[MeOnTheBeach]

"Gone is the language about “defend[ing] the Restoration"

"is no longer defensible"

This is really....bad logic. No... that's too timid. Let me try again...dumb as a box of hammers logic...

Its just the mission statement for a department at a college for crying out loud. *chuckle*

Your post makes it sound like the whole Mormon Church is packing it in. LOL!

I Googled it and the mission statement has just been simplified.

By furthering religious scholarship through the study of scripture and other texts, Brigham Young University’s Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship seeks to deepen understanding and nurture discipleship among Latter-day Saints while promoting mutual respect and goodwill among people of all faiths.

Looks like BYU considered Peterson to not be in harmony with their vision of church apologetics, so they replaced him. They considered his style to be "mean" and they are not interested in being "mean".

[Colofornian]

Its just the mission statement for a department at a college for crying out loud.

BYU isn't just "a college"...and if you don't know that, you know neither Mormon culture nor the Lds church hierarchy.

For example, take a look at the list of BYU professors who have either been dismissed by the Lds church hierarchy or pre-empted from covering more controversial historical topics.