Thanks to your donations of time, talent, and funds, we’ve been able to accomplish a lot in 2023. Here are some highlights, as well as a peek at some of the things we have in store for 2024. There is more opposition to the Church today than ever before, and there are many more things we’d love to be able to do in our mission to defend against critics and help save testimonies. But to do so, we really need more help. Please consider helping us with your donation today.
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I think what has made John Dehlin so popular is that he keeps to his profession, which is councilling and through the interest he shows his interviewees, the listener is drawn in. I am a great fan of Fair and I think the strength of Fair used to be and still is something similar, the persons involved speak about their field of study or related or their experiences based on their background, like Sharon Eubank in her now famous talk about women in church. But when as I have seen, the person speaks about more general topics, I for one think the relevance fades away. Fair should not present key speakers without a spesific research experience or a very special background or field of study. In Dehlin podcasts the interviewers personal interest shines through and makes any interviewee relevant, In Fairs case the key speaker has to be either a serious researcher, even without the credits, like Brian Hales (he became relevant due to his interest and pursuing and even employing researchers to did deeper) or a serious interviewer drawing us in with his honesty and skills even if not professional. I do not think just anybody should represent Fair, then it quickly loses credit and the reliability of researchers is easily weakened if too many is allowed to speak without necessary skills or background. I think the risk is that Fair ceases to be an organisations where factual knowledge is held high in esteem, and becomes more of a cheap information place, where neither interviewer nor presenters have reliable sources or sufficient skills for the job. When it comes to Daniel Peterson, he has both background and skills and is iconic at the conferences. The same goes for general authorities presenting views. But to stay relevant, Fair should for example have dealt with the information about Church investment groups before Dehlin or very shortly after and by people involved in business at that level. Fair must stay Fair, critical, warm, informed and professional. And of course the organisations has done a great job for many years. But good people must support, we need Fair. And please we need Fair for the professional content and interviewers, for all interested in the church. For the persons who are aware, active and searching for updated research on topics. And not as by mistakenly said at times, just for the weaker members! That is so misunderstood. Of course a goid platform for doubters, but more a goid platform for digging a bit deeper into current areas of their interest for anybody, active, doubters, students, missionaries,church leaders.
Thanks, Synnove. We’re doing the best we can with limited resources. The critic you mention has made a career out of attacking the Church. We’re mostly a volunteer group; if we had the funds to have a full-time paid staff, we’d be able to accomplish a lot more.
Incidentally, we were very early in providing information about church finances. You can find our articles on that and other recent issues here:
https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/home-page/current-events