Last night ended another Sunstone West Symposium. It come off wonderfully, despite a few initial hurdles. Apparently, when Mary Ellen Robertson arrived on Friday afternoon to prepare for the Symposium, the maintenance people on campus hadn't set anything up yet. They explained that two nice young men in suits with nametags that said "Elder" had come by and notified them that the event was cancelled! Fortunately Mary Ellen had come early enough to get things set up in time. Thanks to Mary Ellen for all her hard work in making the Symposium a success, despite the apparent sabotage!
Friday evening, prior to the first session, I had the pleasure of dining with Bryan Cottle, Don Bradley, Newell Bringhurst, Tom Kimball, and Mike and Ken Reed. Tom told me over dinner that Grant Palmer had been very hurt by the comments recently made about him at MADB, and really appreciated my standing up for him there. I was extremely happy to hear that something good had come from my involvement in that fiasco, since it was pretty costly for me in terms of emotional investment and personal relationships (not to mention time spent online instead of on homework). Tom provided me with a complementary copy of Grant's book, for which I'm very grateful.
After dinner, Tom told the following joke:
Q: What are crows?
A: Seagulls that refused to eat crickets in the pre-existence.
It sufficeth me to say, I have a new favorite Mormon joke.
I'll share my thoughts on some of the individual sessions in a later post.
5 comments:
Q: What are crows?
hahahahahahaha!
Thanks for the comments. Did the missionaries really try to sabotage the event? Jeez.
I never go to the board you reference. Can you tell me anything about how Grant Palmer was attacked and what became of it all?
I'm surprised the "missionaries" even knew what Sunstone was to attempt a sabotage!
Ha ha great joke.
I took a look at the MADB thread. Wow - kudos for sticking up for Grant Palmer. I know his book has taken some criticism for a couple parallels he outlined but the rest of the book is fantastic work.
I look forward to hearing about the Sunstone Symposium.
Palmer was said to have used disingenuous means to retain his employment and get a pension from the Church. This statement was credited to "Louis Midgley's sources" (who remain anonymous to the rest of us). Apparently Midgley was the first to make the accusation in his FARMS Review of Palmer's book.
I objected to this statement about Palmer on principle. In my opinion, it is not just harmless or casual gossip. It is a very serious accusation with the potential to do significant damage to Palmer's reputation. I don't think such a claim belongs on a public message board. I also don't think one should make such a claim unless a) one has made a sincere effort to understand Grant's side of the story, and b) one is prepared to cite the names and testimonies of one's sources. In my opinion, the individuals who are making this accusation have done neither.
The ensuing conversation unfortunately focused mainly on whether I had accurately represented the claim when I objected to its implication that Palmer had somehow scammed or defrauded the Church. The MADB Mormons seemed to think I was overreacting and deliberately smearing the person who made the claim. The person who made the claim stood by the accusation, but strongly disagreed with my reading of its implication. He disagreed so strongly, in fact, that he took personal offense and said some very hurtful things to me. I pretty quickly withdrew form the discussion, and I think-- I hope-- that the individual's ill-feelings eventually dissipated.
Anyway, for anyone who wants to hear Palmer's own account of events, I recommend his interview on Mormon Stories. It puts a human face on the controversy and explains Palmer's motives and his own perception of events. I'd be very surprised if anyone could walk away from that interview still thinking that Midgley's essay or the comments made on the MADB thread fairly characterized the situation.
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