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Archiver > DEVON > 1999-06 > 0930671447


From: "C.J. Burgoyne" <>
Subject: Re: Re. a dead and should be buried thread
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 16:50:47 +0100 (BST)


On Tue, 29 Jun 1999, Brian Randell wrote:

> Public campaigns, involving say newspapers and/or the Internet, and
> arguments which imply that as genealogists we assume we have a right to
> demand that church records be made widely available, regardless of the
> religious feelings of others, would I believe be (very) counter-productive.

I second Brian's urge to caution. This argument is not, as far as the
Church of England is concerned, about genealogy but about theology. They
have fundamental disagreements with the purposes for which the LDS is
collecting the information (which is related to the post-humous saving of
souls). The fact that we make use of that information for genealogical
purposes is a side issue. Thus, simply urging the Church of England to
make its records available to the LDS is a definite no-no.

I feel a more logical approach would be to join the Devon and Cornwall
Record Society and to offer to transcribe the microfiche yourself with a
view to making the records available for proper study; after all, somebody
is going to have to sit in front of a microfiche and a computer screen and
flog through it. However, the theological question will still remain,
since most of the Devon and Cornwall records in the LDS today are those
taken from earlier D&CRS transcriptions and the church is rightly
suspicious.

There is nothing as vicious as a turf war between men of the cloth. "Fools
rush in where angels fear to tread" is particularly apposite here!

Regards

Chris Burgoyne

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