Posted by:
MTfounder
(
)
Date: October 27, 2014 12:42PM
On May 3, 2013 MormonThink broke the news about the essays.
http://mormonthink.com/essays-responses-intro.htmThat was some time before the court action. Now I don't doubt at all that several things factored into the church's decision to put some of the information out there that has been on critics' sites for many years and in books for many decades - namely:
- so they can claim that the church isn't hiding anything.
- attempt to take some wind out of the critics' sails by innoculating its members.
- only tell half the story so when members find out about the issues then they will say they already know about it and won't bother researching the details to find the really troubling parts.
- give the members some sort of resource to go to when they bring these things up to their bishop.
- fear of lawsuits. Just as the Scientologists were ruled against in France, the LDS Church could very well find itself being sued for witholding information that prospective converts should know about before joining. Even if the U.S. legal system wouldn't likely ever rule against the church in this regard, it is not good press and any publicity generated would just highlight the problems of the church to members that don't know about them.
So yes, Tom did a great thing in showing the Church that people can and will actually challenge the Church in court to hold them accountable for their actions. That may very well influence to what degree the church acknowledges its issues in the essays.