Mormon Media Observer: Papers post robust defense of Latter-day Saints

And so. What of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith?

Joseph Smith, a young, uneducated man from the rural countryside with no access to a library, published either an ancient text given him by an angel or he made some 580 pages up out of whole cloth.

I know this comparison is "inelegant" because Brother Joseph only publicly produced his translation, not the plates. But shouldn't it, if it were a fake, be obvious gibberish? Shouldn't it read like a 19th-century romance or a clunky, preachy adventure novel at best? That's how most people wrote back then.

I know others read Goodstein's article differently, but that's the little thing I thought about as I read Goodstein's interesting article. Funny how we read the news, isn't it?

Lastly, if you haven't heard, the Pew Research Center released a disturbing report about the religious environment in the United States and around the world. Tolerance for religion is declining while government limitations are growing all around the world, including in the U.S.

To be sure, some of their graphics overstate, in my view, the problems, but the trend and the report should be read carefully by those interested in religious freedom.

Lane Williams teaches journalism and communication at BYU-Idaho. He is a former journalist whose scholarly interests include Mormon portrayals in the media, media and religion, and religion and politics.