Daughter's Denunciation of Historian Roils Mormon Church

[norml]

Daughter's Denunciation of Historian Roils Mormon Church

By T.R. Reid
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 8, 2005; Page A03

SALT LAKE CITY -- Although the Mormon Church is one of the wealthiest and fastest-growing Christian denominations, members of the faith often take a defensive stance toward the outside world. "Mormons of every stripe are obsessive about their image," historians Richard and Joan Ostling noted, "deeply concerned that their church appears to outsiders as a 'cult.' "

In the ongoing effort to enhance the church's image, no Mormon played a bigger role than Hugh Nibley, the multilingual teacher and scholar whose books, laden with footnotes and laced with quotations from ancient texts, make a meticulous argument that Mormon scripture reflects historic truth.



Martha Nibley Beck wrote a book criticizing the Mormons. (By Will Powers -- Associated Press)

But this spring, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been rocked by a furious attack on the beloved historian -- an attack that comes from his daughter, Martha Nibley Beck.

In an explosive memoir, Beck, 42, says that Nibley was a pedophile who abused her as a child while chanting ancient Egyptian prayers. She also says that her father's history books were fictional and that the extensive footnotes for which he was famous were simply made up.




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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/07/AR2005050700981.html

[derby378]

1. Holy cow...

If this story holds up - DAMN.

[supernova]

2. :How sad

I feel for her if this is true. And I feel for anyone who was truely taken in by this man.

[grumpy old fart]

3. Wouldn't it be relatively easy to check on "made up" footnotes???

I mean, the source either supports what it is used to reference, or it doesn't.

[newfaceinhell]

4. Check out the pity party...

'"It's just a terrible thing for a community to have to go through" says Andrew Ludlow, a church member and a senior at the church's premier school, Brigham Young University.'

Well, perhaps- but surely not 1/1000th as terrible as being sexually abused by your own father. Even if the accusations prove untrue, i'd have thought "godly" people would extend a little more sensitivity and compassion towards someone who may even possibly have been the victim of such appalling crimes- rather than just bemoaning how painful it is for they themselves.