This is an archived copy of a post written by Conflict Of Justice (conflictofjustice.com). Used with permission: Conflict Of Justice may not agree with any alterations made.
“This is what Ferguson wrote after 17 years of trying to dig up evidence for the Book of Mormon: ‘…you can’t set Book of Mormon geography down anywhere – because it is fictional and will never meet the requirements of the dirt-archaeology. I should say – what is in the ground will never conform to what is in the book.’” – Letter dated February 2, 1976
(CES Letter)
Science does not prove a story–any story–as fiction. Thomas Ferguson does not understand what science is.
But I agree that the Book of Mormon is unlikely to be verified with archaeology. Not because it is fiction, but because the Book of Mormon provides few unique physical clues that are likely to be found among ancient remains. Descriptions of buildings, roads, weapons, etc. are vague so that we can’t match it up with anything found. It is a book about theology, not geography. Scientists are unlikely to dig up a set of metal plates that read: “Hi, my name is Nephi, I’m a Mormon, and I am from Jerusalem.”
Evidence Has Been Found – A vast field of study has grown to consider physical evidences that have been found for the Book of Mormon, and there are indeed many evidences. I found 112 pieces of evidence. But smoking gun proof is not going to happen.
Thomas Ferguson Was Not A Qualified Archaeologist
Recently, “science” magazines were going wild about “Mormon archeologist” Thomas Ferguson. But I never heard of him. Who is this guy? Why haven’t I heard of him in the archaeology profession?
If you look at the full quote of Thomas Ferguson’s attack on the Book of Mormon, you see that he misspells “geography.” An archaeologist that can’t even spell “geography?” CES Letter snips away this part of the quote to avoid embarrassment:
CES Letter claims:
“Latter-day Saint Thomas Stuart Ferguson was BYU’s archaeology division (New World Archaeological Funding) founder. NWAF was financed by the Church. NWAF and Ferguson were tasked by BYU and the Church in the 1950s and 1960s to find archaeological evidence to support the Book of Mormon.
(CES Letter)
According to FairMormon, Thomas Ferguson “never studied archaeology at a professional level,” and his undergraduate degree was in law. He was not in fact the founder of BYU’s archaeology division, and is regarded by nobody as an authority or scholar. He was not tasked by BYU to find anything. Nobody has really heard of him in the church. He’s a nobody.
What was Thomas Ferguson’s real role in BYU’s archaeology department? After looking into this guy more, I found that Ferguson was in charge of fundraising for the NWAF, a private archaeology association, and he got some funding from the LDS church in the early 1950’s. The NWAF became part of BYU in 1961, and soon after it became a subset of BYU’s anthropology department. Ferguson’s position was quickly replaced because he was not qualified. BYU filled the NWAF with professional well-trained scientists and real archaeologists, rather than lawyers from Idaho.
Don’t Search For Holy Grails
Thomas Ferguson was probably smart. He was probably sincere. But he was also a naïve man who thought he could find some kind of smoking-gun clue to verify his faith. Like the crusaders of old, he sought some physical object, some relic, that he could use as visual confirmation for his beliefs. He wanted to be like Indiana Jones. But real archaeology is much less exciting than all that. With real archaeology, we study clues having to do with social and governmental dynamics, linguistic characteristics, etc. People want a smoking gun, a holy grail.
This is an important lesson for LDS members. Living faith cannot be confirmed from dead bones in the ground. We are a church of the living. We are not a church of the dead. We are not a church that displays relics in our chapels or that makes documentaries on Discovery Channel. You can’t prove or discredit faith through archaeology. A real archaeologist with qualifications would understand this and wouldn’t go around expecting to find Nephi’s diary around every corner.
It is sad to see good zealous Mormons who just want to convert thousands of people to the gospel become disillusioned. But it shouldn’t be surprising, because it is a sign of vanity. To be the knight in shining armor, the breakthrough genius, the preacher of peace to the masses–this is not our purpose on earth. Our role is to lift where we stand and to deliver difficult, often painful service to our fellow man in any opportunity that presents itself. We are not a church of crusaders, going around looking for the holy grail, saving the poor maiden in distress. We are a church of humble servants doing the best we can.
CES Letter Logical Fallacies
| Falsehood | Thomas Stuart Ferguson helped found the NWAF as fundraiser, but it only became a subset in BYU’s anthropology and archaeology division, and he was quickly replaced when BYU acquired it, because he was not a professional or educated archaeologist. Ferguson was not tasked by BYU or the church to find anything. I do not find anything that reveals how long he spent “digging,” or what digs he participated in at all. |
| Association Fallacy | Why should an attorney who helped acquire funding for a private archaeology group be considered an authority on archaeology? He can’t even spell the word “geography” right! |
| Appeal to Authority | CES Letter tries to appeal to the Mormon church’s own authority on the subject to use science to attack the religion. |
| Argument from Ignorance | The Book of Mormon claims the land of the Nephites underwent great physical changes during the appearance of Christ. So why would Ferguson expect to find geography as described earlier to that point? You can’t determine that a story is “fictional” just because it doesn’t list enough clues that allow you to verify or discredit it through archaeology. |
Use Opponent As Authority Tactic – This is a popular rhetorical fallacy that Anti-Mormons use. They use Mormonism’s own authorities to discredit the faith, such as a Mormon archaeologist who says there is no evidence for the Book of Mormon. On the face of it, this is a very bad argument. Some lawyer takes up archaeology as a hobby and decides the church must be false because he didn’t find smoking gun evidence? Any real professional would know better. But what makes this argument powerful is:
- Deceptively discredits the vast libraries of study on Book of Mormon physical evidences by LDS professionals.
- Gives more focus to the small handful of cherry-picked things that haven’t been verified, such as horses.
- Divides the ranks of the church.
- Establishes a frame that demands clear physical evidence for every little thing, in an unreasonable and unscientific way.
This is a powerful introduction to CES Letter‘s next attacks which have to do with geography, because geography is something that is described in the Book of Mormon and can be verified (unless it totally changed at the coming of Christ. There isn’t much of a description and everything actually changed near the end of the Book of Mormon, but at least it’s something scientists can study. This illogical statement by an angry amateur anti-Mormon makes geography an issue of archaeology. Suddenly, every little thing in the Book of Mormon must be uncovered in the dirt, or the “georgrahy” is “fictional.”
No amount of evidence is enough! This frame is in direct opposition to real faith and a reasonable understanding of any historical event.
| See also: | CES Letter Contradiction Strategy |
Contradiction Strategy – Following the Marxist strategy of contradiction, CES Letter uses an alleged member of the Mormon church to attack the Mormon church. The attack is always more powerful when it comes from an alleged member, which is why anti-Mormons so often pretend to be faithful latter day saints and sow dissension inside the church. The founder of BYU’s archeology division, no less! This appeals subtly to the bandwagon fallacy, where we get the impression that all the smart people in the church are changing their minds about its truthfulness. We think, “Even the experts on my side think I should leave the church! I must really have it wrong.” It also insulates the Anti-Mormons from counter-attacks, because it is not them saying these things… why, it is the Mormon experts admitting it!
Also, what does CES Letter believe in? What tenant of faith do hold that we can verify or discredit with archaeology? Global warming? Human evolution? Give us something! Why don’t they discuss an alternative belief to the beliefs of the Book of Mormon and bible, and talk about physical evidences? Instead, they nit-pick and tear down an entire belief system with unscientific appeals to fake science.
This propaganda technique is especially insidious as it defines Mormons in a constrained and unfair frame, and it rallies non-Mormons or anybody who was sitting on the fence in solidarity against Mormons and their beliefs.
Big Lie Tactic – The outrageous claim that absolutely no archaeological evidence exists is backed up by a string of illogical arguments. They can get away with this incredible claim because it is the consensus among so many people that Nephites never existed, and because it takes so long to explain the evidence. It is like claiming that the Library of Alexandria never really existed because we have no physical evidence today, apart from some alleged ancient tales. An archaeologist can give plenty of convincing evidence, but it would take hours.
CES Letter tells this Big Lie early on, and each following argument that relies on the Big Lie further bolsters the illogical claim, as if they are further evidence for it.Complete answers to CES Letter questions about Mormons: