Derek Westra argued that the church is being defamed in Hollywood media. He claims the wrong stereotypes are:
1) The church is overwhelmingly white
2) The church is secretive
3) The church is politically powerful
4) The church is exceedingly wealthy
5) The temple is secretive and weird
6) The missionaries are pushy and weird
7) Mormonism is violent
8) Mormonism is anti LGBT
FairMormon claims the church tried to become a member of the anti-defamation league, and were laughed out of the room. I think reasonable people can see the difference between anti-semitic claims which have no basis for truth, and "anti-Mormon" claims which are founded in actual facts and history.
Interestingly, the church thinks they can use all this bad publicity as a way to pivot and try to gain members through their own propaganda. They certainly have the money and resources to create all the media they could want. The problem is do they have any truth to back up that propaganda?
So, the LDS Church's leadership is pretty darn white. It is not exclusively white, but it is very white. The LDS Church is demonstrably secretive. See the SEC findings against the Church. I mean, if that is not secretive, I do not know what is. The Church pretty much admitted that it was hiding its wealth from its own members because it was worried they would stop paying tithing. Not secretive? The LDS Church fought gay marriage, pouring millions of dollars into the effort and recruiting its members to engage in political activity to oppose the same. I think its position has shifted some, but I don't blame LGBTQ+ people for remembering that the Church opposed gay marriage and still excludes sexually active LGBTQ+ people who are not married according to the practices of the Church from full faith and fellowship. I mean, it is what it is.
The rest of this stuff is pretty much bigoted nonsense that people do believe. Weird is extremely subjective. Devo is weird, and I love Devo.
"He disturbs the laws of his country, he forces himself upon women, and he puts men to death without trial.” ~Otanes on the monarch, Herodotus Histories 3.80.
Are others listening to the presentation on Joseph Smith and treasure digging and Freemasonry? "Joseph Smith and the Magical Contest." I only caught part of it. I'll be interested to read it in the Festschrift.
Are others listening to the presentation on Joseph Smith and treasure digging and Freemasonry? "Joseph Smith and the Magical Contest." I only caught part of it. I'll be interested to read it in the Festschrift.
That looks right up my alley. I hope I am able to see this at some point.
"He disturbs the laws of his country, he forces himself upon women, and he puts men to death without trial.” ~Otanes on the monarch, Herodotus Histories 3.80.
Derek Westra argued that the church is being defamed in Hollywood media. He claims the wrong stereotypes are:
1) The church is overwhelmingly white
2) The church is secretive
3) The church is politically powerful
4) The church is exceedingly wealthy
5) The temple is secretive and weird
6) The missionaries are pushy and weird
7) Mormonism is violent
8) Mormonism is anti LGBT
Wonder how such stereotypes originated?
Now all the FAIR Mormons can go forth and proclaim these not true at BYU and on the streets of Provo. The Church could even tell the Utah legislature to issue a proclamation to that effect.
Dr. Gee is still angry about the changes at the Maxwell Institute.
Any more details?
"He disturbs the laws of his country, he forces himself upon women, and he puts men to death without trial.” ~Otanes on the monarch, Herodotus Histories 3.80.
The Interpreter Foundation has been running an ad during the conference featuring a screen shot of the Discuss Mormonism homepage with an excerpt of Bond James Bond's 2013 prophecy superimposed on top: "By Jan. 1, 2014 Interpreter will be dead. . . . Either totally dead or down to token ‘blog’ style postings.” A Dirty Harry-like voice intones: "Naysayers were quick to proclaim that Interpreter would not last. They were wrong then and they are wrong now." Powerful.
In other news, Jennifer Roach is the recipient of the John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award. Better luck next year, Brother Nygren.
Edit to fix typo.
Last edited by Tom on Sat Aug 05, 2023 7:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I recorded a couple talks the first day, in the hopes something interesting would be said that could be shared here.
But I quickly realized it was a gigantic waste of time. Steven “Bukake” Smoot’s presentation on the book of Abraham was just a long winded advertisement for his new book which doesn’t have anything new in it. Just more ways to say “catalyst theory.”
Daniel’s presentation didn’t offer any evidence at all for why Brigham was the obvious and worthy successor, to the exclusion of everyone else. He rambled on about some hill in England that has spooky magical stories around it.
Then there was the former artist who said all of Hollywood is trying to brainwash your children into forgetting about Christmas and worshiping gay animated snowmen.
FAIRMormon and Interpreter are complete jokes. And they know it, that’s why they don’t rebroadcast the majority of the presentations. They’re just embarrassing.
I recorded a couple talks the first day, in the hopes something interesting would be said that could be shared here.
But I quickly realized it was a gigantic waste of time. Steven “Bukake” Smoot’s presentation on the book of Abraham was just a long winded advertisement for his new book which doesn’t have anything new in it. Just more ways to say “catalyst theory.”
Daniel’s presentation didn’t offer any evidence at all for why Brigham was the obvious and worthy successor, to the exclusion of everyone else. He rambled on about some hill in England that has spooky magical stories around it.
I hope Six Days will depict the evil spirits that attacked the LDS missionaries to England in 1837.
