Kishkumen wrote:Don was first baptized as a child, so that shouldn't count. I think DCP is closer to qualifying than Don.
I will go with Sir Arthur Henry King.
I'd say Don Bradley knew the real history and doctrines of the church better than anyone before being baptized into the church. I doubt Professor King was familiar with the problems when he was baptized.
"It doesn't seem fair, does it Norm--that I should have so much knowledge when there are people in the world that have to go to bed stupid every night." -- Clifford C. Clavin, USPS
"¡No contaban con mi astucia!" -- El Chapulin Colorado
Bob Loblaw wrote:I'd say Don Bradley knew the real history and doctrines of the church better than anyone before being baptized into the church. I doubt Professor King was familiar with the problems when he was baptized.
I think prior indoctrination still had a great deal of influence on Don's decision.
"Petition wasn’t meant to start a witch hunt as I’ve said 6000 times." ~ Hanna Seariac, LDS apologist
Don Bradley is doubtless an intelligent man, but I don't think he's an example that fits the spirit of the question. Early religious belief can have an indoctrinating effect on people as children that they never quite shake even into adulthood. Listen to Dan Savage talk about his childhood Catholicism. I take the question of conversion is looking for a person who was not brought up in an environment that indoctrinated them into LDS beliefs and/or taught them to know LDS social culture as the normalcy of home.
Don is a returned apostate, so that defeats the purpose of the question. For a religion as large as Mormonism with a healthy stream of converts, I have to imagine there are plenty of intelligent converts out there. There are some headwinds there - the cultural tension that makes Mormonism seem extra "wacky," the perceived environment of anti-intellectualism, etc. but sheer numbers should overcome that. I'm a bit surprised it's taking this long for names to come up.
palerobber wrote:Who is the brightest light among us who embraced Mormonism without having "believed implicitly in the maxims that he had imbibed at his mother's knee", but rather after the sort of fully informed and unbiased consideration that only an adult outsider could really hope to give.
Gladys Knight. Hands down.
Alright, I'm a bit biased -- I truly love her music. Now, if we can just convert the Pips, my life is complete.
"Moving beyond apologist persuasion, LDS polemicists furiously (and often fraudulently) attack any non-traditional view of Mormonism. They don't mince words -- they mince the truth."
-- Mike Quinn, writing of the FARMSboys, in "Early Mormonism and the Magic World View," p. x (Rev. ed. 1998)
"I know how to fool people, but more importantly I know how people fool themselves." —James Randi Posts are my opinion only, not a reflection of my employer, my family, my dog, or anyone else http://signaturebookslibrary.org/
I guess the point of the OP is to determine if anyone who is well educated and thoughtful would consider converting the the LDS church.
Some of the above posts have suggested that highly educated people might still convert if their childhood backgrounds had some heavy indoctrination in to one religion or another.
I think that may be true. I think a better question might be whether a scholar in history, archeology or anthropology has ever converted. This might be a better test.
I wouldn't be surprised to hear that a chemistry professor had joined the Mormons later in life, but I would be blown away if I heard that an archaeology professor had.
This, or any other post that I have made or will make in the future, is strictly my own opinion and consequently of little or no value.
"Faith is believing something you know ain't true" Twain.
