![\"Versailles,](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/04\/Paris_Versailles_6288136220.jpg\")
<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n
Three more on Moore:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRoy Moore Loses the \u2018He Said \/ She Said\u2019\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMoore Defenders Betray Conservative Women\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPraying for a Sessions Write-In Candidacy: If you say you don\u2019t have enough evidence to make a judgment, you are judging Moore\u2019s accusers to be not credible.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf Roy Moore Were a Fictional Character:\u00a0You\u2019d Know He Was a Villain\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I posted a whole slew of links relating to the case of Judge Roy Moore last night:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCharacter Counts\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n It was absolutely predictable \u2014 I was actually\u00a0counting the minutes\u00a0until it happened \u2014 that, given charges against Mr. Moore that he \u201csought a sexual relationship\u201d (as more than one news report about the case rather chastely puts it) with a fourteen-year-old when he was in his thirties, critics of Mormonism<\/a> would almost instantly cite the matter of Joseph Smith and the fourteen year-old Helen Mar Kimball.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And, of course, they did.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Moreover, it\u2019s understandable<\/em> that they did and that they would. \u00a0The cases are superficially similar.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n There are differences, though \u2014 and they\u2019re significant.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The news reports about District Attorney Roy Moore describe sexual assaults on very young women. \u00a0Note the word assaults<\/em>. \u00a0These assaults were, manifestly, initiated by him and angrily or fearfully rebuffed by the unfortunate girls involved.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In the case of Helen Mar Kimball, by contrast, it seems that Joseph Smith did not initiate contact. \u00a0He did not seek any kind of relationship with the young woman. \u00a0Rather, he was approached by her father. \u00a0Moreover, even though a sealing did occur, it is arguable that the marriage was never consummated. \u00a0You could, in fact, describe the sealing of Helen Mark Kimball to Joseph Smith as something of a \u201cdynastic marriage.\u201d \u00a0A bit odd, perhaps, compared to the way we think today \u2014 and, I think, tied up with the same thinking that led to the nineteenth-century Mormon practice of \u201cadoptions,\u201d ended by revelation to Wilford Woodruff \u2014 but fundamentally and crucially different from the Roy Moore situation.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n See, on this story, the work of Brian C. Hales, which is neatly summarized in the following short article:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHelen Mar Kimball\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Moreover, while Mr. Moore seems very likely to have been prone to something that might be called at least borderline pedophilia, Joseph Smith does not seem to have been similarly inclined.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In the course of their attacks on me over this particular issue, some of the critics have reached into their armory\u00a0for one of their favorite weapons against me: \u00a0I don\u2019t care about the truth or about a balanced point of view, they say, because I\u2019m making heaps of dough from my apologetic work. \u00a0I receive regular and very large tithing checks because I defend Joseph Smith and Mormonism.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n So, once again, I resort to my principal defense on this score:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I receive no salary whatsoever for defending Mormonism. \u00a0My salary comes from serving as a professor of Islamic studies and Arabic at Brigham Young University (where I\u2019m about to head off for a committee meeting, immediately followed by Humanities 242, immediately followed by Middle East Studies-Arabic 250)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The charge is flatly and categorically false.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I would happily trade the portion of my salary that I earn from apologetics each year for what I earned during a typical month as a paperboy\u00a0or for the average annual revenue of a sidewalk lemonade stand staffed by eight-year-olds.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n With specific regard to the Interpreter Foundation, my wife and I are donors, not compensated employees. \u00a0Interpreter\u2019s bylaws permit the president and the vice presidents of the Foundation\u00a0to draw up to $500 per year as compensation for our work. \u00a0But, thus far, in more than five years of operation, none of us has ever taken so much as a single cent of such compensation. \u00a0And I foresee no change in this regard.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Still \u2014 and I very much appreciate the opportunity to mention this matter yet again \u2014 the Interpreter Foundation needs money to function.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n You can read about our annual expenses here<\/a>. \u00a0And you can learn about how to donate money to support our work here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n None of your donation \u2014 not so much as a nickel of it \u2014 will go toward buying platinum bathroom fixtures for my home or (sadly) securing a new Lamborghini\u00a0for\u00a0me.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u00a0 Three more on Moore: \u00a0 \u201cRoy Moore Loses the \u2018He Said \/ She Said\u2019\u201d \u00a0 \u201cMoore Defenders Betray Conservative Women\u201d \u00a0 \u201cPraying for a Sessions Write-In Candidacy: If you say you don\u2019t have enough evidence to make a judgment, you are judging Moore\u2019s accusers to be not credible.\u201d \u00a0 \u201cIf Roy Moore Were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n