diaz@aecom.UUCP (Daniel Diaz) (10/18/85)
___________________________________________________________
The New York Times (10.17.85,p.17) reported on the attempted
murder of Mormon researcher Mark Hofmann with a car bomb. He
was attempting to acquire a letter (purportedly written by an
early Latter-Day Saint follower) which is supposed to shed some
light on the origins of the LDS movement in general and in
particular the golden plates the Book of Mormon is supposed to
have been translated from:
"The church maintains that Smith translated the
gold plates by divine inspiration after receiving
them in upstate New York from an angel named Moroni...
The letter describes how Smith found the plates
using a "seer stone," but initially was denied
possession by an "old spirit" that transformed
itself from a white salamander."
Now it is entirely possible that some opponent of the Mormon
church is attempting to frame its followers through this
bombing and the one that killed two other letter-hunters
on Tuesday.
The more frightening possibility is that some over-zealous
LDS member(s) is(are) attempting to quench the open debate on
religious matters which all who profess Christianity should
welcome. If they exist, such bombing zealots are potentially
of greater embarassment to the Mormon church than the contention
that their founder engaged in folk magic and treasure hunting.
Dan Diaz, Department of Biochemistry
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York
diaz @ aecom {..philabs!aecom!diaz}mikei@hammer.UUCP (Michael IsBell) (10/22/85)
> ___________________________________________________________ > > The New York Times (10.17.85,p.17) reported on the attempted > murder of Mormon researcher Mark Hofmann with a car bomb. He > was attempting to acquire a letter (purportedly written by an > early Latter-Day Saint follower) which is supposed to shed some > light on the origins of the LDS movement in general and in > particular the golden plates the Book of Mormon is supposed to > have been translated from: > > "The church maintains that Smith translated the > gold plates by divine inspiration after receiving > them in upstate New York from an angel named Moroni... > > The letter describes how Smith found the plates > using a "seer stone," but initially was denied > possession by an "old spirit" that transformed > itself from a white salamander." > > Now it is entirely possible that some opponent of the Mormon > church is attempting to frame its followers through this > bombing and the one that killed two other letter-hunters > on Tuesday. > > The more frightening possibility is that some over-zealous > LDS member(s) is(are) attempting to quench the open debate on > religious matters which all who profess Christianity should > welcome. If they exist, such bombing zealots are potentially > of greater embarassment to the Mormon church than the contention > that their founder engaged in folk magic and treasure hunting. > > Dan Diaz, Department of Biochemistry > Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York > diaz @ aecom {..philabs!aecom!diaz} I personally find your proposed possibilities equally chilling, but neither likely. There are "frightening" possibilities which exist for virtually any situation. Speculation as an exercise by the police to discover the scope of the crime and the players involved has utilitarian value. To incite prejudice and finger pointing with the speculation is to quench the openness which all who profess Christianity should welcome. Caution in our comments is the order of the day in a situation like this. (This is not net.politics. (-: ) Good old fashioned greed and revenge are more likely candidates for motive than religious zeal/insanity. The amounts of money involved ($40K for the "salamander letter" alone and $500K+ for the M'Lellin collection) make me wonder if I ought to scrounge great-grandmother's attic for old letters, etc. -- Michael IsBell ..!tektronix!tekecs!mikei MS 61-215 Tektronix, Inc. Wilsonville Industrial Park P.O. Box 1000 Wilsonville, Oregon 97070 (503) 685-2990
diaz@aecom.UUCP (Daniel Diaz) (10/28/85)
> I personally find your proposed possibilities equally chilling, > but neither likely. There are "frightening" possibilities which > exist for virtually any situation. Speculation as an exercise by > the police to discover the scope of the crime and the players > involved has utilitarian value. To incite prejudice and finger > pointing with the speculation is to quench the openness which > all who profess Christianity should welcome. Caution in our > comments is the order of the day in a situation like this. (This > is not net.politics. (-: ) > > Good old fashioned greed and revenge are more likely candidates > for motive than religious zeal/insanity. The amounts of money > involved ($40K for the "salamander letter" alone and $500K+ for > the M'Lellin collection) make me wonder if I ought to scrounge > great-grandmother's attic for old letters, etc. > > -- > > Michael IsBell > ..!tektronix!tekecs!mikei > Tektronix, Inc. I find Mike Bell misunderstood the spirit of my posting: Yes, it does appear that greed may have been the primary motive in the Hofmann bombing, the victim himself is suspected. But I find Mike too sensitive in his accusation of prejudice; inciting anti-Mormon sentiment was not my intention. The point is that if we oppose those critical of our belief system violently rather than examining their claims critically, it demonstrates doubt in the ability of our faith to withstand close scrutiny. A Berean spirit (Acts 17.10ff) should live in all professing Christians. The bombings raised the question of Mormon fear of the Salamander letter; I used that as a take-off point to question whether fear of criticism is healthy in the Christian community. The answer is NO! Let the evidence come; if we need to reconsider some beliefs then let's do so. The issue goes beyond whether Mormons are squelching am embarassing letter (it doesn't affect the argument) to a self-examination of our attitudes to what we perceive as hostile intellectual challenges to our faith. Dan Diaz, Department of Biochemistry Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx, New York [..!philabs!aecom!diaz ] -- Dan Diaz, Department of Biochemistry Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx, New York [..!philabs!aecom!diaz! ]