By Robert Kirby
Tribune Columnist
The latest diatribe against Mormons comes from Martha Nibley Beck, daughter of one of its scholarly pillars: BYU professor and LDS grouch Hugh Nibley.
In Beck's tell-all Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith, she yanks all the stops on family as well as her former religion.
Among other things, Beck accuses Hugh of ritually abusing her as a 5-year-old while dressed in Egyptian garb. She also claims that sexual abuse occurs far more often among Mormons than any other group.
Beck further asserts that the church tapped her phone, that the First Presidency has an enforcer squad to deal with people like her, and that the Angel Moroni statue on the Salt Lake Temple has a rich milk chocolaty center.
It's possible that Beck's claims are true. It's possible they aren't. Not about the Angel Moroni. I made that one up. But Beck's siblings will tell you that she has an equally active imagination. Still, the truth is that I wasn't there.
If true, Beck's claims would shatter my faith. I couldn't bear thinking that I've spent my life completely missing the ecclesiastical point.