Midgley Confesses to Attempting to Link Dehlin to a Death

[_lostindc]

Louis "Woody" Midgley announced today he attempted to link Dehlin to the death of Dehlin's mission companion. Many are aware of the the uncontrollable outburst of anger Midgley displayed at a panel discussion in I believe March 2012. Midgely went on a tirade questioning Dehlin's beliefs and threatening to place several cherry-picked statements of Dehlin's in what appears to be another MI (former) hit piece.

I asked Dehlin if I would telling the truth about him and also something important for the Saints to know, if I were to publish--I emphasized that word--a very brief little note in which I indicate that I have heard him say in a public venue that anyone can listen to that he does not believe in God, does not think that there was a Jesus, and that the atonement is rubbish.

Woody's tirade drones on for some time, but reached a peak when Midgley confesses of his attempt to link Dehlin to the death of Dehlin's mission companion some years back. Midgley openly confesses he did in fact attempt to make this slanderous link.

I asked Dehlin if there might be something that happened on his mission that led he to look for vengeance. Was he, I asked, involved in that death on that lake in Guatemala? No, but his companion died in that accident. I could not follow his explanation, except that he was fighting to put a stop to underage baptisms, and so forth. He then fingered some Assistant to the President as the one responsible for problems among the missionaries. But why then go after his Mission President? Those who know him [the Mission President] do not believe he was the source for the problem. And the Brethren who looked into the matter did not see him as the problem. I then added that I have no interest in investigating what when on in his mission, but that he should ask himself what went on in his heart and mind that eventually led him into a naïve atheism.

Midgely goes on in his confession post proclaiming in high phallus tones of his experience with acquaintances/groupies approaching him in admiration for his dismantling of Dehlin.

A couple was standing behind me and they introduced themselves immediately after I stepped down from the stand. The husband had been a student of mine 40 years ago. I did not, of course, recognize him. He said, with his wife approving, that he held me in high esteem. I am usually uncomfortable with that kind of talk. But he could remember details from the course he had with me...He then said that he was delighted to witness my encounter with Dehlin. The reason was that it was easy to read the body language, and he felt that Dehlin was obviously troubled by what I was telling him. I explained that I was merely defending the founding narrative upon which our faith rests from Dehlin's sophistic attack.

Louis "Woody" Midgley's full confession can be read in the link below.

http://www.mormondialogue.org/topic/59880-john-dehlin-and-faith-reconstruction/page__st__100

[_Uther]

The whole indicent, and the accompanying "confession" is something that could be expected from a someone with the mental development and perseption skills of an early teen.

[_lostindc]

In the very same thread linked in the OP, Midgley complains about the reaction he has received due to his initial post (again same link found above in the OP). This most recent rant appears to be less drunken in rage but still imaginative.

The reason I posted my notes was, among other things, to dispel that tall tale, and to make it perfectly clear that it was his unfaith that was for me the issue.

What?

I thought that what I had posted earlier today would have shut down much of the rubbish that is being passed around by John Dehlin and his followers concerning an essay by Greg Smith.

Unfortunately, Midgley continues to wax eloquent about Dehlin's level of faith yet at the same time continually proves he is on a path to scar Dehlin. Mr. Midgley, you need to give reason for why these "rumors" should be "shut down."

1. Greg’s essay, which was not commissioned by Dan Peterson or by me, but was refereed by a host of people, if it had been published in the Review would have run, I estimate, to something slightly over sixty pages (of course, including footnotes). This is not an unusually long essay. Wild, unfounded speculation on this thread has even had that essay up to 200 manuscript pages.

Midgley unsurprisingly attempts to distance DCP and himself from Greg Smith. Those in the know realized Midgley et al. would abandon ship at the site of even the slightest of icebergs. It looks like Greg Smith's goals of gaining access to inner OMIDs backfired because Midgley appears to want to wash his hands clean of Smith

2. The self-serving and utterly false tall tale that Dehlin seems to be telling, and some of those who have posted on this thread, is that Greg Smith had tried to pin some unfortunate death of a missionary in Guatemala on Dehlin. This is utterly, completely false. Greg’s essay never once even mentioned Dehlin’s mission. Every draft of his essay, and I have read them all, examines what Dehlin has posted recently on Facebook and his various web ventures, including some of his podcasts or interviews. It does not even go back to the beginnings of his Mormon Stories venture.

Midgley states the initial hit piece (not the one Midgley threatened to write when he violently confronted Dehlin) did not mention anything about pinning the death of Dehlin's mission companion on Dehlin. This begs the question, why then did Midgley attempt to pin the death on Dehlin?

3. Why did I ask Dehlin on 29 March 2012 what he might know about the death of a missionary on a lake in Guatemala? The reason is that I had heard, and I do not recall when or where, perhaps from Dehlin himself or from someone sympathetic with Dehlin, about some rather strange things that happened in Guatemala when he was a missionary there. I have heard vague rumors about a robbery of missionaries, and also a drowning.

So an 'elite LDS apologist/scholar' is willing to accuse Dehlin of involvement in Dehlin's mission companion's death with no memory of the source? The honesty meter does not look good for Midgley.

6. So my question to Dehlin on 29 March was an tiny little effort to get his opinion about a couple of incidents that he might have known about while he served in Guatemala. Dehlin loves to gossip about his mission. He did so to one of my colleagues at BYU, who forwarded a written version of his opinions to Elder Oaks, who looked into Dehlin’s claims, and even phoned him to discuss them.

Why is Midgley concerned? I hypothesize that Midgley will attempt to link any ambigious tale he can get his hands on in order to discredit and slander Dehlin as a person, therefore, eliminating the leader of the "middle way."

http://www.mormondialogue.org/topic/59880-john-dehlin-and-faith-reconstruction/page__st__140

[_lostindc]

DCP chimes in questioning why anyone would think that Midgely or himself accused Dehlin of some sort of involvement in the death of Dehlin's mission companion.

Daniel Peterson
"B-List Academic"

Contributor

13,198 posts
Posted Today, 12:41 PM
This crazy notion that we were going to accuse John Dehlin of complicity in the death of a missionary in Guatemala -- based on absolutely nothing, and fostered by people who hadn't so much as seen the paper -- may well, I suppose, if it was passed on to a General Authority, quite understandably have prompted such a Church leader to have misgivings about our publishing it. Which were then mentioned to President Samuelson, who hadn't read the article but mentioned them to Gerald Bradford, who hadn't read the article but asked me not to publish it. Which I didn't.

Thereby proving that Dr. Gregory Smith, Dr. Louis Midgley, and I are bullies and thugs. QED.

http://www.mormondialogue.org/topic/59880-john-dehlin-and-faith-reconstruction/page__st__160

I guess DCP missed the confession from Midgley (see OP in this thread).

Just as I predicted, the OMIDs have heard the rally cry and have reformed for another offensive. William Schryver, Midgley, and DCP smell blood and believe the time is now for them to twist the narrative of their terribly embarrassing public firing, private formal rebuking from Church leadership, and dismantling of their apologetic credibility. The OMIDs will do whatever it takes to discredit Dehlin in order to regain even an ounce of credibility. Unfortunately, they are still a punchline of 2012 Mormon happenings.

[_Kishkumen]

Well, I think it is clear that Loopy Lou was up to his old tricks of verbally assaulting in public the people he deems to be enemies of the faith. I think what this does show is that it may not have been done with the intention of implicating Dehlin in the death of the missionary, but accusing him of acting out of a desire for revenge. The latter is far from flattering, so I don't see any of this as particularly exonerating Midgley.

[_palerobber]

3. Why did I ask Dehlin on 29 March 2012 what he might know about the death of a missionary on a lake in Guatemala? The reason is that I had heard, and I do not recall when or where, perhaps from Dehlin himself or from someone sympathetic with Dehlin, about some rather strange things that happened in Guatemala when he was a missionary there. I have heard vague rumors about a robbery of missionaries, and also a drowning.

Midgely did not merely ask Dehlin "what he might know about the death".

Midgely (according to his own notes) asked, "Was he, I asked, involved in that death on that lake in Guatemala?"

why is Midgley backing off of his original public accusation?

[_Kishkumen]

Midgely did not merely ask Dehlin "what he might know about the death".

Midgely (according to his own notes) asked, "Was he, I asked, involved in that death on that lake in Guatemala?"

why is Midgley backing off of his original public accusation?

Yes, I noticed that. And you are right that it does not square with Lou's attempt to make it look like he was wondering whether Dehlin was hurt by the event and lashing out at the LDS Church over it. It sounds far more accusatory. I would have to go back to the context to judge.

[_lostindc]

Midgely did not merely ask Dehlin "what he might know about the death".

Midgely (according to his own notes) asked, "Was he, I asked, involved in that death on that lake in Guatemala?"

why is Midgley backing off of his original public accusation?

My concern is that of Midgley acting as the puppet master of Greg Smith. Dehlin was initially alerted about the MI hit piece and told of an attempt to link Dehlin to his mission companions death. Later we all learn of Midgley throwing another public temper tantrum and accusing Dehlin of involvement in the companion's death. Now, Midgley and others are claiming the hit piece did not include any discussions of the death. Something smells genetically engineered fishy. Midgley made it very apparent he has been investigating Dehlin's mission period, Dehlin's time at BYU, and Dehlin's time as a seminary instructor.

Leads one to wonder how much involvement Midgley had in the original hit piece? How much information did Midgley feed Smith? Perhaps Midgley attempted to push Smith into including the death accusation in the hit piece? Perhaps Midgley had much more input on the hit piece? Perhaps Greg Smith was not writing the hit piece in a vacuum? I am beginning to believe the hit piece may have been a bigger group project than communicated to the public. Is Greg Smith just the fall guy? Did the OMIDs throw Smith a bone? Did the OMIDs use Smith? As seen above (my second post in this thread) they are already attempting to wipe their hands clean of Smith.

[_Kishkumen]

lost,

Midgley has obviously read the hit piece. That's how he knows all this stuff.

[Guest]

Midgley and DCP are playing fast and loose. Dehlin's fear that the hit piece might include something about the Guatemalan missionary was not based on "absolutely nothing," as DCP avers. Go back to the original Dehlin response thread on this subject from last year. Here is what Dehlin said:

After my panel discussion at UVU, Lou Midgley came up and verbally assaulted me (that's how it felt to me, anyway) -- threatening me and attempting to tie me to the death of a missionary on my mission (Brian Bartholomew), and trying to tie me to Grant Palmer back in 1992 (one of the most bizarre accusations I've ever heard, since it was another decade before I even learned his name). People took pictures and video of the affair (which I have)....which was pretty funny. The interaction, of course, was not funny. Not at all. It was deeply disturbing to me.

Greg Smith, Daniel Peterson, John Dehlin, and Lou

For anyone who has come late to this party and does not know the history, there was additional discussion at this thread back in May 2012:
MD&D Thread on John Dehlin

And here:
Allen Wyatt, Mike Parker and FAIR: A Growing Fear of Dehlin?

As well as here:
Bill Hamblin Attacks the LDS Church and its Leadership