View source for Criticism of Mormonism/Books/American Massacre/Chapter 1

{{FairMormon}}  
{{H1
|L=Criticism of Mormonism/Books/American Massacre/Chapter 1
|H=Response to claims made in "Chapter 1: Palmyra, 1823"
|T=[[../../|American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows]]
|A=Sally Denton
|>=[[../Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
}}
{{ChartAmericanMassacreChapter1}}
<onlyinclude>
{{H2
|L=Criticism of Mormonism/Books/American Massacre/Chapter 1
|H=Response to claims made in American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, "Chapter 1: Palmyra, 1823"
|S=
|L1=Response to claim: 3 - Joseph Smith is claimed to have been visited by a "spirit" named Moroni
|L2=Response to claim: 4 - Joseph made "excited proclamations to the public" regarding his First Vision
|L3=Response to claim: 4 - The author claims that Joseph experienced "hundreds of mythical persecutions" throughout his life
|L4=Response to claim: 4 - Joseph is claimed to have spent his leisure time leading a band of treasure diggers
|L5=Response to claim: 4 - Joseph is claimed to have been "apprenticed" with a man who was described as "a peripatetic magician, conjurer and fortuneteller"
|L6=Response to claim: 5 - The "autumnal equinox and a new moon" were considered to be "an excellent time to commence new projects"
|L7=Response to claim: 5 - Joseph's family is claimed to have had a "nonconforming contempt for organized religion"
|L8=Response to claim: 6 - Lucy Smith is claimed to have "abandoned traditional Protestantism" in favor of "mysticism and miracles"
|L9=Response to claim: 7 - Joseph is claimed to have "detested the plow as only a farmer's son can"
|L10=Response to claim: 7 - Joseph is claimed to have told stories about the Mound Builders
|L11=Response to claim: 7 - Joseph entertained his family with tales of the ancient inhabitants of the area
|L12=Response to claim: 8 - The author claims that Emma was warned not to touch the plates because she would suffer "instant death if her eyes fell upon them"
|L13=Response to claim: 8 - Laman and Lemuel, were evil sinners, causing God to curse them and all of their descendants with a red skin
|L14=Response to claim: 9 - The author claims that the Book of Mormon was rooted in "the conviction that all believers were on the road to Godhood"
|L15=Response to claim: 9 - The author claims that Joseph Smith's "evangelical socialism" was a precursor to "Marxian communism"
|L16=Response to claim: 10 - The author describes the LDS view of God as "a corporeal being residing on a planet orbiting a star called Kolob and sexually active with a Heavenly Mother and other wives"
}}
</onlyinclude>

==Response to claim: 3 - Joseph Smith is claimed to have been visited by a "spirit" named Moroni==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=American Massacre
|claim=
Joseph Smith is claimed to have been visited by a "spirit" named Moroni.
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
{{misinformation|Moroni was an angel in the earliest sources, not a "spirit."
* {{FR-17-1-4}} <!-- Morris -->
*{{FR-18-1-5}} <!-- Ashurst-McGee-->
}}
{{:Question: Did the story of Moroni's visit to Joseph Smith evolve from that of a magical spiritual treasure guardian to an "angel"?}}

==Response to claim: 4 - Joseph made "excited proclamations to the public" regarding his First Vision==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=American Massacre
|claim=Joseph made "excited proclamations to the public" regarding his First Vision.
}}
{{propaganda|Joseph said that he told at least one minister about his vision, and that he was persecuted for it. There is absolutely no evidence that he made any "excited proclamations to the public" about the First Vision.
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}

==Response to claim: 4 - The author claims that Joseph experienced "hundreds of mythical persecutions" throughout his life==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=American Massacre
|claim=The author claims that Joseph experienced "hundreds of mythical persecutions" throughout his life.
}}
{{disinformation|The author does not make clear which of Joseph's persecutions she considers "mythical." Perhaps the time that he was tarred and feathered? Perhaps the time that he was shot and killed by a mob?
*{{InternalContradiction|Author [[American_Massacre#23|later]] describes some actual persecutions.}}
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}

==Response to claim: 4 - Joseph is claimed to have spent his leisure time leading a band of treasure diggers===
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=American Massacre
|claim=Joseph is claimed to have spent his leisure time leading a band of treasure diggers.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{CriticalWork:Brodie:No Man Knows|pages=16}}
}}
{{propaganda|The author simply repeats Fawn Brodie's assertion.
}}
{{:Question: Was Joseph Smith's participation in "money digging" as a youth a blot on his character?}}

==Response to claim: 4 - Joseph is claimed to have been "apprenticed" with a man who was described as "a peripatetic magician, conjurer and fortuneteller"==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=American Massacre
|claim=
Joseph is claimed to have been "apprenticed" with a man who was described as "a peripatetic magician, conjurer and fortuneteller."
|authorsources=<br>
#Carl Carmer, ''The Farm Boy and the Angel'' (1970), p. 53.
}}
{{misinformation|There is no evidence to support this claim.
}}
{{:Question: Was a "vagabond fortune-teller" named Walters Joseph Smith's "mentor"?}}

==Response to claim: 5 - The "autumnal equinox and a new moon" were considered to be "an excellent time to commence new projects"==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=American Massacre
|claim=
The "autumnal equinox and a new moon" were considered to be "an excellent time to commence new projects."
|authorsources=<br>
#{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Magic World View|pages=167}}
}}
{{propaganda|The author simply repeats D. Michael Quinn's claim.
}}
{{:Question: Was the fact that the recovery of the Book of Mormon plates occurred on the autumnal equinox somehow significant?}}

==Response to claim: 5 - Joseph's family is claimed to have had a "nonconforming contempt for organized religion"==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=American Massacre
|claim=Joseph's family is claimed to have had a "nonconforming contempt for organized religion."
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
{{misinformation|Joseph's mother and three siblings joined local churches; this can hardly been seen as "contempt" (see {{s||JS-H|1|7}}). Joseph's father, on the other hand, did harbor some disdain for the religions of the time.
}}

==Response to claim: 6 - Lucy Smith is claimed to have "abandoned traditional Protestantism" in favor of "mysticism and miracles"==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=American Massacre
|claim=Lucy Smith is claimed to have "abandoned traditional Protestantism" in favor of "mysticism and miracles."
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
{{misinformation|Lucy joined the Presbyterian Church ({{s||JS-H|1|7}}). Many Christians of the day believed in miracles, and saw a decline of miracles as evidence that Christinaity needed to be revitalized, reformed, or restored.
}}
{{:Question: When was Lucy Mack Smith baptized?}}

==Response to claim: 7 - Joseph is claimed to have "detested the plow as only a farmer's son can"==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=American Massacre
|claim=Joseph is claimed to have "detested the plow as only a farmer's son can."
|authorsources=<br>
#{{CriticalWork:Brodie:No Man Knows|pages=18}}
}}
{{propaganda|The author repeats a very recognizable quote from Fawn Brodie. This is Brodie's opinion&mdash;there is no primary source to back up this claim.
}}

==Response to claim: 7 - Joseph is claimed to have told stories about the Mound Builders==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=American Massacre
|claim=Joseph is claimed to have told stories about the Mound Builders, who, according to the author, were a "thousand-year-old lost race fabled to have been slaughtered and buried on the outskirts of Palmyra."
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
{{propaganda|We are unsure how the author determined that the Mound Builders were slaughtered and buried on the outskirts of ''Palmyra''. The author shows that she knows very little about the Mound Builders. In reality, the mounds were quite numerous and were located in many different parts of the country.
}}

==Response to claim: 7 - Joseph entertained his family with tales of the ancient inhabitants of the area==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=American Massacre
|claim=
Joseph entertained his family with tales of the ancient inhabitants of the area.
|authorsources=<br>
#Lucy Smith, ''Biographical Sketches'', p. 85.
}}
{{misinformation|Joseph told his family stories about the people described in the Book of Mormon, as described to him by the angel Moroni.
}}
{{:Question: Was the young Joseph Smith a teller of "tall tales"?}}

==Response to claim: 8 - The author claims that Emma was warned not to touch the plates because she would suffer "instant death if her eyes fell upon them"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=American Massacre
|claim=The author claims that Emma was warned not to touch the plates because she would suffer "instant death if her eyes fell upon them."
|authorsources=<br>
#<br>
*No source provided.
}}
{{misinformation|Joseph's wife Emma did not recall any specific threat of destruction associated with the unauthorized viewing of the plates.
}}
{{:Question: Did Joseph Smith say that viewing the gold plates would result in death?}}

==Response to claim: 8 - Laman and Lemuel, were evil sinners, causing God to curse them and all of their descendants with a red skin==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=American Massacre
|claim={{AuthorQuote|Nephi's two older brothers, Laman and Lemuel, were evil sinners, causing God to curse them and all of their descendants with a red skin.}}
|authorsources=<br>
#<br>
*No source provided.
*Brodie makes the claim of a curse of "red skin" in {{CriticalWork:Brodie:No Man Knows|pages=43}}
}}
{{propaganda|There is no mention of "red skin" in the Book of Mormon. The claim that the Lamanites were cursed with a "red skin" originated in Fawn Brodie's book [[No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith]]. This indicates that author's shallow research by repeating Brodie's idea without attribution, and without determining that it is unsupported by any source even in Brodie's book.
}}
{{:Question: Does the Book of Mormon describe the Lamanites as being "cursed" with a "red skin"?}}

==Response to claim: 9 - The author claims that the Book of Mormon was rooted in "the conviction that all believers were on the road to Godhood"==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=American Massacre
|claim=
The author claims that the Book of Mormon was rooted in "the conviction that all believers were on the road to Godhood, that a heaven existed where all men could be saved and then go on to create their own worlds."
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
{{disinformation|''[[Deification_of_man|Theosis]]'' is not a preoccupation of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon likewise says nothing about the saved creating their own worlds.
}}

==Response to claim: 9 - The author claims that Joseph Smith's "evangelical socialism" was a precursor to "Marxian communism"==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=American Massacre
|claim=
The author claims that Joseph Smith's "evangelical socialism" was a precursor to "Marxian communism."
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided, but compare to the almost identical treatment in {{CriticalWork:Tanner:Changing World|pages=59}}.
}}
{{misinformation|The differences between the United Order and Marxism are numerous.
}}
{{:Question: Was the United Order simply a form of communism?}}

==Response to claim: 10 - The author describes the LDS view of God as "a corporeal being residing on a planet orbiting a star called Kolob and sexually active with a Heavenly Mother and other wives"==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=American Massacre
|claim=The author describes the LDS view of God as "a corporeal being residing on a planet orbiting a star called Kolob and sexually active with a Heavenly Mother and other wives."
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
{{propaganda|This is nonsense.
}}
{{:Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe in a practice called "celestial sex," and that this is the manner in which "spirit children" are formed?}}

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