Malline:FeaturedArticles

Current Features

• Elder Holland's General Conference Talk (Oct. 4, 2009)

For 179 years this book has been examined, and attacked. Denied and deconstructed. Targeted and torn apart, like perhaps no other book in modern religious history. Perhaps like no other book in any religious history, and still, it stands. Failed theories about its origins have been born, parroted and died. From Ethan Smith to Solomon Spalding, to deranged paranoid, to cunning genius. None of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination, because there is no other answer than the one Joseph gave as its young, unlearned translator.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, General Conference talk, Oct. 4, 2009

• Elder Holland gave a powerful testimony about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. During the course of his talk he mentioned two secular Book of Mormon authorship theories. So who are Ethan Smith and Solomon Spalding? What is the best that critics have been able to come up with to explain away the origin of the Book of Mormon? Read the articles below to find out.
  • Book of Mormon Authorship theories—Ethan Smith and View of the Hebrews
  • Book of Mormon Authorship theories—Solomon Spalding's manuscript

• Mormonism and Wikipedia. FAIR regularly receives queries about specific LDS-themed Wikipedia articles with requests that we somehow "fix" them. Although some individual members of FAIR may choose to edit Wikipedia articles, FAIR as an organization does not. Controversial Wikipedia articles require constant maintenance and a significant amount of time. We prefer instead to respond to claims in the FAIR Wiki rather than fight the ongoing battle that LDS Wikipedia articles sometimes invite. From FAIR’s perspective, assertions made in LDS-themed Wikipedia articles are therefore treated just like any other critical (or, if one prefers, "anti-Mormon") work. FAIR examines and responds to three LDS-related Wikipedia articles in detail:
  • A FAIR Analysis of Wikipedia article "First Vision"
  • A FAIR Analysis of Wikipedia article "Joseph Smith, Jr."
  • A FAIR Analysis of Wikipedia article "Golden plates"
  • A FAIR Analysis of Wikipedia article "Three Witnesses"

• FAIR web site reviews. Many web sites critical of the Church are very obvious in their mission—to pull the foundation from members' faith. Some, however, are much more subtle in their approach. These sites are claimed to be operated by active and believing members of the Church. Their message, unfortunately, is not consistent with building or supporting faith. FAIR reviews one such site.
  • A FAIR Analysis of MormonThink.com