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| ==Criticism==
| | #REDIRECT [[Book of Mormon/Plagiarism accusations/Comoros Islands and Moroni/Captain Kidd]] |
| Comoros is a small nation made up of three islands off the southeast coast of Africa. Its capital city is Moroni.
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| Some critics have claimed that Joseph Smith created the Book of Mormon names ''Cumorah'' and ''Moroni'' by copying them from a map of the Comoros islands.
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| ===Source(s) of the criticism===
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| *RFM site
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| ==Response==
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| [[Image:ComorosMap.gif|frame|right|Modern map of the Comoros Islands]] | |
| This claim, like many efforts to explain away the Book of Mormon, commits the logical fallacy of the [[#Logical_fallacies#Appeal_to_probability | Appeal to probability]]. This fallacy argues that because something is even remotely ''possible'', it must be ''true.''
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| Pointing out a possible relationship like Comoros = Cumorah and Moroni = Moroni is not sufficient.
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| When the facts are examined, even the possiblity of Joseph seeing Comoros and Moroni receeds; the idea becomes absurd. The following Gazeteers from Joseph's era were consulted:
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| <table border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0">
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| <tr valign="top">
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| <td width="50%">'''Title'''</td>
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| <td width="50%">'''Relevant Contents'''</td>
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| </tr><tr valign="top">
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| <td>
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| ''Mucullock's Universal Gazateer'', 2 vols (1843-4)</td>
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| <td>
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| 2257 pages of double columned miniscule print, with no reference to Comoros Islands or Moroni.
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| </td>
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| </tr>
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| <tr valign="top">
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| <td>
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| ''Morris' Universal Gazateer'' (1821)</td>
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| <td>
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| 831 pages, no mention of Comoros or Moroni</td></tr>
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| <tr valign="top">
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| <td>
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| ''Brookes Gazateer''
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| *1794 edition</td>
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| <td>
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| <br>
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| *Comora on p. 400, no mention of Moroni</td>
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| <tr valign="top">
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| <td>
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| *1819 edition</td>
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| <td>
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| *Comora, no mention of Moroni</td></tr>
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| <tr valign="top">
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| <td>
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| *1835 edition</td>
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| <td>
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| *Comoro on p. 214, no mention of Moroni</td></tr>
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| <tr valign="top">
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| <td>
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| *1843 edition</td>
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| <td>
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| *Comoro, no mention of Moroni</td></tr>
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| </tr>
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| </table>
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| There is no evidence that Joseph saw these maps, or any other, but if he had they would have provided little help.
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| Furthermore, it is unlikely that ''any'' source would have contained the name of "Moroni." That settlement did not become the capital city until 1876 (32 years after Joseph's death and 47 years after the publishing of the Book of Mormon), when Sultan Sa'id Ali settled there. At that time it was only a small settlement. Even a century later, in 1958, its population was only 6500.
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| ==Conclusion==
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| Advocacy of the Comoros/Moroni link seems an act of desperation. It has not been proved that Joseph saw the names, or that any source available to him linked them. Furthermore, latching on to two names in an obscure reference work does nothing to explain the incredible complexity and internal consistency of the Book of Mormon.
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| ==Trivia==
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| In an episode of the TV game show ''Jeopardy,'' host Alex Trebek gave the answer, "Pronounced one way, it is the capitol of the Comoros Islands; pronounced another way, it is the name of the angel that appeared to Joseph Smith." (The question, of course, was "What is Moroni?")
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| ==Further reading==
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| ===FAIR wiki articles===
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| {{Book_of_Mormon_anachronisms}}
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| ===FAIR web site===
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| *Links to articles on the FAIR web site; Topical Guide entries go first
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| ===External links===
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| *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comoros Wikipedia entry on Comoros]
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| *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroni%2C_Comoros Wikipedia entry on Moroni, Comoros]
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| *[http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/cn.html Entry on Comoros in the ''CIA World Factbook]
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| *[http://www.geocities.com/rameumptom/bom/comoros.html Gary Smith homepage]
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| ===Printed material===
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| *Printed resources whose text is not available online
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