Former Stake President managing MormonThink

[_Tobin]

Uh huh. He went off his nut as far as I can tell and betrayed the Church and everything he swore to hold sacred. There is the right way to correct the Brethren and the wrong way. He picked the wrong way.

Are you that dull?

DUH?


The more you and LDS Inc whine about MormonThink, the more you all unwittingly spread it's influence.

Who needs any so called anti-mormons when the unwitting masses of the Mormon church do such a fine job of killing it?

So in your mind MormonThink's purpose is to destroy the LDS Church and tear down Mormonism entirely? Fascinating. I'm sure they'll all be thrilled by your view of their mission.

[_Willy Law]

The more you and LDS Inc whine about MormonThink, the more you all unwittingly spread it's influence.

Who needs any so called anti-mormons when the unwitting masses of the Mormon church do such a fine job of killing it?

So in your mind MormonThink's purpose is to destroy the LDS Church and tear down Mormonism entirely? Fascinating. I'm sure they'll all be thrilled by your view of their mission.

PP has a point. According to site analytics mormonthink.com unique visitors are up over 100 % year to date. No doubt that the church's witch hunt and the publicity it created led to a large portion of this inceease.

[_Res Ipsa]

I think they are hurting their brand. For years, MT has been the best place to see a balanced approach to LDS church history and doctrine. A lot of this was due to their keeping editors out of sight and letting the articles speak for themselves. Twede and now Philips are breaking with this and it will make it much easier for LDS readers to dismiss the site based on association with known apostates.

Yeah, it shouldn't be that way, but it is.

I do think that the events of the last few months makes it much easier to portray MormonThink as an "anti-mormon" site. But maybe it's not a destruction of the brand as much as a change of the brand. I guess we'll see.

[_Shiloh]

PP has a point. According to site analytics mormonthink.com unique visitors are up over 100 % year to date. No doubt that the church's witch hunt and the publicity it created led to a large portion of this inceease.

I would hardly call what the Church did a witch hunt.

That dishonest asshole David Twede orchestrated the whole thing -- quite successfully. The Church was foolish to fall for it.

But nothign changes the fact that Twede used dishonesty and deception to try and expose what he considers to be the Church's dishonesty and deception.

If Twede wants the moral high ground he has to take it. In my book, what he did is morally reprehensible.

[_Shiloh]

I think they are hurting their brand. For years, MT has been the best place to see a balanced approach to LDS church history and doctrine. A lot of this was due to their keeping editors out of sight and letting the articles speak for themselves. Twede and now Philips are breaking with this and it will make it much easier for LDS readers to dismiss the site based on association with known apostates.

Yeah, it shouldn't be that way, but it is.

I do think that the events of the last few months makes it much easier to portray MormonThink as an "anti-mormon" site. But maybe it's not a destruction of the brand as much as a change of the brand. I guess we'll see.

I wouldn't characterize MT as anti-Mormon so much as I would call it a sophomoric attempt at intellectual onanism.

[_Mormon Think]

I do think that the events of the last few months makes it much easier to portray MormonThink as an "anti-mormon" site. But maybe it's not a destruction of the brand as much as a change of the brand. I guess we'll see.

MT is not 'anti-Mormon' but MT will be getting more focused on discussing the traditional issues and providing information and links to all sides of the debates on the various issues that interest the readers and Mormons in general, especially those on the fringe.

2012 was a bit sidetracked by the whole Romney campaign and MT was thrust in the spotlight so we took advantage of the publicity and put out a lot of Romney stuff but that is over now. Back to the basics; Book of Abraham, Book of Mormon research, critics vs apologists, etc.

And for the record, FAIR and the Church are the ones that initiated the actions that led to the media frenzy and tripling the daily site vists of MT.

[_Tobin]

PP has a point. According to site analytics mormonthink.com unique visitors are up over 100 % year to date. No doubt that the church's witch hunt and the publicity it created led to a large portion of this inceease.

I really don't think he does. I find it very unlikely that me pointing out that I disagree with the approach Philips took raised the traffic to MT one bit. And if is the new mission of MT to tear down and destroy the Mormon Church and Mormonism, then I wish them luck. Mormonism has always had its critics and always will.

[_Mormon Think]

I really don't think he does. I find it very unlikely that me pointing out that I disagree with the approach Philips took raised the traffic to MT one bit. And if is the new mission of MT to tear down and destroy the Mormon Church and Mormonism, then I wish them luck. Mormonism has always had its critics and always will.

That is NOT MT's mission. It is merely education. It is a pro-truth site.

We advocate B.H. Roberts' phisolophy: "frankly state events as they occurred, in full consideration of all related circumstances, allowing the line of condemnation or justification to fall where it may"

[_MCB]

The problem with the field of Mormon Studies from a non-Mormon or ex-Mormon perspective is that new authors rarely get much new information. Often it is the same information regurgitated over and over. "Shadow or Reality" and the Tanners is a case in point (I recently got their newsletter-- nothing new, although I had already the new BY book). Nothing new. It is always a problem with educating the general public, who typically adhere to political correct viewpoints without realizing how egregiously politically incorrect Mormonism is as a whole.

Same old, same old.

[_Res Ipsa]

I do think that the events of the last few months makes it much easier to portray MormonThink as an "anti-mormon" site. But maybe it's not a destruction of the brand as much as a change of the brand. I guess we'll see.

MT is not 'anti-Mormon' but MT will be getting more focused on discussing the traditional issues and providing information and links to all sides of the debates on the various issues that interest the readers and Mormons in general, especially those on the fringe.

2012 was a bit sidetracked by the whole Romney campaign and MT was thrust in the spotlight so we took advantage of the publicity and put out a lot of Romney stuff but that is over now. Back to the basics; Book of Abraham, Book of Mormon research, critics vs apologists, etc.

And for the record, FAIR and the Church are the ones that initiated the actions that led to the media frenzy and tripling the daily site vists of MT.

Well, as you know, I don't interpret the events that way. I think MT thrust itself into the spotlight with a misleading press release. I also think David went out of his way to provoke a confrontation with church leaders. Not that there is anything wrong with provoking such a confrontation -- but I think it is wrong not to acknowledge that MT generated both the controversy and the publicity. The selection of news articles on the front page and David's blog also represented a confrontational approach to the LDS leadership.

I think it would be accurate to describe the stance MT took during the second half of this year as anti-church leadership. Outside the Mormon paradigm, I would agree that being against leadership is not anti-mormon. Inside the Mormon paradigm, I would think that it is anti-mormon.

My personal opinion is that it would be healthy for MT to get back to the basics and not promote confrontation with the LDS leadership. But it's your brand, not mine.