Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Richard Bushman clarifies his comments on LDS Church history

Some critics including MormonStories have focused on an isolated comment Richard Bushman made about problems with LDS Church history. 

Recently on Gospel Tangents Richard Bushman discussed the way these critics have taken his brief, informal comments about LDS Church history, made in a private meeting, out of context.

https://youtu.be/9i2O-iXpHIM?t=1071

17:54 GT: I know there have been some critics that have kind of to me have used your words out of context. I know there's a famous quote of you where you've said well the the church history narrative needs to change. Do you feel like some critics have have misused your words as kind of a way to whip the church?

RB: yes I think I've been mistreated in that way. I was in a fireside it was at the home of one of Eugene England's sons and they were asking questions and I made the comment that... something about the narrative--the early church history narrative--is false and has to change and as I said the words I know I didn't mean false, I meant there were errors that had to be corrected and--various people, I was barely being recorded which I was not aware of--and have used that to imply that I say Joseph Smith didn't have the revelations he did. The words don't say that. 

This is, it's false in some ways and I've talked to those people I've told them that's not what I said. I said this in public many times and still is repeated over and over again and I'm very resentful. I think it's malicious, and I truly wish they would stop doing it because they are making those words say things that I didn't mean then and don't mean now but they refused to be corrected.


Despite Richard's clarification, the critics continue to quote this excerpt. Examples of these misleading critics include MormonStories and CES Letter.  

John Dehlin at MormonStories has ignored Richard's correction since he posted it in 2016, such as with his so-called "birthday" post from 2021.  https://mormonstories.org/podcast/faithful-mormon-historian-richard-bushman-admits-that-mormon-church-leaders-have-been-misleading-church-members-for-generations/

Dehlin claims to respect Richard's work, but what kind of respect does it show to keep repeating and re-posting a video made without Richard's permission or knowledge which Richard has repeatedly stated does not represent his actual views?



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