A friend of mine was offended by my recent post which compared many religion's acceptance of either a book or a person as being infallible with similar conduct by the German people during the rule of Hitler and the Nazi party. I had focused on the LDS religion in particular, and my friend is LDS. His comments bring up many topics for further discussion, but none more than a discussion of the difference between opinions, errors and lies.
First, for the benefit of anyone who thinks my chief beef with the LDS Church is related to the controversy over same sex marriage, let me set the record straight. I disagree with the church on this issue, but it is far from being the chief complaint I have against the LDS leadership. As those who have followed my postings over the last year are aware, I left the church over the policy of encouraging all unwed mothers to relinquish their babies to LDS Family Services so they could be placed for adoption with good, temple worthy Mormon families.
Now, back to my main topic. We all have opinions. An opinion is something we think is true or that we think is the right course of action. My friend is of the opinion that homosexuality is evil. I have a different opinion. My father in law is of the opinion that unwed mothers should relinquish. I have a different opinion. There is an old saying that goes to the effect that opinions are like armpits. We all have them and they usually stink. Opinion is not evidence, opinion is not fact. Sometimes opinions are no more than a matter of taste. I like lobster, Amy doesn't.
An opinion becomes an error when it is controverted by evidence. The opinion that all unwed mothers should relinquish is controverted by evidence that it is traumatic for the child, that it is traumatic for the mother, that it is contrary to central Christian doctrine and is totally opposed by doctrines of other faiths. I could go into a great deal of detail on the evidence controverting this particular opinion, and have elsewhere. The bibliography of my preliminary research ran to eight pages and included all of the information I could find online and from three university libraries. It has grown since. It covered both theological and secular rationals for adoption, and traced the history of adoption over 2500 years. I found absolutely zero evidence to support the claim that the child is better off. I found substantial (though biased) evidence to the contrary. My opinion is still my opinion, perhaps, but it now qualifies as a "considered" opinion.
Church and political leaders, and others who, by virtue of their positions are followed by many who would otherwise not take the time to do the research to form their own considered opinions, also have opinions. But such a leader, especially one that holds himself out as a prophet of God, and claims to speak for deity, or who is revered as such by his followers, has a responsibility to ensure that the opinions he promulgates are sound and considered. One could argue the such a person in morally obligated to ensure that his personal opinions are not intermixed with the pronouncements of deity. Which brings us to the topic of lies.
We all know the basics of what a lie is. When a person says something is a fact that is not a fact. If a used car salesman tells me that the car I'm looking at was only driven to church on Sunday by a little old lady, and it was really involved in several accidents because its teenaged owner was a bit of a reckless speed freak, then the salesman lies. If a commercial says buy product A because studies show it is good for you, when no such studies exist, the commercial lies. Am I correct in assuming that there is no basic disagreement on this premise.
If a leader esteemed a prophet proclaims his own opinion as "the will of God," such a claim is a lie. If he proclaims his personal opinion as his own but knowingly in a context where it could be considered "the word of God," then he still commits deception, even if the deception is, or at least may be, unintended. If his opinion is later controverted by evidence that shows his opinion to be error, and he fails to correct the misperception created by the error, whether because of personal gain or pride or for whatever reason, then the deception can longer be considered unintentional, and the error must be considered as a lie.
Now, lets put all of this together. If a person (or group of persons) esteemed as a prophet (or group of prophets, seers and revelators) express their personal opinions either as the will of deity or in a context where it would reasonably be construed to be such, and bases this opinion on facts which they allege to be true, but which in fact are not true, and the discrepancy is brought clearly and unambiguously to their attention and they are given an opportunity to correct the discrepancy but fail to do so, then they have lied.
They may very well believe that their opinion is correct, but to pass it off on the membership of the church as prophetic revelation, and then to base it on false information still makes it a lie. Even if they were the victims of someone else's lie (LDS Family Services would cease to exist if this lie were completely eliminated), being shown the error, their failure to correct it still leaves them as deliberate deceivers.
And so it is with the LDS Church's policy, promulgated and ratified by every church leader since 1994. And this policy, blindly followed by the uncritical mass of membership, is the impetus for my comparison with Nazi Germany. The harm to the newborn infant unnecessarily relinquished for adoption is significant enough that I consider it to be child abuse.
As I told the First Presidency in my letter, Jesus said his followers would be known by their fruits. The "fruits" of the LDS policy on adoption are iniquity beyond what I've described here. Harldy the fruits one would expect of the Lord's chosen people.
First, for the benefit of anyone who thinks my chief beef with the LDS Church is related to the controversy over same sex marriage, let me set the record straight. I disagree with the church on this issue, but it is far from being the chief complaint I have against the LDS leadership. As those who have followed my postings over the last year are aware, I left the church over the policy of encouraging all unwed mothers to relinquish their babies to LDS Family Services so they could be placed for adoption with good, temple worthy Mormon families.
Now, back to my main topic. We all have opinions. An opinion is something we think is true or that we think is the right course of action. My friend is of the opinion that homosexuality is evil. I have a different opinion. My father in law is of the opinion that unwed mothers should relinquish. I have a different opinion. There is an old saying that goes to the effect that opinions are like armpits. We all have them and they usually stink. Opinion is not evidence, opinion is not fact. Sometimes opinions are no more than a matter of taste. I like lobster, Amy doesn't.
An opinion becomes an error when it is controverted by evidence. The opinion that all unwed mothers should relinquish is controverted by evidence that it is traumatic for the child, that it is traumatic for the mother, that it is contrary to central Christian doctrine and is totally opposed by doctrines of other faiths. I could go into a great deal of detail on the evidence controverting this particular opinion, and have elsewhere. The bibliography of my preliminary research ran to eight pages and included all of the information I could find online and from three university libraries. It has grown since. It covered both theological and secular rationals for adoption, and traced the history of adoption over 2500 years. I found absolutely zero evidence to support the claim that the child is better off. I found substantial (though biased) evidence to the contrary. My opinion is still my opinion, perhaps, but it now qualifies as a "considered" opinion.
Church and political leaders, and others who, by virtue of their positions are followed by many who would otherwise not take the time to do the research to form their own considered opinions, also have opinions. But such a leader, especially one that holds himself out as a prophet of God, and claims to speak for deity, or who is revered as such by his followers, has a responsibility to ensure that the opinions he promulgates are sound and considered. One could argue the such a person in morally obligated to ensure that his personal opinions are not intermixed with the pronouncements of deity. Which brings us to the topic of lies.
We all know the basics of what a lie is. When a person says something is a fact that is not a fact. If a used car salesman tells me that the car I'm looking at was only driven to church on Sunday by a little old lady, and it was really involved in several accidents because its teenaged owner was a bit of a reckless speed freak, then the salesman lies. If a commercial says buy product A because studies show it is good for you, when no such studies exist, the commercial lies. Am I correct in assuming that there is no basic disagreement on this premise.
If a leader esteemed a prophet proclaims his own opinion as "the will of God," such a claim is a lie. If he proclaims his personal opinion as his own but knowingly in a context where it could be considered "the word of God," then he still commits deception, even if the deception is, or at least may be, unintended. If his opinion is later controverted by evidence that shows his opinion to be error, and he fails to correct the misperception created by the error, whether because of personal gain or pride or for whatever reason, then the deception can longer be considered unintentional, and the error must be considered as a lie.
Now, lets put all of this together. If a person (or group of persons) esteemed as a prophet (or group of prophets, seers and revelators) express their personal opinions either as the will of deity or in a context where it would reasonably be construed to be such, and bases this opinion on facts which they allege to be true, but which in fact are not true, and the discrepancy is brought clearly and unambiguously to their attention and they are given an opportunity to correct the discrepancy but fail to do so, then they have lied.
They may very well believe that their opinion is correct, but to pass it off on the membership of the church as prophetic revelation, and then to base it on false information still makes it a lie. Even if they were the victims of someone else's lie (LDS Family Services would cease to exist if this lie were completely eliminated), being shown the error, their failure to correct it still leaves them as deliberate deceivers.
And so it is with the LDS Church's policy, promulgated and ratified by every church leader since 1994. And this policy, blindly followed by the uncritical mass of membership, is the impetus for my comparison with Nazi Germany. The harm to the newborn infant unnecessarily relinquished for adoption is significant enough that I consider it to be child abuse.
As I told the First Presidency in my letter, Jesus said his followers would be known by their fruits. The "fruits" of the LDS policy on adoption are iniquity beyond what I've described here. Harldy the fruits one would expect of the Lord's chosen people.
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