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I think that apologetics, as such, is inevitable. \u00a0Stripped of specifically religious elements, it\u2019s merely the defense of a position. \u00a0Scholars defend positions all the time, as they should<\/em>. \u00a0So do all the rest of us.<\/p>\n Whenever there is disagreement \u2014 e.g., over religion, politics, political candidates, even favorite restaurants or best vacation destinations \u2014 there will be affirmative statements and there will negative ones. \u00a0\u201cThe food is wonderful there.\u201d \u00a0\u201cMaybe, but the service is really, really slow.\u201d \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s such a pretty place.\u201d \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s too crowded.\u201d \u00a0\u201cSenator Foghorn\u2019s foreign policy stance toward the Duchy of Grand Fenwick seems to me very effective.\u201d \u00a0\u201cI disagree, it relies too much on repeated nuclear strikes and too little on regular deliveries of fresh-baked blueberry pies.\u201d<\/p>\n That is more or less what I have in mind when I\u00a0distinguish, as I commonly do, between \u201cpositive apologetics\u201d and \u201cnegative apologetics.\u201d \u00a0But I want to be very clear about that distinction, as I use it.<\/p>\n By \u201cnegative apologetics,\u201d I don\u2019t mean attacking other positions, let alone other people \u2014 to say nothing of nastiness and mean-spiritedness. \u00a0(When I speak of \u201coffense,\u201d I\u2019m not counseling that we be \u201coffensive.\u201d) \u00a0I realize that my image, in certain quarters, is that I\u2019m a vicious, hardhearted, conscienceless, polemical hack. \u00a0But even if that characterization were accurate \u2014 which I\u2019m halfway inclined to contest \u2014 it would have nothing at all to do with what I\u2019m saying here.<\/p>\n What I mean by \u201cnegative apologetics\u201d is defending a position \u2014 whether that position be religious or not \u2014 against attack. \u00a0It is comparable to playing defense in football. \u00a0In baseball, it\u2019s what one team is doing when the other team is \u201cat bat.\u201d \u00a0They\u2019re trying to prevent a score. \u00a0I judge \u201cnegative apologetics\u201d to be essential, and I regard it as just as justifiable, both morally and intellectually, as what I\u2019ve called \u201cpositive apologetics.\u201d<\/p>\n What, though, is \u201cpositive apologetics\u201d? \u00a0What I mean by the term is the provision of affirmative reasons for accepting a proposition or adopting a belief. \u00a0It is what we often call advocacy<\/em>. \u00a0One might compare it to a football offense or to being \u201cat bat\u201d in a baseball game.<\/p>\n I see no reason to regard one as legitimate and the other as illegitimate. \u00a0And, although some claim that no<\/em> form of apologetics is legitimate, well, I see absolutely<\/em> no reason to agree with that<\/em>.<\/p>\n Suppose that Scientist X argues that nature is more important than nurture in the formation of human personality. \u00a0He cites evidence and reasons to support his claim. \u00a0In that case, he is doing something essentially like positive apologetics. \u00a0Is there anything wrong with doing so? \u00a0Not that I can see.<\/p>\n Faced with Scientist X\u2019s claim, \u00a0Scientist Y disagrees, and he publishes an article disputing Scientist X\u2019s evidence and reasons.<\/p>\n It would be rather odd if Scientist X, while still holding his view, were to chastely decline to defend his position, declaring such defense morally illegitimate. \u00a0But if he were to respond by attempting to rebut Scientist Y\u2019s objections, he would, in that case, simply be doing a form of negative apologetics.<\/p>\n It is entirely legitimate to argue that the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon are credible. \u00a0Such an argument would be positive apologetics. \u00a0It is every bit as legitimate to seek to rebut claims that Oliver Cowdery denied his testimony, that Martin Harris was an unstable loon, or that David Whitmer isn\u2019t a reliable source. \u00a0In each case, the counterargument would be negative apologetics.<\/p>\n And that is what I mean by the terms.<\/p>\n Thus, to restate my opinion as clearly as I know how to do: \u00a0Both positive and negative apologetics are, in my judgment, entirely legitimate \u2014 just as offense and defense are entirely legitimate in football and just as both batting and fielding are entirely legitimate in baseball.<\/p>\n Over at the Peterson Obsession Board, denigrating and mocking Stephen Smoot<\/a> (presumably because he threatens their position) is a popular occasional pastime, as is, much less frequently, lionizing Dan McClellan<\/a> (because they esteem him, whether correctly or not, as a potent weapon against Latter-day Saint apologetics and Latter-day Saint beliefs). \u00a0Recently \u201cDumb-Dud\u201d and my Mini-Stalker have teamed up there to use me<\/em> in this game, and I think that I need to contradict their abuse of me (and of Brothers Smoot and McClellan) now, before it settles into the record as being true:<\/p>\n Supposedly, I have somewhere pronounced Dan McClellan the best student that I ever had. \u00a0But Steve Smoot, they say, also<\/em> took several classes from me while he was a student at BYU, and so, therefore, my identification of Dan McClellan as my all-time best student must surely fill Brother Smoot with shame and jealousy and sadness.<\/p>\n However, I don\u2019t believe that Steve Smoot ever took a class from me at BYU. \u00a0(He can correct me on that if I\u2019m wrong.) \u00a0And I have never said that Dan McClellan was the best student that I ever had at BYU. \u00a0I\u2019ve never even said that about anybody privately. \u00a0<\/em>Nor would I ever say it publicly \u2014 n<\/em>ot least for the very reason that I wouldn\u2019t want to cause other good students to feel relatively devalued. \u00a0I\u2019ve said, yes, that Dan was a very good<\/em> student. \u00a0But I haven\u2019t crowned a \u201cbest student ever,\u201d not even in my own mind. \u00a0There are several past students who, if I ever cared to do so, would definitely be in the competition.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>