Quote:
Originally Posted by jay santos
That's fair. But I'm not saying this about his #10. His language is replete with the victimization language. If I'm easily manipulated I come away after one reading thinking the Mormon church is full of a bunch of bullies that attack poor little innocent intellectuals, yet the basis is not established anywhere. Very sly. I'm also using prior experience reading apologies of church intellectuals long before I came to this board, SIEQ's prior posts on Mauss and other commentary SIEQ has made outside this thread to form my opinion.
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I think you have a point that the so-called "intellectuals" are not always innocent, but the LDS church hierarchy has a reputation for clamping down on perceived renegades. I think the church should be free to defend itself against perceived apostates and detractors, but the element of secrecy and surveillance is disquieting. Church records and archives are basically off-limits. The ominously named "Strengthening the Members Committee" evokes a Big-Brother image. This environment makes it easier to cast the church as bad-guy and scholar as good-guy.
IMO, the church would take a lot of the wind out of these intellectuals' sails if they opened their records and archives to independent researchers and allowed respectable scholars to find and publish what they may; and if they avoided tracking potential malcontents in anticipation of heretical opinions or publications.