| OCR Text |
Show l72 early history, Mormonism had not concerned itself with some of the fundamental questions which other Christian religions had determined as conflicts between science and religion. When authoritative pronouncements on such controversial things as organic evolution or the age of the earth, etc., were made, it was on the side of science for the most part.31 Beginning in l953, that alliance with science was considerably shaken when President Joseph Fielding Smith, President of the Council of Twelve Apostles, expressed views which ignored many well established scientific ideas.32 The occasion was his speech, "The Origin of Man," given to students at Brigham Young University on April 22. President Smith had had a long standing desire to express his views fully on the subject and by mid-l954, had produced a full length book: and Destiny. Man His Origin One author has recently said of its publication: work marks a milestone. "The For the first time in Mormon history, and cap- ping a full half-century of publication of Mormon books on science and religion, Mormonism had a book that was openly antagonistic to much of science."33 In this book, President Smith relied heavily on a literal interpretation of scripture and used the scriptures as the basis for his arguments.34 In particular, he saw the temporal existence of this earth as being very short, only a few thousand years; that there was no human life on this earth prior to Adam; that the so-called pre-Adamite finds of science were frauds or fakes; and that the theory of evolution espoused by biologists and geologists was in direct conflice with religion and could not be harmonized.35 The book was viewed by many within the Church as authoritative. It even had the support of the recognized Mormon scientist, Melvin A. Cook, |
