Mormonism and Wikipedia/Golden plates/Significance

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A FairMormon Analysis of Wikipedia: Mormonism and Wikipedia/Golden plates A work by a collaboration of authors (Link to Wikipedia article here)

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An analysis of the Wikipedia article "Golden plates" (Version December 10, 2009)

The significance of the golden plates in the Latter Day Saint tradition

-	Wikipedia Main Article: Golden plates–	Wikipedia Footnotes: Golden plates–Notes	A FAIR Opinion
	The golden plates are significant within the Latter Day Saint movement because they are the reputed source for the Book of Mormon, which Joseph Smith, Jr. called the "most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion."	Roberts (1908) , p. 461.	Correct, per cited sources For a detailed response, see: Book of Mormon/As the most correct book
	However, the golden plates are just one of many known and reputed metal plates with significance in the Latter Day Saint movement. The Book of Mormon itself refers to a long tradition of writing historical records on plates, of which the golden plates are a culmination. See List of plates (Latter Day Saint movement).		Violates Wikipedia: Citing sources off-site— There is either no citation to support the statement or the citation given is incorrect.  Violates Wikipedia: Undue weight off-site— Neutrality requires that the article should fairly represent all significant viewpoints that have been published by a reliable source, and should do so in proportion to the prominence of each....articles should not give minority views as much or as detailed a description as more widely held views; generally, the views of tiny minorities should not be included at all. The importance of "many known and reputed metal plates" is given undue weight in the article. In reality, most Latter-day Saints are not familiar with the Kinderhook plates, which have never occupied a position of any significance within Latter-day Saint thought. Other plates mentioned in the Book of Mormon are simply elements of the narrative, and do not hold any special "significance" in the Latter-day Saint "movement." None of the other plates mention even approach the importance and significance of those used in the production of the Book of Mormon.
	In addition, Joseph Smith once believed in the authenticity of a set of engraved metal plates called the Kinderhook Plates,	Bushman (2005) , p. 490 The original source is William Clayton's Journal, May 1, 1843 (See also, Trials of Discipleship — The Story of William Clayton, a Mormon, 117): "I have seen 6 brass plates... covered with ancient characters of language containing from 30 to 40 on each side of the plates. Prest J. has translated a portion and says they contain the history of the person with whom they were found and he was a descendant of Ham through the loins of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the ruler of heaven and earth." The information was deemed important enough to be republished in the first person (as if Smith had said it) in the History of The Church: "I insert facsimiles of the six brass plates found near Kinderhook...I have translated a portion of them, and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the Ruler of heaven and earth." More than six pages in Volume Five of History of the Church discuss the Kinderhook plates.	Violates Wikipedia: No Original Research off-site— Do not use unpublished facts, arguments, speculation, and ideas; and any unpublished analysis or synthesis of published material that serves to advance a position. Violated by Visorstuff —Diff: off-site The phrase "The information was deemed important enough..." is original research, and it leads the reader to conclude that there was something particularly special about the Kinderhook plates that it would be "republished in the first person." This is incorrect. Everything in History of the Church was written in the first person, as if Joseph himself had written it. This was according to the standards of documentation of the time. For a detailed response, see: Authorship of History of the Church For a detailed response, see: Kinderhook Plates
	although these plates turned out to be a hoax by non-Mormons who sought to entice Smith to translate them in order to discredit his reputation.	Richard Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), 489-90.	References not included in the Wikipedia article The editors quote Bushman, but fail to note that the Kinderhook hoax was addressed in the offical Church magazine, the Ensign. See Stanley B. Kimball, “Kinderhook Plates Brought to Joseph Smith Appear to Be a Nineteenth-Century Hoax,” Ensign, Aug 1981, 66.
	Two other sets of plates, called the Voree Plates and the Book of the Law of the Lord, were said to have been translated by James J. Strang, one of a number of church members who claimed the right of succession after Smith's death and who became the leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite). As in the case of the golden plates, witnesses testified to the existence of Strang's plates. These likewise are not extant, nor can they be examined or scientifically authenticated.		Violates Wikipedia: Citing sources off-site— There is either no citation to support the statement or the citation given is incorrect. The article fails to note a significant difference between the witnesses to the golden plates and those who viewed Strang's plates—three of those who viewed the gold plates claimed to have seen an angel. For a detailed response, see: Book of Mormon/Witnesses
	For many Latter Day Saints, however, particularly within the Community of Christ, the significance of these plates, including the golden plates, has waned as increasing numbers of adherents have doubted their historicity.	McMurray, W. Grant, "They "Shall Blossom as the Rose": Native Americans and the Dream of Zion," an address delivered February 17, 2001, accessed on Community of Christ website, September 1, 2006 at http://web.archive.org/web/20070817021355/http://cofchrist.org/docs/NativeAmericanConference/keynote.asp (referring to "long-standing questions about [the Book of Mormon's] historicity" which has provoked "discussion in the 1970s and beyond" about the proper use of the book in the religion).	Violates Wikipedia: Undue weight off-site— Neutrality requires that the article should fairly represent all significant viewpoints that have been published by a reliable source, and should do so in proportion to the prominence of each....articles should not give minority views as much or as detailed a description as more widely held views; generally, the views of tiny minorities should not be included at all. Violated by COgden —Diff: off-site The citation pertains only to the Community of Christ, a relatively small organization relative to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Yet, the wiki editor has used the qualifier "many" to imply that the "significance" of the plates has "waned" for "many Latter Day Saints." This gives a false impression that many in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also believe that that plates are no longer significant, and more likely simply reflects the personal opinion of LDS Wikipedia editor COgden. Most readers will not distinguish Wikipedia's use of "Latter Day Saints" (denoting the entire Latter Day Saint "movement") from "Latter-day Saints," which denotes the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For a detailed response, see: Book of Mormon/Historicity
	For many other Latter Day Saints, however, the physical existence and authenticity of these plates, and especially the golden plates, are essential elements of their faith. For them, the message of the Book of Mormon is inseparable from the story of its origins.	Givens (2003) , p. 37.	Violates Wikipedia: Undue weight off-site— Neutrality requires that the article should fairly represent all significant viewpoints that have been published by a reliable source, and should do so in proportion to the prominence of each....articles should not give minority views as much or as detailed a description as more widely held views; generally, the views of tiny minorities should not be included at all. Violated by COgden —Diff: off-site The wiki editor has given the majority opinion, that many Latter-day Saints believe in the existence and authenticity of the plates, only after stating that many do not believe them to have been real. Again, this more likely reflects the opinion of LDS editor COgden than it does the majority of Latter-day Saints. For a detailed response, see: Book of Mormon/Historicity

References

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