Hugh Hewitt, The Book of Mormon, and DNA Redux

Today between 5 and 6 p.m. Pacific time, Hugh Hewitt will have two DNA experts who are also members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the "Mormons") on his show to respond to an L.A Times article from last Thursday. For those who can't listen by radio, the show is available on-line too, at Hugh's site. Just find the button that says “listen online.”

As I've noted before many times, this is a political/cultural blog, not a religious one, but I think this story is significant in terms of the news media's coverage of religion. Viewed in that light, today's Hewitt show ought to be quite interesting. Hugh has a large listening audience and is influential in conservative political circles; I have found him to be exceedingly friendly and fair in discussions of faith-related issues. As noted below, last Thursday Hugh interviewed the L.A. Times reporter, William Lobdell, who wrote a front-page story about DNA and the Book of Mormon. I personally found both that interview and the article itself disappointing (my comments here), but Hugh got a great deal of feedback on the interview and decided to have two serious LDS DNA experts on his show to respond further to the Times article. I applaud Hugh's fairness and urge all those who are interested to listen in and spread the word.

UPDATE: The transcript of the interview with the DNA experts, Daniel Peterson and John Butler, is now on Radioblogger.