DiscussMormonism.com

There is no secret about the fact that Brigham Young University is funded by the “LDS Corporation,” as you choose to call it, and the fact that the “LDS Corporation” is supported by the tithes of its members is also widely known (particularly among tithe payers). Likewise, the fact that I’m employed by Brigham Young University is scarcely classified information: I’m listed in University catalogues, in the University’s telephone directory, and on the University’s website (among other places). I’m not precisely sure, therefore, why you imagine that tithe payers would be “unsuspecting,” or what it is that you propose to “look into,” but I certainly wish you well in your investigations. Courage!

I will be tensely awaiting the results of your research, whatever that will involve. Here are a pair of suggestions: I have no idea where you live, but, if you’re in Utah, I invite you to come by 3087 JFSB, where you will be able to see my actual name on an actual office name plate in the same area where other actual members of the actual faculty of the actual Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages have their offices. If you’re lucky, I myself (or, on your apparent theory, perhaps a deceptively similar “LDS Corporation” clone) will actually be in the office, pretending to be a professor of Arabic. Alternatively, even if you don’t live in the state, you can order one of the books produced by the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative (either through the Brigham Young University bookstore or through the University of Chicago Press, which distributes them). Inside, you will find my actual name, as actual editor-in-chief of all four subsidiary series. This could win you the Pulitzer Prize.

I’m not sure what the timetable for your investigation is. I’ll be in Washington DC this next week, on business relating to the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative. (Anyway, that’s my story, and I’m sticking by it.) And then, the week before Thanksgiving, I’ll be in Philadelphia, at an academic conference there relating to Near Eastern studies. (Or perhaps I’ll be somewhere else entirely, lying about Mormonism. Pending the outcome of your work, nobody will know for certain.) I probably won’t pay much attention to my e-mail during those trips, but I’ll be on pins and needles until you’re able to inform me what my salary is for. Please do hurry.

Infymus wrote:Daniel is arrogant and self-righteous. He uses ten words for every one word necessary. He weaves a tapestry of words around a subject in a way to arrogantly wave his intellectual finger in your face, all the while telling you off very subtly.

When he first started corresponding with me, his only goal was to piss me off, for which he succeeded. I claimed that Daniel was being paid by the LDS church to be an apologist for FARMS. His arrogance immediately became evident:

There is no secret about the fact that Brigham Young University is funded by the “LDS Corporation,” as you choose to call it, and the fact that the “LDS Corporation” is supported by the tithes of its members is also widely known (particularly among tithe payers). Likewise, the fact that I’m employed by Brigham Young University is scarcely classified information: I’m listed in University catalogues, in the University’s telephone directory, and on the University’s website (among other places). I’m not precisely sure, therefore, why you imagine that tithe payers would be “unsuspecting,” or what it is that you propose to “look into,” but I certainly wish you well in your investigations. Courage!

I told him that I would look into his claims and get back to him. He wrote back:

I will be tensely awaiting the results of your research, whatever that will involve. Here are a pair of suggestions: I have no idea where you live, but, if you’re in Utah, I invite you to come by 3087 JFSB, where you will be able to see my actual name on an actual office name plate in the same area where other actual members of the actual faculty of the actual Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages have their offices. If you’re lucky, I myself (or, on your apparent theory, perhaps a deceptively similar “LDS Corporation” clone) will actually be in the office, pretending to be a professor of Arabic. Alternatively, even if you don’t live in the state, you can order one of the books produced by the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative (either through the Brigham Young University bookstore or through the University of Chicago Press, which distributes them). Inside, you will find my actual name, as actual editor-in-chief of all four subsidiary series. This could win you the Pulitzer Prize.

I’m not sure what the timetable for your investigation is. I’ll be in Washington DC this next week, on business relating to the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative. (Anyway, that’s my story, and I’m sticking by it.) And then, the week before Thanksgiving, I’ll be in Philadelphia, at an academic conference there relating to Near Eastern studies. (Or perhaps I’ll be somewhere else entirely, lying about Mormonism. Pending the outcome of your work, nobody will know for certain.) I probably won’t pay much attention to my e-mail during those trips, but I’ll be on pins and needles until you’re able to inform me what my salary is for. Please do hurry.

Arrogant bastard.

I can’t stand him. I don’t care how well written he is, or what degrees he holds, how many books he has written or if he secretly has a herd of tapirs in his back yard – I think he's an asshole.

guy sajer wrote:So in essence, he concedes the point (or he isn't denying it) that he is paid by the LDS Church to be a Mormon apologist?

When I started posting here, I suggested as much and caught no end of flack from people denying that DCP is, in effect, paid to be a Mormon apologist.

And here's DCP himself conceding the point.

If he's so damned smart and the expert he claims himself to be, why has it been so damned difficult for this guy to produce a single, peer-reviewed "scholarly" publication (and this doesn't include FARMS publications)? I don't get it?

harmony wrote:My feelings about Daniel change on a daily basis. One day, I'm laughing, the next I find him less than admirable. One thing stays the same though: as the chief apologist for my church, he has an obligation to represent the church well whenever he acts as an apologist, which means at least all the time he is online on LDS bulletin boards. He fails in this miserably. He has little understanding of his obligation to represent well. His life should be exemplary. I should be able to point to him as a good example of what it means to be LDS. I can't. And for that I'm disappointed on a daily basis.

I think he's probably a good man. I think he's only an average Latter-day Saint, if that.

The Nehor wrote:I disagree with the rationale. All Saints should represent well at all times, public and private. I don't think DCP is under a higher obligation than a shut-in LDS member.

The Nehor wrote:Not really, he concedes the point that tithe money pays him to be a professor, not to be an apologist.