Kent Hovind Sentenced to 10 Years

Kent Hovind has been sentenced to 10 years for tax evasion. But don't you worry; he'll be back in no time and have martyr status to boot.

Prior to his sentencing, a tearful Kent Hovind, also known as "Dr. Dino" asked for the court’s leniency.

“If it’s just money the IRS wants, there are thousands of people out there who will help pay the money they want so I can go back out there and preach,” Hovind said.

Hovind, founder of Creation Science Evangelism and Dinosaur Adventure Land in Pensacola, was found guilty in November of 58 federal counts, including failure to pay $845,000 in employee-related taxes. He faced a maximum of 288 years in prison.

Don't let the tears fool you. Hovind dodged the IRS for 17 years claiming that he didn't have any income, own property, or have employees--that everything he had actually belonged to God, that his employees were volunteers (that were paid cash) and that he therefore didn't owe taxes.

For more background on Hovind see here.

Continue reading...

Variant LDS Creationism

Mormons usually are not particularly unique in their creationism. Except for a few details on the timing of creation and the creation of Adam and Eve, they usually let other segments of Christianity do the work for them and follow their lead. However at WeaverResearch there are some new (or at least uncommon) twists to young-earth creationism.

Continue Reading at Mormons and Evolution.

Continue reading...

Pre-Columbian Parasites

Jeff Lindsay at Mormanity recently drew attention to John Sorenson's article, "Scientific Evidence for Pre-Columbian Transoceanic Voyages to and from the Americas."

In an attempt to find some corroborating publications, I did a little searching and turned up this recent article on hookworm. I also found an older article. Interested persons may wish to have a look at them.

I cannot speak to the quality of the journals, however Current Anthropology looks legitimate, coming out of the University of Chicago.

Continue reading...

Book Notes: The Church and Smallpox Vaccination

I'm going to try out a new type of post, that I'll call 'Book Notes,' which consists of things I come across in my reading that I think are worth mentioning. Rather than attempting to give lots of background and analysis, either on the topic or the book, I will simply convey what the particular author has written. If it's convenient, I may add some additional outside information. [I have since decided to put all book posts under the book notes category.]

From Mormonism in Transition, by Thomas G. Alexander (p. 195):

Early in the twentieth century the idea of mandatory smallpox vaccination was controversial in Utah. Mainstream medicine was growing in favor among the Saints, but there were many who shunned it. [In fairness, mainstream medicine was only beginning to be trustworthy.] Millenialism and belief that righteous living and the power of the priesthood would protect them, led some to oppose mandatory vaccination.

Continue Reading

As editor of the Deseret News Charles W. Penrose opposed manditory vaccination on the grounds of personal liberty. Although it seems he represented the minority of church leaders, many took Penrose's position as representative of church leadership. The Utah legislature overrode Governor Heber M. Wells's veto to pass a bill prohibiting compulsory vaccination, thus "subjecting Utah children to disease for many years." Twenty years later the First Presidency and the Twelve would finally support compulsory vaccination.

The controversy illustrates two tensions in Mormon society. First, many valued individual libery over the general non-church welfare and would invoke the doctrine of free agency to avoid compulsion. Second, in an apparent effort to make Church leaders at least appear unified and harmonious, the First Presidency and Twelve generally avoided public debate. General Authorities generally did not publically speak out against the position of other General Authorities, thus the first position to reach the public, whether through publication or rumor, was viewed by many as having Church support (something that also played an important role in Utah politics, as is discussed elsewhere in the book).

---

Here is an excerpt from a speech given by Joseph F. Smith (Improvement Era, August 1910):

When I was on missions I was called to administer to the sick, who were ill with almost every kind of disease. It was not uncommon that we were called to administer to those who were sick with small pox. For myself I dared not turn away from the call of the sick, and I administered to some of them, when, owing to their appearance, it was almost impossible to tell that they were human beings, for they had the disease in its worst form. My guardians had taken the precaution, in my youth, to have me vaccinated. I took the disease, but had it in mild form, so that it did not leave even a mark upon my body. I am as satisfied as I can be that had it not been for vaccination, I would have had the disease in very bad form. I believe that our elders ought to be vaccinated. Now, I know that this will not be in accordance with some people's views. We receive word that many of our elders, who have failed to attend to this matter, are exposed to the disease and become affected with it; and recently a number of them have had to be taken to the pest-houses to be cared for.

Of course, smallpox has since been eradicated through vaccination. Since the risk of adverse effects of vaccination now outweigh the risk of getting the disease, the public is no longer vaccinated.

Continue reading...

What Does Richard Dawkins Really Think?

Richard Dawkins is certainly a polarizing figure, and with his latest book assailing belief in God (which I have not read), the rhetoric has been raised on all sides. What I have read of his writing, I have generally enjoyed. He makes me think, if nothing else.

Apparently, in his latest book, Dawkins compares indoctrinating children in religion to child abuse. (Can we agree that in some cases the comparison might be apt?) This, of course, raises the blood pressure of religious people, as well as civil libertarians.

But does Dawkins actually think that it should be illegal to teach your religion to your children? I can't read his mind, but his response to Nick Matzke at The Panda's Thumb appears to answer that question.

Continue reading...

A Letter from Jesus

Last week I was browsing through the autobiographical sketch of my pioneer great-great uncle and noticed an entry dated Jan 6, 1900, that contains "A Letter of Jesus Christ."

Continue Reading

A little internet searching turned up just a handful of relevant links (see bottom). It appears to be a chain letter that circulated since at least the 1700's, a copy of which also made it into the autobiography of fellow-pioneer Oliver B. Huntington. (Out of convenience, and because it matches my relative's version pretty well, I am reproducing Huntington's letter below.)

The letter presents itself as a kind of protective charm; those who have a copy will be blessed and prosper.

I have not thoroughly read each copy I have found, but there are some differences. Most interesting is that Huntington and my ancestor appear to have a 'Mormonized' version. The Mormon elements are not overt, but references to the latter days, New Jerusalem, gathering of the ten tribes, and the temple are not in the other versions.

The distance from Iconium and years after the death of Jesus that the letter was allegedly discovered varies somewhat. Eighteen miles and either 65 or 53 years are the most common. Interestingly, my ancestor's copy has 12 miles and 15 years, whereas Huntington has 18 miles and 53 years (which agrees with two other copies). Thus' Huntington's copy appears to be transitional between older versions and my relative's. Also the year that Gabriel signed it varies among the copies.

From Huntington:

Purporting to have been written by Jesus Christ, and translated from the hebrew into the English language.

Written by our Savior, Jesus Christ, and found eighteen miles from Iconium, 53 years after our Savior's crucifixion. Transmitted from the Holy City by a converted Jew, faithfully translated from the original Hebrew copy, now in possession of Lady Cuba's family in Mesopaotamie.

This letter was written by Jesus Christ, and found under a great stone, at the foot of the cross. Upon the stone was engraved, "Blessed is he that shall turn me over." All the people that saw it prayed to God earnestly, desiring that he would make this writing known to them, and that they might not attempt in vain to turn it over. In the mean time there came a little child about six or seven years old, and turned it over without assistance, to the admiration of every person that was standing by. It was carried to the city of Iconium, and there published by a person belonging to the house of Cuba. On the letter was written the commandments of Jesus Christ, and signed by the angel Gabriel, 74 years after our Savior's birth.

A Letter of Jesus Christ.

Whosoever worketh on the Sabbath day, shall not prosper. I command you all to go to worship, and to keep the Lord's day holy, without doing any manner of work.

You shall not idly spend your time in bedecking yourself with superfluities of costly apparel and vain dresses, for I have ordained it to be a day of rest. I will have it kept holy, that your sins may be forgiven you; you shall not break my commandments, but observe what is written and spoken with my own mouth. You shall not only go to the temple, but also send your man servants and maid servants, and observe my words and commandments. You shall finish your labor every Saturday in the afternoon, at six o'clock, at which hour is the preparation for the Sabbath.

I counsel you to fast five Fridays every year, beginning with good Friday immediately following, in remembrance of the five wounds which I received for all mankind.

You shall diligently and peaceably labor in your respective callings wherein it has pleased God to place you. You shall love one another with brotherly love, and cause them that are baptized to attend worship, and receive the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper; and to the members of the Church, in doing, I will give long life, and many blessings; and your land shall flourish, and your cattle shall bring forth in abundance. I will give unto you many comforts in the greatest temptations; and he that doeth contrary shall be unprofitable. I will also send hardness of hearts upon them till I see them; but especially upon the impenitent and unbelieving.

He that giveth freely to the poor, shall not be unprofitable.

Remember, he that hath a copy of this letter, written with my own hand, and keepeth without publishing to others shall not prosper; but he that publisheth it to others shall be blessed of me, and though his sins be in number as the stars in the sky, and he believe, he shall be pardoned; but if he believe not in me and my commandments, I will send my own plagues upon him and consume him, his children and his cattle. And in coming ages, when my saints shall arise in various regions of the earth, I will be with them when they go forth to baptize the nations in my name, even as I submitted to be baptized by my servant John, and I will bless my people in all their afflictions, and will strengthen them when persecuted by their foes, uphold them when nigh unto falling, and establish their feet even when walking in difficult and uneven paths.

In the latter days, when the New Jerusalem, my holy city, shall be sanctified and consecrated on the earth, then the ten tribes shall be gathered together as to one holy temple, and my glory shall be there, and their reward shall be great; and whosoever shall have a copy of these my words, and put their trust in me, and shall obey the ordinance which I have commanded, them will I deliver in times of storms and famine and pestilence.

---

Other copies:
1950?
1795
1739
1800's?

Also, note that Huntington and the 1795 source share another letter written to Jesus along with Jesus' reply.

Continue reading...

FARMS, Science, and the Afterlife

The latest Journal of Book of Mormon Studies has an article by Robert Rees titled, "The Book of Mormon and Automatic Writing."

I was surprised to see a little discussion about prominent skeptical investigator James Randi, then I understood why. Rees discusses scientific studies that purport to support the existence of an afterlife. He specifically references Gary Schwartz and his book, The Afterlife Experiments, which describes studies that provide evidence that mediums can receive messages from the dead, and he (Rees) finds Schwartz's studies convincing.

Continue Reading

I believe that the evidence suggested by some automatic writing, as well as the intuition studies of the Institute of HeartMath and the afterlife experiments of Gary Schwartz and Linda Russek, presents a compelling argument for the possibility of communication from the immortal to the mortal world.

I hadn't heard of Schwartz until I read the article, so I haven't read his book, but you can bet that his claims have not gone unnoticed by skeptics. Rees provides a few references that are mostly a he-said-she-said spat between Schwartz and Randi. Although in a footnote he mentions that the Skeptical Inquirer has covered Schwartz, Rees doesn't provide any links (I wonder why). So here you are:

A Critique of Schwartz et al.'s After-Death Communication Studies

How Not to Test Mediums: Critiquing the Afterlife Experiments

How Not To Review Mediumship Research

Hyman’s Reply to Schwartz’s 'How Not To Review Mediumship Research’

My thoughts:

1. Claims of scientific evidence of the paranormal are like claims that the head cheerleader likes you. You want to believe it, but you better make sure it is reliable information. Skepticism is warranted to prevent you from falling hard, looking like a fool, or both. If there is reliable evidence that the afterlife exists and that mediums can contact the dead, then further and better studies done by other people will confirm it. Otherwise something else is going on.

2. Do we need to appeal to others' claims of paranormal activity to make Joseph Smith seem more authentic? I have some doubts about whether that is a good idea, particularly at the flagship of LDS apologetics.

Continue reading...

Determinism, Reductionism, and Regressionism

Jim F. over at Times and Seasons has raised the issue of naturalism and evil. Rather than display my ignorance on a high-traffic blog, I'll do it here. Specifically, I want to comment on Blake's comment:
Continue Reading

I believe that Jim’s argument is valid if by naturalistic explanation we mean deterministic physical explanation where everything is explained as merely a function of what went before so that the universe at t1 determines all subsequent states of the universe. In such a universe there is no free will of the type necessary to make choices that are truly self-expressive or that arise from responsible choices; rather, we are merely algorithmic processors of what went before and nothing is truly novel because it was already implicit in the prior states of the universe. In that case, I don’t see how there could be non-nihilistic meaning or responsibility. For example, my choice of my wife is fully explained not by my choice to love her; but by the physical states of the universe. I don’t see how there could be such a thing as truly meaningful life in such instances.

It goes on a little further with that kind of talk. Maybe it is a misunderstanding of language, but I don't get it. Maybe free will, evil and so forth cannot be explained by our current science. But if we grant that such is the case, it seems to me that you can either mean that you are waiting for more forces to be inducted into what we recognize as natural, or you are locked into an infinite regression of hierarchy needed to give anything meaning.

Either my love for my family (or the existence of evil, or free will) is an emergent property of the fact that the universe has four fundamental forces (or one, or eight) or the fundamental forces of the ultimate multiverse, or the alternative is to posit that each realm derives meaning or essence from a higher realm, and so on for infinity.

If, in the next life, God welcomes me to exalted realms of happiness and then fills me in on the absolute root of all things, shall I feel that my whole existence is a sham?

Continue reading...