Skeptoid
I was checking out my Facebook page, this morning, when I saw an update from my “friend” Brian Dunning. (I put “friend” in quotes because he’s really more of an acquaintance, but he seems to be a genuinely nice guy and I’m therefore happy to call him “friend” on Facebook.)
Brian is a big name in the FileMaker world, in part because he maintains a very popular Custom Function repository. Furthermore, since he’s good IRL friends with the partners at Excelisys, we’ve met a few times at the FileMaker Developers Conference. Somehow, though, I’ve missed something big: in clicking on his Facebook page, I discovered that he also runs a very successful Podcast called “Skeptoid” that has managed to remain below my radar until now.
The concept of Skeptoid is a simple one: each week, Brian takes an aspect of religion, pseudoscience, pop culture, etc., and debunks it in about ten minutes. At least, that’s the intention. I decided to see if Brian had anything to say about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was, of course, not disappointed.
Now, let me point out (to any new readers) that I am a Latter-day Saint not by birth, but by choice. Many that were born into the Church have also reached this point, but I never had to. My parents, my friends, and many others have been there to dissuade me from my Church membership since before I was even baptized, so it’s always been “put up or shut up” for me. To this end, I have spent some 19 years investigating the Church’s claims, from both friendly and unfriendly sources. I am vehemently opposed to the idea, popular in some “Mormon” circles, that nothing can be learned from “anti-Mormon” literature. On the contrary, critical commentary has been to my mind what exercise has been to my body: an opposing force that, while sometimes briefly painful, has strengthened me much more than just sitting on my butt and maintaining the status quo. And after 19 years of this, I think I’ve become pretty strong.
Now, let me also recognize the flip side here. Any scholarly work must be viewed in its appropriate context. I know a lot of people whose knowledge would actually be diminished by studying critical works—not because the writings themselves are worthless, but because these individuals aren’t interested in corroborating what they learn. When I read critical literature, I also read Latter-day Saint responses to said literature—and often the critics’ response to the LdS response. I’ve already dealt with this extensively in a previous post, but I think it bears repeating: Context.
So there we have it: a long, winding introduction to what I suspect will comprise my next few posts: a response to Brian Dunning’s Skeptoid episodes regarding the Church of Jesus Christ. If you’re out there, Brian, let’s get some context going here. I’ll be back. :-)
Brian is a big name in the FileMaker world, in part because he maintains a very popular Custom Function repository. Furthermore, since he’s good IRL friends with the partners at Excelisys, we’ve met a few times at the FileMaker Developers Conference. Somehow, though, I’ve missed something big: in clicking on his Facebook page, I discovered that he also runs a very successful Podcast called “Skeptoid” that has managed to remain below my radar until now.
The concept of Skeptoid is a simple one: each week, Brian takes an aspect of religion, pseudoscience, pop culture, etc., and debunks it in about ten minutes. At least, that’s the intention. I decided to see if Brian had anything to say about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was, of course, not disappointed.
Now, let me point out (to any new readers) that I am a Latter-day Saint not by birth, but by choice. Many that were born into the Church have also reached this point, but I never had to. My parents, my friends, and many others have been there to dissuade me from my Church membership since before I was even baptized, so it’s always been “put up or shut up” for me. To this end, I have spent some 19 years investigating the Church’s claims, from both friendly and unfriendly sources. I am vehemently opposed to the idea, popular in some “Mormon” circles, that nothing can be learned from “anti-Mormon” literature. On the contrary, critical commentary has been to my mind what exercise has been to my body: an opposing force that, while sometimes briefly painful, has strengthened me much more than just sitting on my butt and maintaining the status quo. And after 19 years of this, I think I’ve become pretty strong.
Now, let me also recognize the flip side here. Any scholarly work must be viewed in its appropriate context. I know a lot of people whose knowledge would actually be diminished by studying critical works—not because the writings themselves are worthless, but because these individuals aren’t interested in corroborating what they learn. When I read critical literature, I also read Latter-day Saint responses to said literature—and often the critics’ response to the LdS response. I’ve already dealt with this extensively in a previous post, but I think it bears repeating: Context.
So there we have it: a long, winding introduction to what I suspect will comprise my next few posts: a response to Brian Dunning’s Skeptoid episodes regarding the Church of Jesus Christ. If you’re out there, Brian, let’s get some context going here. I’ll be back. :-)
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