Did Book of Mormon Central Deliver a “Devastating Blow”….to Interpreter?

[Doctor Scratch]

Not long ago, some posters noted that something like a year has gone by since Mike Parker’s “sadly necessary” blog, “Neville-Neville Land,” effectively came to an end. The demise was the culmination of a years-long war between the Mopologists and the Heartlanders and included the infamous “Richard Nygren” incident. Without Parker’s non-stop attacks on Neville and FIRM, the whole war seems to have petered out to a certain extent. As far as I know, there was no “olive branch” extended by the Mopologists.

And yet, it turns out that Rodney Meldrum *did* take steps to mend bridges! Check it out:

Saturday evening, April 20, 2024, Richard Ferguson accepted the gracious invitation to speak alongside Rod Meldrum at the FIRM Foundation conference. Both agreed that the most important purpose of the Book of Mormon is to bring people to Jesus Christ, and the volume’s role as a witness to His divinity.

Both discussed how contention over geographic models is not only unproductive, but destructive in furthering the Restoration’s progress. They agreed that faithful people can have different interpretations of early church leader statements and of scientific evidence.

This is absolutely *stunning*! Of course, Book of Mormon Central, with Jack “The Kingpin” Welch at the helm, is clearly a Mopologetic organization—one that has a budget in the millions, in fact. And yet they clearly found a way to bury the hatchet and find common ground with FIRM!

I admit that it is very tempting to read between the lines here. Why is it that Book of Mormon Central (or, rather, *Scripture* Central) agreed to meet in a collegial way like this with FIRM, while the Interpreter Mopologists bitterly maintained a stance of unrelenting hostility? I have wondered at times about the apparent divisions amongst the Mopologists—the way that different factions have emerged: FARMS; FAIR; Interpreter; Book of Mormon Central. The now-practically defunct SHIELDS. What’s interesting is that among all these groups, only Interpreter has continued to regularly produce the sort of bellicose, attack-minded material that was the rotten core of FARMS. FAIR has certainly had its missteps (TiTS comes to mind), but overall, it seems to have scaled back its more attack-minded material. Interpreter, on the other hand, continues apace, as the recent post on “financial motivation” demonstrates.

All of which is to say: it’s hard not to see this “detente” between Book of Mormon Central and FIRM as a kind of repudiation of Interpreter and its leadership. I admit I had wondered for some time about the extent to which Welch was influencing the toxic mockery that was at the core of FARMS: Will Bagley once described him as “extremely belligerent,” for instance. But now it seems more like the toxic and vindictive element was coming primarily from Daniel Peterson, and perhaps Louis Midgley as well. This would seem to help fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge about the full reasoning behind the decision to kick DCP out of the Maxwell Institute. Here we are, 12 years later, and Book of Mormon Central is flush with cash, and Interpreter is begging publicly for donations.

Very interesting, in any case.

[Moksha]

This would seem to help fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge about the full reasoning behind the decision to kick DCP out of the Maxwell Institute. Here we are, 12 years later, and Book of Mormon Central is flush with cash, and Interpreter is begging publicly for donations.

Very interesting, in any case.

Dr. Peterson would point out to the Brethren that they need him on that wall. He would point out that they sleep safely in their beds at night because he and his commandos do what is necessary to preserve the Mormon way of life.

FIRM and Book of Mormon Central are not strong enough for his methods. The Church would be overrun by Heartlanders, Transhumanists, and Book of Abraham deniers if not for the Eye of the Interpreter endlessly searching for the Key of Power to the Maxwell Institute.

[drumdude]

Dan will shortly be posting that photo of him in the same room as Elder Holland. The one he has posted 100 times. It proves he has the apostolic charge and authority to be The One True Mopologist.

[Doctor Scratch]

FIRM and Book of Mormon Central are not strong enough for his methods. The Church would be overrun by Heartlanders, Transhumanists, and Book of Abraham deniers if not for the Eye of the Interpreter endlessly searching for the Key of Power to the Maxwell Institute.

The thing is: Midgley let slip that the Church gives money to apologetic organizations. He said that the actual Church has given money to FAIR, Interpreter, and Book of Mormon Central. Now, it may be that the money was “funneled” through the More Good Foundation or something like that, but the fact remains: this is what Midgley said, and there is no reason to doubt him.

Bearing that in mind, Interpreter consistently seems like it is the most hard-up for funds. FAIR seems to be doing fine, and Book of Mormon Central, of course, is practically rolling in the dough. Is this simply because Book of Mormon Central is staffed with better, smarter, savvier people? (They certainly seem *nicer* compared to the Interpreter apologists…) Or does this instead reflect the degree to which the organization is being “obedient” to the dictates of the Brethren?

Whatever the case may be, it seems clear that Book of Mormon Central is “winning.” I can’t help but wonder if the Mopologists’ various gaffes have (quite literally) cost them. For example, did their harsh criticism of the Joseph Smith Papers Project—which resulted in them being “summoned” to SLC and scolded—put them on the Brethren’s bad side? Is it fair to assume that this affected decisions about how much funding to give to each apologetic organization?

[Gadianton]

Who would have thought it would come down to a game of "saw" between Interpreter and Book of Mormon Central.

[Doctor Scratch]

Who would have thought it would come down to a game of "saw" between Interpreter and Book of Mormon Central.

Well, I sort of assume that the Church was *also* giving money to FIRM and the Heartlanders, but Midgley might not have known about that, and even if he did, he would have withheld the information for tactical reasons.