Mormon Quotes

Ad hominem attacks

Boyd K. Packer
Surely no one who really thinks would hold to that position, [that all faiths lead to God].
Boyd K. Packer, "The Only True and Living Church"
Gerald N. Lund
Second, Alma exposes Korihor for what he is. (See chart 2 for a summary of how Alma dealt with Korihor.) In effect, Alma says to Korihor: "You know that we don't profit from our service in the Church, but you say we glut ourselves on the labor of the people. Therefore I say you deliberately twist the truth." It all comes down to one irrefutable conclusion: Korihor is a liar.
Gerald N. Lund, Ensign, Countering Korihor's Philosophy, July 1992
Gerald N. Lund
In other words, for Korihor to say that there is no God, based on the very criteria he himself has established, he would have to perceive every cubic meter of the universe simultaneously. This creates a paradox: In order for Korihor to prove there is no God, he would have to be a god himself! Therefore, in declaring there is no God, he is acting on "faith," the very thing for which he so sharply derides the religious leaders!
Gerald N. Lund, Ensign, Countering Korihor's Philosophy, July 1992
Daniel C. Peterson
Reflecting upon the development of the characters in Forster's long‑suppressed book, Maurice, Jones notes that, "In the world of this novel it's hard to tell whether declining religious faith fosters homosexuality or whether homosexuality kills faith. At any rate Forster sees a connection.... As their involvement in sodomy increases, so also does their opposition to Christianity."
Daniel C. Peterson, "Text and Context"
Daniel C. Peterson
The classical ad hominem is an argument, and I do believe, along with virtually all logicians, that ad hominem arguments can be legitimate, relevant, and significant—provided their limitations are clearly understood and their conclusions properly weighted. Obviously, they can be abused. But they are by no means invariably fallacious.
Daniel C. Peterson, "Text and Context"
Daniel C. Peterson
In any event, it seems clear that immorality (not merely of the homosexual variety) and intellectual apostasy are, and always have been, frequent (though not invariable) companions. (Joseph Smith's famous announcement of a link between adultery and sign‑seeking is apropos here.) Sodom and Cumorah are apparently not compatible.
Daniel C. Peterson, "Text and Context"
Daniel C. Peterson
In the brilliant third chapter of Degenerate Moderns, entitled "Homosexual as Subversive," E. Michael Jones demonstrates the crucial and explanatory role of personal lifestyle not only in the traitorous career of Sir Anthony Blunt, but in the theories of John Maynard Keynes, the biographical writings of Lytton Strachey, and the novels of E. M. Forster. "Modernity was the exoteric version of Bloomsbury biography; it was a radically homosexual vision of the world and therefore of its very nature subversive; treason was its logical outcome.... The Bloomsberries' public writings—Keynes' economic theories, Strachey's best‑selling Eminent Victorians, etc.—were the sodomitical vision for public consumption."
Daniel C. Peterson, "Text and Context"
Louis C. Midgley
It is common for historians—Michael Quinn comes to mind—and various journalists to warrant their work by thanking virtually everyone they have met for assisting them with their research, but Palmer gives only a general nod of appreciation to nameless "friends and colleagues" who read the "first and subsequent drafts" of An Insider's View (p. xiii). Are these people nameless because revealing who they are would signal that he is an "insider" among those on the fringes—that is, among apostates, dissidents, and cultural Mormons? He also neglects to indicate what triggered the first draft of his book, who helped him get started on his book in the 1980s, who encouraged him, who provided him with information then or more recently, who fed him ideas, or who it was that polished his manuscript for publication.
Louis C. Midgley, "Prying into Palmer"
Louis C. Midgley
Why, one might ask, has Palmer's publisher emphasized his having been "three‑time director of LDS Institutes of Religion in California and Utah"? Is this a way of portraying him as a loyal "insider" since Signature Books clearly wants him to be seen as being right there in the center of CES things? Or is it a way of puffing Palmer's credentials since "Institute director" sounds more impressive than "seminary teacher"? In addition to this claim of his being a "three‑time director of LDS Institutes of Religion," Palmer himself claims in the opening line of his preface to An Insider's View that "for thirty‑four years I was primarily an Institute director for the Church Educational System". "Primarily"? I have looked into this claim and it turns out to be a bit of an exaggeration. With Palmer's assistance, I have been able to reconstruct his CES assignments.
Louis C. Midgley, "Prying into Palmer"
William J. Hamblin
Metcalfe's writing betrays an academic immaturity which could benefit from a healthy dose of disciplined tutelage in a good undergraduate program.
William J. Hamblin, "An Apologist for the Critics: Brent Lee Metcalfe's Assumptions and Methodologies"
Hugh Nibley
At that time I had no means of knowing that inconsistency was the least of the author's vices...
Hugh Nibley, "No, Ma'am, That's Not History"
Hugh Nibley
Nothing could more clearly reveal its own sad lack of resources or its pathetic eagerness to find some sort of explanation for Joseph Smith than this acclaim of such a poor effort to make seminar rhetoric sound like history.
Hugh Nibley, "No, Ma'am, That's Not History"
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