because I think I understand what motivates them which is the noble goal of defending one's faith.
That having been said, so much of what I have read from them (a lot of it from FARMS) requires such mental gymanstics to accept that it not only undermines the credibility of the authors, but it also (IMO) undermines the church to the extent that the casual observer may legitimately wonder such gymnastics are necessary to believe in the tenets of the gospel as we have received them.
In the first instance, the essence of religion is faith which by definition is not predicated on whether any particular set of facts can be demonstrated to be accurate. Secondly, for most LDS people (I think) there are a few things that we have come to believe (I think the word "know" is so over used in the church) through our experiences that anchor us to the church whether or not we can fill in every gap or resolve every inconsistency so that such "gap filling" is not required nor beneficial.
There is nothing wrong with intellectual curiosity, that is not what I am addressing. I am addressing those who, while their motives may be good, IMO make the us all look like light weights and accrue very little if any benefit to anyone other than maybe our enemies.
EDIT: Having re-read my post, maybe I really DO have a problem with these people.
