That's a pretty darn good write-up, Dr. Cam. The heartening thing is: we are now living in an era of purely [u]online[/i] Mopologetic behavior. Now that FARMS has been dismantled, there is no "official" Church arm for carrying out this kind of behavior. For that, at least, we can rejoice: no more officially-sanctioned attacks on TR-carrying TBMs; no more "official" smear campaigns; no more "official" hit pieces.
All that said, has anybody read Dan Peterson's most recent blog posts? These are worrisome because they sound very close to all-out insubordination:
Although inevitably, with the passage of time, “all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil; and wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell,” although I’ve certainly seen flaws and lamented shortcomings, I’ve never really lost that enthusiasm. I’ve never become jaded. I’ve never been able to be cynical about Brigham Young University. But my recent treatment by at least one or two people in authority at the University has wounded me deeply, and has left me more disheartened than I can ever recall. It hurts, and I can’t pretend that it doesn’t.
By coincidence, my wife and I ran into a BYU colleague at Heathrow Airport who was returning from a pair of academic presentations at a very prestigious European university. This colleague was a victim of some unusually fierce academic politics a number of years ago, at a particularly vulnerable personal time, which led to a transfer from one BYU department to a department in an entirely distinct BYU college. (It could have led to dismissal from the University altogether, though there was not the slightest justification for that.) I knew something of the circumstances then, but learned much more yesterday. Things have worked out for the best for this colleague, whom (for reasons of feared consequences) I won’t identify, but it was terribly, terribly painful. My colleague’s very first comments were of shock at the way I’d been treated and of support, and of assurance that others on the faculty support me. (I hope that’s true.) We shared flights home, and we shared horror stories. I was surprised to learn of common elements in our stories, and . . . well, I won’t elaborate further.
At least he's got the wherewithal and restraint to avoid naming names, but it's fairly clear that he's talking about Gerald Bradford, and probably, President Samuelson, and perhaps one of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
It’s time to go home, but I’m not looking forward to it. I’ve discovered many new friends, and discovered the deep loyalty of some I had already known as friends, but I’ve also recognized a few previously unsuspected enemies, and that’s been profoundly disheartening.
Such, I guess, is life. Ever since the Fall.
Is he insane? I have a hard time seeing how BYU admin--and Church leadership, for that matter--is going to tolerate insinuations like this. The Mopologists can say what they like about John Dehlin, Joanna Brooks, et al., but as far as I know, even they don't label Church leaders "enemies."
"[I]f, while hoping that everybody else will be honest and so forth, I can personally prosper through unethical and immoral acts without being detected and without risk, why should I not?." --Daniel Peterson, 6/4/14