DiscussMormonism.com

Go to the link below (you'll have to scroll down a bit when you get there) for Dan Peterson's attack on those who would dare criticize the LDS proxy baptism for Simon Wiesenthal. He clearly doesn't 'get' it.

http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID ... 8329603513

Unfortunately for Mormons, DCP takes the victim approach to this topic. Rather than even attempt to be conciliatory, he takes offense at what he perceives as a bigoted attack on his faith.

Sorry, but you don't generate good will with defensiveness. The rest of his "defense" is similarly embarrassing. Some choice quotes:

"For reasons perhaps best known to her, Helen Radkey hates my Church, and is always seeking to do it damage." In other words, it doesn't matter because Helen is a bigot.

"Systematically barring work for Jews that we Latter-day Saints regard as salvific would itself be an act of racist discrimination." This one stands on its own. Sheer idiocy.

"I'm not sure why some Jews appear to be offended by Mormon temple service on behalf of Jews. Jews have precious few friends around the world. They should not be seeking to alienate Mormons, who are deeply philosemitic." Holy crap! This one I think takes the cake: Don't offend us because you need all the friends you can get. "Philosemitic": what a joke.

And finally, he takes the Bednar approach: being offended is the Jews' problem, not his. "I hope that Jews, of all people, will be very careful not to entertain the kind of religious hatred and bigotry that some will undoubtedly attempt to inflame over this issue."

Somebody at FARMS should tell the man to leave the diplomacy to the experts.

Runtu wrote:"I'm not sure why some Jews appear to be offended by Mormon temple service on behalf of Jews. Jews have precious few friends around the world. They should not be seeking to alienate Mormons, who are deeply philosemitic." Holy crap! This one I think takes the cake: Don't offend us because you need all the friends you can get. "Philosemitic": what a joke.

That was my favorite, too. The apparent smug tone dripping from his lips as he wrote this boggles the mind.

Holy smokes.... I'm still trying to pick my jaw up off the floor. I cannot believe he wrote this stuff. Truly, staggeringly unbelievable.

And it disappoints me that Prof. Peterson is leaning on that old and tiresome saw about, "Hey, if another religion was doing something that was meant to save my soul, I'd be glad!" This is patently not true, as evidenced by the great offense taken by TBMs regarding EVs who protest on Temple Square or elsewhere, apparently guided by the "legitimate belief" that they are working to save the souls of Mormons. That is really the correct comparison, in my opinion. If DCP and Co. want to understand why Jews feel offended about these baps, they should consider how they feel about the protesting EVs.

Daniel Peterson wrote:The Church cannot realistically be expected to control what individual members do in terms of submitting names for temple work. It can control what information it offers and encourage or discourage certain things, but it cannot systematically patrol all name-submissions to make sure that they're not Jewish or that those who bore the names didn't spend time in a concentration camp.

Ridiculous! Of course they can! This is shoddy nonsense at its finest. The Church's assumptions and processes can be called into question -- the leaders just hate it when someone does. And the PR is withering so they are happy to agree to it.

Were it not for public opinion people would still be vowing to avenge the blood of the prophets in the temples.

Mister Scratch wrote:I'm still trying to pick my jaw up off the floor.

Isn't there something in the Bible about the jawbone of an ass?

Monitor wrote:

Mister Scratch wrote:I'm still trying to pick my jaw up off the floor.

Isn't there something in the Bible about the jawbone of an ass?

There certainly is something about an ass's first post amounting to nothing more than taking a cheap swipe at somone else.

Build some credibility with a meaningful post before you pretend to Monitor us, okay?

Make sure and read all the posted comments -- DCP has now posted several comments, and is really taking a beating as he digs the hole deeper. One would think that someone in the PR dept. at COB would call him and tell him to shut up before he does any more damage with the Jews. This is an all-time classic!

Rollo Tomasi wrote:Make sure and read all the posted comments -- DCP has now posted several comments, and is really taking a beating as he digs the hole deeper. One would think that someone in the PR dept. at COB would call him and tell him to shut up before he does any more damage with the Jews. This is an all-time classic!

Oh, man, I couldn't agree more with you, Rollo. The poor Professor is really spiraling out of control, not only on that original blog, but on the fittingly named MAD board, too, where he is saying that posters on RfM (who have gotten involved in the fray, it seems) are anti-Semitic bigots:

Daniel Peterson wrote:Over at the link with which this thread began, the "conversation" has continued. I'm participating in it, and, I think, have done so in a moderate and respectful tone. For that, I've been called an "arrogant boor" and a Nazi, my faith has been declared "mythological," my church has been termed a "cult," and, to top it off, someone has set out to attack my belief in Jesus as the Savior of humankind. All because I and my ilk haven't shown the proper "respect" to Jewish beliefs.

Fortunately, I'm confident that such posters represent a tiny fringe. (In fact, I'm fairly certain that one or two of them come from the peculiarly named "Recovery from Mormonism" board, and, probably, if the truth were told, hold Judaism in much the same sort of contempt that they direct toward Mormonism.)

A pretty nasty leap in logic, no? Another tidbit which is very interesting is DCP's insistence that the IGI is "out of control," meaning that, basically, all sorts of names, including Joseph Goebbels, Benito Mussolini, and Mickey Mouse are included in the database.

Daniel Peterson wrote:You believe that the Church can or should have absolute control over the list of names that are submitted for temple work. Perhaps it can. Perhaps it should. But, if the Mickey Mouse and multiple-ordinance stories are true, it doesn't. That's the point.

It just gets worse and worse, doesn't it? Not only are proxy baptisms offensive to certain people, but the whole process, according to DCP, is sloppily, embarrassingly out of control. A complete mess, as it were. So, not only are Jewish names included in the DB, but irrelevant and silly joke names are tossed in alongside those Jewish names, which really only adds insult to injury, in my opinion. Perhaps the funds used to run the SCMC ought to be diverted over to fixing the IGI?

Mister Scratch wrote:It just gets worse and worse, doesn't it? Not only are proxy baptisms offensive to certain people, but the whole process, according to DCP, is sloppily, embarrassingly out of control. A complete mess, as it were.

And it just gets better and better. It appears that DCP must be bellowing the Masonic call for help -- one of his FARMS buddies, David Bokovoy, has now posted a comment in DCP's defense, but he's just making it worse.