As was pointed out earlier, there is no copyright on this information, and it should now exist in the public domain as a historical record. The only thing embarrasing in PMG is that the scholarship quality is still very low, even though it isn’t “meant” to be a scholarly book. It is a guide, and no more.

Kaimi thank you so much for including the link to that Ensign article. Having the link so close to Mark’s misrepresentation will go a long way in helping to stop his false promogulation of true mormon doctrine (as opposed to someone’s opinion from the 60′s). It’s a great article, and I higly recommend it to all people reading this blog: MLBC’s (previously defined) and CBB (consevatve blogging bullies).

I know that one problem with “handbooks” is that they get outdated as administrative policies change (everything from confirmation of converts now taking place in sacrament meeting to how many days before you turn 19 you can submit your missionary application) or a myriad of miscellaneous topics (e.g. whether Bishops should ever discuss “family size” with couples – they’re told not to BTW). Can you imagine if there were 10′s of thousands of copies of “handbooks” floating around from 2, 3 or 4 versions ago?? It’s much easier to issue the 5 copies each ward gets and tell them to get rid of the old ones. The “time lapse” between announcing a new policy and its acceptance and knowledge is much quicker than if the handbook has been widely disseminated to 20,000 wards and branches.

I don’t remember everything in Volume 1. If I have a question, I just ask my Bishop.

And I agree, if the Catholic Church wants to limit access, by all means. I’m sure the Church won’t say too much on it and certainly won’t get in some “tit for tat” thing. I’m sure our Catholic genealogical friends will do a lot of talking and complaining. The Church clearly has two motives for collecting data, the important one being to help members complete proxy work for their ancestors. The second is providing a service to individuals throughout the world – I’d put that in the PR/Missionary category and really a NICE thing to do, when you think about it. The Church and its volunteers scanning records have helped millions. My dad was not a member, and he enjoyed visiting the local Family History Center and helping him with his resource, long before I became involved in it. He really appreciated it as to so many friends of the Church.

Re: your comments on the GHI or CHI or whatever we want to call it: I completely disagree with your assessment of vol 1–there is a LOT of material in there that I think (some) church members would be interested in knowing. At the same time, I support the right of the church to limit access to that information if they so choose, and that was my only point here–that we should allow Catholics to do the same.

“Mormon” was quite clever when it was coined by those who despised the Church, but I don’t think the early saints chuckled when they first heard it used to claim they weren’t Christain. “J Dubs” might be clever, but I don’t call ANY of my Jehovah’s Witness friends that – behind their backs or to their faces. There are numerous derogatory terms that are “clever” – but simply insensitive to a great degree. I heard all kinds of clever terms to describe racial differences when I lived in the Deep South, but I wouldn’t defend a single one due to its cleverness.

Sorry, Wilfried. I won’t continue this threadjack further.

The Church has over time been adding more books and magazines that can be downloaded as pdf – many (most) were always available for purchase and now they are offered free as pdf (e.g. Ensign magazine).

Yes, some things are not accessible to all members but only can be ordered by a Ward or Branch – these are mainly forms and administrative things that no member would actually want.

As far as the Church Handbook of Instructions (incorrectly called GHI above), it does not contain anything \”secret\” or earth shattering. I was a Bishop and am currently a High Councilor so I don\’t even get a copy now, just the portion of the second book (it has two volumes) that pertains to my calling (e.g. Sunday School). Volume 1 of CHI is mainly for Bishoprics (including Ward Clerk and Executive Secretary) who get 5 copies, Stake Presidencies and Mission Presidencies. It very much helps these people do their calling (if they read and follow it). Every 3-5 years it is revised – things are added; things are deleted. It does have a lot of gospel discussion, but certainly has a lot of administrative stuff that would bore most members…The trend in the last two decades has been to greatly shorten it, leaving leaders to lead by the Spirit more (my opinion) and be less inclined to want to \”look things up\”.

Given that fact, we ought to be able to accept their ambivalence about the way NoS seeks to impose his “act of love” upon them.