he should work harder." The answer: "... the position of Pluto vis-à-vis Uranus could spark creativity, reduce the need to 'conform to traditional work expectations' and unleash a 'natural sense of individuality, rebellion'." This proposal was noted while grousing over the fallout: "Citing the movement of planets for missing a deadline, however, would not please your correspondent's editor. Horoscopes, be damned." 

   Leaving the present while questing for tomorrow, on the other hand: "More users globally are turning to astrology for advice. Co-Star, an American firm, is reported to have more than 30m users, whom it charges for queries ($2.99 gets you five questions). AstroTalk, an Indian firm, connects more than 40,000 astrologers to 80m customers remotely. Spending on astrology-related products and services is projected to grow to $22.8bn by 2031, up from $12.8bn in 2021, reckons Allied Market Research, a consulting firm.

   "Some 70% of Americans either 'somewhat' or 'strongly' believe in astrology, according to a survey <www.tinyurl.com/yre93vtz> by the Harris Poll, a research firm, in 2024. One reason for this attraction is the decline of organised religion, which has sparked a search for meaning in other places, from gyms to politics. Another commonly cited explanation is the stress of modern life: 61% of Americans say that astrology provides comfort in uncertain times. ...

   "Youngsters, in particular, are captivated by it. More than 60% of users of InstaAstro, an Indian service that connects astrologers with clients, are Gen Z. ...

   "AI is now making access to prophecies even easier. Whereas once clients needed to see an astrologer in person to discover their prospects in love and life, today they can simply input the details of the time and place of their birth on digital services, such as KundliGPT. The firm generates responses using a large-language model that has been trained on relevant data, including planetary positions and astrological material sourced from websites and forums. Co-Star uses AI tools to combine data from space (sourced from NASA) with insights from human astrologers to give personalised responses to users." (Oh, the irony here.)

   "AI and astrology may seem strange bedfellows, but there is a millennia-old connection. In 'A Scheme of Heaven', <www.tinyurl.com/yrau2rvc> a history of astrology, Alexander Boxer, a data scientist, argues that the ancient study of stars was the world's first 'grand data-analysis enterprise'. The methods employed to compile datasets of planetary movements, used to produce horoscopes, have influenced the big-data and machine-learning tools that generate today's AI-fuelled astrological predictions." <www.tinyurl.com/mu9kre3t>

   (And, don't we wonder? 1) If AI-astrology will be tested and found to be more accurate than analog fare; 2) If we'll eventually see some enterprising altruist create an AI-driven app that promises to pray for the owner/subscriber?)

 ---

MORMONISM

"New LDS Curriculum Flops in Teaching Eternal Polygamy to Children" by Carol Lynn Pearson (RNS, Jan 10 '25) -- Jana Riess provides the introduction: "This guest column is from Carol Lynn Pearson, <www.tinyurl.com/bdcv7s3z> author of 'The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy,' reacting to the 2025 curriculum for children of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This year, the entire denomination is studying church history, so it's not surprising that the issue of plural marriage would come up. 

   "But Pearson - and many others - can see major problems with the way it's handled, especially because the church is presenting it as a good thing that came from the Lord. The curriculum uses Joseph Smith's decision to practice polygamy as an object lesson that we should all have 'faith to obey a law from the Lord, even when it's hard.' 

   "While it may be a step forward for the church to be acknowledging the reality of Smith's plural marriage instead of trying to sweep that history under the rug, I think Pearson is correct that any theology that tells children to obey even if their conscience says not to is a step backward."

   Pearson begins: "This one took me by surprise. There it was - on the official website of my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - a short lesson to be taught in 2025 in Primary, the organization that serves the children, a cartoon storybook <www.tinyurl.com/2dpunukk> about plural marriage in our church's history.

   "The children are assured that, even though Joseph Smith was reluctant to take more wives, God himself ordered our founding prophet, already a husband to Emma, to 'marry' up to 40 women and girls. Some were even in their teens, and some were already married to other men. ... Stories suggest that many of these women did not want to become his wives but did so because they believed in Joseph's divine authority. ...

   "In 2016 I wrote and published a book titled 'The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: Haunting the Hearts and Heaven of Mormon Women and Men.' <www.tinyurl.com/yw9zd8xd> It was the result of a snowball survey that was taken by more than 8,000 members and former members of the church. Among those, 15% thought our history of polygamy was just fine, while 85% said it was hurtful and wrong. In write-in comments, many said the history of polygamy damaged their sense of self, their relationships with the church, with God and often with family members, particularly spouses.

   "Despite the claim to have given up polygamy, our church is still devoted to it. A man can be married in the temple for eternity to several women sequentially with the promise that they will all be his in the next life. ...

   "I received the following email from my friend Curt Bench, the owner of a major LDS bookstore: 'I learned from [Brigham Young University professor M.] that [BYU professor of religion and history H.] was asked by the Twelve Apostles to report about your book and … basically told them that it was their fault that the problem with "eternal polygamy" and the way people feel about it (as shown in your book) exists today. Nothing about their response. ...

   "This new Primary lesson demonstrates that leaders of our church are determined that polygamy retain its place in history as a commandment of God. They are teaching that our place as members will always be to follow what the Brethren tell us God says, no matter the dictates of our minds and hearts.

   "I still receive letters and emails from women (and men) who thank me for 'The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy,' telling me it has brought them great peace of mind, even saved their marriage.

   "Hundreds of messages tell a story similar to this one: 'Joseph Smith ruined everything when he brought in plural marriage for eternity. This is hell, not heaven. I'm 69 and still worry this may become my hellish future that no, I will NEVER agree to. So heartbreaking. My brother says I could live polygamy and grin and bear if I had to. But I never will. I am distraught. Thank you for all you do.'

   "I wrote back: 'Please don't be distraught over eternal polygamy! I'm convinced it is a fiction. A paper dragon. A nothing burger. It is the wind waking you at night making you think it is robbers. It is the dark monster under your bed that was never there!'

   "Joseph's polygamy came from his own creative mind, never from God. Eternal polygamy never was and never will be a reality. Please have peace of mind. Please sleep well. Please give this awful Ghost not one more ounce of your energy.

   "That is the message I wish I could give to every one of my sisters and brothers in this church of ours....

   "The Brethren have shown that they can correct errors in our history. They have given significant attention to righting the wrongs done to our Black brothers and sisters, who were denied temple access and priesthood ordination for decades. Comparatively little has been done to right the wrongs done to women, who likely constitute a majority of the active members of the church." <www.tinyurl.com/3m3xsay8>

 ---

PETERSON, JORDAN B.

"Jordan Peterson's Bible Study" by Casey Chalk (Religion & Liberty Online, Jan 8 '25) -- "If there's one thing Jordan B. Peterson has proved in his almost-decade run as an internationally known public intellectual, it's that he can fight. ... Perhaps we should then not be surprised to find him going at it with no less than God in his new book, We Who Wrestle with God: Perceptions of the Divine. <www.tinyurl.com/bpdc6kyj>

   "This wrestling is, however, much less contentious than the debates cited above; Peterson evinces a profound appreciation for the Bible, and the 'wrestling' as such is not combative but evocative of Jacob's wrestling with God as described in Genesis 32....

   "Peterson's approach, no surprise, is a thoroughly psychological one, seemingly informed by the ideas of Jung, Freud, and Nietzsche, among other critical commentators on human thought and society. ... 

   "Yet the more Peterson applies his unique perspective to scriptural exegesis, the more his mining the text for Jungian typologies seems to have only a tangential connection to the text. ...

   "The moral of these motifs always seem to boil down to some version of pursuing adventure and willingly enduring suffering. ...

   "The God Peterson gives us is less a personal God of grace who enters into covenant with those who trust in Him and more an impersonal Platonic principle with a Pelagian soteriology. 'What answers emerge from the biblical corpus, piecemeal, step-by-step?' Peterson asks rhetorically. 'It is all on you - with God as Guide.' ...

   "We Who Wrestle with God effectively empties the Bible of its transcendent meaning in favor of Kantian moral exhortations and psychoanalytic inquiry. The Exodus story is not a story of God miraculously rescuing and forming a people to be uniquely His own in covenant relationship but about striving for freedom to grow and morally improve. The Jonah story is not about God calling a less-than-enthusiastic prophet to preach repentance to Israel's pagan enemies but a moral lesson 'that every man who fails to offer his best and who hides his light and his talent leaves a hole in the world that the offering of his best could have filled.' ...

   "In his conclusion, Peterson urges readers 'to reestablish our covenant with the God whose magic words structure our consciousness and our societies, insofar as they are functional and productive.' Yet who is this God but an impersonal principle manifested in our conscience, and the character of the covenant but a clinically informed utilitarian pragmatism? ...

   "Peterson is to be commended for his obvious admiration of Scripture, and even for bringing his own unique perspective to bear on its reading. But in the end, We Who Wrestle with God says much more about Jordan B. Peterson than it does about God or the Bible." <www.tinyurl.com/5y5xphbx>

   Also be sure to check out "Jordan Peterson Loves God's Word. But What About God?" by Brad East in Christianity Today, Nov 19 '24. East concludes that "the best of the Protestant liberals were brilliant scholars, devoted students of Scripture, and pious lovers of Jesus. In his own way, Peterson is one of them. Yet it is difficult to tell whether that is where he wants to be." <www.tinyurl.com/yh9z3y8f>

POSTSCRIPT, July 7 '25: Shane Morris reviews "We Who Wrestle with God" by Jordan Peterson for TGC (Nov 26 '24) with the introductory summary: "Peterson offers a Jungian analysis of some of the foundational stories of the Western world. He analyzes the Biblical accounts of rebellion, sacrifice, suffering, and triumph that stabilize, inspire, and unite us culturally and psychologically." <www.tinyurl.com/34n6t7u5>

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