long ago ideas

“When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago." - Friedrich Nietzsche Long ago, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery conquered false claims that the Book of Mormon was fiction or that it came through a stone in a hat. But these old claims have resurfaced in recent years. To conquer them again, we have to return to what Joseph and Oliver taught.

Thursday, January 3, 2019

2019 resolution for M2C citation cartel

One of my greatest hopes for 2019 is to see the M2C* citation cartel change course.

The citation cartel includes Book of Mormon Central Censor (BOMCC), BYU Studies, Fairly Mormon (aka FairMormon), the Interpreter, Meridian Magazine, etc., and everyone who writes for and promotes these publications.

I want them to cease their inexcusable censorship of the teachings of the prophets, the work of those who still believe the prophets, and the abundant evidence that supports the teachings of the prophets.
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The ringleader of the M2C citation cartel is Book of Mormon Central Censor (BOMCC). It is the intellectual progeny of FARMS, which adopted M2C from RLDS scholars and polished it up to make it acceptable to hundreds of thousands of LDS students through CES and BYU.

George Orwell's 1984 established the editorial policy
used by Book of Mormon Central Censor
I keep hearing that some people object to my term "Book of Mormon Central Censor." They think it is divisive or contentious. Their objection strikes me as bizarre. Since when do people knowingly and enthusiastically support censorship?

Everyone affiliated with BOMCC--employees, donors, volunteers, advisers--embraces the policy and practice of censorship.

Church members who read BOMCC material wonder, why does BOMCC censor these things?

Like all censors, BOMCC claims to be protecting their readers, but like all censors, they are merely protecting themselves--and their M2C ideology.

The people who run (and donate to) BOMCC know that most members of the Church prefer to believe the prophets instead of the scholars.

M2C contradicts the teachings of the prophets, so BOMCC doesn't want Church members to realize this.

Their only recourse, really, is censorship. M2C can only survive when members of the Church are ignorant of the teachings of the prophets and of the evidence that supports the prophets.

I don't mind that the people at BOMCC disagree with the prophets--everyone can believe whatever they want--but because they hold themselves out as informed experts, they ought to at least allow their readers to make informed choices.

So far, they refuse to.

Maybe that will change in 2019. We can all hope so.
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Everyone affiliated with Book of Mormon Central Censor is a wonderful person, trying to do what they think is right.

Unfortunately, everyone affiliated with Book of Mormon Central Censor also must accept and promote M2C and therefore approves of censorship. Otherwise they wouldn't be affiliated with BOMCC.

You can meet the censors here:

https://bookofmormoncentral.org/directory

I repeat that on a personal level I really like everyone in the M2C citation cartel. None of my objections are personal in any way.

This is a disagreement about whether we as members of the Church should believe the prophets or the scholars.

M2C is a clear choice to believe the intellectuals instead of the prophets.

On a professional level I respect most of the work of the members of the M2C citation cartel, and I recognize that they do a lot of good in many ways.

But I can't ignore the destructive impact of their ongoing censorship that is designed and intended solely to protect and promote M2C, which represents a direct repudiation of the consistent, persistent teachings of the prophets. 
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*M2C is the acronym for the Mesoamerican/two-Cumorahs theory that teaches the "real" Cumorah is in southern Mexico, while the hill in New York was named Cumorah by unknown early Church members who were misled by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, who were ignorant speculators.

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