aders’ ForumNo StereotypesMy first and, in all probability, my lastattempt to harrass a weary editor, findsme wandering in the shadowy worlds of"Iron Roders" and "Liahonas." A worldcreated by Dr. Poll--Ref: "What theChurch Means to People Like Me." Tosay that I agree or disagree is a mootquestion. But after much pondering, Iwould say that somewhere between theair of the prejudicial and opinionated"Iron Roders" and the bland egotisticalair of the conceited "Liahonas" therewalks another breed of Mormons. Tolabel them I can not; that they exist isSure, for I am one of them.

Just thought you would like to know thatall Mormons cannot be stereotyped.

Max H. RammellDriggs, Idaho

Has it occurred to you that you andothers are doing the church and churchyouth a disservice with critical, evendenigrating, remarks regarding qualityof education available at the BYU?Unfortunately, it seems to have becomean amusing pastime among Mormon"intellectuals" to be critical of academicopportunities offered there. I too used tobe critical, but I have found my criticismsare outdated as the quality of educationhas improved steadily in the last decade.

While certainly in the interview withGardner, the verb tense of the phrase"The best and brightest won’t go there"is open to interpretation, coupled withthe many other snide remarks we haveheard about the Y, it only helps todiscourage the "best and the brightest"from going there.

I was apprehensive about my ownchildren’s choice of BYU when accepted

at Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton. Myfears were eliminated as through theHonors program, proper choices ofclasses and professors, they did findchallenge and academic stimulationthere. The education was also goodenough to result in acceptance attop-ranked graduate schools of theirchoice.

It is certainly unfortunate for the school(not to mention the church’s reputation)that the erroneous notion that "onlythose who can’t get accepted at otheruniversities go to BYU" still thrives andis perpetuated.

AnonymousPasadena, California

Orthodox BorrowingThe Robson article "Time andOmniscience in Mormon Theology" isperhaps the finest thing written "in theChurch" in the last ten years.

Perhaps, now we can get someone totake up Sterling McMurrin’swell-thrown gauntlet. When willsomeone write truly Mormontheology--without the wholesaleborrowings from Orthodox Christian"absolutist" terminology? When willMormons come to realize that the entireconcept of the Atonement is totallyforeign for Mormon theology? It is totallyunnecessary in Mormon theologybecause mankind did notfaux pas in theGarden of Eden. It did precisely what itwas supposed to do. Mortality is not amistake requiring supernatural"atonement" to patch up the error.Mortality is a standard examinationgiven to all applicants for eternal life."Atonement" is one of several

"orthodox" borrowed concepts whichhave no application to truly Mormontheology.

"Original Sin" is another. Despitesuperficial mouthing of the SecondArticle of Faith, Mormons do notunderstand that it is explicit rejection ofthe entire concept of original sin (and itsmanifold ramifications). Thus, we haveMormons who, inexplicably, believe both"man’s inherent evil" and the SecondArticle of Faith without seeing theirradical contradiction.

Now to Ms. Saderup’s criticism of my"Periphery" (Readers Forum 5:2 Replyin 5:4). I dare because: 1) the FirstAmendment gives me the right, 2) Ibelieve it (my article) to be true, and 3) ifMs. Saderup would get her mind awayfrom the ’humility’ of her ’fallencondition" long enough to realize thatboth those concepts are falsely borrowedfrom Orthodox Christian theology andnot truly part of Mormon theology at all,she might come to agree with me.

I have not "denied" Christ; after all, I didplace Him at the "periphery." What Idenied was the centrality of Christ in thesalvation process. Christ is important(no more so than Adam), but He is notcentral for salvation.

Saderup’s "fusion" theory is simply the"beatific vision" of Roman Catholictheology. "Merely" following Christ’steachings is the most difficult task givenus here in mortality and requires all ourenergies.

In Volume 5:4 the "Sunday SchoolSupplement" quotes were exceptionallywell chosen. Note the contradictionbetween your Talmage quote (p. 7),"advancement from grade to gradewithin any kingdom, and from kingdomto kingdom," and Elder McConkie’sheresy of "progression betweenkingdoms in the next world" (p. 10).Also Richard D. Poll neglects to mentionthat it is more likely that Iron Rods willexcommunicate their Liahona brethrenthan vice-versa.

Sherlock’s painful conclusion ("thehistorian cannot know") is true only forabsolute certainty; historical veracity,however, is seldom based upon"absolute" certainty--hence the need

More on BlacksWatch for "The Fading of the Pharoah’s Curse" by Ar-

mand Mauss in the January-February issue of SUNSTONE.Mauss traces the portentsandpreparations for the 1978 reve-lation on priesthood eligibility.

2--Sunstone

for faith. But Sherlock’s exaltation offaith at the expense of "irrelevant"historical evidence is cutting off his noseto spite his face.

Just because one cannot know withabsolute certainty, it does not follow thatfaith is superior to historical knowledge,that any interpretation of the facts is asgood as any other interpretation. Someprobabilities are superior to others, andare demonstrably verifiable as such.

As I see it the Mormon gospel (especiallythe Book of Mormon itself, which isSmith’s best "historical" evidence for hisprophetic calling) is committed to a"particular view of past events" asSherlock calls it. And it is historicalresearch which will ultimately verify thetruth/falsity of Mormon claims. By thatsame historical criterion we candemonstrate the error of non-Mormonreligious claims.

Personal integrity requires that we"place our faith in hock to the historian"as Sherlock laments. Otherwise there isbut the fideism of subjectivity. Real faithis always subservient to historical fact.But faith is necessary--as Nibley nevertires of warning us--until all thehistorical data are in and analyzed.Where faith is superior to fact,dishonesty inevitably results. The factskeep us honest. Sherlock’s problem isnot the probabilities of historicalevidence, which he appears tounderstand, but rather the "certainty" offaith. The resolution is simple. Thosewho bear testimony with "absolutecertainty" are probably liars--orwoefully ignorant of the completehistorical evidence involved.

Testimonies are, after all, merelyconclusion (inferences) based uponhistorical fact. They are valueless forevidentiary purposes. But the historicalevidence upon which testimonies(conclusions) are based is cruciallyimportant. Conclusions devoid of factualfoundation are not more than wishfulthinking, pure emotion.

Therefore, Sherlock’s policy of shiftingthe basis of our testimonies fromverifiable (although not absolutely)historical fact to something different, i.e.faith ’promotion, is tantamount toabandoning the quest for truth in anyobjective sense.

Is it not the strenuous objective searchfor truth which enables us to value theobject when finally discovered? If the"truth of scripture lies in its relationshipto faith, not history," as Sherlock states,then Mohammed’s "sacred grove" is asvaluable as Smith’s. Scripture may behistorically defective in part, and

therefore misleading. To that extent itshould be disbelieved.

Gerry EnsleyLos Alamitos, California

River Running Backwards?I enjoyed reading Edward L. Kimball’sreview in Sunstone of Eugene England’sBrother Brigham: The Man and the Prophet,and noted that even the best of reviewsoverlook errors of history. Historiansgenerally agree that it is difficult to placeproper interpretations on events inhistory when so few facts are known.However, when the event is recent, itshould be relatively easy to check thefacts.

Writing about the 1976 Teton Dam floodon page 223, Eugene England states that"when floods from the collapse of a damwiped out whole towns in Idaho’s TetonValley... "; the last line should readIdaho’s Upper Snake River Valley. Forthe flood to have wiped out towns inIdaho’s Teton Valley, the Teton Riverwould have had to run backwards. Thenagain, stranger things have happened inhistory.

Jerry L. GlennRexburg, Idaho

Verify Book of MormonI think the tendency of some Mormonscholars to assume the Book of Mormoncan’t be verified as a product of ancientAmerica and the Old World ispremature. In 5:3 Ashment doesn’t seemto take Fell’s translation of the AnthonTranscript seriously but since Fellrenders it as the first verse of the Book ofMormon I don’t find it improbable thatscripts from North Africa in generalcould be termed "reformed Egyptian."In any event, California’s Jet PropulsionLaboratory is analyzing the transcript byrequest of the Foundation for AncientResearch and Mormon Studies. FARMSis, I believe, the most importantdevelopment in the history of Mormonscholarship. It plans numerous researchprojects that will give legitimacy toscripture. More information can beobtained by writing John Welch c/o theBYU Law School. Noel Reynolds at BYUalso will be helping add to serious Bookof Mormon scholarship with the editingof a book to which several eminent LDS

writers have contributed--to bepublished, hopefully, by the end of 1981(it will contain significant support for theBook of Mormon).In the Thomas article in the same issue isthe statement that "no archaeologist hasever been able to locate a single Nephitetext or city." Inasmuch as we cannottranslate most ancient Americanlanguages it would be doubtful that wewould even recognize a "Nephite text."However, important breakthroughshave been made in archaeology. JohnSorenson has tentatively identifiedabout two dozen cities by checkingdating, archaeology, and geography.Kirk Vestal will be publishing hisstartling findings on the subject in a bookwith Dr. Arthur Wallace, The FirmFoundation of Mormonism. One thingVestal points out is that the critics havebeen as uninformed as the apologists upto now--for example, the best critiquesof Book of Mormon archaeology, byFraser and the Tanners, arelaughingstocks scientifically. Vestal alsoplans to publish an in-depth guide toBook of Mormon archaeology later.

Scott S. SmithThousand Oaks, California

ErrataLinda Wilcox, author of "The MormonConcept of a Mother in Heaven"(Volume 5:5), received her MA fromStanford in education (not history asindicated in the bio). She also receivedan MA in history from the University ofUtah and presently lives in Salt LakeCity, where she is a research historian.

Committed to HistoryRichard Sherlock (July/AugustSUNSTONE) claimed that the Book ofDaniel "makes documentable errorswhich would be similar in magnitude toclaiming that George McGovern won the1972 presidential race." I am aware of anumber of problems that remain, such asthe name of the Persian Governor ofBabylon. However, one past incident inthe history of Daniel studies makes mehesitant to make snap judgments aboutdocumentable errors in the book. Anumber of nineteenth century biblicalscholars felt that Daniel had erroneouslymade Belshazzer the last king of Babylonwhen all the king lists and so forth putNabonidus last. Nabonidus had a sonnamed Belshazzer, but there was noindication at that time that Belshazzerhad ever ruled. Daniel was clearlywrong. The discovery of new texts in thetwentieth century, however,demonstrated that it was the scholarswho had been wrong. In the third fullyear of the reign of Nabonidus, his son

November/December 1980~3

Belshazzer was invested with royaldignity and reigned in his father’s steadwhile he was off in Arabia (cf.Montgomery, pp. 66-67). We whoaccuse Daniel of not knowingBabylonian culture and history wellenough may only be demonstrating ourown ignorance of that very culture.Thus, I am cautious in this area andwould think that Sherlock would be too.Sherlock correctly argues that if anaccount has been proven wrong in somehistorical areas that we should questionthe historicity of the rest. I think,however, that we should take this onestep further. If an author has beenproven demonstrably wrong inverifiable historical areas, why shouldwe trust the spiritual message of thework, the claim to revelation, which ismost generally unverifiable? I think weshould not. If every grove is a sacredgrove and every person a Joseph Smith,then there is no true Sacred Grove andno need for a Joseph Smith. If such werethe case, all that has been constructed is ahigh and holy myth. If all that Scriptureis intended to do is providepsychological and spiritual insights intoourselves, why did its authors not writedepth psychology instead of Scripture?In short, chaos ensues whenever we puta greater value on what Scripture doesfor us, than what it originally meant toportray. We cannot rest on ourtestimonies. The Scriptural writersalways gave us the historical setting as apart of the record. If it was that importantto the Scriptural writers we dare notignore it. For better or worse, we arecommitted, then, to historicalmethodology and we must be satisfiedenough to accept without hesitation theresults. Anything less would be a copout.

John E. ThompsonLancaster, California

LiberalsI am enclosing my personal check tocover the issue of your magazinecontaining the interview with WayneOwens, a great American.

It is refreshing to say the least that thereremains at least one person who has thepersonal decency to speak the truthopenly. I was once labeled a "liberal" inthe church and my reply was that I wasproud. As anyone who knows anythingabout the gospel of Jesus Christ wouldknow that he is the greatest "Liberal"who ever lived.

Cecil A. GilbertPanama City, Florida

Universal AnswersMy faith has been rewarded in readingyour down-to-earth messages.

I received great encouragement from"What the Church Means to People LikeMe" by Richard D. Poll."The Reconstruction of MormonDoctrine--From Joseph Smith toProgressive Theology"--by Thomas G.Alexander--is what I have wished tolearn! How can the doctrines taught bythe Prophet of the Restoration be deletedfrom the curriculum of church doctrine,and approval obtained from the FirstPresidency to canonize theories ofprogressive theology which refute histeachings, rather than accept Christianevidence of the truthfulness of histeachings?I prefer the teachings of Jesus Christ totheories of evolution! It is vital to myfaith to believe truth as it is revealed fromGod. The questions Joseph Smith askedare universal, and the answers hereceived to satisfy his soul are likewiseuniversal to those in search of the truth.

I love the Lectures on Faith. They answermany vital questions and I cherish themas revelations of truth. So does FranklinD. Richards in his Compendium of theGospel.

The effort to deny that Adam is thePatriarch and Father-God of the humanfamily is futile! Joseph Smith revealedAdam to be the father of our spirit andbody, and there is a throne for Eve aswell as for Adam, as the Father andMother of us all!

Ask any man who is a dedicated, lovingfather to his family, what his relationshipis to his family after death, and he willanswer that his love for them is strongerthan the bonds of death, and thechildren feel the same toward theirparents. Why is it so hard to give Adamand Eve this same privilege,appreciation and respect? Rather thanaccept the theories of evolution in anyform?

Joseph Smith revealed Elohim to beGod, the Holy Ghost, and he fills thismission in the Scriptures! I love thisconcept as much as I love the knowledgethat I am a child of God through theAtonement of Jesus Christ!

Joseph A. Seiss, a Christian, speaks ofAdam as coming out of the hands of hisCreator indued with innate science, thefirst man endowed with all thephilosophical and mathematicalknowledge. "Adam was the greatestamong mortals that ever the worldpossessed--and Eve was his equal innobility and intelligence."

If some Mormon leaders cannot acceptthis kind of knowledge, I preferChristians who can!

Thank you for a great readingexperience. Rhoda Thurston

Hyde Park, Utah

Response to SmithMr. Smith’s review of my articleconcerning the translation process of theBook of Mormon is comprised of threesections: a two-page enumeration of hisobjections; a nine-page supportingdocument; and a 19-page appendixcontaining, inter alia, numerousquotations of statements about thetranslation process of the Book ofMormon, the urim and thummimJseerstone being a common feature amongthe majority. Only the first part of hisreview is published in Sunstone; but myresponse, though of necessity brief,must occasionally refer to the supportingarguments of the second segment of histripartite review.

Mr. Smith accurately observes thatEmma was only 74 when she wasinterviewed by her son. I had nothing todo with the illustrations or theircaptions.

In most respects, it seems that Mr. Smithmisunderstands the intent of my article:the extent to which the Book of Mormontranslation was "literal" or "formal" wasthe issue, not the use made of a seerstone/urim and thummim; and noattempt was made to impute senility toEmma, Harris, or Whitmer. In thisregard the "numerous primary andsecondary accounts" of the translationprocess which Mr. Smith includes in hisappendix still are quite removed in oneway or another from the event whichthey attempt to describe. He hasoverlooked an importanthistoriographical principle: "Becausereliability is, in general, inverselyproportional to the time-lapse betweenevent and recollection, the closer adocument is to the event it narrates thebetter it is likely to be for historicalpurposes." (Gottschalk in The Use ofPersonal Documents, p. 16.)

An appeal to the synoptic gospels as aparallel phenomenon with the variationsamong translation accounts of the Bookof Mormon is fraught with unresolvabledifficulties.

Mr. Smith relies on an article by G. D.Mendenhall about an inscribed spindlewhorl from Catal Huyuk in an effort tosupport his contention that the languageof the Book of Mormon was "local" and"non-professional." (Cf. Kadmos 14, No.1 [1975], 48ff.) But Mendenhall’sarguments are not applicable, becausethe Book of Mormon did not originatefrom one of the "early stages in thehistory of writing" (Mendenhall, p. 51)

4---Sunstone

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in an economic or private matrix.(Mendenhall, p. 49.) The selections inthe Book of Mormon from Isaiah andothers quoted from the brass plates arevirtually the same as the parallelpassages in the King James Version.Thus, it would seem that the Book ofMormon language was at least assophisticated as that which lateremerged as Masoretic Hebrew, for the"Egyptian" which Lehi learned was thatwhich enabled him to read the brassplates (Mos 1:4).

Mr. Smith’s perspective about Hebrewand Egyptian grammar could bebroadened by a thorough research ofHebrew syntax and by a critical analysisof the Book of Mormon text. Moreover,while he concedes a rigid syntax inearlier forms of Egyptian, he isapparently unaware of the

strictly-defined nature of the Demoticverbal system. (Cf. J. A. Johnson, TheDemotic Verbal System, SAOC No. 38[1976], 391f.)

The word-print analysis of the text of theBook of Mormon no more solves theproblem of authorship than an earlierstudy in which Rencher was involvedsolves the authorship of the Isaiah text.(Cf. BYU Studies 15 [Autumn 1974], 95ff.)However exciting it may be, at best thisstudy must be regarded as preliminaryand as representing only one approach.The only conclusions that ultimately canbe valid will result from holistic research.

Mr. Smith’s claims aboutLCD andLED-display instruments must stand forthemselves.

Edward H. AshmentSalt Lake City, Utah

daleMormons in PowerThe recent landslide victory for RonaldReagan swept several MormonRepublicans into positions ofprominence as well. Jake Garn wonreelection to the Senate from Utah withover 70 percent of the vote. WithRepublican dominance in the Senate, hewill become chair of the Bankingcommittee.

Utah’s other Senator, Orrin G. Hatch(see interview in SUNSTONE 5:5), willbecome chair of the Labor committee.The Washington Post noted ironically in itspost-election analysis (November 6) thatHatch is the "man organized labor lovesto hate." In fact, in an attempt to scare itsmembers to the polls, the PublicEmployees Department of the AFL-CIOran a fake headline that read:"Republicans Take Over Senate; HatchChairs Labor Committee."

A win for Mormon Paula Hawkins inFlorida added one more Senate seat tothe new Republican majority. During thecampaign she sharply differed with herDemocratic opponent William Gunteron social issues. She opposed the ERAand called for abolishing the president’sOffice of Consumer Protection and theOccupational Safety and HealthAdministration. She supportedconstitutional amendments to allowprayers in the school and to haltabortions and called for more defensespending. Courting the important

Jewish vote (Time, November 17), shetold members of a synagogue: "There aretwelve tribes of Israel, and the Mormonshappen to be one of them. That’s mybelief."

Governor’s Wife Heckled at BYUNorma Matheson, wife of Utah’sDemocratic Governor Scott Matheson,left BYU’s "Speak Off" political forumlecturn in tears October 22 after studentoutbursts interrupted her closingstatement. Earlier in the forumgubernatorial challenger Bob Wright hadsharply criticized Governor Mathesonfor his stands on such issues as the ERAand abortion, according to an article inthe BYU Daily Universe."This was not supposed to be a debate,"the First Lady responded after Wright’scomments and then referred to a lettersent by the ASBYU Academics to eachcandidate prior to the meeting,requesting that each refrain fromattacking the opponent’s positions andinstead articulate his or her own stands.Wright said that he had not seen theletter.

Mrs. Matheson, representing herhusband who had previouscommitments in northern Utah, held tothe letter’s rules, but requested and wasgranted time to rebut the GOPchallenger. "I expected this to be apositive dialogue," she said as she left."I’m sorry it’s deteriorated."

BYU Student Body President JeffreyDuke and Vice President ThomasPeterson later issued a formal apology toMrs. Matheson. "We were appalled thatany Brigham Young University studentshould be so inconsiderate, and weexpress our deepest regret at the lack ofrespect shown by some to youpersonally and as the first lady of Utah,"the letter said.

A statement issued by GovernorMatheson’s campaign headquartersstated that although BYU was not atfault, "It is too bad that the campaign hasbeen permitted to reach such a lowlevel."

Mr. Wright stated that he felt he was alsoowed an apology by BYU, "The speech Igave is the same speech that I have beengiving for weeks in this campaign."

ERA Demonstrations NationwideMormons for ERA has been stagingpro-ERA demonstrations at LDS Churchsites and meetings from coast to coast,including weekly picketing at thelocation of the new Mormon temple inBellevue, Washington.

Recently, Southern California Mormonsfor ERA protested the installment ofreplicas of the Nauvoo women’s statueson the Los Angeles LDS templegrounds. After carrying such signs as"Women don’t belong on pedestals; theybelong in the Constitution" and "Astatue patronizes, ERA equalizes," thegroup held a candlelight vigil outside thetemple gates while the statue dedicationceremony took place in a sunken gardenin front of the temple’s visitors center.

In Utah, about 75 picketers organized bythe newly formed Ex-Mormons for theERA marched on the sidewalk outsideTemple Square during Octoberconference. The group’s organizer, aformer missionary to England, MaryJean Uebelgunne, said that it had been a"painful experience to have the churchwe’ve been born into and loved betrayus." Although Church spokespersonJerry Cahill declined to comment on theprotest, he did say that the marchers"have a perfect right to do what theywant to do. They haven’t disturbed theconference."

Inside the tabernacle during theconference’s second session the usualunanimous vote to sustain the leaders ofthe LDS Church was neither usual norunanimous. When the time came tosustain President Kimball, threewomen--Sarah Campbell, Tucson,Arizona, Cheryl L. Dalton, California,and Marty LaBrosse, Kingston,Washington--voted no in protest of theChurch’s stance against passage of the

6---Sunstone

ERA. The women, all members ofMormons for ERA in their respectivestates, later said they support PresidentKimball as their religious leader, but donot support him as their "politicalleader." Ms. Campbell reported, "Thedecision (to protest) was not lightlyundertaken," and Ms. LaBrosse addedthat the trio had fasted and prayed twoweeks prior to the conference. After thevote, Elder Bruce R. McConkierequested that the women meet withElder Gordon B. Hinckley. The meeting,which took place in Elder Hinckley’soffice, was considered private and,according to Church spokesperson DonLeFevre, no Church statement would bemade concerning the matter.

Utah Target for Civil Disobedience"The time has come for civildisobedience, for people to demonstrateand riot, to take personal risk andsacrifice and even to die in the name ofequality for all," Sonia Johnson,co-founder of Mormons for ERA, saidwhile addressing an overflow crowd atUtah State University in early October.Soon thereafter, local and nationalfeminist groups began planning acampaign of civil disobedience aimed atbreaking Mormon resistance to the EqualRights Amendment. Lee Anne Walker,president of the Equal Rights Coalition ofUtah, said the campaign will focus onUtah and might include blocking theroads to ski resorts during the ski seasonand having women chain themselves tothe entrances of public buildings. Thestrategy pinpointing Utah for civildisobedience was endorsed at theNational Organization of Women’sconvention in San Antonio. NOWpresident Eleanor Smeal hoped theproposal would attract enough nationalpublicity to bring significant pressure onthe Mormon church, which shedescribed as a "religious establishment,a political force, and a multibillion dollarempire that is sytematically blockingERA ratification in several states,including Utah, Arizona, Nevada, andFlorida."

Caffeine-free Cola DrinkSkip BrOoks, president of BrooksIndustries of Salt Lake City, hopespeople will spend billions of dollarsguzzling his new caffeine-free coladrink, "Catch." Brooks, a BYU graduate,has been selling "Catch" at thatuniversity’s athletic events and hasapparently gained an enthusiasticfollowing among members of theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints who generally stay away fromcola drinks because of their caffeinecontent.

Now ready to make the leap into masslocal distribution, Brooks says bottlersand distributors throughout theMountain West are being contacted.

Church Outbids Billionaire for FarmThe LDS church outbid Nelson BunkerHunt, the Texas oil billionaire, for a2,755-acre tobacco farm nearHopkinsville, Kentucky. Paying$4,275,000, the Church topped Hunt’sbest offer by $25,000.

According to Robert Fears, aHopkinsville lawyer who representedthe Church, the land will be used to raisewheat, soybeans, and corn sinceMormons condemn the use of tobacco.The profits from the farm will go to the"Church treasury in Salt Lake City," saidFears.

Mormons and the New RightThe Mormon-New Right connection iscontinually surfacing in the nationalnews media. According to a recent articlein Harper’s (October 1980) detailingevangelical New Right activities,Mormon support is being increasinglysought by conservative Christianleaders. The article stated that the"chosen instrument for bringing in theMormons is Senator FrankChurch"--not by enlisting the Idahosenator’s support but rather bydemonstrating mutual opposition tohim.

In February 1979, a coalition ofevangelical ministers called ChristianVoice was formed, and Utah SenatorOrrin Hatch served on its originalcongressional advisory committee.According to the article, the abortionissue was "an ideal way to hook theMormons" into joining with theevangelical coalition. Hatch recorded ananti-abortion radio spot for the Stop theBaby Killers project of Americans forLife, whose honorary chairman isCongressman George Hansen ofIdaho--another Mormon and a bitterenemy of Frank Church. "I personallybelieve Frank Church is a baby killer,"commented Terry Dolan, head of theNational Conservative Political ActionCommittee.

In a McNeil/Lehrer Report on publictelevision entitled "Politics and thePulpit," Jerry Falwell, Moral Majorityleader, also mentioned the Mormons inconnection with the Right-to-Lifemovement. "I began preaching on mynational television program about theatrocity of this (abortion) genocide," saidFalwell. "The Mormons began to rallybeside me. Roman Catholics.Right-to-Life people began to come. And

November/December 1980-~7

I began to realize that there is a coalitionin this country of moralists .... They arepro-life and pro-traditional family.Pro-moral, meaning anti-pornography,anti-drug scene. Pro-American,meaning strong, superior nationaldefense, pro-Israel."Following the Falwell interview, aspokesperson for Moral Majority told

one of SUNSTONE’s associate editorsthat although many individual Mormonshad joined their organization, the MoralMajority’s only connection with anyformal group of Mormons was through aFreeman Institute ConstitutionalSeminar held in Tulsa last September;Falwel! was the featured speaker andguest of Cleon Skousen.

THE QUESTION OF RLDS IDENTITYBy Bill Hartley

At the impress,ive RLDS meetinghouseof the Council Bluffs CentralCongregation, the John WhitmerHistorical Association, composedprimarily of members of the RLDSchurch, gathered for its annual meetingto consider the theme: "The Question ofRLDS Identity: A SesquicentennialAssessment." The sessions (September26-28) attracted between 60 and 100attenders.

Friday night Dale Broadhurst’s openingpaper, based on his 800 hours of wordstudy, argued that comparisons of theSpaulding Manuscript and the Book ofMormon showed some "surprisingsimilarities" in words and themes andthat the Spaulding Theory is not deadyet. Commentator Wayne Ham praisedDale’s labor but faulted themethodology. Wayne, based onexperience as an editor, said the bookssound and feel very different: if MarkTwain felt the Book of Mormon ischloroform in print, Spaulding iscyanide; Spaulding makes the Book ofMormon "Chauceresque,Shakespearean" by comparison.

The Saturday morning audience,including local RLDS members and twoLDS missionaries, first heard NormaHiles quote extensively from JosephSmith III’s letters to his children, whichgave insights into the "royal family."Then my paper, "The HistoricalDevelopment of Priesthood Offices inthe LDS and RLDS Churches: A Call forComparative Studies," noted the needfor and possible benefits from detailedLDS and RLDS studies of priesthoodoffices (deacon, high priest, etc.). RLDScommentator Ken Stobaugh supported

the call for more studies but remindedthe audience of troublesome priesthooddifferences between the churches. TheRLDS audience seemed most disturbedby two particular LDS priesthoodchanges: giving boys the AaronicPriesthood instead of men as in JosephSmith’s day, and ordaining the FirstCouncil of the Seventy as high priests in1961.

That afternoon we heard short papers onthe 1846 Iowa trek by Bruce Graham; onMormon camps along the Missouri Riverby Lewis Weigand; and on RLDSbeginnings in the Omaha-Council Bluffsarea by Jim Doty. We visited theMormon historic site at FlorenceCemetery. There, LDS missionary"Elder" Davis, in his sixties, greeted thegroup, told "trek west" stories about hisfamily, and defended his family’spolygamists. "Does he defend polygamyto everyone, or just RLDS?" one JWHAmember asked me.

Clare Vlahos’ presidential address,"Moderation as a Theological Principlein the Thought of Joseph Smith III,"posited that President Smith, basically alegalist, moderated his beliefs in fixedprindples in order to allow for pluralismand to avoid division among his diversefollowers. His moderation was "restraintin the face of unorthodoxy."

A Sunday morning panel tackled thetopic of "The Question of RLDSIdentity." Tom Morain, on the topic ofauthority, explained that the RLDSchurch recently disclaimed being "theone true church" because supports forthat position have eroded. What good isan authority claim back to Adam if youno longer believe in Adam? What good is

scriptural argument about authoritywhen new concepts of scripturesdemand historical relativism? Or what ifthe Book of Mormon is nothing morethan a nineteenth century tract?Authority, he said, is existential, notconcrete. Barbara Higdon, pushingTom’s thoughts further, proposed thatthe RLDS must now reassess thesalvation role of ordinances and ofpriesthood. Hiroshi Yamada, a Seventyand the national RLDS minister forJapan, saw authority claims as abrasiveand preventing the church frompenetrating non-Christian cultures. BillRussell, on revelation and scripture, saidJoseph Smith was a biblical literalist,who framed his revelations andteachings accordingly, because he lackedthe insights of modern biblicalscholarship. Joseph’s literalism,therefore, is no longer justified. The LDSscriptures need context studies, thepanel agreed, to show them to be theword of God but not the words of God.

Panelist Patricia Roberts summarizedhow the RLDS concept of Zion haschanged; once a "place," now Zion is"process." Barbara Higdon, on RLDSbeginnings, questioned if theReorganization began as a throwback tothe pre-Nauvoo church or developed asa new alternative? More needs to beknown, she said, regarding why RLDSfounders rejected, ignored, orrepudiated many Nauvoo practices.

The main concern of the panel, and ofthe entire conference, seemed to be whatthe RLDS Christian identity should be inits own right, instead of its traditionalcounter-LDS identity, and in spite of itsearly history and unusual modernscriptures.

At the meetings the JWHA announcedpublication of an annual journal, theJohnWhitmer Historical Association Journal,starting in 1981. Members elected W.Grant McMurray as JWHA president for1980-81, Paul M. Edwards asvice-president, and Betty Winholtz,Ruth Wildermuth, and James Eliott asboard members. Officers announcedthat the 1981 JWHA meeting site(September) will be Lamoni. The 1980JWHA awards went to Alma Blair (BestArticle) for "Historical Models of theRestoration"; to Harold Schabeck (BestLecture Paper) for "The Kirtland andIndependence Temple Lot Suit"; and tothe Liberty Hall Restoration Project(Special Merit Award) for restorationwork. No book award was given thisyear.

WILLIAM G. HARTLEY is a researchhistorian for the Joseph Fielding SmithInstitute of Church History, BYU.

8--Sunstone