The Book of Mormon stuck its neck out and was vindicated. That’s worth a lot of Science Points.
When you make a lot of claims and the possibility space isn’t too big, some are going to be right by sheer chance. If Joseph Smith had written of anything that existed at the time and place that should have been a completely novel concept to him, like giving a detailed description of an animal that there is no way he should have heard of, then that would be very significant. Making references to technological developments that have existed elsewhere that he would have known about, and having those references be vindicated is not very strong evidence, considering how much convergent development of technology has occurred in separate cultures. And those claims which have been vindicated have to be weighed against those claims which have not been vindicated, and those which apologists have to bend over backwards to justify as even being possible. That’s a lot of negative Science Points. The Book of Mormon looks much less like an accurate document from Mesoamerica than it does like something someone from Joseph Smith’s period with very limited familiarity with what was known about the region at the time and lots of biblical influences might imagine an accurate document from Mesoamerica would look like.
Other religions have made strictly empirical claims that have been vindicated. I remember talking with a Muslim some time ago who said that the Quran references a place with sea water and fresh water, with a “forbidding barrier* between them, so the waters never mix, and he said that such a place had been discovered long after the Quran had been written. I don’t know the specifics, but Muslim apologists seem to see it as a significant case where the religion stuck its neck out and was vindicated. I’m sure Raw Power would be better prepared to come up with examples from Islam than I, and Christians frequently talk of ways in which the Bible has been vindicated by the archaeological record (although as with Mormons, archaeologists who’re not religiously motivated are far less generous.)
The Book of Mormon looks much less like an accurate document from Mesoamerica than it does like something someone from Joseph Smith’s period with very limited familiarity with what was known about the region at the time and lots of biblical influences might imagine an accurate document from Mesoamerica would look like.
When you make a lot of claims and the possibility space isn’t too big, some are going to be right by sheer chance. If Joseph Smith had written of anything that existed at the time and place that should have been a completely novel concept to him, like giving a detailed description of an animal that there is no way he should have heard of, then that would be very significant. Making references to technological developments that have existed elsewhere that he would have known about, and having those references be vindicated is not very strong evidence, considering how much convergent development of technology has occurred in separate cultures. And those claims which have been vindicated have to be weighed against those claims which have not been vindicated, and those which apologists have to bend over backwards to justify as even being possible. That’s a lot of negative Science Points. The Book of Mormon looks much less like an accurate document from Mesoamerica than it does like something someone from Joseph Smith’s period with very limited familiarity with what was known about the region at the time and lots of biblical influences might imagine an accurate document from Mesoamerica would look like.
Other religions have made strictly empirical claims that have been vindicated. I remember talking with a Muslim some time ago who said that the Quran references a place with sea water and fresh water, with a “forbidding barrier* between them, so the waters never mix, and he said that such a place had been discovered long after the Quran had been written. I don’t know the specifics, but Muslim apologists seem to see it as a significant case where the religion stuck its neck out and was vindicated. I’m sure Raw Power would be better prepared to come up with examples from Islam than I, and Christians frequently talk of ways in which the Bible has been vindicated by the archaeological record (although as with Mormons, archaeologists who’re not religiously motivated are far less generous.)
Well said.