Smith received a medical degree (after also studying physiology and English) at the University of Alberta. He completed his medical residency in Montréal, Québec before becoming an “old-style country doctor” in rural Alberta. His interests include internal medicine and psychiatry.

Previously, Smith has spoken to the Miller-Eccles study group on the topic of plural marriage. He’s also published several articles in the FARMS Review and edited countless FAIRwiki pages. His 2009 FAIR Conference presentation, “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Plural Marriage* (*but were afraid to ask),” can be read here.

Questions about this episode and ideas for future episodes can be emailed to podcast@fairlds.org.

Download:

To download, right click this link and select “Save link as.” The episode is also now available on iTunes.

Runtime:

38:45

Support FAIR:

FAIR relies on contributions from readers and listeners. To help support FAIR, make a donation today.

The news stories include anything said about Mormons and the Church — positive, negative, or neutral. It’s designed to be an unbiased source, delivering whatever is being said about us in the online news media.

To sign up for FAIR’s Front Page, go to the home page of the main FAIR web site and enter your email address in the Front Page box on the right:

THE FAIR JOURNAL                                              May 2009

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The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research

———————————————————————-

Apologetics: The branch of theology that is concerned with

defending or proving the truth of Christian doctrines. (The

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth

Edition, 2000.)

INSIDE THE JOURNAL

———————————————————————-

* MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT. The FAIR Conference is fast

approaching! It is time to register.

* NEWS FROM FAIR. Conference lodging details are announced.

* NEWS FROM FAIR. Donate to FAIR to keep us operating.

* IMPORTANT NEWS FROM FAIR BOOKSTORE.

Nobody Knows: The Untold Story Of Black Mormons DVD is finally

available at the FAIR bookstore. Get your copy now!

* RESOURCES ON THE WEB.  A listing of important articles and

resources related to African-Americans in The LDS Church from the

FAIR Websites.

* RESOURCES ON THE WEB. A detailed examination of the anti-Mormon

books One Nation Under Gods and Becoming Gods.

* FAIR WIKI. The FAIR Wiki has many great articles and resources.

* RESOURCES ON THE WEB: FAIR YOUTUBE VIDEOS

The FAIR YouTube channel has been expanded with lots of new

videos. In addition, we are announcing FAIR videos on an online

television Website.

* ASK THE APOLOGIST. Got a question you are dying to ask? Here’s

how.

* FAIR TOPICAL GUIDE. The Topical Guide on the FAIR Web site is one

of the most popular resources offered. Learn what is available and

help us expand our references.

* FAIR LDS BOOKSTORE. This month the FAIR Bookstore has some great

books and DVDs on sale. Some of these should not be missed.

* PUBLISHING NOTES. Learn how you can become more involved in FAIR

and how you can reuse the material we publish.

* FAIR JOURNAL ARCHIVES. All of the FAIR Journal issues since

October 2001 are on the FAIR web site.

——————————

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Now is the time to sign up for the FAIR conference, which will be held on August 6 & 7 in Sandy Utah. Last year, the conference was essentially sold out, so reserve your tickets early.

As always, we have speakers addressing several topics of interest.

John Gee will be discussing the larger picture in the Book of Abraham discussion. Wade Miller will be discussing animals in the Book of Mormon, Matthew Brown will be discussing what Brigham Young taught about Adam. Brant Gardner will be discussing Nephi’s narrative and the missing “others.” Greg Smith will be discussing polygamy.

In addition there will be Ugo Perego, Dan Peterson, Richard Sherlock, McKay White, Vicky Taylor, Robert White, John Lynch and more. Come find out what everyone else is talking about.

This is an event you won’t want to miss. Sign up now at http://www.fairlds.org/conf09a.html

–Scott Gordon

President

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CONFERENCE LODGING

The official hotel for the FAIR Conference is the Best Western Cottontree, just minutes away from the South Towne Exposition Center.

Rooms are available for only $84 per night (plus tax), which includes high-speed wireless Internet access; a great breakfast of eggs, hash browns, waffles, French toast, etc.; and free shuttle to the conference. This special FAIR Conference room rate is only available through July 25, 2009.

To make your reservations, contact the hotel at 800-662-6886. Tell them you want a FAIR Conference room, or use the confirmation number 902097.

Best Western Cottontree

10695 South Auto Mall Drive

Sandy, UT 84070

801-523-8484

——————————

DONATE NOW

FAIR is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. We rely on your donations to stay in business and to do the things that we do.

We introduced an optional monthly auto-pay option last month with several people signing up. We are hopeful that it will help our funding issues.

For as little as $5 per month, you can make a difference. For less than the cost of one trip to your favorite fast-food restaurant, you can do something that may favorably impact the life of someone who is otherwise struggling.

And if you are able, you should consider $10, $25 or more. One-time donations are also welcome. For more information on this, click here:

http://www.fairlds.org/Join_FAIR/Donate_to_FAIR.html#Donate

You can also donate to FAIR via the U.S. Postal Service using the following address.

FAIR

P.O. Box 491677

Redding, CA 96049-1677

——————————

SPECIAL BOOKSTORE ANNOUNCEMENT

Nobody Knows: The Untold Story Of Black Mormons DVD is now available at the FAIR bookstore.

This celebrated documentary about African American Latter-day Saints was headed by Margaret Young and Darius Gray , authors of several award-winning books and articles about Black Mormons. It was edited by Jim Hughes and Danor Gerald.

Few people, Mormon and non-Mormon, are aware that there has been an African American presence in the LDS Church from its earliest days, that the vanguard company of Mormon pioneers included three “colored servants”–at least one of whom was a baptized Mormon, and whose descendants remained active in the Church for several generations, intermarrying with other Black Latter-day Saints. This documentary talks about that little-known legacy, and confronts the hard issues which surfaced in the most turbulent years of the Civil Rights Movement, when the Church’s long-standing restriction of priesthood from those of African descent became a focus of national attention. It discusses how that restriction was lifted and what the lives and challenges of the modern Black Mormon pioneers are. Besides never- released footage shot in 1968 and many rare archival photographs, the documentary includes interviews with renowned scholars, historians, Black Mormons, with Martin Luther King III, and with Dr. Cecil “Chip”

Murray, retired pastor of the First AME Church of Los Angeles, which was founded by a former slave of Mormon pioneers.

This is a subject that every Latter-day Saint should be familiar with.

There are many myths that are repeated even by good members of the church. This DVD should dispel many of those myths and create a better understanding of our history. Order the DVD at http://store.fairlds.org/prod/pNKUSBM.html

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MORE RESOUCES ON BLACKS IN THE LDS CHURCH

For a better understanding on LDS race issues, check out the following articles.

For an excellent summary this article is on the FAIR Wiki:

http://en.fairmormon.org/Blacks_and_the_priesthood

Sociologist Armand L. Mauss gave a presentation on this subject at the

2003 FAIR conference. You can read the text of his presentation here:

http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?228

You can find a history timeline of blacks in the LDS church here:

http://www.blacklds.org/history

Many members of the church still use the Curse of Cain or Ham as a justification for the priesthood ban and believe that it came by revelation. But, there is no known revelation on the matter. There isn’t anything printed in official Church Handbooks about the priesthood ban. Many LDS members don’t realize is that the belief in a curse upon those of African lineage was common in American Churches in the 19th Century and had been used for centuries to justify the slave trade. There is a non-Mormon discussion of this on the Wikipedia Website here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_Cain

A chapter review of an anti-Mormon book gives excellent insights into the LDS black issue. It is a must-read article to understand how this issue is misused:

http://www.fairlds.org/Mormonism_201/m20116.html

Additional valuable articles on this topic are:

* Dispelling the Black Myth by Renee Olson

http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?229

* Blacks and the Priesthood by Marvin Perkins

http://www.fairlds.org/Misc/Blacks_and_the_Priesthood.html

* Black Latter-day Saints, A Faith Full history by Margaret Young

http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?230

* A Black Man in Zion : Reflections on Race in the Restored Gospel

by Marcus Martins

http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?231

* The Curse of Cain by Mike Parker

http://pool.fairmormon.org/wiki/images/5/5a/Gd06_cursemythFINAL.pdf

* And this article about our new African General Authority

http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?232

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ONE NATION UNDER GODS

Anti-Mormon author Richard Abanes has written two books on Mormonism that are filled with loaded and prejudicial language, absurd claims, presentism, and mind reading. The author often uses sarcasm to belittle what he claims to be LDS beliefs and doctrine.

One example from his book One Nation Under Gods is the claim that Elder Haight said we should “do nothing without the assistance of the moon.” FAIR addresses this rather unique claim that Elder Haight invoked some sort of astrological principle during a talk in General Conference. After the claim was made in his first anti Mormon book, it was later discovered that Elder Haight had made no such claim. The author then assumed in his subsequent book Becoming Gods that the Church hid the reference by removing it from the online version of the talk! FAIR looks at the truth behind this amusing claim.

http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?233

You will find more on this book as well as an index to many of the claims here:

http://en.fairmormon.org/One_Nation_Under_Gods

You will find the list of claims and a response from his second book Becoming Gods (later re-titled Inside Today’s Mormonism) here:

http://en.fairmormon.org/Becoming_Gods

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LDS USE OF ANTIDEPRESSANTS

Critics charge that the rate of antidepressant use is much higher among Mormons than the general population. They claim this is evidence that participation in the LDS Church is inordinately stressful due to pressure for Mormons to appear “perfect.” Read the response here:

http://en.fairmormon.org/LDS_use_of_antidepressants

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RESOURCES ON THE WEB: FAIR WIKI

Many great articles and resources can be found on the FAIR Wiki at www.fairmormon.org. If you speak another language and want translate an article, please email us.

——————————

RESOURCES ON THE WEB: FAIR YOUTUBE VIDEOS

FAIR multimedia is continuing its mission of uploading positive LDS videos on Youtube, which has been flooded with anti-Mormon clips.

Recently, LDS scholar and Semiticist David Bokovoy, has given FAIR permission to upload some podcasts done by him. So this month, we are featuring a series on similarities between the Middle East and The Book of Mormon called The Nephites vs. The Lamanites.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xfu3yMaBdA

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKPjyvQNIXY

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1E06b4OB24

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZoZAkv5-YU

Scholar and author Matthew B. Brown discusses many of the arguments against Joseph Smith and answers them in his 2004 FAIR Conference address Historical or Hysterical? Anti-Mormons and Documentary Sources

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVXVtMX9hqY&feature=response_watch

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1CyF40kE1A

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1RY1mFt9MY

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsiSq8zfefQ

Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySwOK9ZEMaI

Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko45D7roNBQ

Scholar John Tvedtnes speaks about errors in the Bible and The Book of Mormon in his 2002 FAIR Conference address The Mistakes of Men: Can the Scriptures be Error-Free?

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQkUDlWOZ0w

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pw8r24XK64

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHDm5Nl6Szg

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBdwynP1S-Q

FAIR’s Youtube channel is at http://www.youtube.com/user/fairldsorg

——————————

ASK THE APOLOGIST

FAIR invites the public to submit questions relating to LDS beliefs, practices, and history. Some questions are asked sincerely by members and investigators, others are clearly hostile questions challenging the veracity of the Church and its teachings. Many of these responses may end up on the Web site as a FAIR paper or brochure. If you have a question, you may submit it through the FAIR web site.

http://www.fairlds.org/contact.php

Questions sent to FAIR will be shared with members of FAIR, so it is not uncommon to receive several responses that approach the issue from different angles.

——————————

FAIR TOPICAL GUIDE

The Topical Guide is one of the most important LDS apologetic resources available. If you aren’t familiar with this part of FAIR’s Web site, check it out at

http://www.fairlds.org/apol

——————————

FAIR LDS BOOKSTORE

Come to the FAIR Bookstore to find the Internet’s best selection of materials for LDS apologetics. Whether you are looking for books, study aids, videos, or audio products, the FAIR Bookstore has what you need. You can begin your browsing by going to our main site.

http://store.fairlds.org

On Sale this Month!

Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons (DVD)

Co-directors and producers: Margaret B. Young and Darius A. Gray.

Edited by:  Jim Hughes and K. Danor  Gerald.  Sponsored by:

Independent Features Projects (IFP).  2009.  DVD

There has been a continuous African American presence in the LDS Church from its earliest days. Until the 1850′s, some Black converts were even ordained to the Mormon priesthood. This documentary discusses the little-known legacy. It also confronts the hard issues which surfaced during the 1960s, when the Civil Rights Movement drew attention to the Church’s priesthood restriction. That restriction was lifted in 1978, which opened the door for an influx of new Black Mormon pioneers.

Never-released footage shot in 1968 joins rare archival photographs in this documentary, which also includes interviews with Martin Luther King III, Dr. Cecil “Chip” Murray, as well as many renowned scholars, historians, Black Mormons, and descendants of Black Mormon pioneers.

On Sale for $19.95!   Retail is $25.00

http://store.fairlds.org/prod/pNKUSBM.html

Black and Mormon: Reflections on Latter-day Saint African-Americans since 1978

Newell G. Bringhurst and Darron T. Smith (Editors), Urbana, Illinois, University of Illinois Press, 2004, 6.25×9.2″ hardbound, 173 pages, 2 line drawings.

The year 2003 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the lifting of the ban excluding black members from the priesthood of the Mormon church. The articles collected in Newell G. Bringhurst and Darron T.

Smith’s Black and Mormon look at the mechanisms used to keep blacks from full participation, the motives behind the ban, and the kind of changes that have–and have not–taken place within the church since the revelation responsible for its end.

This challenging collection is required reading for anyone concerned with the history of racism, discrimination, and the Latter-day Saints.

On Sale for  $14.95!  Retail is $19.95

http://store.fairlds.org/prod/p025202947X.html

Unlocking the Idioms: An LDS Perspective on Understanding Scriptural Idioms. George M. Peacock. Springville, Utah: Cedar Fort, 2009.

Softbound, 6×9″, 225 pgs.  ISBN: 9781599552415

Idioms are as real in holy scripture as are prophecies and parables.

Like a cultural shorthand, they describe without using lengthy explanation.  Idioms and idiomatic language are words and phrases that express more than the actual words themselves.  They paint mental or emotional images and bring intensity to events and feelings described in holy writ.

Idioms may also be meaningless and misleading if the reader has no experience with the culture and language from which they originate.

Both mistranslation and cultural differences contribute to the misunderstanding of scriptural idioms. Phrases such as:

* Gird up your loins

* Salt of the Earth

* Mountain of the Lord’s house, and

* Kick against the pricks

Lose their intended effect if they are only taken literally. In unlocking the idioms, George M. Peacock explains how to identify idioms, what they are, and how learning their meanings adds to your comprehension of the scriptures.

Unlocking the idioms brings you new levels of insight, understanding, and knowledge as you feats upon the words of the Lord.

On Sale for $12.95!  Retail is $15.99

http://store.fairlds.org/prod/p9781599552415.html

Compare Isaiah: Understanding Biblical Scriptures in the Book of Mormon. Mark Swint. Springville, Utah: Horizon, 2009. Softbound, 6×9″, 175 pgs.  ISBN: 9780882909608

Why did Nephi feel compelled to quote from Isaiah, a prophet who lived 100 years before he did? Why was Abinadi willing to give up his life to cite a passage of Isaiah to King Noah?

Author Mark Swint answers these questions and more in “Compare Isaiah:

Understanding Biblical Scriptures in the Book of Mormon.” Discover how the words of Isaiah influenced Nephi, Abinadi, Mormon, and others, and examine why they were included in the Book of Mormon. You’ll learn:

* Why Isaiah is the source of over 85 percent of the biblical

scriptures in the Book of Mormon;

* What the differences are between the words of Isaiah in the Book

of Mormon and the Bible;

* Why the Savior would quote Malachi to the Nephites; and

* How the Savior adapted the Sermon on the Mount to his audiences.

Mark Swint has provided a valuable resource for the average student as well as the serous scholar in understanding Isaiah. With Swint’s expert guidance, the words of Isaiah, Malachi, and the Sermon on the Mount become easier to understand and simpler to apply. As you learn about the importance of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, you also come to understand the importance of the Lord’s divine plan for all of us.

On Sale for $9.95!  Retail is $12.99

http://store.fairlds.org/prod/p9780882909608.html

Thank you for using the FAIR bookstore!

–FAIR Bookstore Staff

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PUBLISHING NOTES

FAIR is not owned, controlled by or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All research and opinions provided in the FAIR Journal and on the FAIR Web site (http://www.fairlds.org) are the sole responsibility of FAIR, and should not be interpreted as official statements of LDS doctrine, belief or practice.

If someone has forwarded this e-journal to you and you would like to join, you should go to www.fairlds.org and click on the “Join & Support FAIR” link.

If you are interested in apologetics and would like to participate actively in FAIR you should consider joining our apologetics e-mail list. Visit www.fairlds.org and click on the “Join & Support FAIR”

link to join this list as well.

If you manage your own e-mail list, and wish to include some of these thoughts or articles on your list, contact us by going to

http://www.fairlds.org/contact.php

We have a fairly liberal policy of using our material as long as you contact us first to gain permission, clearly identify that your source was FAIR, and add a link to the FAIR Web site (www.fairlds.org).

——————————–

FAIR JOURNAL ARCHIVES

For past issues of the FAIR Journal, go to

http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/journal

——————————–

Copyright (c) 2009 by The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR). All rights reserved.

Foundation for Apologetic

Information and Research

PO Box 491677

Redding, CA  96049

We have been in touch with Church Public Affairs about this matter. Here are the facts:

• President Packer did indeed speak at the meeting cited.
• No official transcript of his talk was made and that the one circulating by email was typed after the talk was given and should not be considered to be authoritative.
• On 13 May 2004 the First Presidency issued the following letter to all Church units and leaders:

From time to time statements are circulated among members which are inaccurately attributed to the leaders of the Church. Many such statements distort current Church teachings and are often based on rumors and innuendos. They are never transmitted officially, but by word of mouth, e-mail, or other informal means.

We encourage members of the Church to never teach or pass on such statements without verifying that they are from approved Church sources, such as official statements, communications, and publications. Any notes made when General Authorities, Area Authority Seventies, or other general Church officers speak at regional and stake conferences or other meetings should not be distributed without the consent of the speaker. Personal notes are for individual use only. [emphasis added by FAIR]

True spiritual growth is based on studying the scriptures, the teachings of the Brethren, and Church publications.

This sort of thing has happened before. Eight years ago another statement attributed to President Packer circulated widely, claiming that today’s youth were “generals in the war in heaven.” President Packer issued a statement in 2001 denying that he made that statement. Earlier this year the First Presidency released a letter warning the Saints, “This is a false statement. It is not Church doctrine.”

If you receive a copy of the Forest Bend talk by email, please inform the person who sent it to you that it is spurious and should not be used.

Better yet, tell your friends ahead of time. If they haven’t received their own copy yet, they will soon.

Today’s speaker lineup:

1. Ron Esplin (“The Joseph Smith Papers”)
2. Matthew Brown (“The Israelite Temple and the Early Christians”)
3. Newell Bringhurst and Craig Foster (“The White Horse Prophecy: Myth vs. Reality”)
4. Scott Gordon (“Online Apologetics”)
5. Brian Hauglid (“The Book of Abraham”)
6. Brant Gardner (“Second Witness: The Book of Mormon”)
7. Daniel Peterson (“Humble Apologetics”)

We look forward to your comments!

Today’s speaker lineup:

1. Mike Ash (“Shaken Faith Syndrome”)
2. Mark Wright (“The Book of Mormon and Mesoamerica”)
3. Margaret Young and Darius Gray (“Nobody Knows, the Untold Story of Black Mormons”)
4. Brian Birch, Blake Ostler, and James Faulconer (“Philosophy and Mormonism”)
5. Jeffrey Bradshaw (“The Message of the Joseph Smith Translation: A Walk in the Garden”)
6. Larry Poulsen (“Book of Mormon Geography”)
7. Ugo Perego (“Joseph Smith’s DNA Revealed: New Clues from the Prophet’s Genes”)

We look forward to your comments!

Some people have noticed that this year FAIR and Sunstone are running conferences on overlapping dates. We’ve received a few queries about that, asking if we did it on purpose. (Cue maniacally evil laugh: Buu-WAH-hah-hah-hah-hah!)

However the truth is sadly free of conspiracy. It was simply circumstances of the calendar.

The FAIR conference has run every year (for 10 years now) on the first Thursday and Friday in August in order to avoid overlapping Sunstone, which usually runs the second week in August, and BYU Education Week, which runs the third week in August.

This year August 1st is on a Friday. Rather than have our first day in July, we chose August 7 and 8. The decision was made last year in late August or early September, long before the dates for Sunstone had been announced.

Technically, it’s Sunstone who’s out of their regular schedule — if they stuck with their second-week-in-August schedule, they should be running August 13 to 16. Education Week isn’t until August 18 to 22. But these things just happen sometimes: It’s quite possible Sunstone wasn’t able to get their hotel on August 13–16. Or perhaps they looked at the calendar and said “the second week in August is the 6th through the 9th.”

So if you’re torn, note that you can go to Sunstone on Wednesday and Saturday, and attend FAIR on Thursday and Friday!

——————————

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Our 2008 FAIR Conference will be held on August 7 & 8 at the
Southtowne Exposition Center in Sandy, Utah. We only have a few seats
still available, so sign up now at

   http://www.fairlds.org/conf08a.html

If you know you won't be able to attend, you may still have access to
the live conference sessions! We are going to set up audio streaming
(and possibly some video streaming) over the Internet. The system is a
closed system, so it will require you to sign up for the feed. Sign up
by sending an email to

   streaming (AT) fairlds (DOT) org

If the streaming works to your satisfaction, we would hope that you
will make an after-the-fact $25 donation to FAIR to help cover our
costs. We aren't going to charge up-front for this as the streaming
this year will be a test and we may run into bugs. Subscribers may not
receive all sessions of the conference, however. A few presenters may
have copyrighted or restricted materials that cannot be broadcast.

The FAIR Conference has been announced in a number of media, including
the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News:

   http://origin.sltrib.com/faith/ci_10000657

   http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700245907,00.html

An important development for Mormon Studies has been the creation of
The Joseph Smith Papers Project. Dr. Ronald Esplin, head of The Joseph
Smith Papers Project, will be speaking at this year's conference and
he will be discussing the Project. You can read more about this
exciting development at:

   http://www.fairlds.org/Misc/The_Joseph_Smith_Papers_Project.html

This year's FAIR Conference features a great lineup of speakers who
will be addressing a wide range of topics: the Book of Mormon,
temples, black Mormons, the Joseph Smith Translation, philosophy and
Mormonism, and many more.

We are looking forward to seeing you next week!

--Scott Gordon
 President

------------------------------
FAIR FUNDRAISING

FAIR is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, so if you are in the United
States, your donation is tax deductible. Without your donations, FAIR
would cease to exist. Thank you for your support.

   http://store.fairlds.org/bi071.html

You can also contact FAIR via the U.S. Postal Service using the
following address.

   FAIR
   P.O. Box 491677
   Redding, CA 96049-1677

------------------------------
NEW ON THE WEBSITE: Horses in the Book of Mormon
by Michael R. Ash

One of the most common arguments made by critics against the Book of
Mormon is that it contains anachronisms that argue against its ancient
and Western Hemispheric claims. Of the various anachronisms claimed by
the critics, probably the most common is the reference to horses in
the Book of Mormon. Latter-day Saints have responded to this many
times, and the FAIR Topical Guide has a number of articles that
address this specific criticism. In his recent paper, Ash lays out the
two primary responses to this attack and gives some impressive
supporting evidence.

The first response is that the word "horse" in the English Book of
Mormon may not refer to the animal, Equus Caballus. A universal
practice of explorers and settlers has been to give familiar names to
unfamiliar animals and plants. This was likely to have been done by
the Nephites and could explain how the word made its way into our
modern Book of Mormon. Similarly, Joseph Smith could have translated a
Nephite word as "horse" when he encountered in the text an animal
having a similar form or function to the horse.

A second response is that there may indeed have been horses in the
Western Hemisphere during the Book of Mormon time frame. We know from
excavations that horses existed in the Americas long before the
arrival of the Nephites, and it could very well be that some survived
among the pre-Columbian civilizations. Some evidence exists that
supports this contention.

Read the article:
   http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s352

------------------------------
RESOURCES ON THE WEB: NON-LDS SCHOLARS AND THE BOOK OF MORMON

John A. Tvedtnes is an internationally recognized LDS scholar with
many decades of experience in the fields of Near East studies, Book of
Mormon, anthropology, and other related disciplines. During
approximately four decades of working with both LDS and non-LDS
scholars in areas related to the Book of Mormon, Tvedtnes has seen how
some non-LDS scholars have used and referenced the Book of Mormon in
their classes and papers.

Tvedtnes notes that within the text of the Book of Mormon there are
compelling evidences of ancient Semitic influence. Such evidences
include grammatical structures, word usage, and proper nouns. The
non-LDS use of the Book of Mormon, however, does not mean that the
scholars accept, or even have seriously considered, the LDS claims for
the transmission and translation of the Book of Mormon. But Tvedtnes
observes that the range of views expressed by non-LDS scholars "ranges
from those who reject the book as scripture yet find it a worthwhile
topic of scholarly discussion to those who acknowledge the Nephite
record as an authentic ancient text."

Read the article:
   http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s353

------------------------------
RESOURCES ON THE WEB: SUICIDE RATE AMONG MORMONS

The Church of Jesus Christ has a strong reputation for blessing the
lives of its members, not only spiritually but also temporally.
Latter-day Saints are frequently reported to be healthier, to live
longer, to have stronger families, and to be happier than the
population as a whole. Latter-day Saints attribute these blessings to
the restored Gospel and the principles taught by living prophets and
apostles. To respond to this, anti-Mormons look for statistics that
they feel show that the Church of Jesus Christ has a negative effect
on its members. Once such statistic that is often reported is that the
suicide rate in Utah is significantly higher than the national average
and that this is best explained by the pressures exerted by the Church
on its members.

This Meridian article is a compilation and summary of some of the FAIR
resources relating to this issue.

Read the article:
   http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s356

------------------------------
RESOURCES ON THE WEB: CHURCH WEB SITE ON POLYGAMY

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has created a web site
to respond to the issue of polygamy. The web site includes a series of
bullet points that respond to common misconceptions and questions. It
also has a video clip of President Hinckley speaking on the subject.
Links are provided to other areas of the Church web site that deal
with related issues.

   http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s358

------------------------------
RESOURCES ON THE WEB: WHY THE LAMANITE-DNA QUESTION IS IRRELEVANT

Steven Peck, a biology professor at BYU, has a blog entry entitled
"Why the Lamanite-DNA Question is Irrelevant (and why this means you
should believe in evolution)." Peck discusses why "missing Lamanite
DNA" is exactly what we would expect to find no matter how large the
population sample. In response to Simon Southerton's position, Peck
says that "losing a lost tribe just isn't that hard."

   http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s361

------------------------------
ASK THE APOLOGIST

FAIR invites the public to submit questions relating to LDS beliefs,
practices, and history. Some questions are asked sincerely by members
and investigators, others are clearly hostile questions challenging
the veracity of the Church and its teachings. Many of these responses
may end up on the Web site as a FAIR paper or brochure. If you have a
question, you may submit it through the FAIR web site.

   http://www.fairlds.org/contact.php

Questions sent to FAIR will be shared with members of FAIR, so it is
not uncommon to receive several responses that approach the issue from
different angles.

------------------------------
FAIR TOPICAL GUIDE

The Topical Guide is one of the most important LDS apologetic
resources available. If you aren't familiar with this part of FAIR's
Web site, check it out at

   http://www.fairlds.org/apol

------------------------------
FAIR WIKI

The FAIR wiki project was started in 2006 to provide a more flexible
and searchable resource for Latter-day Saints and allow others to get
answers to Gospel questions. The wiki is, by design, always a "work in
progress," with many editors at FAIR contributing to articles on a
daily basis. You can access the FAIR wiki at:

   http://www.fairmormon.org

This month the FAIR wiki focuses attention on wiki articles that have
been updated. Each month hundreds of changes are made in the wiki as
new information is incorporated, errors are found and corrected, and
new topics are added. The following are only a few of the many wiki
entries that have been modified this month.

"Mormonism and science." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints seldom takes an official position on issues of science. Since
the time of Joseph Smith, Latter-day Saints have believed that both
religious and scientific truth should be sought and studied and that
all true principles can ultimately be reconciled. There are times,
however, when critics of the Church of Jesus Christ try to use
scientific findings and theories to attack the Church, often by
demanding that Latter-day Saints adopt a specific position that the
critic feels confident in attacking. At other times Latter-day Saints
may find that his or her personal beliefs relating to a peripheral
Gospel issue seem to be in conflict with new scientific discoveries or
theories. This wiki article addresses some of the basics related to
religion and science and points to resources that deal with specific
issues.

   http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s355

"Joseph Smith's 'treasure hunting' trip to Salem." Critics of Joseph
Smith occasionally bring up Joseph Smith's trip to Salem,
Massachusetts, as an example of a failed prophecy. The evidence,
however, shows that this was not a prophecy but simply an effort on
the part of Joseph and other Church leaders to help alleviate some of
the financial burdens on the Church.

   http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s357

"Will 'endless punishment' last forever?" Anti-Mormons have attacked
the LDS interpretation of "endless punishment" as being in conflict
with the teachings of the Bible. This wiki article has updated
material responding to those charges.

   http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s359

"Blacks and the priesthood/Pre-existence." This wiki article discusses
various anti-Mormon claims about the LDS view of black members and the
priesthood, specifically charges relating to the pre-existence.

   http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s360 

------------------------------
FAIR YOUTUBE VIDEOS

Ever since "The God Makers" was published in the early 1980's, critics
of the Church have dominated the multimedia market. They have
continuously produced and promoted anti-Mormon videos from that time
until now. Because of this stronghold, a person looking for
information about the Church of Jesus Christ would quickly come across
well-presented criticisms that were professionally produced. To rebut
these claims, Latter-day Saints have primarily used pen and paper to
write reviews which were published in scholarly venues. This made it
difficult to reach the same vast audience the critics were able to
reach in a short period of time.

Because of this, FAIR saw the necessity of providing videos that state
our position as well as rebut some of the critics' claims. To level
the playing field, FAIR has created a site on YouTube that will
provide videos on scholarly material, rebuttals to criticisms,
evidences of the Church, past FAIR conferences, and much more.

   http://www.youtube.com/user/fairldsorg

This months featured videos:

Nahom in The Book of Mormon
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw7fW19Sk1A

This is a clip from the video "Journey of Faith," produced by the Neal
A. Maxwell Institute. A documentary of insights and evidences of The
Book of Mormon. Filmed on location in the Middle East, "Journey of
Faith" chronicles the courage and faith of Lehi's family with the eye
of the camera and the insights of scholars from a broad range of
expertise. This clip shows the land of Nahom and where Ishmael was
buried.

Temples and The Book of Mormon
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw4JqY1B4wo

This is a short clip from the soon-to-be-released video rebuttal to
the critical video "Bible vs The Book of Mormon." That anti-Mormon
video claims that Israelites considered the Jerusalem temple the sole
legitimate site of worship and so would not have reproduced it as the
Nephites did in the New World. Scholars examine the claim and show it
to be false.

Women in the Church
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IkFfoHqclQ

This is the 2004 FAIR Conference address by Professor Andrea Radke.
She discusses women in the Church in relation to priesthood, polygamy,
depression, and general perception. This is a six part series. To move
onto part two, click on "This is a video response to..." directly
underneath the video itself. This address can be read on the FAIR site
here:

   http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s354 

Continuing revelation from God
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz3rggCnhxQ

A touching and educational clip from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's April
2008 General Conference talk on continuing revelation in our day and
the need for The Book of Mormon. "The Old Testament does not lose
value in our eyes when we are introduced to the New Testament, and the
New Testament is only enhanced when we read The Book of Mormon."

------------------------------
FAIR LDS BOOKSTORE

The FAIR Bookstore volunteers are getting ready for our upcoming FAIR
Conference, where we will be offering a full line of apologetic and
scholarly books, tapes, and videos.

Thanks for your support of FAIR and the FAIR Bookstore. See you at
Conference!

--FAIR Bookstore Volunteers

------------------------------
ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS

We welcome article submissions for the FAIR Journal and Web site. If
you would like to submit an article, please review the editing
guidelines at:

   http://www.fairlds.org/EdStyle.pdf

Submit your article to the FAIR Journal Editor, Paul McNabb, by going
to

   http://www.fairlds.org/contact.php

An appropriate article would be one that affirms the truthfulness of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

While LDS apologetics involves refuting critics of the Church, its
doctrines, and its leaders, articles don't necessarily have to deal
with anti-Mormonism. FAIR will consider articles that deal with new
evidence of the Book of Mormon, scriptural passages that involve a
unique LDS interpretation, a viewpoint or quote from the early
Christian Fathers or other historical figures, an inspiring missionary
story, Church history, a view on a current event related to the
Church, or a piece from an historical journal.

We may also accept articles from people who are not members of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that may not necessarily
meet the guidelines of supporting the church if it is a topic of
general interest to people involved in apologetics.

A submission may range in length from several pages to a single
paragraph.

------------------------------
PUBLISHING NOTES

FAIR is not owned, controlled by or affiliated with The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All research and opinions provided
in the FAIR Journal and on the FAIR Web site (http://www.fairlds.org)
are the sole responsibility of FAIR, and should not be interpreted as
official statements of LDS doctrine, belief or practice.

If someone has forwarded this e-journal to you and you would like to
join, you should go to www.fairlds.org and click on the "Join &
Support FAIR" link.

If you are interested in apologetics and would like to participate
actively in FAIR you should consider joining our apologetics e-mail
list. Visit www.fairlds.org and click on the "Join & Support FAIR"
link to join this list as well.

If you manage your own e-mail list, and wish to include some of these
thoughts or articles on your list, contact us by going to

   http://www.fairlds.org/contact.php

We have a fairly liberal policy of using our material as long as you
contact us first to gain permission, clearly identify that your source
was FAIR, and add a link to the FAIR Web site (www.fairlds.org).

--------------------------------
FAIR JOURNAL ARCHIVES

For past issues of the FAIR Journal, go to

   http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/journal

--------------------------------
Copyright (c) 2008 by The Foundation for Apologetic Information and
Research (FAIR). All rights reserved.

Foundation for Apologetic
Information and Research
PO Box 491677
Redding, CA  96049

Today (Friday, 25 July) is the last day to pre-register and have a box lunch included with your conference ticket.

Online pre-registration ends Saturday, 2 August. After that, tickets will be available at the door, based on available seating.

We’ll be liveblogging the conference from this site, so if you’re attending and you have a laptop, please bring it. We’ll have free wireless Internet access available.

If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below, or send an email to mparker (AT) fairlds (DOT) org.

I had the opportunity to spend several hours reviewing the material. As I did so, I found one over-riding error that is probably responsible for 95% of the other errors which I found.

Meldrum begins his presentation with an apparent promise that the information he is going to present is scientific:

One of the things I’ve learned in the scientific field is that there are three ways that you can go about learning. One of them is, when you get new information, you can look at it skeptically, you can look at it affirmatively, or you can also look at it objectively.

My hope is that you’ll look at the information that you’re going to be presented tonight in as objective a fashion as possible. [1]

In saying this, Meldrum makes a common, but very serious mistake, founded on the assumption that it is possible to “objective.” It is not. Everyone has biases and pre-conceived notions which make them prone to accept some things and reject others.[2] Scientists learned long ago that they cannot be objective—no one can. Someone who asserts that he is being objective is hiding his biases from himself, if from no one else.

Instead of trying to be “objective” (which is impossible), scientists have learned to recognize their biases and reduce their effects. Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman, a member of the team that developed the atomic bomb, told a group of students something that ought to be tatooed on the forehead of every scientist, and everyone who consumes scientific information (which is all of us):

[The] first principle [of the scientific method] is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. After you’ve not fooled yourself, it’s easy not to fool other scientists.[3]

The first way to stop fooling ourselves, and possibly fooling others, is to quit believing and asserting that one is objective.

Dr. Feynman went on to say that a scientist must have:

a kind of scientific integrity, a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of utter honesty—a kind of leaning over backwards…

Details that could throw doubt on your interpretation must be given, if you know them. You must do the best you can—if you know anything at all wrong, or possibly wrong—to explain it. If you make a theory, for example, and advertise it, or put it out, then you must also put down all the facts that disagree with it, as well as those that agree with it…

In summary, the idea is to try to give all of the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgment in one particular direction or another.

I’m talking about a specific, extra type of integrity that is not lying, but bending over backwards to show how you are maybe wrong, that you ought to have when acting as a scientist. And this is our responsibility as scientists, certainly to other scientists, and I think to laymen.

Rather than assuming or insisting we are objective—because we cannot be—we should be skeptical. We should be skeptical of our own scientific ideas as well as those of others. To do this requires that we hear both sides of any disputed question. Of course we may argue for the side we believe to be correct—but we must give all the relevant facts to be engaged in scientific study.

“Ultimately, the best thing to do is simply to listen with an open mind,” Meldrum tells us.[4] Our minds should be open—but, we should also be testing and proving the material we let into our minds. That is what skepticism is about. It is no good having an open mind if we accept nonsense into it. As one wit observed, “Keep an open mind—but not so open your brain falls out.” Hyrum Smith cautioned the Saints in 1844:

“…it is better not to have so much faith as to have so much as to believe all the lies.”[5]

Since Meldrum has decided that skepticism is not the way he wishes to approach his material, it has fallen to others to help the reader do it for him, because of the unacceptably high consequences of not doing so.

I want to here examine a couple of his questionable claims and provide the rest of the information needed to assess his conclusions. The open-minded reader can then decide if Meldrum has made his scientific case or not.

Bias

Meldrum admits that he has a bias toward the Church being true. I share that bias, and I believe my colleagues at FAIR do too.

The most dangerous biases are, however, those that go unrecognized. Meldrum’s has a bias that goes beyond believing the truth of the gospel. He says, for example, of his ideas about the buffalo: “I just love this…I literally felt like I was being directly guided in this particular portion.”[6] When one is this confident, extra skepticism and evidence is needed. Being “guided” by the Spirit in a secular research is evidence for no one else, and may make us less skeptical about our conclusions. So it proves, sadly, in this case. There is a great deal that is wrong about his buffalo section; I will examine only one error among many here.

Another of Meldrum’s biases is his unchallenged assumption that “If [the Book of Mormon] is true, there has to be physical evidence in addition to the spiritual evidence. You can’t have an entire civilization of people come and go and leave no trace.”[7] At first glance, this statement appears both obvious and worthy. However, it is wrong.

Firstly, it is a logical fallacy. How could we possibly know if a civilization has come and gone without a trace if they don’t leave a trace? Absence of evidence is never evidence of absence. There is not a single physical trace of Washington’s crossing of the Delaware, but he did it. How do we know he did it? There is no trace of it at all, unless we allow that a written record is itself a trace in which case we have traces in abundance. The city of Ebla, long known from Egyptian and Akkadian inscriptions, was not discovered until 1968. Did it cease to exist until then? When Meldrum excludes the written record from his definition of “a trace” he rules out most of the historical world.

William Hamblin has pointed out that were it not for written records, we would be unable to prove that Christians existed in the Roman Empire before A.D. 300. There is simply no genetic or archaeological evidence of them.[8] Without a written record there would be no trace of the resurrected Savior’s appearance to the disciples in the upper room, and there would be no trace of the wounds in his hands and side that Thomas felt, and thus believed—which was, we all recall, immediately followed by the Lord’s invocation of a blessing of all who believe without “a trace” of similar evidence.

In the Americas we thus far have no verified written record of the Nephite civilization except for the Book of Mormon—which is, actually, a significant and convincing trace. Should we really be so confident that we can find the Nephites if we couldn’t find Christians in a much-better-studied area of the world?

“[F]rom archaeological data alone,” notes Dr. Hamblin, “we would know almost nothing about the religion and kingdom of ancient Judah. Indeed, based on archaeological data alone we would assume the Jews were polytheists exactly like their neighbors. Judaism, as a unique religion, would simply disappear without the survival of the Bible and other Jewish written texts.”[9]

Even when we find a Nephite artefact, how will we know it for sure? Must a pot have “Made In Zarahemla” stamped on the bottom? Must we find “Coriantumr was here” scrawled on a wall? How could we tell whether a Mesoamerican atlatl or a Hopewell knife is a Nephite weapon?

In a demonstration of how biases can blind us to obvious answers, Meldrum says of the buffalo:

There were 60 million buffalo, and buffalo average about 1,600 pounds, compared to an average 200 pound human. How many buffalo do we still find out there? How much of their remains are there? See, if they’re not buried and they’re just left on the plains like these people were, according to the Book of Mormon, they just disintegrate. And they’re gone. No record.

[This is true; the buffalo left no record or records.]

OK, so only the ones that were buried are going to be the ones that you’re going to be able to find. So the idea of finding massive amounts of people at the Hill Cumorah and finding their bones and so forth is really kind of ludicrous. It’s not going to happen. If they were left out there on the plains, on the valleys, they would have just disintegrated like the big, 1,600 pound buffalo did. 60 million of them just disappeared.[10]

Meldrum has ensnared himself in his own arguments. All civilizations must leave a trace, he says. But 60,000,000 buffalo haven’t, and neither have Cumorah’s dead. Which is it: can we not believe in things that the toll of time erases, or can we depend upon a record even when there is no physical proof? I would opt for the record: the one in the Bible and the one in the Book of Mormon.

This fundamental error sets Meldrum’s audience up for a fall. If he’s correct that there must be physical evidence, what is his audience to do if they learn that the evidence he has presented does not hold water? He regrettably does not appear to understand that if the premises upon which he asks his audience to believe in the Book of Mormon prove to be false, faith in the scripture can crumble with the shaky edifice of flawed facts. The things he offers as powerful arguments for his religion can become powerful arguments against it if those arguments are based on false assumptions, and since he tells them that such evidence must exist.

Archaeological, anthropological, linguistic and other corroborative contributions to an understanding of both the Bible and the Book of Mormon are all topics of considerable interest, but they are not the foundation of faith in Jesus Christ that is the object of both books. Until qualified researchers can agree among themselves, I recommend watching and reading their work with skeptical interest. However, hundreds of thousands have obtained, and thousands upon thousands continue daily to receive, a witness by the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be. There is abundant information available to satisfy the intellectual needs of anyone with an open mind, but we should not expect that such evidence must exist, or that it will take the form we presume it must.

We must examine our biases. As Joseph Smith observed, “…if we get a good start first we can go right, but if you start wrong you may go wrong.”[11] This applies, I believe, to both spiritual and secular knowledge.

Endnotes
[1] Rod Meldrum, “Introduction,” 4:30. All references to the DVD unless otherwise indicated; time-stamp is approximate.
[2] See Peter Novick, That Noble Dream: The “Objectivity Question” And the American Historical Profession, Ideas in Context (Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press, 1988).
[3] Richard P. Feynman, “Cargo Cult Science [from 1974 Caltech Commencement Address],” in Engineering and Science (June 1974), 10–13, emphasis added.
[4] Meldrum, “Introduction,” 4:30–5:00.
[5] Cited in John Sorenson, Instant Book of Mormon Archaeology BYU Studies 16:3 (Spring 1976): 429.
[6] Meldrum, Section #8, “Buffalo,” 0:00–0:25.
[7] Meldrum, “Introduction,” 5:40, emphasis added.
[8] William J. Hamblin, message posted 28 October 2004 in thread, “Not So Easy? 2 BoM Challenge,” on FAIRboards.org (accessed 10 April 2005),
[9] William J. Hamblin (posting under the screen-name, “MorgbotX”), “What Would Be Proof of the Book of Mormon,” on Zion’s Lighthouse Bulletin Board (ZLMB) (29 January 2004) (accessed 10 April 2005). http://p080.ezboard.com/fpacumenispagesfrm67.showMessage?topicID=213.topic
[10] Meldrum, Section #8, “Buffalo Evidence,” 6:00–6:45.
[11] Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook, The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph, Religious Studies Monograph Series (Provo, Utah and Salt Lake City, Utah: Religious Studies Center, distributed by Bookcraft, 1980), 323; from 7 April 1844, citing Wilford Woodruff diary.

This is the tenth year for the FAIR Conference, and every one gets a bit better and bigger than the year before. The speaker lineup has not been announced, but is being finalized. (FAIR does take serious suggestions for speakers and topics, by the way.)

Additional information, as it becomes available, will be on the FAIR Conference page.

If you haven’t seen our YouTube channel (or haven’t seen it lately), please take a look!

http://www.youtube.com/user/fairldsorg

The more ratings, comments, and subscriptions we have, the closer to the top we’ll be when someone does a genereal search for words like “Mormon”. So please leave a comment and rate them!