Interview of Nelson & Wickman re LDS in American Society

[_Rollo Tomasi]

Below is a link to an interview by the "Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life" of Elders Nelson and Wickman about the LDS Church's role in American society. I especially liked Elder Nelson's words of obvious disdain for evolution. Enjoy!

http://pewforum.org/events/?EventID=143

[_Runtu]

Below is a link to an interview by the "Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life" of Elders Nelson and Wickman about the LDS Church's role in American society. I especially liked Elder Nelson's words of obvious disdain for evolution. Enjoy!

http://pewforum.org/events/?EventID=143

Notice how quickly Wickman states that there's no official position on evolution. I must say I was surprised at Nelson's adamant statement.

[_Coggins7]

Below is a link to an interview by the "Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life" of Elders Nelson and Wickman about the LDS Church's role in American society. I especially liked Elder Nelson's words of obvious disdain for evolution. Enjoy!

Quite a large number of highly educated and respectable intellectuals have words of disdain for Darwinian Fundamentalism. After all, not all of the evolutionary explanation for the origins and development of life on earth are correct. So, no problem there.

[_Runtu]

Below is a link to an interview by the "Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life" of Elders Nelson and Wickman about the LDS Church's role in American society. I especially liked Elder Nelson's words of obvious disdain for evolution. Enjoy!

Quite a large number of highly educated and respectable intellectuals have words of disdain for Darwinian Fundamentalism. After all, not all of the evolutionary explanation for the origins and development of life on earth are correct. So, no problem there.

I won't argue with you, but I was surprised to hear a church leader give such an emphatic answer about evolution, given the church's "neutral" approach as of late.

[_Mister Scratch]

I think it's worth pointing out that the Church also sometimes teaches that dinosaur bones are some kind of cosmic "trick" intended to test our faith.

[_Coggins7]

I think it's worth pointing out that the Church also sometimes teaches that dinosaur bones are some kind of cosmic "trick" intended to test our faith.

I didn't think it was possible for Scratch to tell a whopping flat footed lie like this publically that would outdo some of the other stuff I've seen him try to foist, but this did it.

"The Church", of course, has never taught any such thing, and it has, officially, always been neutral on the subject.

[_Mister Scratch]

I think it's worth pointing out that the Church also sometimes teaches that dinosaur bones are some kind of cosmic "trick" intended to test our faith.

I didn't think it was possible for Scratch to tell a whopping flat footed lie like this publically that would outdo some of the other stuff I've seen him try to foist, but this did it.

"The Church", of course, has never taught any such thing, and it has, officially, always been neutral on the subject.

Silly, contrary-to-science teachings are fairly common in the Church. Have you not read Elder McConkie's tirades against the "evils" or organic evolution? The "dinosaur bones are a trick" lesson has somehow managed to gain fairly widespread traction in the Church, and in fact that lesson has been around a very long time, since it was taught to me when I was in my teens. Further, I have seen at least a dozen other people mention this lesson in various online forums. In short: a lot of members have been taught this, and it had to have come from somewhere. Did one of the Brethren teach this? It's possible. After all, Spencer Kimball once taught that Cain and Bigfoot were one and the same. (What would William Buckley think about that, I wonder?)

As to your point about this being an "official" teaching, I think the relevant question is, "What makes a Church teaching 'official'?" For example, is the ban on coffee considered to be "official"? Or merely cultural? Is the teaching (or counsel?) that warns people about all the pitfalls of interracial marriage "official"? Or something else?

[_Coggins7]

Interesting what Nelson actually said, and how Rollo and Scratch are attempting to spin it.

Forum: Different denominations deal differently with questions about life's origins and development. Conservative denominations tend to have more trouble with Darwinian evolution. Does the church have an official position on this topic?

Nelson: We believe that God is our creator and that he has created other forms of life. It's interesting to me, drawing on my 40 years experience as a medical doctor, how similar those species are. We developed open-heart surgery, for example, experimenting on lower animals simply because the same creator made the human being. We owe a lot to those lower species. But to think that man evolved from one species to another is, to me, incomprehensible.

Forum: Why is that?

Nelson: Man has always been man. Dogs have always been dogs. Monkeys have always been monkeys. It's just the way genetics works.

We notice here that Nelson was asked what the official position of the Church is and that he didn't answer that question at all except to point out that the Church believes that God is the creator of life on earth as well as other life. His comments on evolution per se here are clearly his own position on the subject, not the Church's. He never states what the Church's official position is. He says "we believe" such and such about God, but everything beyond that dealing with evolution specifically, are "I" statements; statements of his own position on the matter.

[_Lucretia MacEvil]

I think it's worth pointing out that the Church also sometimes teaches that dinosaur bones are some kind of cosmic "trick" intended to test our faith.

I didn't think it was possible for Scratch to tell a whopping flat footed lie like this publically that would outdo some of the other stuff I've seen him try to foist, but this did it.

"The Church", of course, has never taught any such thing, and it has, officially, always been neutral on the subject.

I was taught that God used materials from other worlds to make ours, and that's how we happen to have stuff over 6,000 years old.

[_Rollo Tomasi]

Interesting what Nelson actually said, and how Rollo and Scratch are attempting to spin it.

Nelson: Man has always been man. Dogs have always been dogs. Monkeys have always been monkeys. It's just the way genetics works.

Sounds to me as if Nelson is taking the temple film a bit too literally. ;)