Neville asks why, so we provide the answers

In a November 13, 2021, blog post, Jonathan Neville asked:

There’s plenty of room in the Church for those who believe M2C (the Mesoamerican/two-Cumorahs) and for those who believe NYC (New York Cumorah).

Why won’t LDS [sic] intellectuals and their publications and websites acknowledge that?

At the risk of repeating what this blog has been saying for nearly three years, here are five reasons why responsible Latter-day Saint scholars don’t take the claims made by Neville and his Heartlander comrades seriously:

1. Because they accuse those who disagree with Heartland claims of “rejecting the teachings of the prophets” and causing loss of faith among Church members.
2. Because they use fake artifacts and bogus scientific claims (including bogus DNA science) as evidence that their assertions are true.
3. Because Jonathan Neville has, from the beginning, been untruthful when dealing with “M2C scholars.”
4. Because Neville claims to desire “multiple working hypotheses” of Book of Mormon geography and Church history, but he attacks “M2C” scholarship that he disagrees with and claims that “M2C scholars” are part of a conspiracy to “hide historical information they don’t like.”
5. Because, despite being corrected numerous times, Rod Meldrum and other Heartlanders continue to lie by claiming that Daniel Peterson and other faithful scholars were fired from the Maxwell Institute because they were critical of Heartland claims.

Now, that’s not to say that there is no good evidence for a New York Cumorah. Andrew Hedges, an associate professor of Church history and doctrine at BYU, has argued persuasively for a New York Cumorah without the pejoratives, pseudoscientific claims, and dishonest fabrications that are part and parcel of the Heartland movement. Hedges’s articles in Religious Educator and BYU Studies Quarterly clearly indicate that mainstream Latter-day Saint scholarly outlets do in fact acknowledge the range of beliefs about the location of Cumorah.

The problem isn’t “LDS intellectuals and their publications and websites” refusing to give room for alternative theories. The problem is Heartlanders want to be invited to the table but don’t want to play by the rules that require honesty, charity, and rigorous scholarship.

—Peter Pan