Mormonism & Religious Truth Claims

How do we evaluate Mormon truth claims, or any religious truth claims, including Christian truth claims? Certainly faith is crucial. However, the object of faith is subject to the usual rules of confirmation of truth in virtually every field. Historic Christianity applies reason to confirm the claim, the rules of logic to test it, the principle of verifiability to check it, and considers the claim open to disproof. Any truth claims advanced by any religion should be open to the same tests to be considered credible, whether it be Christian, Mormon, Jewish, Islam, Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, and the vast myriad of other religions.

This does not mean religious claims can be tested by the scientific method. While the scientific method is vital and useful in science, it cannot be used to test all truths. The scientific method can only test events that can be repeated in a laboratory to test certain scientific theories. It cannot possibly test the invisible, the spiritual, or the miraculous. Such events, by definition, cannot be reduced to seeking empirical evidence. However, such events should not be ruled out a priori (before any evidence) simply because of a prejudice against the supernatural. This does not mean the scientific method plays no role on religious claims. Where religious claims touch on matters of history, science, and the like, the scientific method should be used to determine whether the religious claims bear out. If the God who reveals himself in writing or in miraculous acts also created the world, then there should be external evidence that matches up with the internal witness of the spirit or the witness borne out in holy writings.

If there are witnesses to the miraculous events, their testimony should be considered as the testimony of anyone to any event is considered. If they are known for their truthfulness, not known for being insane, then their testimony should be given the same weight as the testimony of those who testify about non-miraculous events are given. However, their testimony should be not be accorded special consideration because it involves a non-natural occurrence. It should be probed, poked, and subject to the normal test of truth for any testimony.

Oddly, those who would exclude even the possibility of a supernatural occurrence exhibit the very same close-mindedness they often accuse religious people of. If they were truly open-minded, as they often claim to be, they would keep their minds open to the possibility of the supernatural and miraculous. While this doesn't mean they have to adopt a faith position, at least they should not be closed to it. On the other, hand, Christians do not ask for any exemptions from the normal tests for truth, only that the same tests be applied to religious claims as in other fields. Mormons should do no less.