Jerald and Sandra Tanner - Tanners Challenge Anti-Mormonism

Tanners Challenge Anti-Mormonism

On occasion, the Tanners have publicly challenged critics of Mormonism and earned praise from some LDS scholars. For instance, the historian Daniel C. Peterson, chairman of the LDS apologetics group Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) at Brigham Young University, suggested the Tanners' willingness to debunk false documents regardless of their content was a sign of integrity:

"There are some anti-Mormons out there that I hold in contempt. They're demagogic. They spread hatred and strife and disharmony. I don't see the Tanners in that way."

The Tanners were among the first public critics of the forger (and later, murderer) Mark Hofmann. Though Hofmann's "discoveries" of important Mormon documents appeared to bolster the Tanners' arguments, by early 1984 Jerald Tanner had concluded there was significant doubt as to the Salamander Letter's authenticity. "o the astonishment of a community of scholars, historians and students, published an attack on the so-called Salamander Letter." By late 1984, Jerald Tanner questioned the authenticity of most if not all of Hofmann's "discoveries," based in large part on their undocumented provenance. But, the Tanners agreed with Hofmann in saying that the apparent inability of LDS scholars to discern the forged documents was evidence that the church leadership was not divinely inspired.

The Tanners have debunked what they characterize as misrepresentations of the LDS Church by Ed Decker, a Christian evangelist. They criticized his film The God Makers II despite their involvement in his earlier film, The God Makers.