Mike Parker's newfound popularity as the subject of Bill Reel's popular video is shining a light on other Interpreters as well.
I assume that all of the people associated with the Interpreter are sincere, smart, faithful, and wonderful human beings, including Mike. For some of them, though, apologetics has shaped their worldview contrary to their better judgment, as we see in Bill Reel's video and the ensuing fallout.
I hope Bill's video will lead to a reformation at the Interpreter in terms of being more inclusive and respectful, at least regarding faithful Latter-day Saints who don't share the positions and "interpretations" enforced by the Interpreter editorial board.
But realistically, the organization's name--Interpreter Foundation--precludes any sort of traditional or open scholarly inquiry.
The name reflects the mindset of the organization.
Mike's "Peter Pan" fiasco, warmly embraced and promoted by Dan Peterson and other Interpreters, has pulled back the curtain on the darker side of LDS apologetics. As the "Interpreters," the editors and their regular contributors have appointed themselves as gatekeepers. They enforce their own "interpretations" through their system of peer-approval, their closed incestuous citation loop, and their style of apologetics following the Dan Peterson model.
Purging Mike Parker seems unfair and unnecessary. But also insufficient. After all, his antics didn't occur in a vacuum. It seems unlikely that anyone at the Interpreter was unaware of Mike's "Peter Pan" alter ego, given Dan's frequent and enthusiastic endorsement. From the outside, it looks like Mike is taking the blame for the entire organization. After all, the Interpreter journal itself perpetuated the Peter Pan fraud, as we see in Bill's video.
But now Peter Pan is becoming the public identity of the Interpreter. Already, in less than a week, Bill Reel's video has more youtube views than all but 4 of the Interpreter's youtube videos (and those were released years ago).
Because I haven't watched the Interpreter's Scripture Roundtables or podcasts, I didn't realize Mike was such an integral part of the Interpreter team for so long.
But now he's omitted from the list of hosts, despite his having hosted numerous podcasts and videos over the years.
https://interpreterfoundation.org/category/interpreter-radio/
Ten years ago Mike was a regular panelist.
On January 9, 2013, he joined Ben McGuire, Daniel Peterson, and Martin Tanner as panelists for this roundtable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q32DCMK0BJA&list=PLRMn4gyXMWLv0J_LWTAaS-BGIatyJ0tF8&index=6
Within the last year, while promoting his Peter Pan charade, Mike has hosted several Interpreter podcasts. His co-hosts are still included in the list of "Our Hosts" as we can see above.
Mike has done several shows in the past with Dan Peterson and other Interpreters which anyone can watch or listen to from the Interpreter website.
The only question remaining is how many of the current Interpreters appreciate being tainted by Peter Pan enough to continue with the organization and its tactics?
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