Huh, it was free to me. Sorry about that. I usually use up my free articles with NYT, WaPo, and The New Yorker. Sometimes it's because I link to an article directly, but if I go to a site and search for the piece there, it'll open for me.

@WilliamCharles maybe it's just in the UK. But I found other sites with the same story.

I suspect that the Deseret link doesn't do comments for a reason. TCOJCOLDS is big on controlling the narrative. It's why I was glad to see the comment section for the SLT piece.

As an aside, I just recently saw the Netflix docudrama on the "Mormon Murders" (the Salamander Letter forgeries). It's a somewhat disturbing look at the indoctrinated and insular community there.

@WilliamCharles The Church has never been able to live down the Mark Hoffman scandal, so they lie about it.
Its especially embarrassing that the two elders who bought the forgeries off the Hoff, both went on to be prophet. Before they died Hinckley and Monson both claimed they only bought the them to supress them because they new they were forgeries, but at the time however many million $ it was, was a lot to knowingly pay a crook, but not a lot to supress the truth of what they knew, that being that Ol' profit Joseph's Myth , sorry the Prophet Joseph Smith was a con man and fake psychic, who would say anything for a fast buck.

@LenHazell53 - your assessment is spot on. Hoffman stated that he felt that the troubling and embarrassing nature of the forged documents would boost their price.

I'd like to think that there's more to irrationalist people than being stupid, fearful, idiots. Sometimes these SFIs make it difficult to think otherwise.

Often people are so desperate for a sense of community and belonging that they'll give a whole lot of nonsense a pass.

The LDS is predatory, they sucked me in when I was at my lowest point ever, took me years to get out and yes I was a fear filled stupid idiot, but what was worse was that suckered in others, a lot of others.
I've never forgiven myself for that, and for many years after leaving, I worked just as hard to get people out of religion, to (for want of a better word) atone.

@LenHazell53 - for me, kinda like that gnawing feeling when I was trying to make it being involved with an MLM. You hope they're on the level, but eventually learn the truth.

@WilliamCharles There are a few reasons people will sacrifice themselves for belief, I've explained some of the reasons in these posts that I have written:

"Humankind has evolved to the point that they are conscious of their own mortality."/

Also: ""Take man's most fantastic invention - God."/

And: "Sigmund Freud's nephew Edward Bernays (1891-1995), also known as the "Father of Spin", has designed ..."/

@nogod4me - those look interesting. Will check them out.

@LenHazell53 There are a few reasons people will sacrifice themselves for belief, I've explained some of the reasons in these posts that I have written:

""Take man's most fantastic invention - God."/

Also: "Sigmund Freud's nephew Edward Bernays (1891-1995), also known as the "Father of Spin", has designed ..."/

And: "Humankind has evolved to the point that they are conscious of their own mortality."/

@WilliamCharles @rainmanjr Huntsman snr die about two years ago, he was a church seventy and poured literally million thought the LDS church for one reason or another. Now he has gone it seems at least of of his sons has turned on the the TSCC with a vengeance.