FAIR Mormon Adopts A New Name And A More Gentle Approach To Apologetics

[Equality]

It sounds like FAIR has been scolded by the Brethren for the whole Kwaku/TITS video debacle. From the Salt Lake Tribune: https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/03 ... dopts-new/


“FairMormon adopts a new name and urges a kinder approach in defending the LDS Church. FAIR now will stand for “Faithful Answers”


By David Noyce
| March 21, 2021, 11:15 a.m.


Now, with church President Russell M. Nelson urging scholars, media and members to cease using “Mormon” and “LDS” when referring to the denomination and its adherents, it was time for another name change.

. . .

The group also is dropping “Mormon” from its website URL. FAIR now can be found at www.fairlatterdaysaints.org. More and more institutions, departments, organizations and websites inside and outside the church have heeded Nelson’s call and altered their names.

How long until Rusty "Donuts" Nelson issues an edict changing the name of the Book of Mormon to the Book of Restoredchurchofjesuschristians?

[Dr Moore]

Assuming this was a top-down edict, then what's the big picture? What are the likely motivations?

Yes, simply being nice is a great value, but why now vs 50 years ago, or 40, or 30, or 20, or 10, or 5, or 2?

And yes, maybe the TITS videos ultimately proved the final straw... but anyway, I'm thinking this is just one domino in a predetermined series of chess moves.

My theory is that the FAIR rebrand provides a convenient timing through which to begin a deeply calculated, long-term retrenchment on LGBTQ+ rights. More likely as not, it was Oaks who did the calculation and concluded that the time has come for a queen sacrifice. The queen being contentious Mopologetics in all its forms.

Why not? BYU is currently a focal point for academic (Mopologetics & history) and social (LGBTQ+ protests) unrest within the church.

1. It is completely hypocritical for faithful defenders to on the one hand profess the "love of Christ" toward LGBTQ+ students/members while at the same time attacking former and disaffected members who leave over matters of history or truth claims.

2. The contentious spirit born out of traditional Mopologetic approaches to defending church narratives makes it impossible to ever conceive of projecting a genuine good faith effort at loving LGBTQ+ members while at the same time digging in on the "sin" narrative when it comes to non-heterosexual individual desires for natural love & companionship, marriage, family, etc. Both of those enterprises cannot be sustained together. One has to go, or else the hypocrisy and bad faith is too easily exposed. Correction: has already been exposed and shows up in surveys, faith crises and resignations.

[IHAQ]

I wonder what the leverage was?

FAIR is a separate, non profit and so technically answerable only to itself, and perhaps its donors. Has the Church leveraged finances to get FAIR to do the screeching U Turn it just announced? Has the Church offered funding in return for a change of strategy? Were temple recommends threatened? Was it just the old "the Brethren are disappointed in you"?

I'd like to know what led up to Scott Gordons embarrassing about face.

Gordon confirmed Monday that the videos had been removed Sunday evening as part of FAIR’s effort to ensure that its content “is in line with our branding and direction.”

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/03 ... dopts-new/

That's a mere 3 months after those same videos were announced as the new direction. So what actually happened?

[Meadowchik]

Assuming this was a top-down edict, then what's the big picture? What are the likely motivations?

Yes, simply being nice is a great value, but why now vs 50 years ago, or 40, or 30, or 20, or 10, or 5, or 2?

And yes, maybe the TITS videos ultimately proved the final straw... but anyway, I'm thinking this is just one domino in a predetermined series of chess moves.

My theory is that the FAIR rebrand provides a convenient timing through which to begin a deeply calculated, long-term retrenchment on LGBTQ+ rights. More likely as not, it was Oaks who did the calculation and concluded that the time has come for a queen sacrifice. The queen being contentious Mopologetics in all its forms.

Why not? BYU is currently a focal point for academic (Mopologetics & history) and social (LGBTQ+ protests) unrest within the church.

1. It is completely hypocritical for faithful defenders to on the one hand profess the "love of Christ" toward LGBTQ+ students/members while at the same time attacking former and disaffected members who leave over matters of history or truth claims.

2. The contentious spirit born out of traditional Mopologetic approaches to defending church narratives makes it impossible to ever conceive of projecting a genuine good faith effort at loving LGBTQ+ members while at the same time digging in on the "sin" narrative when it comes to non-heterosexual individual desires for natural love & companionship, marriage, family, etc. Both of those enterprises cannot be sustained together. One has to go, or else the hypocrisy and bad faith is too easily exposed. Correction: has already been exposed and shows up in surveys, faith crises and resignations.

I think a long-long-term strategy is less likely. Of course as outsiders to the Q12 it may seem like they have the ability plan a long game, but it is known that the Q12 has a history of serious disagreement. The picture within its chambers might be more like one where each President has a much more unilateral role and the others more often wait their turn to take the helm.

Also I think there is a much more obvious explanation for these recent changes. The events of January 6th may have shocked church leadership by the extent of LDS involvement and the seriousness of LDS association and support for Trump. Trump has been over the last four years elevated to a pseudo-religious status to many of his supporters. This in itself, this nationalistic direction is perhaps a much greater threat from the church's perspective. in my opinion it is no coincidence that the Deseret News published an article on the dangers of Christian Nationalism in February: https://www.deseret.com/indepth/2021/2/ ... -democracy

That is more likely to be the link to FAIR's new (and now hopefully abandoned) approach, because of the correlation between the TITS propaganda and DezNat.

[Philo Sofee]

I wonder what the leverage was?

FAIR is a separate, non profit and so technically answerable only to itself, and perhaps its donors. Has the Church leveraged finances to get FAIR to do the screeching U Turn it just announced? Has the Church offered funding in return for a change of strategy? Were temple recommends threatened? Was it just the old "the Brethren are disappointed in you"?

I'd like to know what led up to Scott Gordons embarrassing about face.

Gordon confirmed Monday that the videos had been removed Sunday evening as part of FAIR’s effort to ensure that its content “is in line with our branding and direction.”

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/03 ... dopts-new/

That's a mere 3 months after those same videos were announced as the new direction. So what actually happened?

It was just shortly after we had organized FAIR in the first place that Gordon said if the leaders tell usto take down FAIR we would. I said like hell! We are entirely 100% independent of the church and we run the show, we decide what we research and how we do it, we will remain entirely independent. Within a year they got a 70 on the Board and I was very uncomfortable with it. Things for me at least, went speedily downhill.

They did not feel legit UNLESS they had the blessings, the fawning, the invocations of the Brethren and wanted to be subservient. They wanted to prove to the Brethren what good loyal servants to them they were, so they made themselves dependent and have been that way ever since. So I guarantee it was the leaders somewhere who said to them they had stepped over too many lines. The TITS video with its positively HORRIBLE acronym had to be the straw that broke the Brethren's spirit - to mangle a metaphor. Not to mention the blatant immaturity and stupidity of the points being made. Mormonism is a lot of things, and they want a lot of things, sexually embarrassing and doctrinally questionable things are not on that list.

[IHAQ]

It was just shortly after we had organized FAIR in the first place that Gordon said if the leaders tell usto take down FAIR we would. I said like hell! We are entirely 100% independent of the church and we run the show, we decide what we research and how we do it, we will remain entirely independent. Within a year they got a 70 on the Board and I was very uncomfortable with it. Things for me at least, went speedily downhill.

They did not feel legit UNLESS they had the blessings, the fawning, the invocations of the Brethren and wanted to be subservient. They wanted to prove to the Brethren what good loyal servants to them they were, so they made themselves dependent and have been that way ever since. So I guarantee it was the leaders somewhere who said to them they had stepped over too many lines. The TITS video with its positively HORRIBLE acronym had to be the straw that broke the Brethren's spirit - to mangle a metaphor. Not to mention the blatant immaturity and stupidity of the points being made. Mormonism is a lot of things, and they want a lot of things, sexually embarrassing and doctrinally questionable things are not on that list.

Which 70 was on the board that signed off on the TITS Videos and that strategic direction which has now, 3 months later, been reversed?

[IHAQ]

Should we be viewing this change within FAIR as a symptom of a more significant shift across the Church, with DCP's dismissal by the Deseret News and the dressing down given to Gee and Peterson by the JSP as symptoms of the same thing? As Meadowchick speculates above, the Church seems keen to distance itself from attack-dog style behaviour synonymous with Trump and DezNat and the likes of the hit-piece style of the old Maxwell Institute Brigade who still hang around like a bad stain on the Church.

I'm not sure the Church still holds a place at their scholarly table for Peterson, Gee, Smith, Midgeley etc unless they dramatically change their style of communication. Is the Church putting an end to Mopologetics?

[Philo Sofee]

Should we be viewing this change within FAIR as a symptom of a more significant shift across the Church, with DCP's dismissal by the Deseret News and the dressing down given to Gee and Peterson by the JSP as symptoms of the same thing? As Meadowchick speculates above, the Church seems keen to distance itself from attack-dog style behaviour synonymous with Trump and DezNat and the likes of the hit-piece style of the old Maxwell Institute Brigade who still hang around like a bad stain on the Church.

I'm not sure the Church still holds a place at their scholarly table for Peterson, Gee, Smith, Midgeley etc unless they dramatically change their style of communication. Is the Church putting an end to Mopologetics?

The church is in a real pickle actually. As long as it insists it is the ONLY ONE true and living church it will always be condescending and talk down to all others. That is the nature of the assumption, which filters into the personalities of all those Mormons. We are right, therefore we need no corrections, nor do we need to worry about anything else anyone else ever says or teaches, we have prophets and therefore know God's will. Why would you pay attention at all to anyone else?

On the other hand, they DO need fresh converts, and so somehow they have to get better at faking that they really do love and care about people in order to get them dunked. That is always only the needed goal of exoteric religion, get em in here! So, they have to play nice, but once you're in, then gloves can come off as you begin slinging the noose of obedience to them alone around necks of the new bright eyed students and eager proselytes.

It's truly a nasty situation because the internet now demonstrates ALL foibles of churches everywhere across the boards... Now they have to even get better at faking like they care! It isn't about winning souls, its about being the biggest, and fastest growing in order for truth to be seen.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

According to Jeremy Runnels the cojcolds funds FAIR:

https://cesletter.org/debunkings/fairmo ... s/#support

- Doc

[Dr LOD]

Gordon has done a complete about face because someone higher up probably said hey those videos really are quite immature and have done nothing but bring mockery and mirth down upon our heads. There is no dignity here, let alone actual charity - love. We gotta change that.

Exactly, I showed someone who possibly could have done such a thing. It was also fun explaining Kwaku's side job of providing a safe venue for BYU coeds to preform "air lap dances." I can only imagine how that was relayed and described to Oaks.