The Top Ten Happenings in Mopologetics 2009

[_CaliforniaKid]

You forgot to mention Gee's talk about how unimportant the Book of Abraham is under your "apologists retreat" item.

[_Bond James Bond]

I don't recognize half of these things. I guess I'm not keeping up with the board like I should be. Is this the third or fourth year of this list Mister Scratch D.M.S.?

It's the fourth year, If I recall correctly, Mr. Bond. That first year---2006---was the same year that saw the end of the old, ironically named FAIRboard, which earned the top slot on my list. Truth be told, I think that 2009 was a bit more low-key compared to the previous three.

It did seem like not much happened. Perhaps this is that time in the big chess game of life with Garry Kasparov has made his bold gambit and Deep Fritz must burn his gears looking for the next move. Apologetics though seems to be as much about not doing anything as doing something sometimes. Sitting still and letting people forget the "water under the bridge" seems as good a tactic as proactive action. So a year of basic inactivity might be considered a win, another year of business as usual for Mormonism.

Anyone know if any ground breaking books, movies or research are in the pipeline? That Book of Mormon study happened last year [2008?] right and seemed to cause a nice storm. Plus 2008 saw the Prop 8 debates. 2010 might be another big year with a Prop 8 repeat.

(by the way: How big of a year could [2007?] have been if I being made a moderator of this board made that year's list? :P)

[_Dr. Shades]

(It's easy to "armchair quarterback," so take this with a grain of salt: I might've omitted A) Gadianton's SMPT paper and B) the ascent of Cassius University in favor of breaking up, and expanding upon, the bulleted items in #1. There's plenty in each of those bullets to keep us interested.)

You know, I hadn't made the connection between Scott Lloyd's most recent thread and his second most recent thread: The fact that he, himself, is hellbent upon turning his son into a "Folk Mormon," the very thing he despises.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: When the Mopologists have "a gun to their head," they, too, know what the real Mormonism is.

[_Ray A]

---The flight, for various reasons, of The Nehor, Maklelan, LoaP, Droopy, Scott Lloyd, and so forth. These individuals tended to give various excuses for why they left, but the common denominator seems to be that they simply couldn't hack it. Some of them returned, but for the most part a good portion of these TBM posters have sought refuge in the Orwellian "safety" of the aptly named MADboard. Regardless, this marks a significant retreat.

---DCP's call for a "boycott" of MDB, in which he urged MAD participants to avoid reading the threads here (which, of course, is an echo of Scott Lloyd's attempts to whitewash problematic aspects of the Church for his son).

Droopy and The Nehor are psychological nutcases. The Nehor hasn't been posting on MAD either, and Droopy is always complaining about the closure of political threads. LoaP is on MAD advocating less tolerance.

Among Amish today there are various views of how shunning should be done and there have been rifts in communities over the issue. I think it is one way to maintain boundaries in the community.

Our moderator fiend Hermes is actually advocating copying some Amish "shunning".

Yet our devoted MAD moderator still has no children, with all those spirits awaiting habitation in Mormon tabernacles!

Perhaps he's too busy "defending the Church" to engage in some procreation for spirits lining up to be born in Mormon homes.

[_Gadianton]

You must keep a journal, professor, I don't know how you remembered all that! I think on the ascent of our fine institution, the acquisition of Doctor Cam and as a TA, Gadianton Plumber deserve mention. And of course, the most important works to come out of the university have been your papers -- though I know how you feel about maintaining a humble walk.

While I normally wouldn't have thought my SMPT presentation was that big of a deal, apparently the apologists thought otherwise, so I can't agree with Dr. Shades sentiment that it isn't top 10 material -- a thank you to DCP and LoaP for making me so important, really, it was as if I did nothing -- you guys did all the work.

My two favorite mentions were "apologists set apart" and the origins of SHIELDS, neither of those had been on my mind for quite some time and what a delight to have professor Scratch stir up their memory! Browsing the SHIELDS website is quite honestly, like taking a trip down to the local train museum except for the subject matter is apologetics. The fossilization of the pre-professional era of Mopologetics, right there my friends.

I would have also added the apostasy of Paul O and the coming out of Mike Reed (this year?). And perhaps most important, the tribute DCP paid to Doctor Scratch in black and white. After leaving the board, he took a statement out of context Doctor Scratch made and responded to it safely within the introduction to the Review, getting the "last laugh" so to speak. It seems to have been a "last laugh" ploy, I would wager his intent at that point was to not continue his interaction from MAD and let that poke stand as his final write-off of Doctor Scratch.

[_CaliforniaKid]

and the coming out of Mike Reed

Another gay man trapped in a heterosexual marriage. Tragic. Though I guess if you have to be a gay man married to a woman, a female football player is a good choice for a wife.

Oh, were you talking about coming out as an apostate? :-P

[_Blixa]

Will somebody please explain this "Cassius University" business for your ignorant evangelical friend?

Please don't make pains in the asses of yourselves by acting like it's some grand, hilarious secret like the women of MADB do with "UMW."

It's no secret, just a trope in the long-running satire that Dr. Scratch (and others) have crafted over the years. I'm consistently surprised that many of those who look in from MAD fail to recognize the temper of Dr. Scratch (and sometimes Gadianton's) contributions here. Frankly, Petronius comes to mind when I encounter fresh installments of the saga of Cassius University, the virtual opposite number to the many illustrious institutions of mopologetics (FARMS, FAIR, the Maxwell Institute, SHEILDS, etc...)

[_Seven]

"Doctor Scratch"

10. Scott Lloyd's Meltdown




In his now-infamous MAD posting, he admitted that he offers distorted and highly sanitized versions of Church history to his children. Later, he went even further, apparently oblivious to the fact he is himself encouraging exactly the sort of "orthodox Mormons" he condemns in this next excerpt:

"Scott Lloyd"On the one hand, we have Mormons who seek to learn and understand the authoritative doctrines, policies and positions of the Church so as to use them as guidelines for their own faith, belief, worship. For the purpose of discussion, I shall call them orthodox Mormons.

On the other hand, we have Mormons who, for whatever reason -- laziness, intellectual neglect, intransigence, invincible ignorance, whatever -- cling to folk doctrine as though it were scripture. I shall call them folk Mormons.

This was one of my favorites for the year as well.

In addition to Scott sharing his contempt for the Chapel Mormons, this post is also a contradiction:

"Scott Lloyd"
It also occurs to me that in this cyber age, those who put hand to keyboard to oppose the Lord and His work will one day be held accountable for the faith of others they damage or destroy. Something posted on the Internet has a potential audience of millions. Regarding these authors, it were better that a millstone be hanged about their neck, etc.

Isn't this the same apologist who believes apostates use Joseph Smith's polygamy, Book of Abraham, Blacks and the Priesthood, etc. as just an excuse to leave the church? So who are these people Scott is trying to protect?
Why would he be so outraged over the authors of these "anti Mormon" websites if he really believes that these issues are never the true reason people lose their faith?
These posts by Scott Lloyd have been very revealing........
It's encouraging to see an apologist finally admit that learning the troubling information can destroy testimonies of faithful members.

[_Danna]

and the coming out of Mike Reed

Another gay man trapped in a heterosexual marriage. Tragic. Though I guess if you have to be a gay man married to a woman, a female football player is a good choice for a wife.

Oh, were you talking about coming out as an apostate? :-P

heh heh heh, snort!

I can't remember, did Jockers et al. make last year's list? or fall through the gaps.

[_Tom]

I enjoyed the post about Royal Skousen here.

I'd also mention Robert White's rather curious "book review" and FAIR Conference address.