Mike S. Adams Branches Out

Mike S. Adams is a college professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Most of his columns are about how hard it is to be a conservative on a college campus. It's particularly difficult when you are the sort of conservative who has to mock all opinions you don't agree with. But this week he is branching out to take a look at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - which happens to be my religion.

In his first article, Mr. Adams lets us know how, once again, he's being persecuted for telling the truth.

Several months ago, I decided to pick up a copy of The Book of Mormon. I did so because numerous Mormons wanted me to decide for myself whether it was divinely inspired or merely fictional. Now that I've made the "wrong" determination, many Mormons are deeply offended. Some say I am just deeply prejudiced against them.

Poor guy. It's hard being a conservative truth teller in modern society; you are always complaining about being attacked for simply telling the truth. Of course, it's possible Mormons might take issue with how you phrase your discussion of their first prophet, in your second article.

The fact that Joseph Smith roamed about in upstate New York as a young man searching for the lost treasures of Captain Kidd should have been enough to warn people that he was a few fries short of a happy meal. But his later claims to have received a set of Golden Plates from the Angel Moroni spared him from being seen merely as a quack. Instead, they ensured that he will go down in history as both a fraud and a heretic.

What was I thinking - of course that kind of sensitive treatment of deeply held religious beliefs should be totally inoffensive. I mean you choose your words so carefully. People must be right round the bend to find that characterization of their prophet offensive.

Still you have to give Adams points for consistency - no matter the situation, he's always a victim.