FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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Analysis and response to the documentary 8: The Mormon Proposition
A June 2010 documentary called "8: The Mormon Proposition," written and produced by Reed Cowan, claims to be an expose of the role that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints played in the passage of California Proposition 8. Reviews of the film generally agreed that it was a polemical treatment of the issue, pitting the Church as villain in a quest to limit or remove the rights of same-sex couples. FAIR reviews some of the individual claims made in the documentary.
A Brigham Young "quote" related to California Proposition 8?
A quote alleged to have been uttered by Brigham Young recently began gaining wide circulation on the web. The quote appeared to be a "smoking gun," with Brigham mentioning practically every controversial issue in which he was ever said to have been involved. Ex-Mormon critics of the Church became excited about the quote and attempted to verify its source because it represented, according to one ex-Mormon critic, "an astounding batch of ammo if it is a true quote from B[righam] Y[oung]." There was even an allusion to Proposition 8:
"If there ever comes a day when the Saints interfere with the rights of others to live as they see fit, you can know with assurance that the Church is no longer led by a Prophet, but a mere man."
Despite the attribution of this phrase to Brigham Young in numerous locations on the web, Brigham never actually uttered this phrase. The entire quote was confirmed to be a fabrication by an anonymous blogger. We examine the full "quote" here:
Analysis and response to the article "Reinventing Lamanite Identity," by Brent Lee Metcalfe, published in Sunstone, March 2004, 20-25.
Critics who wish to use DNA evidence to disprove the Book of Mormon must use a hemispheric model of the lands described in the book and assume that the Lehites and Mulekites arrived on an empty continent. The article argues for a traditional interpretation of the Book of Mormon which would exclude the presence of others on the American continents and thereby enable critical DNA claims to be valid. The article's claims are examined one-by-one and links to corresponding responses in the FAIR Wiki are provided. The analysis can be found here: