View source for Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Chapter 13

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{{Resource Title|Response to claims made in "Chapter 13: Unholy Matrimony"}}
{{FAIRAnalysisHeader
|title=[[../../|One Nation Under Gods]]
|author=Richard Abanes
|noauthor=
|section=[[../../Index|Index of claims]]: Claims made in "Chapter 13: Unholy Matrimony"
|previous=[[../Chapter 12|Claims made in "Chapter 12: Wars and Rumors of Wars"]]
|next=[[../Chapter 14|Claims made in "Chapter 14: The Politics of Compromise"]]
|notes={{AuthorsDisclaimer}}
}}

{{Epigraph|Coexisting with these two deities was a limitless amount of cosmic spirit matter known as "intelligence," out of which Elohim and Heavenly Mother made countless spirit babies via celestial sex.<br>
&mdash;''One Nation Under Gods'', p. 285}}
{{parabreak}}		

==Response to claim: 282, 572n8 (PB) - Joseph approved a "pretend marriage" between his plural wife Sarah Ann Whitney and Joseph Kingsbury==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
Joseph approved a "pretend marriage" between his plural wife Sarah Ann Whitney and Joseph Kingsbury
|authorsources=<br>
*George D. Smith, ''An Intimate Chronicle: The Journals of William Clayton'' (1995), 27.
*"History of Joseph Kingsbury, Written by His Own Hand, 1846, 1849, 1850," Stanley Snow Ivins Collection, vol. 15, 74-76, Utah State Historical Society.
|information=This is correct.
}}
{{:Question: What did the husband of Sarah Ann Whitney know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?}}

==Response to claim: 282, 572n8 (PB) - Joseph wrote a "revealing letter" to Sarah Ann Whitney's parents in which he invited them "to bring their daughter to visit him"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
Joseph wrote a "revealing letter" to Sarah Ann Whitney's parents in which he invited them "to bring their daughter to visit him"
|authorsources=<br>
*George D. Smith, ''An Intimate Chronicle: The Journals of William Clayton (1995), 27.
*Joseph Smith, letter to Whitney family, Aug. 18, 1842, photocopy, George Albert Smith papers, Special Collections, Marriott Library.
|propaganda=This letter was written to Sarah Ann Whitney's parents, and Sarah was included in the invitation (although not named). The letter did not ask them to "bring their daughter to visit him."
}}
{{:Question: Did Joseph Smith write a "love letter" to his plural wife Sarah Ann Whitney to request a secret rendezvous?}}
{{:Question: How do critics of the Church portray Joseph Smith's letter to the Whitney family as a "love letter"?}}
{{:Question: What was the real purpose of the letter written by Joseph Smith to the parents of Sarah Ann Whitney?}}

<!-- ====283, 572n10 (PB)====
{{IndexClaim
|claim=
*Did Sarah Pratt's rejection of the Church have to do with her having been propositioned by Joseph?
|response=
*[[John C. Bennett]]
|authorsources=
*W. Wyl, ''Mormon Portraits'', 62.
}} -->

==Response to claim: 283, 572n11 (PB) - Joseph stated: "What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
Joseph stated: "What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one"
|authorsources=
''History of the Church'', vol. 6, 410-411.
|information=This is correct. Joseph was responding to accusations of adultery.
}}
{{:Question: Why did Joseph Smith say "I had not been married scarcely five minutes...before it was reported that I had seven wives"?}}

==Response to claim: 284 (PB) - Many of Joseph's plural wives teenagers==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
Many of Joseph's plural wives teenagers.
|propaganda=Some were in their teens. Many of them were not.
|authorsources=
No source provided.
}}
*[[Polygamy book/Age of wives]]

==Response to claim: 285, 575n21 (HB) 573n21 (PB) - "Elohim and Heavenly Mother made countless spirit babies via celestial sex"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
{{AuthorQuote|"Coexisting with these two deities was a limitless amount of cosmic spirit matter known as "intelligence," out of which Elohim and Heavenly Mother made countless spirit babies via celestial sex."}}
|authorsources=<br>
*McConkie, ''Mormon Doctrine'', 387, 750.
*{{JDfairwiki|author=Brigham Young|disc=19|vol=11|start=122}}.
*Orson Pratt, "The Pre-Existence of Man," ''The Seer'', March 1853, vol. 1, no. 3, 38
|propaganda=The author uses the offensive term "celestial sex" to characterize LDS beliefs related to the pre-existence. The sources quoted, Bruce R. McConkie, Brigham Young, and Orson Pratt never use the term "celestial sex."  ''No LDS leader'' has ever used the term "celestial sex."  The term "celestial sex" was popularized in Ed Decker's 1982 anti-Mormon film [[The God Makers]]. This source is not credited as a source by the author, but its influence is obvious.
}}
*[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language|Loaded and prejudicial language]]
*{{CrossRef:Abanes:Becoming Gods|pages=154, 392n14}}
{{:Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe in a practice called "celestial sex," and that this is the manner in which "spirit children" are formed?}}
{{:Question: What have Latter-day Saint leaders actually said about the method of procreation in the afterlife?}}

==Response to claim: 285, 574n25 (PB) - "Earth, by the way, in this Mormon scenario, was fashioned as part of a joint creative project supervised by the most faithful of Heavenly Father's spiritual progeny"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
{{AuthorQuote|"Earth, by the way, in this Mormon scenario, was fashioned as part of a joint creative project supervised by the most faithful of Heavenly Father's spiritual progeny (e.g., Jesus, Joseph Smith, Noah, Adam, John the Baptist, etc.). Elohim's other spirit children included: Lucifer, who would become the Devil (a.k.a. Satan); Napoleon; George Washington; Joseph Smith; Louis Armstrong, Donny and Marie Osmond, Senator Orrin Hatch, U.S. President George W. Bush, and everyone else who has ever lived on this planet."}}
|propaganda=This is simply sarcastic propaganda.
|authorsources=
McConkie, 169.
}}

==Response to claim: 286, 574n26 (PB) - Latter-day Saints believe that God the Father is a "polygamous god"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
Latter-day Saints believe that God the Father is a "polygamous god"
|misinformation=This is not a doctrine of the Church, even if some believe it.
|authorsources=
*Orson Pratt, "Celestial Marriage," ''The Seer'', November 1853, vol. 1, no. 11, 172.
*John J. Stewart, ''Brigham Young and His Wives and The True Story of Plural Marriage'', 41.
}}
* [[Jesus Christ/Was Jesus married/Was Jesus a polygamist#Orson_Pratt:_The_Seer|Elohim a "polygamous god"?]]
*[[The Seer]]
* [[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]

==Response to claim: 286 (PB) - Do Latter-day Saints believe that God the Father is "the god of this planet"?==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
Do Latter-day Saints believe that God the Father is "the god of this planet"?
|authorsources=
No source provided.
|misinformation=Numerous LDS scriptures assert that God the Father rules through Christ over the universe. {{s||DC|45|1}}; {{s||DC|76|24}}; {{s||Moses|1|33}}; {{s||Moses|2|1}}) LDS apostles and leaders frequently use the term [[Jesus Christ/Lord of the Universe|Lord of the Universe]] to describe Jesus, who creates and rules over "worlds without number."
}}

==Response to claim: 286, 575n29 (PB) - Latter-day Saints believe that our mortal life is similar to what God the Father had to go through in order to become God==
{{IndexClaim
|claim=
Latter-day Saints believe that our mortal life is similar to what God the Father had to go through in order to become God.
|information=Latter-day Saints do believe that God went through a mortal existence at some point.
|authorsources=
*McConkie, 64.
}}
*[[Nature of God/Deification of man]]

==Response to claim: 287 (PB) - "More spirit children means more power, which in turn pushes a Mormon male further up the hierarchical ladder of gods in our universe"==
{{IndexClaim
|claim=
{{AuthorQuote|"More spirit children means more power, which in turn pushes a Mormon male further up the hierarchical ladder of gods in our universe."}}
|disinformation=This statement is not LDS doctrine&mdash;it is the creation of the author.
|authorsources=
Author's opinion.
}}
*[[Nature of God/Deification of man/Gods of their own planets]]
*[[One Nation Under Gods#Absurd claims|Absurd claims]]

==Response to claim: 287, 575n38(PB) - Latter-day Saints do not believe that Jesus Christ was not "conceived in any way that might be considered supernatural"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
Is it true that Latter-day Saints do not believe that Jesus Christ was not "conceived in any way that might be considered supernatural" and that He was not "miraculously begotten, for instance, by the Holy Ghost, as Christianity teaches"?
|disinformation=The Book of Mormon teaches that Christ was conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost ({{s|1|Nephi|11|21}}).
|authorsources=
Brigham Young, April 9, 1852, [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses/Volume_1/Self-Government%E2%80%94Mysteries,_etc. ''Journal of Discourses'', vol. 1, 51].
}}
* [[../../Use of sources/Conception of Christ|Use of sources: Conception of Christ]]
*{{CrossRef:Abanes:Becoming Gods|pages=183}}
{{:Question: Do Mormons believe that Mary was still a virgin when Jesus was born?}}

==Response to claim: 287-8, 575n39 (PB) - Do Latter-day Saints believe that God the Father visited the earth to conceive Jesus Christ through Mary after "making her his wife"?==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
Do Latter-day Saints believe that God the Father visited the earth to conceive Jesus Christ through Mary after "making her his wife" even though she was "his daughter" and "betrothed to Joseph?"
|authorsources=<br>
*Brigham Young, ''Deseret News'', October 10, 1866.
*Brigham Young, August 19, 1866, [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses/Volume_11/Delegate_Hooper%E2%80%94Beneficial_Effects_of_Polygamy,_etc. ''Journal of Discourses'', vol. 11, 268]. Brigham says, "The man Joseph, the husband of Mary, did not, that we know of, have more than one wife, but Mary the wife of Joseph had another husband. On this account infidels have called the Savior a bastard. This is merely a human opinion upon one of the inscrutable doings of the Almighty. That very babe that was cradled in the manger, was begotten, not by Joseph, the husband of Mary, but by another Being. Do you inquire by whom? He was begotten by God our heavenly Father. This answer may suffice you—you need never inquire more upon that point. Jesus Christ is the only begotten of the Father, and he is the Savior of the world, and full of grace and truth."
*Orson Pratt, :Celestial Marriage," ''[[The Seer]]'', October 1853, vol. 1, no. 10, 158. (It should be noted that the First Presidency [[The Seer|rejected]] Pratt's writings in ''The Seer'' as Church doctrine.)
|propaganda=The author twists words in such a way that no Latter-day Saint would recognize this alleged part of their "theology."
}}
* [[../../Use of sources/Conception of Christ|Use of sources: Conception of Christ]]
{{:Jesus Christ/Conception}}

==Response to claim: 288, 576n42-43 (PB) - Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus became a polygamist just like His Father==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus became a polygamist just like His Father.
|authorsources=
Orson Pratt, "Celestial Marriage," ''[[The Seer]]'', 172, 158.
|disinformation=The Church teaches no such doctrine. Most references to Elohim's status come from Orson Pratt, who believed that this was true. The Church, however, has neither accepted nor promoted such a teaching.
}}
{{:Jesus Christ/Was Jesus married/Was Jesus a polygamist}}

==Response to claim: 288, 576n44 - The author states that the "road to godhood" for others is "far more difficult and takes considerably longer" than the route taken by Jesus Christ==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
*The author states that the "road to godhood" for others is "far more difficult and takes considerably longer" than the route taken by Jesus Christ, since Jesus did not require "wives" or "temple rituals" to achieve godhood.
|propaganda=This is an absurd claim by the author. Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins&mdash;something that no man is even capable of doing for himself. ''This'' is what the author implies is the easier road to godhood?
|authorsources=
*Bruce R. McConkie, ''Mormon Doctrine'', 129.
}}
*[[One Nation Under Gods#Absurd claims|Absurd claims]]

==Response to claim: 289, 578n51 (HB) 576n51 (PB) - "many "'influential' Mormons and LDS religion teachers still saw women as mere 'birth machines'"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
The following differences exist between the hardback and paperback editions:
*"According to the late BYU scholar Eugene England, Mormon women literally are to become 'birth machines' so Mormon males can continue creating and populating various worlds without end." (HB) 
*"In 1987, BYU scholar Eugene England noted how many "influential" Mormons and LDS religion teachers still saw women as mere "birth machines"&mdash;a view he called "one of the more popular rationales for eternal polygyny." Just recently "an increasing number of faithful Mormons" have started rejecting such a notion." (PB)
|propaganda=This is utter nonsense.
|authorsources=
The following endnote was corrected in the paperback edition:
*Jessie L. Embry, "Burden or Pleasure?: A Profile of LDS Polygamous Husbands," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Winter 1987), vol. 20, no. 4, 148. (HB)
*Eugene England, "On Fidelity, Polygamy, and Celestial Marriage," ''Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought'' (Winter 1987), vol. 20, no. 4, 148. The note states, "England condemned this view, explaining that it was based on a too rigid interpretation of D&C 132:63. (PB)
}}
*[[../../Use of sources/LDS "Birth Machines"|Use of sources: LDS "Birth Machines"]]

==Response to claim: 290, 577n56-57 (PB) - Ann Eliza Young in her 1875 book ''Wife No. 19'' stated the polygamy in Utah was not an option, but a command==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
Ann Eliza Young in her 1875 book ''Wife No. 19'' stated the polygamy in Utah was not an option, but a command.
|misinformation=Given that plural marriage was practiced by only [[Incidence of polygamy|15-20%]] of members on average, this claim is dubious.
|authorsources=
*Ernest H. Taves, ''This is the Place: Brigham Young and the New Zion'', 153.
*Ann Eliza Young, ''Wife No. 19, or the Story of A Life In Bondage, Being A Complete Expose of Mormonism, and Revealing the Sorrows, Sacrifices, and Sufferings of Women in Polygamy''.
}}
*[[Polygamy/Ann Eliza Young]]

==Response to claim: 294, 579n68 - Early LDS leaders allowed the marriage of near relatives==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
Early LDS leaders allowed the marriage of near relatives. The book specifically mentions the sealing of John Bernhisel to his sister, Maria, as quoted in Joseph's diary.
|response=
|authorsources=
*Scott H. Faulring, ed., ''An American Prophet's Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith'', 424.
}}
*[[Polygamy/Near relatives]]

<!-- ====294, 579n74====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
*George D. Smith notes in a study of 153 polygamous men: "two of the wives were only thirteen years old, more than a dozen girls were fourteen, twenty-one were fifteen; and fifty-three were only sixteen."
|response=
*{{FalseStatement}}: G.D. Smith is ''not'' an "LDS scholar."  GD Smith is an atheist, writes frequently for secular humanism's flagship publication ''Free Inquiry'', and finances Signature Books, which expends considerable effort attacking the foundational events and doctrines of the Church. <ref>For Smith’s long-standing links to the secular humanist movement, see {{FR-4-1-3}}.  See also  {{FR-7-1-16}}.  On Signature Books’ ideological atheism, see {{FR-16-1-16}}</ref>
*[[Polygamy book/Age of wives]]
|authorsources=
*George D. Smith. Cited in Jerald Tanner and Sandra Tanner, "Joseph Smith and Women," ''Salt Lake City Messenger'' (#91), November 1996, 7.
}} -->

==Response to claim: 295, 579n77 - Latter-day Saint men treated women as "livestock or property"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
Latter-day Saint men treated women as "livestock or property." The endnote refers to an alleged quote made by Brigham Young to Henry Jacobs in which he is claimed to have told Jacobs that "the woman that you claim for a wife does not belong to you. She is a spiritual wife of brother Joseph...and she, in his behalf, with her children, are my property..."
|propaganda=Stenhouse could not have heard the alleged comment by Brigham in 1846, since he was baptized in England on July 14, 1845, and didn't come to the United States until late 1855. His "corroboration," therefore, is of no worth, and he is likely to have simply copied Hall's claim as his own.

Hall claimed that the comment was heard "in the hearing of hundreds," yet nobody else present among these "hundreds" has ever corroborated this story.

The claim also does not match Brigham Young's [[Primary sources/Brigham_Young_8_October_1861_discourse_on_plural_marriage|teachings]] on the subject.
|authorsources=<br>
*{{CriticalWork:Hall:Abominations of Mormonism|pages=43-44}}
*{{CriticalWork:Stenhouse:Rocky Mountain Saints|pages=185-186}}
}}
*{{Wyatt-Zina}}

==Response to claim: 295, 582n81-82 (HB) 580n81-82 (PB) - The author claims that "wife swapping" was "acceptable"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
The author claims that "wife swapping" was "acceptable."
|disinformation=This is nonsense. [[../../Use of sources/Wife swapping|Grant's quote]] is about consecrating everything to God's service: money, wives, etc.  It does not sanction "wife swapping."
|authorsources=<br>
*Jedediah Grant. Quoted in {{CriticalWork:Stenhouse:Rocky Mountain Saints|pages=294}}
*Jedediah Grant, February 19, 1854, [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses/Volume_2/The_Power_of_God_and_the_Power_of_Satan ''Journal of Discourses'', vol. 2, 14].
}}
*{{CrossRef:Abanes:Becoming Gods|pages=237, 425n73-75}}

==Response to claim: 297, 581n88-89 (PB) - Missionaries were instructed to not select converted women as wives before they were brought back to Utah==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
Missionaries were instructed to not select converted women as wives before they were brought back to Utah.
|propaganda=The author creates a composite idea from the two sources. Kimball's discourse doesn't actually mention plural marriage.

Kimball's quote in context: 
<blockquote>
"I say to those who are elected to go on missions, Go, if you never return; and commit what you have into the hands of God-your wives, your children, your brethren, and your property. Let truth and righteousness be your motto; and do not go into the world for anything else but to preach the Gospel, build up the kingdom of God, and gather the sheep into the fold. You are sent out as shepherds to gather the sheep together; and remember that they are not your sheep: they belong to Him that sends you: Then do not make a choice of any of those sheep; do not make selections before they are brought home and put into the fold."
</blockquote>
|authorsources=<br>
*Heber C. Kimball, August 28, 1852, [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses/Volume_6/Instructions_and_Counsel_to_Departing_Missionaries ''Journal of Discourses'', vol. 6, 256].
*Heber C. Kimball, Quoted in Stanley P. Hirshon, ''The Lion of the Lord: A Biography of the Mormon Leader, Brigham Young'', 129-130.
}}

==Response to claim: 297, 581n90-95 (PB) - If missionaries chose not to "heed Kimball's warning" about selecting wives before bringing them to Utah, they were castrated==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
If missionaries chose not to "heed Kimball's warning" about selecting wives before bringing them to Utah, they were castrated.
|propaganda=This is nonsense. There is no evidence of this beyond Lee's book, which was heavily edited by his lawyer with an anti-Mormon spin after Lee's death.
|authorsources=<br>
*John D. Lee
{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Mormon Hierarchy|pages=250-251}}
}}
*[[Utah/Crime and violence/Castration in the 1800's]]

==Response to claim: 299, 581n95 (PB) - Brigham Young said that "the only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
Brigham Young said that "the only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy"
|authorsources=
Brigham Young, August 19, 1866, [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses/Volume_11/Delegate_Hooper%E2%80%94Beneficial_Effects_of_Polygamy,_etc. ''Journal of Discourses'', vol. 11, 269].
}}
{{:Question: Did Brigham Young believe that one could not enter the Celestial Kingdom unless they were a polygamist?}}

==Response to claim: 301, 582n106 (PB) - Orson Pratt taught that anyone not entering into plural marriage "will be damned"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
Orson Pratt taught that anyone not entering into plural marriage "will be damned"
|misinformation=Pratt is talking about being ''sealed'', not having more than one wife.
|authorsources=
*Orson Pratt, August 29, 1852, [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses/Volume_1/Celestial_Marriage ''Journal of Discourses'' vol. 1, 64].
}}
* [[../../Use of sources/Damned without plural marriage|Use of sources: damned without plural marriage?]]
*[[Polygamy/Requirement for exaltation]]

==Response to claim: 301 (PB) - "Monogamy was equated with a failure to obey God, which not only displeased the Almighty, but endangered one's eternal destiny"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
{{AuthorQuote|"Monogamy was equated with a failure to obey God, which not only displeased the Almighty, but endangered one's eternal destiny."}}
|authorsources=
No source provided.
|propaganda=This is nonsense.
}}
{{:Question: Is plural marriage required in order to achieve exaltation?}}

==Response to claim: 301-2, 582n108 (PB) - Did Brigham actually say that monogamy was the "source of prostitution and whoredom" throughout all Christendom?==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
Did Brigham actually say that monogamy was the "source of prostitution and whoredom" throughout all Christendom?
|misinformation=Brigham [[../../Notable omissions#301-2|actually said]] "'''a''' source," not "'''the''' source."
|authorsources=
Brigham Young, June 18, 1865, [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses/Volume_11/Personality_of_God,_etc. ''Journal of Discourses'', vol. 11, 128].
}}

==Response to claim: 302, 582n109 (PB) - Was failure to acquire plural wives considered a crime worthy of death?==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
*Was failure to acquire plural wives considered a crime worthy of death?
|disinformation=This is an absurd claim. The source listed by the author talks about an increase in the number of plural marriages during the "Mormon Reformation." It says nothing about apostasy being "worthy of death." The idea that apostasy was "worthy of death" originated with the Tanners. The author strings several different ideas together to create his conclusion that failure to acquire plural wives was "worthy of death."
|authorsources=
Marie Cornwall, Camela Courtright, and Laga Van BeekHow, "Common the Principle?: Women As Plural Wives in 1860," ''Dialogue: a Journal of Mormon Thought'' (Summer 1993), vol. 26, 142.
}}
*[[Utah/Crime and violence/Crimes critics allege to have been "worthy of death" in the 1800's]]
*[[Polygamy/Requirement for exaltation|Polygamy demanded?]]
*[[../../Absurd claims|Absurd claims]]

==Response to claim: 302 (PB) - The author claims that single or monogamous men "mocked and ridiculed as practically impotent"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
The author claims that single or monogamous men "mocked and ridiculed as practically impotent"
|propaganda=This is an absurd claim. The author provides no source to back up this assertion.  The burden of proof is upon him.
|authorsources=
No source provided.
}}

==Response to claim: 303, 582n111 (PB) - LDS women were told that they could only be saved through their husbands, who would provide them with salvation==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
LDS women were told that they could only be saved through their husbands, who would provide them with salvation.
|misinformation=LDS believe that salvation only comes through the atonement of Jesus Christ, and do not believe that it is dependent upon any man.
|authorsources=
Sandra Tanner, "How the LDS Husband Hopes to Resurrect His Wife According to the LDS Temple Ceremony"
}}

==Response to claim: 304, 583n114 (PB) - Brigham said: "It is for you to bear children..."==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
Brigham said: "It is for you to bear children,...are you tormenting yourselves by thinking that your husbands do not love you? I would not care whether they loved a particle or not; but I would cry out, like one of old, in the joy of my heart, 'I have got a man from the Lord!' 'Hallelujah! I am a mother—I have borne an image of God!'"
|misinformation=[[../../Notable omissions#304|A key portion]] of Brigham's quote has been omitted. 
|authorsources=
*Brigham Young, April 7, 1861, [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses/Volume_9/The_Gifts_of_God,_etc. ''Journal of Discourses'', vol. 9, 37].
}}

==Response to claim: 305 (PB) - The author claims that the Bible not sanction or command polygamy==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
The author claims that the Bible not sanction or command polygamy.
|disinformation=[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yibbum levirate marriage] was mandated by the law of Moses ({{b||Deuteronomy|25|5-6}}). 

Even if true, this claim is immaterial.  God did not condemn the practice of plural marriage in the Bible.  If it was everywhere and always forbidden, God could and would have done so.  [[Early_Christians_on_plural_marriage|Early Christian]] authors understood this.
|authorsources=
Various references related to providing an Evangelical view of how polygamy in the Bible is viewed.
}}
* [[Polygamy/Not Biblical]]
*[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Not Biblical/No biblical mandate for plural marriage|No biblical mandate for plural marriage?]]
* Compare also [[../../Index/Chapter_9#194|p. 194]]

==Response to claim: 306 (PB) - The author claims that the Hebrews never considered polygamy a standard practice==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
The author claims that the Hebrews never considered polygamy a standard practice.
|disinformation=[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yibbum Levirate marriage] was mandated by the law of Moses ({{b||Deuteronomy|25|5-6}}). Even if true, this claim is immaterial.  God did not condemn the practice of plural marriage in the Bible.  If it was everywhere and always forbidden, God could and would have done so.  [[Early_Christians_on_plural_marriage|Early Christian]] authors understood this.
|authorsources=
No source provided.
}}
*[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Not Biblical]]
*[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Not Biblical/No_biblical_mandate_for_plural_marriage|No biblical mandate for plural marriage?]]

==Response to claim: 307, 583-4n123-5 (PB) - Did Joseph Smith and Brigham Young believe that the New Testament teaches polygamy and that Jesus and his apostles were actually polygamists?==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
Did Joseph Smith and Brigham Young believe that the New Testament teaches polygamy and that Jesus and his apostles were actually polygamists?
|misinformation=Jedediah Grant is actually talking about statements attributed to Celsus: [[Was_Jesus_Christ_married/Was_Jesus_a_polygamist|Was Jesus a polygamist?]]
|authorsources=<br>
*Jedediah M. Grant, August 7, 1853, [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses/Volume_1/Uniformity ''Journal of Discourses'', vol. 1, 346].
*Orson Hyde, March 18, 1855, [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses/Volume_2/The_Judgements_of_God_on_the_United_States ''Journal of Discourses'', vol. 2, 210].
*Orson Pratt, ''[[The Seer]]'', 172.
}}

==Response to claim: 308 (PB) - The Book of Mormon condemns polygamy==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=One Nation Under Gods
|claim=
The Book of Mormon condemns polygamy
|misinformation=The Book of Mormon states that God condemns polygamy ''except'' when God commands it.
|authorsources=<br>
*{{s||Jacob|1|15}}
*{{s||Jacob|2|24-27}}
*{{s||Jacob|3|5}}
}}
{{:Question: Does the Book of Mormon condemn polygamy?}}

== ==
{{Endnotes label}}

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[[fr:Specific works/One Nation Under Gods/Index/Chapter 13]]