Many Latter-day Saints (LDS) are surprised to learn about the origins of the Mesoamerican/Two Cumorahs theory (M2C.)
M2C originated in the “lab” of RLDS scholar L.E. Hills. Hills developed the theory about 100 years ago and published it in a book that included a map which our current M2C scholars have followed ever since.
M2C is a leak from that lab. But unless you’re paying attention, you’d never know that because most modern LDS have been led to believe that M2C was developed by the credentialed class at BYU, the self-appointed “experts” on the Book of Mormon who knew more about the Book of Mormon than the rest of us.
Actually, they claim they know more about the Book of Mormon than Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery did, to the point where our modern scholars reject what Joseph and Oliver said.
Such an origin story is not without parallels.
_____
This week, the Wall St. Journal published an article about COVID origins that parallels the M2C origins.
A Scientist Who Said No to Covid Groupthink
Many experts aggressively denied a lab leak was possible and only now admit it. It took courage to make the case a year ago.
The article profiles Filippa Lentzos, who was one of a group of scientists who “asked these questions “not because we are conspiracy theorists. This is our profession,” Ms. Lentzos, 44, says in a video interview from her home in Switzerland. As the coronavirus and alarm about it spread, nonexperts started asking similar questions—only to be mocked or silenced by journalists, social-media companies and prominent scientists.”
That “COVID cartel” has a parallel in the LDS community: the M2C citation cartel, consisting of Book of Mormon Central, the Interpreter, BYU Studies, etc.
The M2C citation cartel does the same thing with alternatives to M2C. Lately, they’ve been deploying their followers on social media to promote M2C as well.
An excerpt from the article:
The most significant problem came from the scientific community. “Some of the scientists in this area very quickly closed ranks,” she says, and partisanship wasn’t their only motive: “Like most things in life, there are power plays. There are agendas that are part of the scientific community. Just like any other community, there are strong vested interests. There were people that did not talk about this, because they feared for their careers. They feared for their grants.”
Ms. Lentzos counsels against idealizing scientists and in favor of “seeing science and scientific activity, and how the community works, not as this inner sacred sanctum that’s devoid of any conflicts of interests, or agendas, or any of that stuff, but seeing it as also a social activity, where there are good players and bad players.”
Latter-day Saints who recognize what’s going on with the M2C citation cartel also see how the community works.
Ms. Lentzos and her colleagues published an article that pointed out the circumstantial evidence about the lab-leak origins of COVID, but it got no traction because the COVID cartel controlled the narrative.
As the article points out:
That began to change early this year. Media outlets published articles considering the possibility of a lab leak. At least five of the Lancet signers have distanced themselves from the letter. Anthony Fauci and the World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said the theory merits further study. President Biden ordered the intelligence community to investigate the question. Even Facebook reversed its ban.
Maybe in the LDS community we will reach a point where the narrative changes.
Maybe, just maybe, someday we will honor, respect, and even believe what Joseph and Oliver said about the Book of Mormon, the translation, the Hill Cumorah, etc.
Source: About Central America