The desolate Heartland theory
This is a follow-up to an earlier blog post in which I argued that “the Heartland movement adds nothing of value to the gospel message,” and that this can be seen in how Rod Meldrum’s new podcast fails to provide any helpful information about Joseph Smith’s revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants.
As additional evidence for my claim, see Meldrum’s February 5, 2021, podcast in which Hannah Stoddard participated as his guest:
This 48-minute discussion is supposed to cover D&C 12–13, which it does…for about five minutes.
The entire remaining time is taken up by a discussion between Meldrum and Stoddard about how “progressive historians” are “taking over the Church” and the supposed conspiracy among Latter-day Saints to silence Heartlanders.
Stoddard, of course, mentions her new book, a sequel to Seer Stones vs. Urim and Thummim called Behind Closed Doors, which is about the purported progressive takeover of Church history that began with Leonard Arrington.
Around the 40-minute mark, Stoddard claims that Heartlanders have been censored in Book of Mormon Central’s Come Follow Me Facebook group. I don’t know anything about that, but I can only guess that Heartlanders were being argumentative by insisting that Joseph Smith never used a seer stone and so forth, and so they were banned for sowing contention. (I invite anyone who has more information about this to comment, below.)
This is another example of how the Heartland movement doesn’t inform us about anything having to do with the scriptures, Church history, or the doctrines of the gospel. Once they’ve finished insisting that the Book of Mormon took place in the American Midwest (because the United States is Lehi’s promised land), that Joseph Smith didn’t use seer stones, and that there’s a massive conspiracy taking place at Church headquarters, their philosophy is empty and barren.
—Peter Pan
As additional evidence for my claim, see Meldrum’s February 5, 2021, podcast in which Hannah Stoddard participated as his guest:
The entire remaining time is taken up by a discussion between Meldrum and Stoddard about how “progressive historians” are “taking over the Church” and the supposed conspiracy among Latter-day Saints to silence Heartlanders.
Stoddard, of course, mentions her new book, a sequel to Seer Stones vs. Urim and Thummim called Behind Closed Doors, which is about the purported progressive takeover of Church history that began with Leonard Arrington.
Around the 40-minute mark, Stoddard claims that Heartlanders have been censored in Book of Mormon Central’s Come Follow Me Facebook group. I don’t know anything about that, but I can only guess that Heartlanders were being argumentative by insisting that Joseph Smith never used a seer stone and so forth, and so they were banned for sowing contention. (I invite anyone who has more information about this to comment, below.)
This is another example of how the Heartland movement doesn’t inform us about anything having to do with the scriptures, Church history, or the doctrines of the gospel. Once they’ve finished insisting that the Book of Mormon took place in the American Midwest (because the United States is Lehi’s promised land), that Joseph Smith didn’t use seer stones, and that there’s a massive conspiracy taking place at Church headquarters, their philosophy is empty and barren.
—Peter Pan
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ReplyDeleteI don't know if the above link will work so I'll summarize what happened. The Come Follow Me Group from BoM Central is fairly hands off. They had to change that policy after a link from Neal Rappleeye on April 13th 2020, suggesting some ways a Mesoamerican setting might enhance a person's reading of King Benjamin's speech.
What followed was hundreds of comments in total. You had a few people who enjoyed a display of sound scholarship and good ideas. Many testified of the Heartland, which included variations of you must believe in Joseph Smith or that setting or you're wrong. You had some lazy superiority from some people who said that location doesn't matter as long as it's true.
After things got pretty heated the Come Follow Me group had to change the rules. They emphasized the church's position that there is no official position beyond being in North America, no one could pronounce definitively where events took place, they couldn't question each other's faithfulness and discussion had to be centered on the week's come follow me lesson. You are correct that if Heartlanders were censored after that point it was because they failed to follow those rules, and not that there was some cartel meeting to limit their viewpoints.
I've never had a problem with the moderation. I posted a series of articles all year and commented frequently. But I also focused on the lesson, didn't question others faith or make proclamations about geography.
Thanks for providing that information, Morgan! I myself donʼt participate in that Facebook group, so I appreciate your explanation of what happened.
DeleteBeing fairly active in the group, I know that there were quite a few posts where Heartlanders got on and, like Morgan said, were very confrontational when someone posted some piece of scholarship that went against their worldview.
ReplyDeleteI never saw Hannah Stoddard in that group, but I did get in a comment chain in a second Facebook group that she was a part of. Based on my experience there, it is more than likely the conversation went with her claiming BMC and other institutions are liberal institutions meant to destroy the Church and Gospel, quote two sources to say Joseph only used the Urim and Thummim and ignore all other sources that we bring up referring to a seer stone, claim her authority through _literally_ every prophet from Joseph Smith to Gordon B. Hinckley and argue that _we_ put too much blind faith in prophets while claiming that Elder Holland, Elder Uchtdorf, and other Apostles have been influenced to believe in M2C and SITH by some unknown BYU scholar who has since recanted his belief in SITH and M2C. (And then when she challenged someone to a debate on this issue a_and he accepted_, she backed down by basically saying "You will never actually accept so why should I believe you accepted now?" I paraphrased because I don't remember the conversation off the top of my head, but that was the main gist). If I could add pictures to comments I could share screenshots, but alas, 'tis not meant to be.
So I would say Heartlanders have been "censored" in so much that they were how they usually are -- confrontational, rude, and impossible to have a decent and respectable conversation with.
But, Spencer—Jonathan Neville insists that “those who accept the New York Cumorah are happy to discuss their reasoning and are confident, not defensive”!
DeleteIt's sad to me how many, when offered additional light and knowledge, retreat to comfortable shadow and ignorance.
ReplyDeleteJust for fun, if I were in that FB group, I might suggest that the Gentile mariner spoken of in 1 Nephi 13.12 is none other than Leif Erickson, and that the battles against the 'mother Gentiles" are the wars of independence against the Spanish across Latin America. Because while the Book of Mormon is a book about American peoples, it is not a book about "Mérica!", and the Grito de Dolores is just as relevant as the Boston Tea Party, especially to Mexican Latter-day Saints.
Heartlanders never come across as particularly happy. It seems to me that constantly believing everyone (including the Church(!)) is out to get you, conspiracies everywhere, etc., is a very miserable way to live.
ReplyDeleteMy impression is that many of them are excited when they first encounter the Heartland theory, because it confirms their biases and the poor information they received from parents and teachers. The problem begins when they engage in dialogue on social media with people who know more about Church history, scriptures, and doctrine than they do.
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