Bednar caught in conference plagiarism

[Tom]

Issues remain in the revised version of Bednar's address.

Reid: "Commentators report that the custom in those days was for the one hosting the wedding feast—in this case, the king—to provide garments for the wedding guests. These wedding garments were simple, nondescript robes that all attendees wore. In this way, rank or station was covered, so everyone at the feast could mingle as equals."

Bednar: "The custom in those days was for the host of a wedding feast—in this parable, the king—to provide garments for the wedding guests. Such wedding garments were simple, nondescript robes that all attendees wore. In this way, rank and station were eliminated, and everyone at the feast could mingle as equals."

This paragraph cites Reid, but some of the phrasing is verbatim and should be changed or enclosed in quotation marks.

[consiglieri]

This is a clever tactic to intentionally create a plagiarism distraction from the church’s current child abuse cover-up woes.

My hat’s off to Elder Bednar.

Taking one for the team.

[MetaProf]

This is a clever tactic to intentionally create a plagiarism distraction from the church’s current child abuse cover-up woes.

My hat’s off to Elder Bednar.

Taking one for the team.

Haha exactly. Very smooth.

[Everybody Wang Chung]

Morgan Deane of The Interpreter Foundation, has some very harsh things to say about Bednar's plagiarism:

Plagiarism is not some obscure hang up of college professors. A former college president should know that on a fundamental level plagiarism is a type of stealing. Because the plagiarizer is taking another person's thoughts and ideas as their own. That doesn't become okay if someone is ~only~ stealing in a religious setting. From the religious news article that everyone dismissed:

"Questions about Bednar’s remarks come at a time when preachers from many backgrounds are under scrutiny for plagiarism. Alabama pastor Ed Litton, a former Southern Baptist Convention president, apologized in 2021 for using sections of a megachurch pastor’s sermon without attribution, leading to a national controversy known as “Sermon-gate.” A Christian publisher canceled a devotional book several years ago by Hillary Clinton’s former pastor after learning that some of the devotions were plagiarized."

I'd say its even worse for Elder Bednar, because he was plagiarizing, a type of stealing, for a talk in his official capacity as one sent forth from God. I'm stunned at the people here minimizing that.

And:

I wanted to see if this story was being picked up anywhere, during my search I found this quote from Elder Bednar in a plagiarism article:

file:///C:/Users/16148/Downloads/Donna%20Funk_Your%20Words%20or%20Mine_The%20Plagiarism%20Dilemma%20for%20Students.pdf

Elder Bednar:
"Let me now be just as direct and clear as I know how to be. If you leave this university with knowledge and skills and a degree but lacking integrity and honesty, then you have failed. And the sacred tithing from all over the earth that make it possible for you and all students to study here will have been wasted. Conversely, if during your time at BYU-Idaho you make meaningful progress toward becoming a person of integrity and honesty, and having done your very best academically you are considered only an average student, then you will have nonetheless succeeded magnificently. And you will be well protected against the effects of the latter-day disease of dishonesty and the epidemic of ethical failures.”

The article concluded with this paragraph about the spiritual dangers of plagiarism:

Elder Bednar:
"Obedience to the commandments and covenants of God provide protection from the “fiery darts” of the evil one (Ephesians 6:16). Quotation marks and source citations protect against stealing or kidnapping someone else’s “intellectual property” (Wangaard, 2017). Most importantly, the Apostle Paul spoke of the “whole armor of God”…and “the shield of faith” (Ephesians 6:11 & 16). Showing academic integrity and expecting academic integrity behaviors in course work will help our students keep the armor undamaged related to individual agency in writing skills."

So school and church officials think plagiarism is super serious to the point that Elder Bednar calls you a dishonest and unethical "failure" and "waste." Yet the reactions on this board to Elder Bednar's plagiarism are...more mild. (And some even make jokes about calling snopes or mock the concept of citing sources). Comparing the above quotes to the minimizing on this board, I guess plagiarism is only wrong when students at school do it, but its no big deal when apostles of the Lord do it.

https://www.mormondialogue.org/topic/74 ... /#comments

[Marcus]

With respect to the religious setting comment, this exchange between RNS and a church spokesman is telling.

“In his global address this past weekend, Elder Bednar made reference to and quoted insight provided by Christian author, John O. Reid,” said Doug Andersen, a church spokesman, in an email. “Mr. Reid was mentioned by name and referenced on multiple occasions in footnotes. The transcript of his remarks is published for all to see. For those who would try to find fault, we would invite you to consider the spirit of his message.”

Religion News Service first contacted church leaders about Bednar’s address on Wednesday (Oct. 5). At that time, the transcript had one mention of Reid and no quotation marks around material taken from his work, according to screenshots of the transcript and an internet archive of the page. The mention of Reid appeared after several paragraphs of material lifted from Reid with no attribution.

Within hours, the transcript was updated with four additional footnotes linked to Reid’s article as well as quotation marks around one phrase from his work. The other material taken from Reid’s writing remains in the transcript without any quotation marks.

More information about the spokesperson’s response was given later in the article:

Andersen pointed out that the remarks were made in a religious setting—not an academic one.

“It is worth noting that this was not an academic conference, or a scholarly publication, but rather a pastoral sermon delivered in a religious setting,” he said. “Elder Bednar utilized conversational language while remaining true to the source of the topic being addressed.”

So, in one of the most important talks given in the LDS church, a talk that will be printed in a major publication available to all lds, and which will urged upon members to be used in Sunday talks, plagiarism is not a big deal, because the remarks were not made in an academic or scholarly setting.

These spokespersons are in no-win situations. They can’t ever apologize or acknowledge error, AND they must come up with a justification that, at all costs, casts no blame on lds leaders, which results in them looking like dishonest, immoral people, with a real problem with integrity. We have several threads going on with this same strategy being offered, and the justifications are just unbelievable at times. You’d think with all the money and resources the lds church is hoarding, they could afford better PR, at the very least.

[Rollo Redux]

I see that several footnotes in the LDS Church’s published text have attribution to Reid. Was this done after the fact?

Yes, you can see the differences on archive.org. The footnoting was done after he was caught plagiarizing in both the spoken and written versions of his address.

Ahh, that makes sense. The Morg is always rewriting history.

[IHAQ]

This is arguably one of the biggest errors ever made at a General Conference. Bednar has been caught being dishonest over the pulpit. He's taken the words and thoughts and conclusions of John O. Reid and presented them at Conference as if they were the words God had inspired him, Bednar, to deliver. Bednar is experienced enough at giving Conference talks to be familiar with the "open quote" "close quote" comments that litter Conference talks to explain to the listener that someone else's words have been referenced. Bednar didn't do that. He lied. At General Conference.

Now one might proffer the apologetic that someone else wrote the talk. Well that doesn't help Bednar. The Conference talk is presented as something that the speaker, in this case the Apostle, has been prompted to say by God. That cannot be the case if someone else has produced the words. Bednar is still lying at General Conference.

The further dishonesty is what happened when it was pointed out that Bednar had plagiarised big chunks of his talk. Behind the scenes they hastily added footnotes and references that weren't there in the first place. They tried to cover it up. Which is a confession of guilt.

Now here we are a week later and not a peep from Bednar. At least Holland came out himself and gave an apology for the fake Hells Angel story that he stupidly regurgitated. Bednar, nothing. He knows he's been caught. He knows the world knows he's been caught. I'm guessing his narcissistic personality disorder won't let him admit guilt and publicly apologise. He won't practice what he preaches - and that will be the third bit of dishonesty attached to this Conference Talk.

Bednar will forever be known as the Apostle who lied at General Conference and who didn't have the Christlike humility to own up to it.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Bednar will forever be known as the Apostle who lied at General Conference and who didn't have the Christlike humility to own up to it.

He seems like a real ‘Rules for Thee, but not for Me’ kind of guy. I’d say it boggles my mind a former university President hailing from the church education system could so openly and brazenly plagiarize material, but alas, we’ve seen people like the mopologists plagiarize flagrantly for years with zero repercussions. I’m left to surmise Mormon men have no qualms with dishonesty when it suits them.

- Doc

[2bizE]

Not providing proper citation to another person’s work is certainly an act of a lazy learner.

[Kishkumen]

He seems like a real ‘Rules for Thee, but not for Me’ kind of guy.

Indubitably.