Posted by rpcman on April 09, 1998 at 13:33:27:
In Reply to: Brodie posted by 1900 on April 09, 1998 at 13:14:26:
Since people frequently assert that my site isn't one of Honest Intellectual Inquiry I'll go into a little discourse here that I can latter reference when the issue is raised.
First of all, what is 'honest'? It is more than not lying. It goes hand and hand with 'inquiry'. It means, in part, that one is willing to look at all vantage points before forming a conclusion *and even then* being willing to change a conclusion based on new information.
I'm assuming you are Mormon based on your need to defend Joseph Smith. Is it really honest for the church (or FARMS) to only present one side of the issues? I don't think you will find lds.org or the FARMS site erecting a bulletin board which encourages discussions of the issues from all vantage points. I also don't think you will find them linking to this site in the near future--even though I have no problem linking to them. To me, at least, this is honesty on my part (and a form of dishonesty on theirs).
Finally, what is 'intellectual'? It simply means that the site is aimed at gathering and presenting facts. Nothing on the site is intended to be based on faith. Therefore, discussions should be based on facts--rather than testimonies or apologetics. (I define apologetics as being reasoning that violates Occam's Razor in order to preserve faith in a pre-conceived belief. A predetermined conclusion must be defended rather than more correct conclusions being formed.)
Hopefully this will clear things up for others. I'm not aiming this at you specifically. ;)
In case you haven't read my analysis of Brodie and the others provided on the site, I will include a link below. I do in fact state clearly on my site that the book is 'far from perfect' along with other critiques. If you'd like to do a detailed analysis of where she makes mistakes, I'll be more than happy to link to your site or even house your work here.