Jonathan Neville persists in telling untruths

Jonathan Neville is back from taking a few days off, and today (July 24, 2019) he blogged about Willard Bean, the “fighting parson” of Palmyra. (The Ensign had a lovely article about Bean back in June 1985.)

Apparently Bean believed that the hill Cumorah of the Book of Mormon was in New York, and even wrote a book about it. This is, of course, useful to Neville, who chose today to highlight Bean’s book for no other reason than it confirms his bias.

But, Neville being Neville, he couldn’t help but persist in making claims that are simply not true:

Every member of the Church--everyone who accepts the Book of Mormon whether or not they are LDS--should at least be informed about why every member of the Quorum of the Twelve and First Presidency who has ever addressed the question of Cumorah has reaffirmed the New York setting.

Every member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Brother Neville? Surely you’re forgetting Elder Robert D. Hales and Elder John A. Widtsoe, whose statements contradict your sweeping claim.

…

In addition to Neville’s fib, please note that he’s still claiming that the Gospel Topics essays can be dismissed if one disagrees with them because they are “anonymous”:

Earlier this year, an anonymous Gospel Topics essay stated that as of now, the Church's position on Cumorah has changed; the Church no longer takes any position on any Book of Mormon settings. But, as we've seen, those anonymous essays are subject to change at any moment without notice.

This flies in the face of the introduction to the essays, which clearly states that they “have been approved by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.”

—Peter Pan