Recently, the Mormon apologetic organization FAIRMormon has released several aggressive new videos via their YouTube Channel starring the actors Kwaku El, Cardon Ellis, and Brad Witbeck. These videos are intended to appeal to younger Latter-day saints, but also launch aggressive attacks against me (John Dehlin) and Jeremy Runnells (author of the CES Letter). The historical accuracy/honesty of these videos has also been called into question by many.

Today we interview Anthony D. Miller – a wise and thoughtful post-Mormon – about these latest events. Some of the topics we hope to cover are listed below. We would also welcome your questions/comments.

Topics for today:

  1. Motivations behind Mormon apologetics.
  2. Differences between Mormon apologetics and critical scholarship
  3. Contrast traditional apologetics and more progressive, nuanced apologetics
  4. Examples of people who have shifted from apologetics towards critical scholarship, and their explanations as to “the why.”
  5. Examples of people who engage with critical scholarship, but operate within Mormonism with a mostly a metaphorical paradigm with an apologetic bent.
  6. Contrast how GenZ, Millennials, GenX, and Baby Boomers engage with information.
  7. How GenZ at times experiences fragility, catastrophizing, call-out culture, and perception of violence in speech, and how these things affect engagement with apologetics and scholarship. (Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Coddling of the American Mind).
  8. Current spectrum of apologetics
  9. Approaches and methods for distribution
    1. Firesides and conferences
    2. Radical Orthodoxy proclamation, Deznat, etc.
    3. Adaptations to respond to social media, YouTube, TikTok
  10. What we might expect going forward
  11. Will this approach work? Will it backfire? Is it ethical?

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3 Comments

  1. kaigh ell December 19, 2020 at 2:35 pm - Reply

    How I read Peggy Stack, Adam Miller thinks Nathaniel Givens’ et al’s radical orthodoxy isn’t much to have ado about whereas Patrick Mason takes a wait-&-see approach.

    ” ‘ [… ]There may be nothing to disagree with on this manifesto, until ‘you want to read specific ideas into it,’ Miller says. ‘Overall, it’s fairly banal.’

    “Patrick Mason […] applauds the try to string ‘a center path between what they see between the errors of unbridled progressivism and recalcitrant fundamentalism […] and, might be particularly useful ‘if they supply a hedge [w rgd DezNat etc.]’ …

    ” …

    “… In the long run, Mason is uncertain what is going to become of the manifesto and the radical orthodoxy rhetoric. ‘It may be a nothing-burger,’ he says, ‘or the start of something massive.’ “

  2. Gail December 20, 2020 at 9:39 am - Reply

    Recently been through a faith transition/crisis. I appreciate the work you are doing John! Thank you!!

  3. Peter Wright December 22, 2020 at 5:19 pm - Reply

    “How GenZ at times experiences fragility, catastrophizing, call-out culture, and perception of violence in speech, and how these things affect engagement with apologetics and scholarship. (Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Coddling of the American Mind).”

    Generally, this was an interesting mormon stories interview. The exception being the discussion about Generation Z. Miller came off as complaining about how these young kids, “and their rock ‘n’ roll, their gyrating hips, and their close dancing are corrupting the morals of America!”

    It seems like the older generation aways says the same or similar things about the younger college-age generation. For the baby boomers it was the hippies and war protesters, for Gen X it was the ‘slacker’ stereotype, and recently people said the same thing about the Millennials.

    In my opinion, it’s not the specific generation, but the characteristics of all people who are that age and are coming of age into adulthood. And you know what, as they age they become more, wise, diligent, tough, responsible, etc, etc.

    But I guess the older generation will always be there to tell the youngsters, “to get off their lawn,” and to tell all the lazy youngsters their stories about how in their day they had to walk in two feet of snow, up a hill both ways, to school!

    With that said, otherwise it was great interview!

    That whole

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