A Mormon Takeover for LibertyForum.org? by Todd Brendan Fahey
LibertyForum.org "Administrator" "CubicleGuy" is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). Having been involved in LibertyForum.org since its inception in early 2002, I have always wondered why LF founder "John Deere" entrusted "CubicleGuy" with the powers both to access the LibertyForum database and to ban members at will.
To be a Mormon and to be a Libertarian is an oxymoron, to put it mildly. The Mormon Church is vigorously opposed to many fundamental tenets of a libertarian "pursuit of happiness," as our nation's Declaration of Independence would have it.
On June 5th, 2006, a thread broke out concerning a passage in the Doctrine and Covenants (a set of supposed "revelation" from God to LDS founder Joseph Smith in the early-1800s). The passage concerns "plural marriage" (or, polygamy). Mormon Church founder Joseph Smith was a polygamist; but, years later, facing an announced onslaught of the state of Utah on the Mormon Church hierarchy by U.S. Marshalls and the United States Army, then-"Prophet" Brigham Young decreed that he had had a "revelation"--in which, he claimed, God had spoken to him and forbade polygamy.
As luck would have it, the rescinding of polygamy in the Utah territory led to the granting to Utah of official statehood within the United States. Talk about "divine revelation."
A-hem.
Another aspect of the Mormon Church that has always concerned me is, that in the early-1980s, an LDS member forged very exquisitely some old Egyptian papyrus (paper scrolls), in which Joseph Smith is supposed to have listened to a magic salamander telling him where to find the golden plates that are the very basis for the founding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. According to the bogus scrolls, the salamander told Smith to dig at the base of a certain tree in a region of New York, year Rochester, and young Joseph would find a set of tablets that, discerned, would reveal God's plans for humanity and for the future of Christianity and the United States.
The scrolls turned out, of course, to be hokum, and the forger convicted to very hard time in the state of Utah on multiple charges...but not before the Quorum of the Twelve (the Mormon 'High Command') and its legal team would pay off said forger to the tune of $280,000. Apparently, many in the Mormon hierarchy knew Joseph Smith to have been a fraud (and, perhaps, a nutcase).
This is all matter of public record. Books, magazine articles, newpapers have revealed the story of the forgery (do a Google search for: "Salamander Letters"). But at LibertyForum.org, it is rendered verboten.
Nearly two-dozen posts on the subject were "Deleted by CubicleGuy" today, June 6, 2006. Which begs the question: In the absence of LF founder "John Deere" (who abandoned the site, sans explanation or communication on July 14, 2004), who is running this ship? And why is a Mormon allowed to be the "Administrator" with keys to LF's database?
[Deleted section of the thread begins here; to read the full thread, backtrack up to the top.]
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Original Investigative Journalism from the
Columnist Guild News Bureau
To be a Mormon and to be a Libertarian is an oxymoron, to put it mildly. The Mormon Church is vigorously opposed to many fundamental tenets of a libertarian "pursuit of happiness," as our nation's Declaration of Independence would have it.
On June 5th, 2006, a thread broke out concerning a passage in the Doctrine and Covenants (a set of supposed "revelation" from God to LDS founder Joseph Smith in the early-1800s). The passage concerns "plural marriage" (or, polygamy). Mormon Church founder Joseph Smith was a polygamist; but, years later, facing an announced onslaught of the state of Utah on the Mormon Church hierarchy by U.S. Marshalls and the United States Army, then-"Prophet" Brigham Young decreed that he had had a "revelation"--in which, he claimed, God had spoken to him and forbade polygamy.
As luck would have it, the rescinding of polygamy in the Utah territory led to the granting to Utah of official statehood within the United States. Talk about "divine revelation."
A-hem.
Another aspect of the Mormon Church that has always concerned me is, that in the early-1980s, an LDS member forged very exquisitely some old Egyptian papyrus (paper scrolls), in which Joseph Smith is supposed to have listened to a magic salamander telling him where to find the golden plates that are the very basis for the founding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. According to the bogus scrolls, the salamander told Smith to dig at the base of a certain tree in a region of New York, year Rochester, and young Joseph would find a set of tablets that, discerned, would reveal God's plans for humanity and for the future of Christianity and the United States.
The scrolls turned out, of course, to be hokum, and the forger convicted to very hard time in the state of Utah on multiple charges...but not before the Quorum of the Twelve (the Mormon 'High Command') and its legal team would pay off said forger to the tune of $280,000. Apparently, many in the Mormon hierarchy knew Joseph Smith to have been a fraud (and, perhaps, a nutcase).
This is all matter of public record. Books, magazine articles, newpapers have revealed the story of the forgery (do a Google search for: "Salamander Letters"). But at LibertyForum.org, it is rendered verboten.
Nearly two-dozen posts on the subject were "Deleted by CubicleGuy" today, June 6, 2006. Which begs the question: In the absence of LF founder "John Deere" (who abandoned the site, sans explanation or communication on July 14, 2004), who is running this ship? And why is a Mormon allowed to be the "Administrator" with keys to LF's database?
[Deleted section of the thread begins here; to read the full thread, backtrack up to the top.]
Original Investigative Journalism from the
Columnist Guild News Bureau
1 Comments:
I don't know if this article was posted here by Todd Fahey or if it's a re-post by Sartre; but I need to reply to it. I tried replying on the FriendsofLiberty.com website but you must register and wait for confirmation. After several days' wait, apparently no one is manning the ship. Whether or not there's a hostile takeover by Mormons of the LibertyForum, (Yawn) Mr. Fahey's perception of history is quite skewed. The minor error of Briham Young announcing a revelation in 1890, (thirteen years after his death)pales in the face of what "has always concerned [Fahey]." His recollection of forged Egyptian papyrus being associated with Mark Hoffmann's Salamander forgery and a $280K payola scandal is a laffer for those who are familiar with events that Fahey has only vaguely alluded to in fact.
If his account of the bruhaha at Libertyforum is as factual as is his anecdotal information on Mormonism, there is absolutely no need for concern.
By Alma, at 11:51 AM
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