Myth Dispelled: Scratch has any credibility whatsoever
Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 11:18 pm
Dr. Peterson's communique to Scratch regarding his continual obsession with the issue of apologetics and filthy lucre: Let's bold the more salient parts, shall we?
Only two possibilities here, it seems:
1. DCP is a flat footed liar.
2. Scratch is a determined character assassin hell bent on keeping Frankenstein alive no matter how much juice he has to pump into the twitching corpse.
Hmmm. Decisions, decisions...
My income and family budget are, of course, absolutely none of your business. Still, I understand that you're oddly compelled to gather dossiers on those you target for character assassination, and, more importantly, I think that the notion that the Church has an array of paid apologists working for it needs to be publicly denied, as it's false.
The overwhelming number of those who participate in apologetics receive no financial compensation whatever, so far as I know. Writers for the FARMS Review, on the other hand, receive a free copy of the book that they're reviewing (if they're reviewing a book and if they don't already own it) and a free copy of the Review in which their piece appears. For the past few years -- five or six, I think -- I have received a small token payment when an issue of the Review comes from the press. This is supposed to reward me for my editorial services, though I'm not sure, when it's apportioned by hour of effort, that it even rises to the level of the minimum wage. That's it. I receive no salary for apologetics. (I've never, despite your allegation, said that I receive absolutely no compensation whatever. I realize that you would love to catch me in a lie, but you haven't.) My salary is for teaching and, over the past decade or so, especially for directing and editing the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative and performing certain other administrative duties at BYU.
If you would like to study my tax returns, you'll have to seek assistance in that from the government. I will neither voluntarily post them nor send them to you for your inspection.
Editors of books published by the Maxwell Institute have, over the past few years, begun to receive similarly token compensation for their efforts, and contributors to anthologies have generally received a check in the $50-100 range for their contributions. Authors of FARMS books originally received no royalties (the money was plowed back into the Foundation), but, lately, we've revisited that policy in an effort to make publishing with us roughly comparable, financially speaking, with publishing elsewhere in the Mormon market. Still, many don't actually accept their royalties, which, in any case, have never amounted to more than $2000-3000 and have generally been less.
Only two possibilities here, it seems:
1. DCP is a flat footed liar.
2. Scratch is a determined character assassin hell bent on keeping Frankenstein alive no matter how much juice he has to pump into the twitching corpse.
Hmmm. Decisions, decisions...