beastie wrote:Dear Brother Watson:
We face a grave threat from the anti-Mormons. Although you surely did not intend it, your letter attempting to clarify the location of the Hill Cumorah has fallen into the hands of the Tanners. We cannot have this. Perhaps you are not aware, but the good Brothers and Sisters at FARMS have been very busy trying to locate the real Hill Cumorah in the Chiapas region of Mexico. By telling people that the Brethren officially believe Cumorah to be located in New York, we risk losing the faith of thousands of Latter-day Saints, since it appears that the best LDS scholars and the Brethren are not on the same page. While it is possible that the Hill is indeed in New York, at the present time the bulk of evidence points to a Latin American locale.
I urge you to issue a retraction letter as soon as possible, before it can appear that apologists and the Brethren are not united in their doctrinal understanding. I am sure you are sensitive to the gravity of this situation, and that you will act as promptly and hastily as possible.
Your Brother-in-arms,
William Hamblin, Ph.D.
In retrospect, I think the portions I bolded sound overstated. It's kind of Mark Hofmannesque - he provided what people have good reason to suspect would be in the letter, but it was too much of a dream come true for critics.
Apologists normally downplay points that critics may be making, and act as if the critics are silly, stupid, and aren't really "scoring any points", so to speak. This letter too openly admits that critics are scoring points and posing a real threat. I also don't think an apologist would think, or admit, that "thousands" of LDS could lose faith over it. I think they try to minimize the impact of all this.
Plus, he doesn't make fun of "anti's", which is suspicious. ;)
It is clearly an attempt to demonstrate an anti-Mormon double standard by a sock puppet.