In a novel by Samuel Butler, '
The Way of All Flesh', the young Ernest Pontifex has just lost his faith in Christianity, and is wondering what to do about it:
And how should he best persuade his fellow-countrymen to leave off
believing in this supernatural element? Looking at the matter from a
practical point of view he thought the Archbishop of Canterbury afforded
the most promising key to the situation. It lay between him and the
Pope. The Pope was perhaps best in theory, but in practice the
Archbishop of Canterbury would do sufficiently well. If he could only
manage to sprinkle a pinch of salt, as it were, on the Archbishop's tail,
he might convert the whole Church of England to free thought by a _coup
de main_. There must be an amount of cogency which even an Archbishop--an
Archbishop whose perceptions had never been quickened by imprisonment for
assault--would not be able to withstand. When brought face to face with
the facts, as he, Ernest, could arrange them; his Grace would have no
resource but to admit them; being an honourable man he would at once
resign his Archbishopric, and Christianity would become extinct in
England within a few months' time. This, at any rate, was how things
ought to be. But all the time Ernest had no confidence in the
Archbishop's not hopping off just as the pinch was about to fall on him,
and this seemed so unfair that his blood boiled at the thought of it. If
this was to be so, he must try if he could not fix him by the judicious
use of bird-lime or a snare, or throw the salt on his tail from an
ambuscade.
I think that (for the last thirty years forsooth!) BrianH may entertain a similar fantasy about Mormonism. If only he can demonstrate the falsity of its doctrines clearly and publicly enough, the First Presidency will resign, and the CoJCoLDs will just wither away in a matter of months.
But sadly, it has never happened, and it never will (though how BrianH's hopes must have risen when he discovered the Internet!). if people stopped believing in religions just because someone had shown there was good evidence against their claims, nobody would believe in any religion, Christianity included.
So why does BrianH spend his time in this lonely crusade ... ? He does not even seem to find Mormonism interesting, let alone amusing.
