Mark Thomas wrote:You are absolutely right mentioning William Hamblin as the true case of how we can test who is deserving of the title of Christian. You cite John 13:35–“By this shall men know ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” A true disciple of Christ would not engage in spying on liberal Mormon scholars in order to harm them. A true disciple of Christ would not engage in ad hominem attacks, publically using such terms as “Butthead” to describe serious scholars. A true disciple of Christ would not collaberate in 2006 with a PhD trained in miltary interrogation tenchniques to intimdate and threaten liberal Mormon scholars outside of his line of authority. A true disciple of Chrust would not collaberate with senior apostles to engage in such activities and to label serious liberal Mormon scholars as “Korihors.” A true disciple of Christ would welcome academic freedom and not seek to silence the humble and honest search for truth in the name of their own God of war. In short, a true Christain organization (as defined by internal love) would not engage in the charateristic features of Inqusition, namely, secret surveillance, the imposition of belief, censorship of scholars, interrogations intended to intimidate, and the endorsement of the practice of torture aganist one’s enemies. In short, a true disciple of Christ will not engage in a heavy handed bureaucracy of intelligence gathering, interrogation and decision-making intended to punish people who believe differently than those in power. By all means let us look to William Hamblin to assess whether the Mormon Church is really a Christian organization.
Let us take a sample of the impact that scholars like Hamblin have had on the reputaion of the LDS Church. A national survey of scholars of religious studies was recently completed under the direction of a BYU senior marketing faculty using valid stastistical methods. The survey indicated that scholars in religious studies from across America, as a rule, have very little confidence in the academic reliability of Mormon academic studies sponsored by its own church education system. The level of confidence was lower than any other religious academic system mentioned in the survey, Catholic or Protestant.
By their fruits ye shall know who is my disciple, if they have love for one another, including loving your opponents enough to allow for academic freedom without fear or intimidation.
As I've stated before on this board, I am not a fan of Bill Hamblin. My issues with Bill go way back to in real life interactions in the 90s when I worked for the BYU History department as a TA/RA in my undergrad days. I wanted to post this here because Mark Thomas cited 3 things I have never heard before. Specifically, I wanted to see if anyone here has more information on these three accusations from Mark Thomas:
1. Bill collaberated in 2006 with a PhD trained in miltary interrogation tenchniques to intimdate and threaten liberal Mormon scholars outside of his line of authority.
2. Bill collaberated with "senior apostles" to engage in such activities and to label serious liberal Mormon scholars as “Korihors.”
3. That a national survey conducted by BYU "indicated that scholars in religious studies from across America, as a rule, have very little confidence in the academic reliability of Mormon academic studies sponsored by its own church education system."
I have no idea who Mark Thomas is, but I have serious skepticism about claim 2. I highly doubt that Bill regularly interacts, if at all, with any "senior apostles."