Huperborea

Although, I do not agree with these folks when it comes to the value of Mormonism, I appreciate their thoughtfulness and think they are worth watching.

Lavina Anderson

Lavina Anderson seems like a neat lady. I saw her briefly at a Sunstone conference over ten years ago.

Mike Quinn

I feel badly for Mike Quinn. Apparently, he was offered a position at ASU but jackass Ira Fulton used his moneyed influence to prevent it.

The other videos are available from the same source. I also recommend the interview with Margaret Toscano; she is another neat, intelligent woman. I think her argument re: "heavenly mother" is sound within the context of Mormonism. (Of course, I reject the doctrine of "heavenly mother" and a corporeal God or Heavenly Father.)

Labels: Mormonism

Happy Πασχα!

Labels: Christianity, God, Jesus

Because his historical fiction sucks:

The famed science fiction writer, who once denigrated religion as "a necessary evil in the childhood of our particular species,"...

What a dunce.

(via Pharyngula)

Labels: vapid atheists

Sarah Pratt was the wife of Mormon leader Orson Pratt. "Prophet" Smith made an amorous advance toward her while her husband was away but she rebuffed Smith and courageously exposed his lechery. Smith responded by calling her a whore.

May 21, 1886, I had a fresh interview with Mrs. Sarah M. Pratt, who had the kindness to give me the following testimony additional to the information given by her in our interviews in the spring of 1885. "I want you to have all my statements correct in your book," said the noble lady, "and put my name to them; I want the truth, the full truth, to be known, and bear the responsibility of it.

"...When Joseph had made his dastardly attempt on me, I went to Mrs. Harris to unbosom my grief to her. To my utter astonishment, she said, laughing heartily: "How foolish you are! I don't see anything so horrible in it. Why, I AM HIS MISTRESS SINCE FOUR YEARS!"
...

"Joseph Smith, the son of the prophet, and president of the re-organized Mormon church, paid me a visit, and I had a long talk with him. I saw that he was not inclined to believe the truth about his father, so I said to him: 'You pretend to have revelations from the Lord. Why don't you ask the Lord to tell you what kind of a man your father really was?' He answered: 'If my father had so many connections with women, where is the progeny?' I said to him: 'Your father had mostly intercourse with married women, and as to single ones, Dr. Bennett was always on hand, when anything happened.'

...

One day they came both, Joseph and Bennett, on horseback to my house. Bennett dismounted, Joseph remained outside. Bennett wanted me to return to him a book I had borrowed from him. It was a so-called doctor-book. I had a rapidly growing little family and wanted to inform myself about certain matters in regard to babies, etc., -- this explains my borrowing that book. While giving Bennett his book, I observed that he held something in the left sleeve of his coat. Bennett smiled and said: 'Oh, a little job for Joseph; one of his women is in trouble.' Saying this. he took the thing out of his left sleeve. It was a pretty long instrument of a kind I had never seen before. It was a pretty long instrument of a kind I had never seen before. It seemed to be of steel and was crooked at one end. I heard afterwards that the operation had been performed; that the woman was very sick, and that Joseph was very much afraid that she might die, but she recovered.
...

http://olivercowdery.com/smithhome/1886WWyl.htm

Labels: frauds, Joseph Smith, Mormonism