Revision as of 21:58, 26 November 2016

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Response to claims made in "Chapter 1: A Chosen Race in a Promised Land"

Introduction

A FAIR Analysis of:
Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church

A work by author: Simon G. Southerton

Chapter 2

Response to claim: 3 - Attempts to describe Mormon doctrine are "fraught with peril"

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Attempts to describe Mormon doctrine are "fraught with peril."

FAIR's Response

|authorsources=

Author's opinion.

}}

Response

Prejudicial or loaded language
Church doctrine/Changing

Response to claim: 3 - Reversals of doctrine regarding polygamy and regarding Blacks and the priesthood were "painful and damaging" to the Church

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Reversals of doctrine regarding polygamy and regarding Blacks and the priesthood were "painful and damaging" to the Church.

FAIR's Response

|authorsources=

Author's opinion.
No examples of the "pain" and "damage" are provided.

}}

Response

Church doctrine/Changing

Response to claim: 4 - The idea that the words of living prophets supersede the words of dead prophets has been "recently" promoted

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

The idea that the words of living prophets supersede the words of dead prophets has been "recently" promoted.
Author's sources: No source given.

FAIR's Response

Fact checking results: This claim is false

This has always been the doctrine of the Church:

[When invited by Joseph Smith], Brother Brigham took the stand, and he took the Bible, and laid it down; he took the Book of Mormon, and laid it down; and he took the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and laid it down before him, and he said: "There is the written word of God to us, concerning the work of God from the beginning of the world, almost, to our day. And now,' said he, 'when compared with the living oracles those books are nothing to me; those books do not convey the word of God direct to us now, as do the words of a Prophet or a man bearing the Holy Priesthood in our day and generation. I would rather have the living oracles than all the writing in the books.' That was the course he pursued. When he was through, Brother Joseph said to the congregation, "Brother Brigham has told you the word of the Lord, and he has told you the truth.'"^[1]

If living prophets outrank scriptures, then living prophets clearly supersede dead prophets: whether written or spoken.

Neil L. Andersen (2012): "A few question their faith when they find a statement made by a Church leader decades ago that seems incongruent with our doctrine"

Neil L. Andersen:

A few question their faith when they find a statement made by a Church leader decades ago that seems incongruent with our doctrine. There is an important principle that governs the doctrine of the Church. The doctrine is taught by all 15 members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. It is not hidden in an obscure paragraph of one talk. True principles are taught frequently and by many. Our doctrine is not difficult to find.

The leaders of the Church are honest but imperfect men. Remember the words of Moroni: “Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father … ; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been” (Ether 12꞉6)^[2]—(Click here to continue)

REDIRECTOfficial doctrine in the Church#"Approaching Mormon Doctrine," ''LDS Newsroom'' (May 2007): "Not every statement made by a Church leader, past or present, necessarily constitutes doctrine"

Response to claim: 4 - Mormon doctrine is "fluid and changeable"

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Mormon doctrine is "fluid and changeable."
Author's sources: No source given.

FAIR's Response

Response

Church doctrine/Changing

Response to claim: 7-8 - The Nephites raise "herds of cattle, goats and horses"

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

The Nephites raise "herds of cattle, goats and horses."

FAIR's Response

|authorsources= No source given. }}

Response

Book of Mormon anachronisms—Animals

The work repeats itself on p. xiv, 7-8., 173., and 199.

Response to claim: 8 - The Nephites raise Old World wheat and barley

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

The Nephites raise Old World wheat and barley.

FAIR's Response

|authorsources= No source given. }}

Response

Book of Mormon anachronisms—Plants

Response to claim: 8 - The author states that the Nephites construct a temple that is "similar in splendor" to Solomon's

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

The author states that the Nephites construct a temple that is "similar in splendor" to Solomon's.
Author's sources:

No source given.

Common source used is 2 Nephi 5꞉16

FAIR's Response

Fact checking results: The author has stated erroneous information or misinterpreted their sources

Nephi never claimed that the temple that he built was "similar in splendor" to Solomon's temple.

Question: Was Nephi's temple "similar in splendor" to Solomon's temple?

Nephi stated that it was not like Solomon's temple" because many "precious things" were "not to be found upon the land"

Nephi is clear that the temple is not to the scale or grandeur of Solomon's temple; he merely patterns the building and its functions after the Jewish temple.

16 And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon's temple. But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine. (2 Nephi 5꞉16)

Nephi also probably had access to more workmen than the few members of the original Jerusalem party under Lehi.

One critic, who used to be a member of the Church, actually demonstrates his ignorance of the Book of Mormon by stating that the temple that was built was said to be "similar in splendor" to Solomon's Temple, directly contradicting Nephi's description. Nephi stated that "could not be built like unto Solomon’s temple" because many of the precious things contained in Solomon's temple "were not to be found upon the land." Therefore, Nephi himself confirms that his temple was not "similar in splendor" to Solomon's temple.

This is a good example of the critics reading the text in the most naive, most ill-informed way possible. One should also consider that smaller population would not have needed a massive complex like the temple at Jerusalem anyway.

Response to claim: 8 - The Nephites are skilled in the use of metals such as iron, copper, brass, gold and silver

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

The Nephites are skilled in the use of metals such as iron, copper, brass, gold and silver.
Author's sources: *No source given.

FAIR's Response

Response

Book of Mormon anachronisms—Metals

Response to claim: 8 - The Nephites use steel to fashion swords, breastplates, and arm and head shields

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

The Nephites use steel to fashion swords, breastplates, and arm and head shields.
Author's sources: *No source given.

FAIR's Response

Response

The author's claim is false: "steel" is applied to two Old World weapons (Nephi's bow and the sword of Laban). Only in Ether are swords made of steel (Ether 7꞉9). Nephites are said to use steel (Jarom 1꞉8), but it is never described for breastplates, arm, or head shields.
The author is again shown to be woefully ignorant of the Book of Mormon text.
Book of Mormon anachronisms—Metals—Swords

The work repeats itself on p. 8, 172., and 199.

The work repeats itself on p. 8 and 199.

Response to claim: 8 - The Nephites built defensive mounds around their cities

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

The Nephites built defensive mounds around their cities.
Author's sources: No source given.

FAIR's Response

Response

Book of Mormon and warfare—Fortifications

Response to claim: 8 - The Lamanites vastly outnumber the Nephites

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

The Lamanites vastly outnumber the Nephites.
Author's sources: *No source given.

FAIR's Response

Response

Book of Mormon anachronisms—Demographics

Response to claim: 8 - The "skin of blackness" is occasionally removed from the Lamanites when they are righteous, and returns to the Lamanites when they become unrighteous

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

The "skin of blackness" is occasionally removed from the Lamanites when they are righteous, and returns to the Lamanites when they become unrighteous.
Author's sources: * No source given

FAIR's Response

Response

Presentism or anachronism: the author (like many members) reads the text through modern lenses, instead of as an ancient document.
Lamanite curse—literal versus metaphorical
Latter-day Saint culture/Skin color in LDS thought

Response to claim: 8 - The Book of Mormon links the color of a person's skin to morality

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

The Book of Mormon links the color of a person's skin to morality.
Author's sources: *2 Nephi 5꞉21
Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, March 1835

FAIR's Response

Response

Presentism or anachronism: the author (like many members) reads the text through modern lenses, instead of as an ancient document.
Parts of the Book of Mormon directly repudiate this attitude (e.g., Jacob 3꞉8-9).
Lamanite curse—literal versus metaphorical
Latter-day Saint culture/Skin color in LDS thought

Response to claim: 9 - The Book of Mormon promotes the view that the "white race" is superior

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

The Book of Mormon promotes the view that the "white race" is superior.
Author's sources: *No source given.

FAIR's Response

Response

Presentism or anachronism: the author (like many members) reads the text through modern lenses, instead of as an ancient document.
Parts of the Book of Mormon directly repudiate this attitude (e.g., Jacob 3꞉8-9, 2 Nephi 26꞉33).
Lamanite curse—literal versus metaphorical
Latter-day Saint culture/Skin color in LDS thought

Response to claim: 10 - In 1966 the Book of Abraham papyri were discovered

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

In 1966 the Book of Abraham papyri were discovered.
Author's sources: *Charles M. Larson, By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus: A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri, 2nd ed., (Grand Rapids, MI: Institute for Religious Research, 1992), no pg. given.

FAIR's Response

Response

Only critical work is cited; no engagement with LDS scholarship on the topic occurs.
Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri

Response to claim: 10 - The translation of the papyri does not resemble the Book of Abraham

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

The translation of the papyri does not resemble the Book of Abraham.
Author's sources: *Larson, 1992

FAIR's Response

Response

Hugh Nibley announced this in the Church magazine within two months of the papyri being given to the Church.
Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Church disclosure of "Book of the Dead"

Response to claim: 10 -

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

* The denial of the priesthood to the Blacks was based upon the Book of Abraham.
Author's sources: *No source given.

FAIR's Response

Response

History unclear or in error: The use of Abraham as a proof text was a relatively late development.
Blacks and the priesthood—Origin of the priesthood ban
LDS scripture and the priesthood ban

Response to claim: 10-11 - The Church publicly taught racist principles in the 1950's

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

* The Church publicly taught racist principles in the 1950's.
Author's sources: *Mark E. Petersen, "Race Problems—As They Affect the Church," Talk given at Brigham Young University on Aug. 27, 1954

FAIR's Response

Response

Some leaders taught ideas that would now be seen as racist. Others did not.
Author(s) impose(s) own fundamentalism on the Saints
Racist statements by Church leaders

Logical Fallacy: Tu Quoque/Appeal to Hypocrisy—The author tries to discredit the validity of someone's position by asserting their failure to act consistently.

The author is determined to represent LDS leaders as either bumbling, ill-informed, manipulative, or overwhelmed. The author never acknowledges that the LDS do not believe in infallibility in their leaders. The author finally admits on p. 205 that there is no official geography—why, then, does he bother to reiterate the views of various leaders as if this were some kind of problem? Since even he agrees there is no official geography, what difference does it make if members and leaders are of differing views, or if they even change their minds?

The work repeats itself on p. 10-11, 38-39., 40., 41., 45., 137., 138., 140., and 142.

Response to claim: 11 - The 1978 revelation allowing all men to hold the priesthood came in response to "public pressure" -

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

The 1978 revelation allowing all men to hold the priesthood came in response to "public pressure."
Author's sources: No source given.

FAIR's Response

Mind reading: author has no way of knowing this.
The author's claim is false: social and public pressure was low at the time.

FAIR Answers—back to home page

1 Response to claims made in "Chapter 1: A Chosen Race in a Promised Land"
2 Was the priesthood ban lifted as the result of social or government pressure?
- 2.1 Social pressure was actually on the decline after the Civil Rights movement and coordinated protests at BYU athletic events ceased in 1971
3 Gospel Topics: "Church authorities encountered faithful black and mixed-ancestry Mormons who had contributed financially and in other ways to the building of the São Paulo temple, a sanctuary they realized they would not be allowed to enter"
4 Did President Jimmy Carter threaten the Church's tax-exempt status because of their policy on blacks and the priesthood?

V

Articles about Race and the Church of Jesus Christ

Priesthood ban	Combating racial prejudice Origin Policy or doctrine Racist statements Neural or less valiant Curse of Ham Scripture and the ban Ending the ban Social pressure First Pres statements Testimonies of the revelation Repudiated ideas Brigham Young Mark E. Petersen Official Declaration 2
Native Americans	Indian placement program

Was the priesthood ban lifted as the result of social or government pressure?

Social pressure was actually on the decline after the Civil Rights movement and coordinated protests at BYU athletic events ceased in 1971

Jan Shipps, a Methodist scholar and celebrated scholar of Mormon history and culture, considers it factual that "this revelation came in the context of worldwide evangelism rather than domestic politics or American social and cultural circumstances." She wrote:

A revelation in Mormondom rarely comes as a bolt from the blue; the process involves asking questions and getting answers. The occasion of questioning has to be considered, and it must be recalled that while questions about priesthood and the black man may have been asked, an answer was not forthcoming in the ‘60s when the church was under pressure about the matter from without, nor in the early ‘70s when liberal Latter-day Saints agitated the issue from within. The inspiration which led President Kimball and his counselors to spend many hours in the Upper Room of the Temple pleading long and earnestly for divine guidance did not stem from a messy situation with blacks picketing the church’s annual conference in Salt Lake City, but was "the expansion of the work of the Lord over the earth." ^[3]

Gospel Topics: "Church authorities encountered faithful black and mixed-ancestry Mormons who had contributed financially and in other ways to the building of the São Paulo temple, a sanctuary they realized they would not be allowed to enter"

"Race and the Priesthood," Gospel Topics (2013):

Brazil in particular presented many challenges. Unlike the United States and South Africa where legal and de facto racism led to deeply segregated societies, Brazil prided itself on its open, integrated, and mixed racial heritage. In 1975, the Church announced that a temple would be built in São Paulo, Brazil. As the temple construction proceeded, Church authorities encountered faithful black and mixed-ancestry Mormons who had contributed financially and in other ways to the building of the São Paulo temple, a sanctuary they realized they would not be allowed to enter once it was completed. Their sacrifices, as well as the conversions of thousands of Nigerians and Ghanaians in the 1960s and early 1970s, moved Church leaders.^[4]—(Click here to continue)

Did President Jimmy Carter threaten the Church's tax-exempt status because of their policy on blacks and the priesthood?

President Carter had a brief meeting with President Kimball, Representative Gunn McKay, and Representative Jim Santini on 11 March 1977 at the White House

On March 11, 1977 at 12:03 pm President Carter met with Spencer W. Kimball, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Representative Gunn McKay (D-Utah), and Representative Jim Santini (D-Nevada) for approximately 20 minutes in the White House.^[5] This meeting, noted in President Carter's White House diary, is popularly rumored among ex-Mormons to be the meeting in which Carter threatened the Church with a rescinding of the Church's tax-exempt status over the issue of the priesthood ban.

An image of a page from President Jimmy Carter's White House diary for the day of 11 March 1977 showing a meeting with President Spencer W. Kimball. The Daily Diary of President Jimmy Carter, Jimmy Carter Library & Museum off-site

President Carter visited Salt Lake City on November 27 1978 for program in the Salt Lake Tabernacle

One ex-Mormon on the Recovery from Mormonism message board claimed to have located an "the actual photograph" of the 11 March 1977 meeting on LDS.org! ^[6] That photograph, however, is actually of a meeting in the Tabernacle on November 27, 1978.

President Kimball presents U.S. President Jimmy Carter with statue, Salt Lake Tabernacle, November 27, 1978. Photo located on https://www.lds.org/churchhistory/presidents/controllers/potcController.jsp?leader=12&topic=multimedia#

This meeting was documented in the January 1979 Ensign:

Two presidents saluted the family as one of life’s greatest institutions at a special November 27 program in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, culminating National Family Week in the United States.
Before a capacity crowd, with national and international television cameras whirring, President Spencer W. Kimball urged his listeners to recognize the family as "our chief source of physical, emotional, and moral strength." He presented United States President Jimmy Carter with a bronze statuette depicting the family circle. The miniature of a father, mother, and child is based on the original work by Utah sculptor Dennis Smith, Circle of Love, one of the pieces in the Relief Society monument to women in Nauvoo. ^[7]

President Kimball wrote a letter to President Carter in May 1977 to present a copy of Carter's genealogy

President Kimball wrote a letter to President Carter in May 1977, only two months after the March 11 meeting:

W. Don Ladd, Regional Representative of the Twelve, and Thomas E. Daniels of the Genealogical Department of the Church presented a family tree and a leather-bound volume of genealogical information on the Carter family to the President on 31 May.
The book included a letter to President Carter from President Spencer W. Kimball, in which he spoke of the Latter-day Saints’ "deep reverence and gratitude for our ancestors, which in turn gives us greater sense of responsibility to our posterity."
President Carter found the Church’s research "very exciting to me," and he said, "I look forward to studying the chart. This is an area of knowledge I’ve never had." The two-inch thick volume included several 8-by-10-inch pedigree charts and family group sheets, along with a research summary of each line researched and what was still missing from those lines. This is the first time the Church has ever given such a gift to a president of the United States. ^[8]

The allegation that the LDS church's tax-free status was threatened in 1978 seems to have originated prior to 1988, and resurfaced in 2001

On June 2, 1988, the Chicago Tribune quoted "critics" of the Church as speculating that Kimball's meeting with Carter involved the threat of the Church losing its tax exemption. The Tribune quotes Ogden Kraut, whom they stated was an "an excommunicated Mormon fundamentalist writer-photographer":

Despite church claims that the change came from revelation, critics say the move was pure business, that the Mormons wanted to expand further into black Third World countries and would not be able to do so as long as blacks were discriminated against, and that the Mormon church, the fastest growing mainstream church in the U.S., stood to lose its tax-exempt status for discriminating against blacks.
``We were told by a secretary in the church that Spencer Kimball spent 36 minutes talking to President (Jimmy) Carter, and shortly thereafter, the so-called `revelation` came down,`` said Ogden Kraut, an excommunicated Mormon fundamentalist writer-photographer.
Fundamentalist Mormons take the Bible and the Book of Mormon literally, and insist that God doesn`t make revelations to earthlings, Kraut said.
``My belief is that it was the expedient thing to do. The church didn`t want to lose its exemption,`` Kraut said. ^[9]

The claim resurfaced in 2001 when a claim that the federal government had threatened to revoke the Church's tax-exempt status back in 1978 was made by a woman named Kathy Erickson in a letter to the Salt Lake Tribune on March 11, 2001. Erickson stated,

Gainful Revelation Date: March 11, 2001
What’s done is done. There no longer is any prejudice against blacks in the Mormon church, the power of money took care of that. Back in 1978 the federal government informed the LDS Church that unless it allowed blacks full membership (including the priesthood) they would have to cease calling themselves a non-profit organization and start paying income taxes. On $16.5 million a day in tithing alone that’s a lot of tax monies that could be better used in building up the Kingdom of God.
The church immediately saw the error of its ways and the brethren appealed to God for a revelation; it came quickly. God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform, and today The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has nothing but love for all races of people on Earth."^[10]

A representative of the Church Public Affairs department responded:

Distorted History Thursday, April 5, 2001
It's one thing to distort history, quite another to invent it. Kathy Erickson (Forum, March 11) claims that the federal government threatened The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with its tax-exempt status in 1978 because of the church's position regarding blacks and the priesthood.
We state categorically that the federal government made no such threat in 1978 or at any other time. The decision to extend the blessings of the priesthood to all worthy males had nothing to do with federal tax policy or any other secular law. In the absence of proof, we conclude that Ms. Erickson is seriously mistaken.
BRUCE L. OLSEN Public Affairs Department The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ^[11]

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Learn more about priesthood: racial ban: removal

Online	"Race and the Priesthood," Gospel Topics Essay, Gospel Library Edward L. Kimball, "Spencer W. Kimball and the Revelation on Priesthood," BYU Studies 47, no. 2 (Spring 2008) “The Priesthood Organization,” episode 5 of The Priesthood Restored: A Joseph Smith Papers Podcast
Navigators	Table of contents Abuse Bible Book of Abraham Book of Mormon CES Letter Church history Church finances Doctrine and Covenants First Vision Joseph Smith Latter-day Saint temples Mountain Meadows Massacre Plural marriage Prophets and leaders Scripture Brigham Young priesthood: racial ban

⍗

Source(s) of the criticism

Critical sources	Simon Southerton, Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church (Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, 2004) 11. ( Index of claims )

Notes

↑ Wilford Woodruff, Conference Report (October 1897), 18-19.
↑ Neil L. Andersen, "Trial of Your Faith," Ensign (November 2012).
↑ Jan Shipps, "The Mormons: Looking Forward and Outward" Christian Century (Aug. 16-23, 1978), 761–766 off-site
↑ "Race and the Priesthood," Gospel Topics (2013)
↑ The Daily Diary of President Jimmy Carter, Jimmy Carter Library & Museum off-site
↑ "According to the President Carter Library," posted by "CLee the Anti-Mormon," 8 February 2006.
↑ "Church Honors President Carter’s Support of the Family," Ensign (January 1979)
↑ "Church Give Genealogy to President Jimmy Carter," Ensign (August 1977).
↑ Lance Gurwell, "Critics Still Question `Revelation` On Blacks," Chicago Tribune, June 02, 1988.
↑ Kathy Erickson, letter to the Salt Lake Tribune, 11 March 11, 2001.
↑ Bruce L. Olsen, cited in Salt Lake Tribune on 5 April 2001.

Response to claim: 12 - Many General Authorities believed that the priesthood prohibition would remain in place until Christ's return

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Many General Authorities believed that the priesthood prohibition would remain in place until Christ's return.
Author's sources: *No source given.

FAIR's Response

Response

Author(s) impose(s) own fundamentalism on the Saints: the Saints do not believe in infallibility of members or leaders.
Blacks and the priesthood

Response to claim: 12 - Passages in the Book of Mormon were rewritten to "tone down references to skin color"

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Passages in the Book of Mormon were rewritten to "tone down references to skin color."
Author's sources: *2 Nephi 30꞉6

FAIR's Response

Response

The author's claim is false: This change was made by Joseph Smith in 1836.
Book of Mormon textual changes—"white" changed to "pure"

The work repeats itself on p. 12 and 40.

Response to claim: 12 - LDS scripture states that those with lighter skin color "are favored because of what they did as spirits in a pre-earth life"

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

LDS scripture states that those with lighter skin color "are favored because of what they did as spirits in a pre-earth life."
Author's sources: *No source given.

FAIR's Response

Response

The author's claim is false: This statement is false—there is no LDS scripture that makes this statement.
Some LDS drew this conclusion, but it is not in the scripture. It has also been repudiated.
LDS scripture and the priesthood ban
Blacks and the priesthood—Pre-existence

Notes

[1] Wilford Woodruff, Conference Report (October 1897), 18-19.

[2] Neil L. Andersen, "Trial of Your Faith," Ensign (November 2012).

[3] Jan Shipps, "The Mormons: Looking Forward and Outward" Christian Century (Aug. 16-23, 1978), 761–766 off-site

[4] "Race and the Priesthood," Gospel Topics (2013)

[5] The Daily Diary of President Jimmy Carter, Jimmy Carter Library & Museum off-site

[6] "According to the President Carter Library," posted by "CLee the Anti-Mormon," 8 February 2006.

[7] "Church Honors President Carter’s Support of the Family," Ensign (January 1979)

[8] "Church Give Genealogy to President Jimmy Carter," Ensign (August 1977).

[9] Lance Gurwell, "Critics Still Question `Revelation` On Blacks," Chicago Tribune, June 02, 1988.

[10] Kathy Erickson, letter to the Salt Lake Tribune, 11 March 11, 2001.

[11] Bruce L. Olsen, cited in Salt Lake Tribune on 5 April 2001.

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Difference between revisions of "Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church/Chapter 1"

Revision as of 21:58, 26 November 2016

Response to claims made in "Chapter 1: A Chosen Race in a Promised Land"

Response to claim: 3 - Attempts to describe Mormon doctrine are "fraught with peril"

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: 3 - Reversals of doctrine regarding polygamy and regarding Blacks and the priesthood were "painful and damaging" to the Church

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: 4 - The idea that the words of living prophets supersede the words of dead prophets has been "recently" promoted

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Author's sources: No source given.

FAIR's Response

Fact checking results: This claim is false

Neil L. Andersen (2012): "A few question their faith when they find a statement made by a Church leader decades ago that seems incongruent with our doctrine"

Response to claim: 4 - Mormon doctrine is "fluid and changeable"

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Author's sources: No source given.

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: 7-8 - The Nephites raise "herds of cattle, goats and horses"

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: 8 - The Nephites raise Old World wheat and barley

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: 8 - The author states that the Nephites construct a temple that is "similar in splendor" to Solomon's

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Author's sources: No source given. Common source used is 2 Nephi 5꞉16

FAIR's Response

Fact checking results: The author has stated erroneous information or misinterpreted their sources

Question: Was Nephi's temple "similar in splendor" to Solomon's temple?

Nephi stated that it was not like Solomon's temple" because many "precious things" were "not to be found upon the land"

Response to claim: 8 - The Nephites are skilled in the use of metals such as iron, copper, brass, gold and silver

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Author's sources: *No source given.

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: 8 - The Nephites use steel to fashion swords, breastplates, and arm and head shields

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Author's sources: *No source given.

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: 8 - The Nephites built defensive mounds around their cities

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Author's sources: No source given.

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: 8 - The Lamanites vastly outnumber the Nephites

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Author's sources: *No source given.

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: 8 - The "skin of blackness" is occasionally removed from the Lamanites when they are righteous, and returns to the Lamanites when they become unrighteous

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Author's sources: * No source given

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: 8 - The Book of Mormon links the color of a person's skin to morality

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Author's sources: *2 Nephi 5꞉21 Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, March 1835

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: 9 - The Book of Mormon promotes the view that the "white race" is superior

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Author's sources: *No source given.

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: 10 - In 1966 the Book of Abraham papyri were discovered

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Author's sources: *Charles M. Larson, By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus: A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri, 2nd ed., (Grand Rapids, MI: Institute for Religious Research, 1992), no pg. given.

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: 10 - The translation of the papyri does not resemble the Book of Abraham

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Author's sources: *Larson, 1992

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: 10 -

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Author's sources: *No source given.

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: 10-11 - The Church publicly taught racist principles in the 1950's

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Author's sources: *Mark E. Petersen, "Race Problems—As They Affect the Church," Talk given at Brigham Young University on Aug. 27, 1954

FAIR's Response

Logical Fallacy: Tu Quoque/Appeal to Hypocrisy—The author tries to discredit the validity of someone's position by asserting their failure to act consistently.

Response to claim: 11 - The 1978 revelation allowing all men to hold the priesthood came in response to "public pressure" -

The author(s) of Losing a Lost Tribe make(s) the following claim:

Author's sources:

No source given.

Common source used is 2 Nephi 5꞉16

Author's sources: 2 Nephi 5꞉21
Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate*, March 1835

Author's sources: Charles M. Larson, By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus: A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri,* 2nd ed., (Grand Rapids, MI: Institute for Religious Research, 1992), no pg. given.