My Assessment Of The Situation At The Maxwell Institute

[Darren10]

this situation became public when an employee at the Maxwell Institute secretly leaked confidential memos concerning Dan’s firing to anti-Mormon apostates, who have posted these memos on the web, and have been gleefully slandering and ridiculing Dan on their message boards ever since

Isn't the Maxwell Institute locate on BYU Provo campus? If so, I've no desire for LDS funds to support any organization whose membership includes sending classified documents to Mormon apostates. If this is true it is time to clean house. If the Maxwell Institute, whom I've come to greatly appreciate and admire, does not oust the leaker than it's time to oust the Maxwell Institute. Heck, I wish I could even change its name at this point.

[Bob Crockett]

All very interesting but time to move on without rancor. No sense damaging the mother institution, BYU. People come and go.

Whereas I don't think much of an MI board member or employee undermining BYU with leaked internal emails, just because there are rats in the ship doesn't mean you set the whole thing afire to get rid of them.

[Cobalt-70]

From my perspective as an outside observer, this whole scenario seems shameful on all sides. Dr. Peterson certainly does not come across well, nor does Dr. Bradford given the clumsy way that Peterson's dismissal was handled and the leakiness of the Maxwell Institute. But I have to respect Bradford's vision for the Institute if Hamblin's description of it is accurate. It deserves to become a respectable academic institution, taken seriously by outsiders. The better MI's academic reputation, the better will be BYU's reputation as a whole, and the LDS Church will also reap respectability dividends.

[mfbukowski]

If the vision is to include hard-hitting scholarly pieces from scholars who have various interpretations, including a more critical interpretation of mormonism to increase debate and dialogue among scholars and academics who are interested in Mormon Studies, it may work. But it also may not do the lds church any favors since there needs to be an apologetic journal for members to read.

This is an excellent point. We are in for a rocky road ahead, I am convinced that we have not yet even seen the tip of the iceberg now that the church is becoming more well known.

I say let's start a Daniel Peterson Apologetic Institute. It is not difficult to set up charitable trusts, and there could be enough money out there to support such a thing.

I think we have enough members with money who will see the need as the world becomes more wild and wooley and incompatible with our values.

Edited June 21, 2012 by mfbukowski

[MitoticSlime]

Wow, I guess I can admire the loyalty to Dr. Peterson, but there sure are a lot of people willing to turn on the MI, and, by extension, BYU.

My question is why is there an unspoken assumption that Dr. Bradford is alone in his vision for the MI? Don't you think that he has support from his own higher-ups in a decision this big?

[mfbukowski]

Isn't the Maxwell Institute locate on BYU Provo campus? If so, I've no desire for LDS funds to support any organization whose membership includes sending classified documents to Mormon apostates. If this is true it is time to clean house. If the Maxwell Institute, whom I've come to greatly appreciate and admire, does not oust the leaker than it's time to oust the Maxwell Institute. Heck, I wish I could even change its name at this point.

Perhaps that could in effect be done with enough support for an alternative institution.

[selek1]

Wow, I guess I can admire the loyalty to Dr. Peterson, but there sure are a lot of people willing to turn on the MI, and, by extension, BYU.

Uhhh...Slime? Who here has turned on either MI or BYU? The target of our ire is Bradford, and the "mole" leaking confidential e-mails in violation of both the law and common decency.

The closest you might come is Darren's post #26- which is predicated on the as-yet unresolved notion that MI protects a/o covers for the leaker.

My question is why is there an unspoken assumption that Dr. Bradford is alone in his vision for the MI? Don't you think that he has support from his own higher-ups in a decision this big?

Niether of which is relevant to our ire- nor to Peterson's case against Bradford.

If Bradford had a hand-written endorsememt of his "vision" signed by the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve, and Joseph Smith hand-delivered by Moroni in a flaming 1957 Chevy- it doesn't justify the shoddy and unprofessional fashion in which Professor Peterson was treated, nor the illegal and unprofessional manner in which the controversy was revealed to the public.

Edited June 21, 2012 by selek1

[mfbukowski]

oops duplicate

Edited June 21, 2012 by mfbukowski

[Mike Reed]

It is interesting to see where certain people's loyalties are.

[mfbukowski]

--Mike Reed (who has been active in the LDS Church the last 3 months--I think I've just been blessed!)

That's GREAT news Mike! Congrats!

[Scott Lloyd]

Isn't the Maxwell Institute locate on BYU Provo campus? If so, I've no desire for LDS funds to support any organization whose membership includes sending classified documents to Mormon apostates. If this is true it is time to clean house. If the Maxwell Institute, whom I've come to greatly appreciate and admire, does not oust the leaker than it's time to oust the Maxwell Institute. Heck, I wish I could even change its name at this point.

From what I can tell, there hasn't been anything trickle out since last week. Some of the information in Bill's post was new to me. I wonder if the leak has been plugged and the informant already dismissed.

[Scott Lloyd]

My thanks to BIll Hamblin for this clarification and backstory. I have felt starved for information the past several days. I'm still deeply troubled by the situation, but it is something of a relief not to have to go to the apostate boards in hopes of finding news.

[selek1]

My thanks to BIll Hamblin for this clarification and backstory. I have felt starved for information the past several days. I'm still deeply troubled by the situation, but it is something of a relief not to have to go to the apostate boards in hopes of finding news.

Ditto. I'd heard rumors and mumblings, but I didn't want to descend to those depths in search of scraps that might- or might not- have been true.

[Scott Lloyd]

I just posted this on my blog:

https://mormonscript...well-institute/

==========

After Dan was fired as editor, he said that he felt he could no longer serve the Institute in good faith as Director of Advancement (i.e. fund-raiser), since the Institute was intentionally abandoning its original mission, and Dan did not support the new direction Bradford was taking the Institute. Dan was then threatened with further possible action against him to try to force him to continue raising money for the Institute that abandoned him.

How can he be forced to raise money for an organization he no longer believes in or supports? I thought slave labor was illegal.

[Mike Reed]

How can he be forced to raise money for an organization he no longer believes in or supports? I thought slave labor was illegal.

Don't forget that you are hearing Bill Hamblin's side of the story.

[why me]

Whereas I don't think much of an MI board member or employee undermining BYU with leaked internal emails, just because there are rats in the ship doesn't mean you set the whole thing afire to get rid of them.

If this is the same informant that has been feeding information to someone on the other board, I think that it is then very important.

[Darren10]

All very interesting but time to move on without rancor. No sense damaging the mother institution, BYU. People come and go.

Whereas I don't think much of an MI board member or employee undermining BYU with leaked internal emails, just because there are rats in the ship doesn't mean you set the whole thing afire to get rid of them.

If there are rats now, more will tend to come. I think it's time to clean house at Maxwell Institute. They have every right, however stupidly conceived, to take the organization into a new direction. However, leaking docements to Mormon apostates in order to damage a faithful faculty member of BYU and a faithful construtor to its own organization? That lacks ethical standards to the upmost degree and I've no desire for the LDS Church to provide its resources to any organization which does not clean its own house from these "rats".

[why me]

Don't forget that you are hearing Bill Hamblin's side of the story.

We are actually hearing Bill's interpretation of the story. And this is a very important interpretation when we consider that the exmormon interpretation was there for all to read.

[why me]

If there are rats now, more will tend to come. I think it's time to clean house at Maxwell Institute. They have every right, however stupidly conceived, to take the organization into a new direction. However, leaking docements to Mormon apostates in order to damage a faithful faculty member of BYU and a faithful construtor to its own organization? That lacks ethical standards to the upmost degree and I've no desire for the LDS Church to provide its resources to any organization which does not clean its own house from these "rats".

And this leaking as been going on for years to the detriment of Dan. And that says much. You are right about a house cleaning. Or at least find the mole who has been feeding exmormons information about Dan.

[why me]

Just saying it like it is.

I think that we should stay on topic. Having a mole who is attempting to ruin someone is a big thing, don't you think?`And remember that this is an organization tied to the church directly or indirectly. Who leaked the emails and who had access to them?

[Darren10]

Perhaps that could in effect be done with enough support for an alternative institution.

I'd like updates an any such institution. I've already emailed my parents to foward this link to a person who years ago brilliantly interwove FARMS reseach into Gospel Doctrine class. I remember him a big subscriber to and promoter of FARMS. I'm sure he'll be interested in the current Maxwell insitute development and whatever comes of it.

[Scott Lloyd]

Don't forget that you are hearing Bill Hamblin's side of the story.

I saw the two leaked emails. Dan made his position very clear. If indeed he is being compelled to raise funds at this point, that amounts to forced labor. There's no other way to read it.

[Mike Reed]

I think that we should stay on topic. Having a mole who is attempting to ruin someone is a big thing, don't you think?`And remember that this is an organization tied to the church directly or indirectly. Who leaked the emails and who had access to them?

Don't like what someone says, just call them a mole. Snore...

[MitoticSlime]

Uhhh...Slime? Who here has turned on either MI or BYU? The target of our ire is Bradford, and the "mole" leaking confidential e-mails in violation of both the law and common decency.

The closest you might come is Darren's post #26- which is predicated on the as-yet unresolved notion that MI protects a/o covers for the leaker.

Niether of which is relevant to our ire- nor to Peterson's case against Bradford.

If Bradford had a hand-written endorsememt of his "vision" signed by the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve, and Joseph Smith hand-delivered by Moroni in a flaming 1957 Chevy- it doesn't justify the shoddy and unprofessional fashion in which Professor Peterson was treated, nor the illegal and unprofessional manner in which the controversy was revealed to the public.

OK, maybe I was mistaken in thinking that the lamentations by various posters regarding the new direction of the MI were an expression of disagreement with those who are currently determining that direction.

If your only complaints are with the specific way that Dr. Peterson was treated and the leak of confidential information then I think that's a perfectly defensible position. I personally, however, would like to hear Dr. Bradford's take on why he sent the email while Dr. Peterson was out of the country before making a final judgment. It does look bad, but there may be more to that story, too.

[Mike Reed]

I saw the two leaked emails. Dan made his position very clear. If indeed he is being compelled to raise funds at this point, that amounts to forced labor. There's no other way to read it.

I'm not so sure. Was his travels funded in any way by the institute? If it was... then the situation is far more sticky than some people here may want to believe.