Mormon Heretic

I was surprised at the recent burst of activity on my post back in April titled, Debunking the Spaulding Manuscript Theory. One of my commenters (Roger) seem to believe the Spaulding Theory still has merit.  I even had Craig Criddle stop by.   He is a leading proponent of the theory and published a peer-reviewed article at Oxford in support of this theory.  (You need a subscription to read it, but the abstract can be found there.)

Roger took issue Brodie’s characterization that Spaulding’s manuscript was “devoid of religious material”, and made several references to religious writings in this comment.  So, if Roger is right, it seems there should be quite a few religious similarities between this Spaulding manuscript, and the Book of Mormon, right?

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I’ve been reading a book by Apostle Dallin Oaks called Carthage Conspiracy.  Oaks is a lawyer, former Utah Supreme Court judge, former dean of the University of Chicago Law School, and president of BYU from 1971-1980 (updated 8/9/2009).  He wrote the book in 1975, and analyzes the trial of the assassins of Joseph Smith.  I plan to do a future post on the book, but let me say that when we look at Mayor(s) Daley and Gov. Blagojavich (sp?), it seems that crooked Illinois politics are alive and well, just as they were in the days of Joseph Smith.  The trial was a travesty, though I admit that Mormon unwillingness to assist the prosecutor in convicting these murderers did not help matters.  Apostle John Taylor, who was shot in the melee, went into hiding rather than testify.  Certainly this didn’t help the Illinois prosecutor in trying to convict the murderers.

I want to look at one specific incident in the book describing events in Missouri, and contrast LDS views with CoC views on the topic.  I want to review a specific statement from Prophet/President Veazey.  While Pres Veazey wasn’t addressing any particular events, I think the event I want to illustrate could have been something he might have been referring to.

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Thanks to FireTag for letting me know about a recent statement by the current prophet of the Community of Christ.  He talks about scriptural literalism.  The videos can be found on the CoC website, and this quote comes from Chapter 4.  Let me quote from Pres. Veazey directly: Read more…

Over the last year, I have come across a few bloggers who are members of the Community of Christ (formerly known as RLDS).  I have always been curious about the Community of Christ, and have often wondered the differences in worship between their services, and LDS services.  I wanted to share some of the stuff I’ve learned.

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The RLDS church was founded in 1860.  Joseph Smith III was the first prophet.  Recently, they have changed their name to the Community of Christ (CoC), and have begun to distance themselves from former beliefs and teachings.  I found the following statement issued by their current prophet, President Stephen M. Veazey, quite startling.  The RLDS church had long held a position that Joseph Smith never practiced polygamy.  Many thanks go to FireTag for letting me know about this statement.  I want to quote a small part of the interview here, but the full interview can be found on the CoC website.
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