"Dark Side" of faith

One of the bedrock teachings of Christianity is that the Gospel has the solution for every problem. An article in the Journal of Religion and Society challenges that notion. [The same issue includes an article by J. SPencer Fluhman of BYU on Anti-Mormonism and the Question of Religiou Authenticity in Antebellum America.]

The study is useful, but does not consider factors other than religiousity that seem to be more relevant when causation is considered, such as availability of guns in the U.S. compared with other nations (murder rates); lack of universal health care (child mortality, STDs, etc.). One could argue that these policies exist because of religiosity, but gun rights were established in the Constitution and I don't know of any religious justification for lack of universal health care.

Another factor to consider is that the U.S. is the only one of the countries studied that has as diverse a population. Arguably, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are also immigrant countries; however, they each have much smaller and less diverse populations. All the rest of the countries in the study have populations whose roots extend back for centuries, if not millennia.

The LA Times published an editorial about a study by evolutionay scientists Gregory S. Paul, in which Paul looked at the correlation between the extent of "popular religiosity" and various "quantifiable societal health" indicators in the U.S. and 17 other democracies. According to the Times, Paul "found that the most religious democracies exhibited substantially higher degrees of social dysfunction than societies with larger percentages of atheists and agnostics. Of the nations studied, the U.S. — which has by far the largest percentage of people who take the Bible literally and express absolute belief in God (and the lowest percentage of atheists and agnostics) — also has by far the highest levels of homicide, abortion, teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases."

The editorial claimed Paul's study confirms the trends in the U.S.: "When it comes to "values," if you look at facts rather than mere rhetoric, the substantially more secular blue states routinely leave the Bible Belt red states in the dust." "Six of the seven states with the highest 2003 homicide rates were "red" in the 2004 elections (Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, South Carolina), while the deep blue Northeastern states had murder rates well below the national average. Infant mortality rates? Highest in the South and Southwest; lowest in New England. Divorce rates? Marriages break up far more in red states than in blue. Teen pregnancy rates? The same."

Brooks continues:

"Of course, the red/blue divide is only an imperfect proxy for levels of religiosity. And while Paul's study found that the correlation between high degrees of religiosity and high degrees of social dysfunction appears robust, it could be that high levels of social dysfunction fuel religiosity, rather than the other way around."

Finally, Brooks says: "The claim that religion can have a dark side should not be news. Does anyone doubt that Islamic extremism is linked to the recent rise in international terrorism? And since the history of Christianity is every bit as blood-drenched as the history of Islam, why should we doubt that extremist forms of modern American Christianity have their own pernicious and measurable effects on national health and well-being?

"Arguably, Paul's study invites us to conclude that the most serious threat humanity faces today is religious extremism: nonrational, absolutist belief systems that refuse to tolerate difference and dissent. My prediction is that right-wing evangelicals will do their best to discredit Paul's substantive findings. But when they fail, they'll just shrug: So what if highly religious societies have more murders and disease than less religious societies? Remember the trials of Job? God likes to test the faithful.

"To the truly nonrational, even evidence that on its face undermines your beliefs can be twisted to support them. Absolutism means never having to say you're sorry. And that, of course, is what makes it so very dangerous."

Pi and one eternal round

The concept of "One Eternal Round" is difficult to explain, but it can be represented through symbols. One example was provided by Joseph Smith in the King Follet discourse:

"I want to reason more on the spirit of man; for I am dwelling on the body and spirit of man—on the subject of the dead. I take my ring from my finger and liken it unto the mind of man—the immortal part, because it had no beginning. Suppose you cut it in two; then it has a beginning and an end; but join it again, and it continues one eternal round. So with the spirit of man. As the Lord liveth, if it had a beginning, it will have an end. All the fools and learned and wise men from the beginning of creation, who say that the spirit of man had a beginning, prove that it must have an end; and if that doctrine is true, then the doctrine of annihilation would be true. But if I am right, I might with boldness proclaim from the house-tops that God never had the power to create the spirit of man at all. God himself could not create himself.
"Intelligence is eternal and exists upon a self-existent principle. It is a spirit from age to age and there is no creation about it. All the minds and spirits that God ever sent into the world are susceptible of enlargement."

Another interesting analogy is a loop sequence within Pi. Dan Sikorski discovered that if you search for the sequence "169" in Pi, it appears at position 40. Then search for 40 and it appears at position 70. Next, search for 70, and it appears at 96. The sequence eventually loops back to 169, then 40, etc. The full sequence is: 40, 70, 96, 180, 3664, 24717, 15492, 84198, 65489, 3725, 16974, 41702, 3788, 5757, 1958, 14609, 62892, 44745, 9385, 169, 40...

This odd mathmatical finding is another way to represent "One Eternal Round."

Guns, Germs and Steel and the Book of Mormon

Jared Diamond's book "Guns, Germs and Steel" describes how more advanced civilizations dominate less-advanced civilizations, primarily through technology but also biology. He relates, for example, the account of the Spanish conquest of the Inca.

There are many parallels to the Book of Mormon account.

1. The Nephites came from the fertile crescent. Lehi and his family left Jerusalem around 600 B.C., at a time when the Israelites had a relatively advanced civilization. They had agriculture (domesticated plants and animals), writing (and the associated history), weapons and tools made of steel and other metals, ship-building technology, and other advantages over more primitive societies. It's important that Nephi refers to each of these. If they were not significant in contrast to the conditions he found in the New World, it is unlikely he would have mentioned them. He would have taken them for granted, as he did many other aspects of his life, such as his family life, his personal profession (was he a farmer, a hunter, a craftsman, or something else), his clothing, his residence, etc.

2. The Nephites dominated the New World. It is apparent that shortly after arriving in the New World, the Nephites became the leaders and priests not only of their own people, but of the indigenous people they encountered. (It seems apparent that Lehi's party included more than the immediate family described, since it is unlikely that a property owner such as Lehi would not have had a household of servants, but even this expanded family group could not account for the size of the populations mentioned in the Book of Mormon.) The Nephites in their sphere, and the Lamanites in theirs, quickly became the kings over the lands they inhabited. We know from archaeology that the Americas were not uninhabited around 600 B.C., so the Lehites necessarily encountered local populations. Diamond's book describes the process by which a new culture dominates an older one, and it has to do with the very items Nephi discussed: weapons, germs, and metal.

3. Nephite advantages. The Book of Mormon recounts only two specific interactions with indigenous populations. One is the remnant of the Jaredites, Coriantumr, who had been discovered years previously by the people of Zarahemla. The record of this encounter was kept ona large stone with engravings on it. The stone was interpreted by Mosiah, the King of the Nephites. The second encouter was with the people of Zarahemla themselves, who did not have records or writing, but related thie history orally. The Zarahemla account seems to be an example of how the Nephites assimilated and dominated the indigenous population. The Nephites taught them their language, with the benefit of the Nephite writing system. The Nephites with their superior technology in agriculture and metalwork would have easily overcome whatever resistance they would have encountered. A good example of this is the depiction of the discrepancy in war-making technology. The Nephites wore armor, while their enemies were barely clad.

4. Preliminary conclusion. Applying the lessons of "Guns, Germs and Steel" to the case of the Nephites argues strongly against locating the Nephite civilization in Mesoamerica. The Mayan civilization was at least as advanced as the Nephite civilization could have been, and the Mayans clearly had superior numbers, superior knowledge of the local geography, plants and animals. The Mayans had their own writing system, their own kings and priests, and their own sophisticated weaponry. It defies credulity to suggest that a boatload of Nephites could confront such a civilization and quickly dominate it.

5. Looking elsewhere. The complete absence of any references to Mayan agriculture and animals in the Book of Mormon demonstrates that the Nephites could not have had contact with the Mayans, particularly in light of the description of Nephite agriculture. Instead, we should be looking elsewhere in the New World for conditions that satisfy the requirements of the Book of Mormon.

Guns, Germs and Steel and the Creation Story

Jared Diamond's book "Guns, Germs and Steel" assembles a diverse array of scientific discoveries to explain the dominance of Western civilization in the world. He claims that the the disparity among human societies is a product of environmental differences, not cultural or racial differences.

He starts by showing that humans were hunter-gatherers before they developed agriculture, and that the key to civilization is agriculture. In turn, the keys to agriculture are plants and animals that can be domesticated for food and work. Domesticable plant and animal species are not evenly divided around the world; hence, civilizations are not evenly dispersed.

Civilizations require plentiful food to allow some members of society to focus on things other than producing food, such as developing technology, writing, and the arts.

This is a must-read book with lots to discuss, but I want to focus here on how Diamond's concepts are reflected in the scriptures.

Bible. The creation accounts (Genesis, PoGP) describe God creating animals, including "man," during the sixth day. Here is the Genesis account:

26 ¶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 ¶ And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
(Old Testament Genesis 1:26 - 31)

This description of the commandment to these creatures reflects a hunter-gatherer existence. While it does speak of subduing the earth, there is no indication of agriculture per se. The humans were given the animals and plants for food, just as the beasts and fowl were given the plants for food. Then the sixth day comes to an end.

The next part of the creation account relates an additional creation. God rested on the seventh day. Then he noticed that "there was not a man to till the ground." (Gen. 2:5) This despite having created "man" in the sixth day. So God created Adam and planted a garden where he put him.

The new man, or Adam, differed from the previous men because this new man was created to "till the earth" from within a garden. Hence, the advent of agriculture and civilzation that Diamond describes in his book.

In another post we will discuss the introduction of moral agency and responsibility that attended the creation of Adam.

In a separate post, we will also discuss the relevance of Diamond's work on Book of Mormon studies.

William James on sacrifice

...we are in the end absolutely dependent on the universe; and into sacrifices and surrenders of some sort, deliberately looked at and accepted, we are drawn and pressed as into our only permanent positions of repose. Now in those states of mind which fall short of religion, the surrender is submitted to as an imposition of necessity, and the sacrifice is undergone at the very best without complaint. In the religious life, on the contrary, surrender and sacrifice are positively espoused: even unnecessary givings-up are added in order that the happiness may increase. Religion thus makes easy and felicitous what in any case is necessary; and if it be the only agency that can accomplish this result, its vital importance as a human faculty stands vindicated beyond dispute. It becomes an essential organ of our life, performing a function which no other portion of our nature can so successfully fulfill. (p. 51)

Book of Mormon writing

An excellent summary of the problem of archaeology and BoM writing was provided by James Warr. It can be found at http://www.geocities.com/jwarr87480/response.html

3. Evidence of Writing.
One of the points that [John Clark has] made previously, and that [Clark] reassert[s] in [his]review is that there should be surviving evidence of a written language, because of course the Nephites were literate and kept extensive written records. This of course would tend to eliminate Costa Rica as a possible site as there is little evidence of written records in the archeological record or pre-conquest cultures. However this assertion is based on the assumption that the Nephite records or writing system would somehow survive, at least in part. Is it possible that this assumption is erroneous? Isn't it just as likely that every vestige of Nephite culture would have been eradicated by their zealous enemies, the Lamanites? Consider what some of the Nephite prophets have said.

Jacob. We know that the things which we write upon plates must remain; But whatsoever things we write upon anything save it be upon plates must perish and vanish away. (Jacob 4:1-2.)

Enos (speaking of the Lamanites). For at the present our strugglings were vain in restoring them to the true faith. And they swore in their wrath that, if it were possible, they would destroy our records and us, and also all the traditions of our fathers. (Enos 1:14.)

Mormon. And it came to pass that when we had gathered in all our people in one to the land of Cumorah, behold I, Mormon, began to be old; and knowing it to be the last struggle of my people, and having been commanded of the Lord that I should not suffer the records which had been handed down by our fathers, which were sacred, to fall into the hands of the Lamanites, (for the Lamanites would destroy them) therefore I made this record out of the plates of Nephi, and hid up in the hill Cumorah all the records which had been entrusted to me by the hand of the Lord, save it were these few plates which I gave unto my son Moroni. (Mormon 6:6.)

Several things can be derived from these scriptures.

First, although the Nephites apparently wrote upon perishable materials, they knew that only those things written on plates would endure. (Note: this is a good indication that they did not write on stone. If they had written on stone, such records would have endured. No where in the record is it stated or implied that they wrote on stone as did the Olmec and Maya. The only instance of such writing is that of Coriantumr and he was a Jaredite.)

Second, the Lamanites (except for periods of righteousness) had sworn to, intended to, and probably succeeded in destroying any Nephite records which came into their hands. (The Spanish conquerors weren't the only ones who destroyed another culture's history.)

Third, not only did the Lamanites want to destroy Nephite records and scriptures, they intended to destroy Nephite traditions and culture.

Fourth, a major part of the Nephite's struggle with the Lamanites was precisely to preserve their records, religion, and culture which was distinct from that of the Lamanites.

Fifth, all surviving records written upon plates which had been passed down through the kings and prophets were hidden by Mormon in Cumorah, except those given to Moroni which were later deposited in the New York Cumorah.

From the above, I have formed the opinion that following the annihilation of the Nephites, the Lamanites did their best to extinguished every trace of Nephite society and culture. In such a scenario, one would not expect to find surviving examples of Nephite script, much as when the Hysos kings were driven out of Egypt and all record of their reign erased, including the history of Joseph.

One additional point regarding Nephite script. The glyphic writing of the Maya, Olmec, etc. in no way resembles the example of the Reformed Egyptian that we have from the Anton Transcript, so it doesn't follow that the evidence of writing in Mesoamerica proves anything in relation to Book of Mormon geography.

Book of Mormon Geography

There are multiple theories about the location of Book of Mormon events. The most widely accepted is probably John Sorenson's, which locates these events in southern Mexico and Guatemala. Most of the writers at FARMS/BYU have concluded that Mesoamerica is the mostly likely site for BoM events.

This consensus seems ill-advised for many reasons. First, the Nephites quickly assumed leadership of their territory. If the Nephites they were the only people in the land, their leadership role makes common sense. However, if instead they dominated indigenous people (which seems more likely), it is highly unlikely that a boatload of Nephites would dominate a culture as extensive and advanced as the Mayans.

FARMS/BYU also focuses on Mesoamerica because it is the only place in the Americas that had a writing system. This "evidence" is counter-intuitive. For one thing, the Mayan writing in no way resembles Egyptian/Hebrew in appearance or structure, so it's irrelevant for BoM claims. As significantly, what Mayan records we have do nothing to corroborate the BoM.

All indications from the BoM are that their writing was exclusively a tool of the ruling class, especially with respect to writing on metal plates, which was the only enduring form of writing they had. There is no reason to suggest an archaeological discovery of Nephite writings, other than what was written on plates.

The BoM does not refer to alternative written language and/or writings.

Mesoamerica also does not fit the description of plants and animals.

We should be looking instead for a territory where there is no existing record of writing; where the people were primitive enough to be quickly dominated by a boatload of Nephites; where there were plans and animals as described by the BoM; and where there were populations, geography, and earth movements that conform to BoM descriptions.

Another element largely overlooked by FARMS/BYU, and Sorenson, is the prophetic description of BoM territory.

Greetings

Each advance in knowledge brings us one step closer to knowing the truth.