A Spurious First Presidency Statement on Evolution
On its "Official Statements" page, tungate.com quotes what it calls the "1910 First Presidency Statement on Evolution." The title is spurious because there was no 1910 First Presidency statement on evolution. The quoted comment did not originate with the First Presidency (click here). It doesn't even represent the thinking of Church President Joseph F. Smith.
Eyring-L quotes the same article as "1910 Improvement Era Editorial" with the claim that it was "carefully reviewed" by the First Presidency as clarification of the November 1909 statement on "The Origin of Man." The Eyring-L claim is pure speculation. There is no evidence that the 1910 comment was published with First Presidency approval and there is substantial evidence that it was not (click here). Eyring-L and tungate.com are looking for First Presidency support where it doesn't exist. And apparently, President Joseph F. Smith's thinking on the subject is (to them) irrelevant.
posted by R. Gary on 7/23/2006 01:01:00 PM
2 Comments:
The packet given at BYU under direction of the First Presidency and approved by the board of directors also states the 1910 date as a First Presidency Message.
http://inbio.byu.edu/home/page/evolve.aspx
Mike,
I believe you are referring to "Words in Season," a 99 word excerpt from the First Presidency's December 1910 Christmas message (printed in the Deseret Evening News). As was carefully noted by the BYU Board of Trustees in their 1992 BYU Evolution Packet cover letter, this message is "a statement on the Church's attitude toward science." It is not a statement on evolution.
My post title, "A Spurious First Presidency Statement on Evolution," refers to an anonymous comment (printed in the April 1910 Improvement Era) which is NOT part of the BYU Evolution Packet. It is NOT a First Presidency statement — period.
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