Southerton's Hobby Horses

For decades, Mormon scholars at Brigham Young University have believed the Semitic Nephite civilisation and the Maya civilisation were one and the same. According to these apologists, archaeological ruins throughout Mesoamerica bear witness to this claim. Preeminent LDS apologist, John Sorenson, has found hundreds of weak parallels between the Maya and the Nephites, and prominent Mormon apologists Daniel Peterson, Terryl Givens and Richard Bushman have praised Sorenson's Maya research from the rooftops. Meanwhile, Michael Coe, a leading scientific expert on the Maya, has said these claims are wishful thinking. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙖𝙗𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙪𝙥 𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙖𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙪𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙗𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙤𝙛 𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙤𝙣, 𝙖𝙨 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙅𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙥𝙝 𝙎...

“If you get on a hobby horse it will ride you right out of the Church.” President Heber J. Grant I rode a DNA hobby horse out of the Mormon Church in 1998, after I discovered Native Americans and Polynesians have no ancient Jewish ancestry. Zilch. I soon realised the Book of Mormon was fiction, so I saddled up. Another hobby horse I have enjoyed riding since my epiphany, is studying church membership data. I enjoy tracking the decline of the LDS Church. The church does enormous damage to many mixed faith families (over 85% of the church) so the smaller the church, the fewer families are damaged, and I feel good about that. This post is for those of you who would like a ride on my new hobby horse. First up, it’s important to remember, just as it has hidden unsavoury parts of its history, the Mormon Church hides unfavourable membership data. The leaders have known since around 1998 that the church was struggling, and right now they know the church is effectively shrinking globall...