Jonathan Neville, or the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up

In addition to taking a dig at The Interpreter Foundation by attributing statements to its directors that they have not made (otherwise known as bearing false witness, a.k.a. lying), I believe Jonathan Neville has finally acknowledged the existence of this blog.

In his blog post, “Catching up” (June 12, 2019), Neville accuses the good folks at Interpreter of being modern-day “scribes and pharisees [sic]” who supposedly claim “the right to interpret the scriptures for everyone.” As usual, he does not document this claim to demonstrate where anyone connected with the foundation has actually said or written anything remotely like that. (Like much of what he writes, it’s all in his mind and not based in any objective, verifiable reality.)

He then goes further with this gross misrepresentation:

Those involved with the Interpreter (and their interlocking affiliates FairMormon and Book of Mormon Central)…even claim they are above criticism because they have been hired by the prophets to guide the Church. They brag about their “close relationships” with the Brethren, their financial support, and their overall influence over employees at BYU, CES, and COB (Church Office Building).

Neville provides not a link, not a citation, not a single shred of evidence that this is true. It’s his fantasy world—his “Neville-Neville Land,” as it were.

He next informs us that “many of the articles in the Interpreter are pure propaganda,” but confesses in the very next paragraph, “I’ve reviewed only a few of their articles.” If he’s only reviewed a few articles, how can he know that “many” of the articles Interpreter publishes are “pure propaganda”? How is it possible that a presumably sane individual could contradict himself so badly in virtually the same breath?

Changing subjects, I’m thrilled to know that Neville is aware of this humble blog and that he would take the time and effort to insult us in his usual childish manner:

Anonymous juveniles on the Internet. Apparently there are some kids playing on keyboards who write nonsense about some of my blogs and the North American setting (which I call Moroni’s America for short). I trust readers to recognize the logical and factual fallacies.

I truly wish he would give us some examples of our supposed “logical and factual fallacies,” but, as he so often does, Neville doesn’t provide a single illustration for us. This is our sixty-seventh blog post, and the only response Captain Hook and I have received from him is two sentences without a single mention (let alone refutation) of anything we’ve published.

J.M. Barrie was right: “All children, except one, grow up.”

—Peter Pan

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Follow-up: Daniel C. Peterson of The Interpreter Foundation has responded on his own blog to Neville’s claims.