Non-existent quotes/Haight: assistance of the moon/CriticalSources

Source evolution

  • Original source: Talk given by Elder David B. Haight, “Live the Commandments,” Ensign, May 1998, p 6.
    —Elder Haight comments to his wife, after leaving a meeting at the Whitmer cabin, "“I would imagine that on the night of April the 6th, 1830, there was a full moon shining, showing that our Savior was smiling upon that occasion and upon that setting.” A transcription of a video recording of the actual talk shows that Elder Haight said "I said I would imagine that the night of April the 6th, 1830, the moon was shining showing that our Savior smiled upon that occasion and upon that setting."
    • Source (level 2): D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), 291 ( Index of claims )
      • Source (level 3): Richard Abanes, Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism (Harvest House Publishers: 2005). 352, n155. ( Index of claims )
        —Abanes uses Quinn as a source to claim that Elder Haight "reinvoked the astrological principle that people should 'do nothing without the assistance of the moon'".
        • Source (level 4): Richard Abanes, One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003), 521n58 (HB) 519n58 (PB) ( Index of claims )
          —Abanes, apparently noting that Elder Haight's published talk said nothing about doing "nothing without the assistance of the moon," cites Quinn once again but claims that "when the transcribed text of the speech was made available online through the LDS Church's official Internet site, the phrase had been deleted." (emphasis added)