Mormon Fragility

[blazerb]

I listened to one of the recent RFM podcasts here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxEGz6FhYDQ. This podcast tells the tale of the hosts of the Mormonish podcast who were trying to attend a talk by Ronald Rasband at a Book of Mormon Central meeting, maybe a fundraiser. They were uninvited after a recent episode of their podcast in which a guest, John Lundwall, presented evidence that one information item touted by BoM Central did not really hold up.

There are so many examples of this. FAIR won't let anyone comment on their videos or blogs who has a contrary take on their position. The Faithful Subreddit will ban anyone who has ever posted on the exmormon subreddit. The bounds of what gets published by the Interpreter is pretty narrow. The faithful go nuts when Patrick Mason agrees to talk to John Dehlin. I'm sure the Jim Bennett is off the potential guest list on most faithful outlets. Even the prophets have to have carefully scripted meetings. They cannot handle questions that are not thoroughly planned.

It appears that Mormonism is getting more fragile. I remember a church that told me to embrace truth wherever it came from. Henry Eyring Sr. told me that I could confidently research any topic without fear. Everything would reinforce the truth of the gospel. But in practice, the church seems to know that almost any real information will take people out of the church. I remember in grad school when a prominent person in my field responded to one of the papers I wrote with my advisor. It was thrilling that someone wanted to argue with us. My advisor was likewise excited by the news. It was a chance to dive deeper into a topic with someone who did not share our views. This situation was ideal for figuring out what was going on.

I guess the lesson here is not very new. The church does not want to search for truth. It wants to reinforce its position in the lives of the few people who believe it. Real research does not lead to that result.