Mormon faces trial over book

SANDY, Utah – Grant Palmer was raised to believe in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and has spent most of his life in its service.

He has gone on a mission, for years attended regular services and worked for more than three decades as a church-funded Mormon educator.

But about 20 years ago, he began to doubt the way Mormon scripture characterizes certain parts of its early history.

After years of study, he finally rolled those doubts together and published a book.

Two years and 281 pages later, the gray-haired, balding and bespectacled 64-year-old man faces excommunication from a church he says he still loves. He’s scheduled to appear today in an apostasy trial judged by church leaders for failing to obey the gospel by publishing a book that questions whether founder Joseph Smith misrepresented his authority as a prophet and revised church scripture to his advantage.

Palmer’s book, “An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins,” suggests that Smith didn’t actually translate the Book of Mormon, as LDS faithful believe, “by the gift and power of God” from an ancient set of golden plates. Instead, it suggests Smith penned it himself, leaning heavily on the King James Bible, emotional Methodist tent revivals, Masonry and other personal experiences in a highly superstitious era of American history.

Palmer suggests the plates themselves might never have physically existed, and that Smith rewrote the story of how he was ordered by heavenly spirits to found the church to make himself seem more legitimate when Mormons faced credibility problems or were losing key leaders.

“I, along with colleagues … find the evidence employed to support many traditional claims about the church to be either nonexistent or problematic,” Palmer writes. “In other words, it didn’t all happen the way we’ve been told.”

Latter-day Saints believe the Book of Mormon – one of four key spiritual texts – is a literal record of Jesus Christ’s dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas.

Palmer culled material for the book from documents in the church archives, which contain a vast collection of letters, diaries, and papers from church presidential administrations.

Palmer has a master’s degree in history from Brigham Young University, and has served as an LDS director or educator in New Zealand, Utah and California. He says his extensive background in history and church service, and a growing inability to reconcile glaring discrepancies between the two, drew him into the study.

Many of the ideas have previously surfaced in academic papers and books – some as ammunition for the church’s fervent critics. Palmer said he wrote the book because most of the church’s lay population doesn’t read those academic papers and deserves to know about the problems.

“I think only the truth is good enough for the members of the LDS church,” he said.

The work has kindled a firestorm in Mormon academia, including five scathing reviews published by FARMS, the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies housed at Brigham Young University.

“They don’t feel he takes a balanced look at the evidence,” said Daniel Peterson, a BYU professor and FARMS review editor. “He argues against certain books that I see as fundamental to Mormonism, and I don’t think he does so particularly well.”

Peterson said the book is damaging for the church because Palmer has written it for a lay audience, and his long history as a church member and educator assigns it particular credibility.

“It’s neatly laid out, it’s not screeching, it’s not hostile,” he said. “It’s in kind of a mild tone, which makes the book in that sense more effective — and, from a Latter-day Saints point of view, more dangerous.”

Today, Palmer is scheduled to go before local church leaders for a trial over his publicized beliefs, which could end in excommunication.

More than the broad criticism in LDS journals, he says that’s what bothers him the most, because he still believes in the church.

“I believe the Book of Mormon isn’t about a real, historical civilization,” he said. “But I believe the message is certainly true. I support the Book of Mormon continuing to go around the world, and I suspect it will.”

Palmer says he has no intention of abandoning Mormonism, because he still ultimately believes Smith was touched by God to found it.

“I’m not going to call Joseph Smith a fraud,” he said.

He also says he never intended the book to turn people away from Mormonism — only to finally let them know not everything they’ve been taught to believe is true.

Though literary criticism has been widespread, Palmer says he’s gotten mostly positive feedback from readers.

Five former presidents of the Mormon History Association signed on to a statement supporting the book as an “accurate summary of some of the controversies and ‘puzzles’ surrounding Joseph Smith.”

Palmer’s trial is reminiscent of a several highly publicized cases in 1993 in which five high-profile scholars were excommunicated for their positions on things like feminism and church history. Excommunication for Palmer would mean he can’t take sacrament, visit other members in an official capacity, teach or preach in church or go into temples.

LDS church spokesman Dale Bills declined to comment on the matter, saying personnel matters are confidential. Keith Adams, president of Palmer’s local church district and the man who issued the trial summons, also said he couldn’t comment because of confidentiality concerns.

Among other things, FARMS scholars accused Palmer of falsely claiming to be a Mormon “insider” and said he was wrong to suggest the church was more focused on its founding fathers than Jesus Christ.

Peterson said he wouldn’t specify what punishment, if any, he thought Palmer deserved, but said, “You can’t publicly oppose and criticize central beliefs of the church. That’s what he’s done.”