[Aztlan] Mormons, Mayans and Mystery

[DWirth8851 at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/18/2007 4:49:50 PM Mountain Standard Time,  
mdcarrasco at yahoo.com writes:

The  desire to confirm fantasy through reality will always end badly for true 
 believers. 


    Michael believes the Book of Mormon is fantasy and  the facts don't fit 
the story. The so-called "facts," change all the time. Every  year more is 
being discovered in the Americas that two years ago scholars  said didn't exist. I 
don't believe Aztlan is meant to be a sounding board for  anti-Mormon 
rhetoric. The Salt Lake Tribune article is one of many that promotes  this type of 
bashing, and has many misconceptions and misstatements in it.
    Among Mormon Mesoamerican scholars are: John  Clark, Allen Christenson, 
Garth Norman, John Fox, and Richard Hansen. They do  not believe they "put 
their faith in fantasy" as Michael stated.
    The Tribune article states that "Sorenson belongs  to a renegade group of 
anthropologists known as "diffusionist," who believe  numerous voyages 
carried people and animals to the New World." So I gather  Michael would consider 
Michael Coe a "renegade" because he sees a  similarity in Mesoamerican 
iconography and rituals with Ankor and  Southeast Asia. There's also David Kelley who 
is a diffusionist, and  Arthur Demarest said:
 
"Within orthodox academics there are a lot of people who simply dismiss the  
argument out of hand on the ground that the mechanics of overseas diffusion  
themselves are too difficult. But there are others--and I put myself in that  
group--who don't doubt there's been contact. I don't think that the transport  
problems are such that they prevented people from moving between continents."  
(Quoted by Mark K. Stengel, "The Diffusionist Have Landed," The Atlantic  
Monthly 285/1, 2000, p. 47.) 
 
Diane Wirth
author of Parallels: Mesoamerican and Ancient Middle Eastern  Traditions
    



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