Free Republic

Joseph Smith was a terrible writer. While that statement might sound foreign to members, considering his testimony and revelations have been spread around the world in more than 160 languages, it should come as no surprise when you realize the Prophet had no more than a third-grade education. "We can't underestimate the significance of all these scribes," said Alex Baugh, professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University. "Their contributions are incalculable." Why did the Prophet call the men he did to transcribe his largely oral revelations? The answer to that question depends on whom you ask. SNIP...

Jews believe that — unlike the Christian Bible, which has been translated from Hebrew and Greek into thousands of languages — the Torah is a near-verbatim copy of G-d's word. Bloomenstiel is a "sofer," or expert in the age-old art of transcribing Hebrew calligraphy, a job Jews believe began with Moses, the first scribe to reduce G-d's laws to writing. Since then, on parchment and using bird feathers for pens, holy men have been copying the document by hand. An elaborate system of editing and proofreading is designed to make sure the Torah is pristine.

Scribes veto children being dressed to kill August 27 2002 at 07:24PM Gaza City - The Palestinian journalists union on Tuesday called for militant groups to stop dressing children up in uniform or handing them weapons to be photographed with. The union also has called on photographers not to film children who had been dressed up in military outfits to be presented to the media. The union said its statement was aimed at protecting children's rights. The union also asked Palestinian factions to refrain from allowing masked men into demonstrations, to avoid possible attacks perpetrated by them. The Israeli army...