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A fact from Morianton's maidservant appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 28 March 2024 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.
... that an unnamed abuse survivor risks her life to become a spy in "one of the bravest actions in all of the Book of Mormon"? Source: "The hero of this story is an unnamed maid servant who suffers domestic violence and then risks her life to warn the Nephites of Morianton's plans" [...] "Her status as a servant, a woman, and a survivor of abuse all put her on one of the lowest levels of the social caste system, making her decision to become a spy one of the bravest actions in all of the Book of Mormon", quoted from Fatimah Salleh and Margaret Olsen Hemming, The Book of Mormon for the Least of These, vol. 2, Mosiah–Alma (By Common Consent Press, 2022), 332.
Is Mormon pious/devotional literature such as 'The Book of Mormon for the Least of These' really a reliable source? In this case, its analysis seems rather outlandish, especially when it comes to the description of the character as a 'spy'. In normal English usage as I know it, just defecting from one side to another and disclosing to the enemy the information that you possess because of your previous allegiance doesn't make you 'a spy'. A spy would be someone who actively infiltrates the opposite side in order to obtain information. For people to be able to reasonably say that she 'became a spy', she would have to sneak back into her former camp at least once, risking her life in order to gather more information there. That would also really be 'brave'; just escaping when you are mistreated seems, well, not all that exceptional, and telling on your former companions once you have joined the enemy doesn't require any particular 'bravery' at all. This looks like Mormon priests/missionaries finding new, 'fresh' fashionable, 'feminist/progressive' ways to praise the 'righteous' characters in their scripture. Naturally, it doesn't make sense, as religious propaganda generally doesn't. Maybe it's hard to find sources on Mormonism that aren't Mormon, but the source should be making at least some attempt at scholarly objectivity. 62.73.69.121 (talk) 22:16, 28 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
just escaping when you are mistreated seems, well, not all that exceptional This understates the effect of domestic violence and the phenomenon of women staying in violent situations because they feel trapped and fear what will happen if they leave (and lose the costly 'stability' they have with their abusers). It seems reasonable that the authors regarded the maidservant as a brave character for escaping this violence. Injecting our own interpretations into the article, rather than summarizing interpretations from secondary sources, seems like it would be original research.
This looks like Mormon priests/missionaries The authors aren’t Mormon priests or missionaries. The Reverend Fatimah Salleh is Baptist. Margaret Olsen Hemming is a Latter-day Saint from what I gather, but she is not a priest for the denomination, which does not ordain women to its formal priestly ecclesiastical leadership positions (like bishop, elder, etc.). Hydrangeans (she/her | talk | edits) 00:42, 29 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]