The LDS Faith is one of simplified faith, for the purposes of promoting faith, not

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Originally Posted by Solon

While I don't doubt that what you describe is the contemporary mindset, many intellectuals feel that the LDS church has shifted away from initially academic/intellectual roots. Indeed, the old-time apostles and GAs were a different breed of intellectuals than those who deliver General Conference talks today (e.g. Orson Pratt's 1849 New Jerusalem pamphlet logically and intellectually lays out the case for the New Jerusalem being built in Missouri.)

It's not just a matter of anti-intellectualism; it's the notion that LDS leaders have abandoned their epistemological foundations for touchy-feely emotionalism. Not that it isn't their prerogative (they are, after all the leaders). It just strikes the intellectually minded as incongruous that a church with deep roots in individualism, millenialism, and intellectual bravado has shifted so far.

Mmmm, I'm not sure it's so simple. The world Joseph Smith lived in and the world he expected it to become (and the church he built as a result) were all very different from today. Smith was clearly constructing a Zion society preparatory to the 2nd coming of Jesus, and it appears he expected it to happen sooner rather than later.

The church has not just "abandoned" intellectualism ... it has divested itself in many different ways from all sorts of temporal endeavors. Smith would probably be surprised to visit a 21st century LDS stake and find no polygamy, no communal living, and no consecration (in the terms he defined it). The conversion from "gather to Zion" to "stay where you are" would likewise probably perplex Brigham Young.

The church has and is adapting to an organization that must provide the saving ordinances and doctrines to multiple millions of people, and multiples of millions yet to come. And it is apparent that the church Jesus eventually visits will look very different from the one Joseph might have first envisioned.

Long story short, the intellectualism of times past doesn't fit with the mission of the modern church. "Leave the intellectualism to the intellectuals and focus instead on things of eternity", seems to be today's guideline. I can't say I disagree with it.