Difference between revisions of "Criticism of Mormonism/Books/American Massacre/Chapter 3"

(→‎32)
(→‎32)
Line 216: Line 216:
 
}}
 
}}
  
−
====32====
+
====32 - The temple is claimed to have "placed under the most sacred obligations to avenge the blood of the Prophet, whenever an opportunity offered, and to teach their children to do the same"====
−
{{IndexClaim
+
{{IndexClaimItemShort
 +
|title=American Massacre
 
|claim=The temple is claimed to have "placed under the most sacred obligations to avenge the blood of the Prophet, whenever an opportunity offered, and to teach their children to do the same."
 
|claim=The temple is claimed to have "placed under the most sacred obligations to avenge the blood of the Prophet, whenever an opportunity offered, and to teach their children to do the same."
−
|response=
 
−
*{{Detail|Mormonism and temples/Endowment|Oath of vengeance}}
 
 
|authorsources=
 
|authorsources=
−
*John D. Lee in Henrie, 147.
+
John D. Lee in Henrie, 147.
 
}}
 
}}
 +
{{:Question: Was there an oath in a former version of the temple endowment that required vengeance upon the government of the United States?}}
  
 
====32====
 
====32====

Revision as of 18:03, 6 December 2014

  1. REDIRECTTemplate:Test3

Contents

Response to claims made in "Chapter 3: Nauvoo, 1840"


Chapter 2
A work by author: Sally Denton
 Chapter 4

23

Claim
 Author's quote: Having suffered beatings and tarrings at the hands of Mormon baiters years earlier, and having faced impending death at various junctures, Smith sensed rightly that events in Nauvoo would be the grand finale of his life.

Author's source(s)

  • No source provided.

Response

  •  Internal contradiction: The author earlier characterized Joseph's persecutions as "imaginary"


23 - Building a spired marble temple took precedence over everything else

The author(s) of American Massacre make(s) the following claim:

 Author's quote: Building a spired marble temple took precedence over everything else…

Author's sources: No source provided.

FAIR's Response

  •  History unclear or in error: the Nauvoo temple was made of limestone that was quarried locally, not marble which would have required importation.

23-24

Claim
Joseph's "falling out" with John C. Bennett is claimed to have been over a woman that "each desired as a plural wife."

Author's source(s)

  • No source provided.

Response

  • In fact, Bennett was given multiple opportunities to reform his ways before being excommunicated.
  • For a detailed response, see: John C. Bennett


24

Claim
Nauvoo was claimed to be "the first genuine theocracy in American history."

Author's source(s)

Response


24 - The Council of Fifty was "a group of princes" who would rule the "Mormon empire"

The author(s) of American Massacre make(s) the following claim:

The Council of Fifty was "a group of princes" who would rule the "Mormon empire."

Author's sources: *David L. Bigler, Forgotten Kingdom: The Mormon Theocracy in the American West, 1847–1896 (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1998), 24. (bias and errors) Review

FAIR's Response

  •  History unclear or in error: The Council of Fifty included non-Mormons as members.

Question: What was the Council of Fifty?

Joseph Smith received a revelation which called for the organization of a special council

On 7 April 1842, Joseph Smith received a revelation titled "The Kingdom of God and His Laws, With the Keys and Power Thereof, and Judgment in the Hands of His Servants, Ahman Christ," which called the for the organization of a special council separate from, but parallel to, the Church. Since its inception, this organization has been generally been referred to as "the Council of Fifty" because of its approximate number of members.

The Council of Fifty was designed to serve as something of a preparatory legislature in the Kingdom of God

Latter-day Saints believe that one reason the gospel was restored was to prepare the earth for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as the Church was to bring about religious changes in the world, the Council of Fifty was intended to bring a political transformation. It was therefore designed to serve as something of a preparatory legislature in the Kingdom of God. Joseph Smith ordained the council to be the governing body of the world, with himself as chairman, Prophet, Priest, and King over the Council and the world (subject to Jesus Christ, who is "King of kings"[1]).

The Council was organized on 11 March 1844, at which time it adopted rules of procedure, including those governing legislation. One rule included instructions for passing motions:

To pass, a motion must be unanimous in the affirmative. Voting is done after the ancient order: each person voting in turn from the oldest to the youngest member of the Council, commencing with the standing chairman. If any member has any objections he is under covenant to fully and freely make them known to the Council. But if he cannot be convinced of the rightness of the course pursued by the Council he must either yield or withdraw membership in the Council. Thus a man will lose his place in the Council if he refuses to act in accordance with righteous principles in the deliberations of the Council. After action is taken and a motion accepted, no fault will be found or change sought for in regard to the motion.[2]

What is interesting about this rule is that it required each council member, by covenant, to voice his objections to proposed legislation. Those council members who dissented and could not be convinced to change their minds were to withdraw from the council, however, they would suffer no repercussions by doing so. Thus, full freedom of conscience was maintained by the council — not exactly the sort of actions a despot or tyrant would allow.

The Council never rose to the stature Joseph intended

Members (which included individuals that were not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) were sent on expeditions west to explore emigration routes for the Saints, lobbied the American government, and were involved in Joseph Smith's presidential campaign. But only three months after it was established, Joseph was killed, and his death was the beginning of the Council's end. Brigham Young used it as the Saints moved west and settled in the Great Basin, and it met annually during John Taylor's administration, but since that time the Council has not played an active role among the Latter-day Saints.


25 - Joseph had himself ordained "king" during the time that he was running for President

The author(s) of American Massacre make(s) the following claim:

Joseph had himself ordained "king" during the time that he was running for President.

Author's sources: No source provided.

FAIR's Response

Question: Was Joseph Smith anointed to be "King over the earth" by the Council of Fifty?

Joseph was never anointed King over the earth in any political sense

Some people claim that Joseph Smith had himself anointed king over the whole world, and that this shows he was some sort of megalomaniac.

The Council of Fifty, while established in preparation for a future Millennial government under Jesus Christ (who is the King of Kings) was to be governed on earth during this preparatory period by the highest presiding ecclesiastical authority, which at the time was the Prophet Joseph Smith. Joseph had previously been anointed a King and Priest in the Kingdom of God by religious rites associated with the fullness of the temple endowment, and was placed as a presiding authority over this body in his most exalted position within the kingdom of God (as a King and a Priest).

Joseph was anointed as the presiding authority over an organization that was to prepare for the future reign of Jesus Christ during the Millennium

The fact that Joseph's prior anointing was referenced in his position as presiding authority over this body creates the confusion that he had been anointed King of the Earth. He was in fact only anointed as the presiding authority over an organization that was to prepare for the future reign of Jesus Christ during the Millennium. The fact that Joseph had submitted his name for consideration as President of the United States during this same period adds fodder for critics seeking to malign the character of the Prophet.


25

Claim
Joseph had a "narcissistic" "theme of deceiving self and others."

Author's source(s)

  • Robert D. Anderson, Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith, p. 225.

Response


26

Claim
 Author's quote: Nauvoo, unlike Kirtland, had become the sanctuary for strange ceremonials and shrouded rites many members found increasingly alien and offensive…

Author's source(s)

  • No source provided.

Response

  •  Internal contradiction: The author earlier stated that these things were introduced in Kirtland
  • On page 14, speaking of Kirtland, the author states: "He then initiated the secret rituals that would further repel their conventional Christian neighbors-anointings, endowments, proxy baptisms, visions, healings, writhing ecstasies, and, especially, the concepts of 'eternal progression' and 'celestial marriage.'"
  •  History unclear or in error: Proxy baptisms were not introduced until Nauvoo, they were not known at Kirtland. Healings and visions were present from the Church's very beginnings. "Writhing ecstasies" were condemned by LDS scripture by 1831 (see DC 50).


26

Claim
A "Mormon historian," (Will Bagley) claims that celestial marriage "allowed the most ordinary backwoodsman to become a god and rule over worlds of his own creation with as many wives as his righteousness could sustain."

Author's source(s)

Response


26

Claim
"One historian" (Will Bagley) claimed that Joseph "plunged into new sealings to married women, sisters, and very young girls."

Author's source(s)

Response


27

Claim
The founders of the Nauvoo Expositor were "men who knew too much."

Author's source(s)

Response


27

Claim
 Author's quote: Smith ordered the Nauvoo Legion to storm the newspaper, destroy the press, and burn all extant issues.

Author's source(s)

  • No source provided

Response

  •  History unclear or in error
  • The Nauvoo City Council (which included some non-Mormon members) ordered the destruction of the Expositor.
  • The suppression of the paper was legal for the day.


27

Claim
The author claims that "the constitutional defenders of the First Amendment" called for Joseph Smith's arrest after the destruction of the Expositor.

Author's source(s)

  • No source provided.

Response

  • The suppression of the paper was legal for the day.
  •  History unclear or in error: The First Amendment did not apply to local or state governments until after the Civil War.


28

Claim
The book claims that Joseph sent orders to the Nauvoo Legion from Carthage Jail to come and free him.

Author's source(s)

Response


28

Claim
The author claims that "lore had it" that Joseph gave the Masonic distress signal "before calling out: 'Oh Lord my God. Is there no help for the widow's son?"

Author's source(s)

Response

  •  History unclear or in error
  • This is very sloppy research. Despite citing so many sources, the author gets the history wrong. There is no record of Joseph saying more than "Oh Lord, my God."
  • In addition, the author states that Joseph gave the Masonic distress signal before calling out this phrase. In reality, the full phrase "Oh Lord my God. Is there no help for the widow's son" is the Masonic distress signal!


29

Claim
The author claims that Joseph's death was "second in importance only to that of Jesus Christ."

Author's source(s)

  • Eliza Snow, Times and Seasons 5 (July 1, 1844), quoted in Hallwas and Launius, 237.

Response


29 - Allen J. Stout's journal says that he will avenge Joseph's blood to the fourth generation

The author(s) of American Massacre make(s) the following claim:

Allen J. Stout's journal says that he will avenge Joseph's blood to the fourth generation.

Author's sources: *Stout journal, June 28, 1844.

FAIR's Response

From the cited source:

"Their dead bodies were brought to Nauvoo where I saw their beloved forms reposing in the arms of death, which gave me such feelings as I am not able to describe. But I there and then resolved in my mind that I would never let an opportunity slip unimproved of avenging their blood upon the head of the enemies of the Church of Jesus Christ. I felt as though I could not live. I knew not how to contain myself, and when I see one of the men who persuaded them to give up to be tried, I feel like cutting their throats. And I hope to live to avenge their blood, but if I do not, I will teach my children to never cease to try to avenge their blood and then their children and children's children to the fourth generation as long as there is one descendant of the murderers upon the earth." off-site

Stout vows vengeance only on "the murderers" and their kin. Despite his anger at those who had encouraged Joseph and Hyrum to surrender, he does not take action against them. The relevance of this to the Mountain Meadows Massacre is, then, not clear.

29

Claim
D. Michael Quinn said that Joseph "failed to clarify for the highest leadership of the church the precise method of succession God intended."

Author's source(s)

Response


30

Claim
Sidney Rigdon is claimed to have "recently apostatized over Smith's attempted seduction of his daughter in to a polygamous marriage."

Author's source(s)

  • No source provided.

Response


31

Claim
 Author's quote: Knowing he could not compete with Smith as a seer...

Author's source(s)

  • T.B.H. Stenhouse, 209.

Response

  •  Mind reading: author has no way of knowing this.
  • Stenhouse (the author's source) did not become a member of the Church until after Joseph's death, and he joined the Church in England. He was in no position at all to know Sidney's thoughts or capabilities in the matter.
  •  The author's claim is false: Sidney's later post-Mormon religious activities show him to be quite convinced that he can deliver oracles from God as Joseph did.


32 - The temple is claimed to have "placed under the most sacred obligations to avenge the blood of the Prophet, whenever an opportunity offered, and to teach their children to do the same"

The author(s) of American Massacre make(s) the following claim:

The temple is claimed to have "placed under the most sacred obligations to avenge the blood of the Prophet, whenever an opportunity offered, and to teach their children to do the same."

Author's sources: John D. Lee in Henrie, 147.

FAIR's Response

Question: Was there an oath in a former version of the Mormon temple endowment that required vengeance upon the government of the United States?

It is likely that there was an oath that asked members to pray that God would avenge the blood of the prophets

Until 1927 the temple endowment very likely contained such an oath. The exact wording is not entirely clear, but it appears that it did not call on the Saints themselves to take vengeance on the United States, but that they would continue to pray that God himself might avenge the blood of the prophets.

Although the Oath of Vengeance contains no curses like those in the imprecatory psalms, like the psalmists, the Saints apparently had the wisdom to take directly to God their strong feelings in response to the injustices they had been dealt. By doing so, they turned over to Him the responsibility for both justice and healing.

In nearly every anti-Mormon discussion of the temple, critics raise the issue of the "oath of vengeance" that existed during the 19th century and very early 20th century. These critics often misstate the nature of the oath and try to use its presence in the early temple endowment as evidence that the LDS temple ceremonies are ungodly, violent, and immoral.

The leaders of the Church have modified the endowment from time to time. Prior to changes made in 1927, there was an oath to pray for the Lord's vengeance on those who murdered the prophets. In their sworn testimonies and temple exposes, apostates gave conflicting accounts on who was to do the actual avenging: the Lord or the Saints themselves.[3] Surveying Mormon history for teachings about of vengeance can add perspective and help evaluate which possibility is more likely.

During the Missouri conflict, the Saints were instructed through revelation to petition for governmental redress for the outrages they suffered

In 1833, the Mormons were driven out of Jackson County, Missouri, in part due to anti-slavery sentiments that differed from the more established settlers. Through revelation, the Saints were instructed to petition for governmental redress for the outrages they suffered. The Saints were expected to be pacifists, but only up to a point. D&C 98:23-31:

Now, I speak unto you concerning your families—if men will smite you, or your families, once, and ye bear it patiently and revile not against them, neither seek revenge, ye shall be rewarded; But if ye bear it not patiently, it shall be accounted unto you as being meted out as a just measure unto you. And again, if your enemy shall smite you the second time, and you revile not against your enemy, and bear it patiently, your reward shall be an hundredfold. And again, if he shall smite you the third time, and ye bear it patiently, your reward shall be doubled unto you four-fold; And these three testimonies shall stand against your enemy if he repent not, and shall not be blotted out. And now, verily I say unto you, if that enemy shall escape my vengeance, that he be not brought into judgment before me, then ye shall see to it that ye warn him in my name, that he come no more upon you, neither upon your family, even your children’s children unto the third and fourth generation. And then, if he shall come upon you or your children, or your children’s children unto the third and fourth generation, I have delivered thine enemy into thine hands; And then if thou wilt spare him, thou shalt be rewarded for thy righteousness; and also thy children and thy children’s children unto the third and fourth generation. Nevertheless, thine enemy is in thine hands; and if thou rewardest him according to his works thou art justified; if he has sought thy life, and thy life is endangered by him, thine enemy is in thine hands and thou art justified.

The use of violence was condoned only in cases of self-defense or after the Lord had delivered up a previously warned enemy in the Saints hands

Even then mercy towards enemies was encouraged and indications are that the Lord can fight his own battles (see v. 37) to extract his vengeance on the wicked. Note the repeated references to third and fourth generations of children that is added for rhetorical effect despite the impracticality of a single enemy being a menace for the encompassing time span.

The earliest known oath of vengeance in a Mormon temple appears to have been introduced by Joseph Smith in Kirtland

The earliest known oath of vengeance in a Mormon temple appears to have been introduced by Joseph Smith spontaneously at the Kirtland dedication on March 30, 1836:[4]

The seventies are at liberty to go to Zion if they please or go wheresoever they will and preach the gospel and let the redemption of Zion be our object, and strive to affect it by sending up all the strength of the Lords house whereever we find them, and I want to enter into the following covenant, that if any more of our brethren are slain or driven from their lands in Missouri by the mob that we will give ourselves no rest until we are avenged of our enimies to the uttermost, this covenant was sealed unanimously by a hosanna and Amen.

The Mormons used military force to defend themselves in Missouri, but eventually they were driven out after an exterminating order was issued against them by governor Boggs. Further petitions for redress in Missouri were met with rejection. Martin van Buren remarked "Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you." Enemies in Missouri, including the next governor, conspired to kidnap Joseph in Illinois and bring him to Missouri to face trumped up charges.

Nauvoo Developments: Wilford Woodruff later situated the temple instruction in praying for the Lord's biblical vengeance of blood of the prophets

Perhaps anticipating his death, Joseph met often with apostles and other close associates to restore the temple endowment prior to the completion of the Nauvoo temple. Wilford Woodruff, later situated the temple instruction in praying for the Lord's biblical vengeance of blood of the prophets as follows:[5]

I have already said that there is nothing [antagonistic to the government in the Mormon endowments] of that kind in any part or phase of Mormonism. I ought to know about that as I am one of the oldest members of the church. A good deal is being made of a form of prayer based upon two verses in the sixth chapter of the revelations of St. John as contained in the New Testament. It relates to praying that God might avenge the blood of the prophets. An attempt has, I see, been made to connect this with avenging the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith and to have reference to this nation. It can have no such application as the endowments were given long before the death of Joseph and Hyrum and have not been changed. This nation and government has never been charged by the Mormon people with the assassination of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. As it is well known the murder was the act of the local mob disguised.

Recent generations of Latter-day Saints, who haven't experienced mob violence, may be surprised at or uncomfortable with such oaths

Recent generations of Latter-day Saints, who haven't experienced mob violence, kidnapping attempts, and death threats, may be surprised at or uncomfortable with the feelings of many earlier saints who were praying for justice instead of praying for their enemies. But we live in kinder, gentler times; and nineteenth-century Mormons—especially those who came out of Nauvoo—saw the hand of God whenever their persecutors suffered misfortune, a feeling common to most powerless, persecuted minority groups.

After Joseph Smith's death, his closest friends continued to meet after his death.[6] This group met to test revelation ("try all things"), pray for the healing of sick members, pray for the success of church projects, and pray for deliverance from their enemies. Heber C. Kimball recalled that after Joseph's death the prayer circle met and prayed for God's vengeance.[7]

Summarizing Willard Richards' activities immediately after the martyrdom, historian Claire Noall wrote:

True, in this [1850] speech Richards finally denounced the actual murderers; but when notifying the Church of Joseph Smith's death at Carthage jail, he wrote to Nauvoo that the people of Carthage expected the Mormons to rise, but he had "promised them no." The next day from the steps of the Prophet's home, he reminded his people that he had pledged his word and his honor for their peaceful conduct. And when writing the news of Smith's death to Brigham Young then near Boston, Willard Richards said the blood of martyrs does not cry from the ground for vengeance; vengeance is the Lord's.[8]

Temple work in general and, more specifically, prayers that God, rather than Mormon members, would avenge Joseph Smith is what was the salvation of the church in Nauvoo. Instead of giving vent to passionate desires for revenge using the impressively-sized Nauvoo Legion, the brethren were able to get members to channel their frustration and anger into petitions to the Almighty for justice. Their actual energy was concentrated on the things of heaven through temple building and service. Temple prayer became a way of ritually memorializing Joseph Smith's martyrdom.

Conflict in Utah: To pray the Father to avenge the blood of the prophets and righteous men that has been shed

After the exodus to Utah, ordinances usually reserved for the temple were performed in the Endowment House, while temple construction was in progress. In a late recollection, David H. Cannon described the instruction at the Endowment House in regards to vengeance:

To pray the Father to avenge the blood of the prophets and righteous men that has been shed, etc. In the endowment house this was given but as persons went there only once, it was not so strongly impressed upon their minds, but in the setting in order [of] the endowments for the dead it was given as it is written in 9 Chapter of Revelations [sic] and in that language we importune our Father, not that we may, but that He, our Father, will avenge the blood of martyrs shed for the testimony of Jesus.[9]

Although the religious stress was on letting God perform the actual vengeance, individuals sometimes imagined they might be called upon to take a more active role. This phenomenon reached a low point after the rhetorical hyperbole of Mormon Reformation[10] and the war time hysteria created by President James Buchanan sending troops against Utah. From the pulpit, many Church leaders held the United States as a nation responsible for letting mobocracy get out of control. As tensions mounted, vengeance motifs surfaced in the apocalyptic language of some patriarchal blessings. The Saints were prepared to fight in a just war.

While the Utah War was nearly a bloodless conflict, tragedy struck some caught in the crossfire. A recent work has examined the way conspiring, local Mormon leaders manipulated others to become complicit in the Mountain Meadows Massacre in part by exploiting their desires for vengeance.[11] However, in their approach to explain how basically good people could commit such an atrocity, the authors found elements in common with vigilantism and mass killings perpetrated everywhere. They agree that these southern Utah Mormons were acting against the principles of their religion.[12] Their oaths of taught them to channel their righteous indignation into petitioning God for justice while they worked constructively to build and defend Zion.

The Reed Smoot Hearings brought to light that the Saints were covenanting to ask God to avenge the blood of Joseph Smith on the nation

Most accounts of the temple oath of vengeance stressed that God, rather than man, would do the actual punishing. For example, August Lundstrom, an apostate Mormon, testified at the Reed Smoot hearings in December 1904:

Mr. [Robert W.] Tayler [counsel for the protestants]: Can you give us the obligation of retribution?
Mr. Lundstrom: I can.
Mr. Tayler: You may give that.
Mr. Lundstrom: "We and each of us solemnly covenant and promise that we shall ask God to avenge the blood of Joseph Smith upon this nation." There is something more added, but that is all I can remember verbatim. That is the essential part.
Mr. Tayler: What was there left of it? What else?
Mr. Lundstrom: It was in regard to teaching our children and children's children to the last generation to the same effect.[13]

One could object that Lundstrom, as an apostate, fabricated the existence of such an oath or, intentionally or unintentionally, distorted its wording. However, others who spoke publicly (such as David H. Cannon above) had similar recollections.

Biblical Perspective: justice is a responsibility reserved for God

The Oath of Vengeance is a vivid reminder that the Saints understood the writings of the Apostle Paul—that justice is a responsibility reserved for God.

Romans 12:19

19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.


32

Claim
It is claimed that the "entire Mormon people [became] sworn and avowed enemies of the American nation."

Author's source(s)

  • Lee in Henrie, 147.

Response


36

Claim
Brodie's claim that when Brigham spoke in the Adamic language, it "thus acquired status in the Church."

Author's source(s)

Response

  •  Quotes another author's opinion as if it were fact


36

Claim
The author claims that Brigham "disposed of his rivals." Stanley P. Hirshson is quoted as claiming that Nauvoo became a "police state."

Author's source(s)

  • Stanley P. Hirshson, "The Lion of the Lord," 61.

Response

  • From the cited source:

Engulfed by dissension from within and without, Young established in Nauvoo a police state. When he returned to the town after Smith's death and was served with several writs, he strapped on a pair of six-shooters and vowed he would kill any man who handed him another summons or grabbed hold of him. Until he left Nauvoo, he wore those guns. (pp 61-62)

  • Note the following from the Journal of Discourses:

"When the mantle of Joseph Smith fell upon Brigham Young, the enemies of God and His kingdom sought to inaugurate a similar career for President Young; but he took his revolver from his pocket at the public stand in Nauvoo, and declared that upon the first attempt of an officer to read a writ to him in a State that had violated its plighted faith in the murder of the Prophet and Patriarch while under arrest, he should serve the contents of this writ (holding his loaded revolver in his hand) first; to this the vast congregation assembled said, Amen. He was never arrested." (George A. Smith, Journal of Discourses 13:110.)


36

Claim
The author claims that John D. Lee was "an integral component in the new power structure" after Joseph's death.

Author's source(s)

  • No source provided.

Response

  • The author must provide evidence for this assertion. Even if Lee was part of the LDS lay leadership, this does nothing to prove that his actions were sanctioned by his superiors.


37

Claim
The author claims that Emma and other Smith relatives returned to Far West and founded the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Author's source(s)

  • No source provided.

Response

  •  History unclear or in error: The RLDS church was organized in Amboy, Illinois. Emma Smith lived in Nauvoo, Illinois until her death. Emma did not encourage or organize the RLDS church; when her son, Joseph Smith III, agreed to take its leadership, she traveled to the inaugural meeting to support him.


37

Claim
The author claims that Joseph wanted people to receive their endowments for the "Mormon road to heaven."

Author's source(s)

  • Nelson Winch Green, "Fifteen Years Among the Mormons," 41.

Response

  •  Misrepresentation of source: The cited source says nothing about Joseph Smith at all. It is an anti-Mormon expose of the endowment ceremonies.
  • The cited source is notoriously unreliable. Even the anti-Mormon Fanny Stenhouse wrote that Even the anti-Mormon Fanny Stenhouse wrote that the book "so mixed up fiction with what was true, that it was difficult to determine where one ended and the other began," and a good example of how "the autobiographies of supposed Mormon women were [as] unreliable" as other Gentile accounts, given her tendency to "mingl[e] facts and fiction" "in a startling and sensational manner." [14]
  • The authors' poor grasp of LDS historiography, and poor historical judgment is again manifest.


37

Claim
It is claimed that LDS missionaries to England "capitalized on the intolerable social and economic conditions" in order to gain converts.

Author's source(s)

Response

  •  Quotes another author's opinion as if it were fact
  • Brodie's claim oversimplifies a great deal. Charles Dickens described LDS immigrants as "the pick and flower of England." Immigration was also not a matter of instant financial benefits.
  • For a detailed response, see: Economics of LDS immigration


38

Claim
Quoting D. Michael Quinn, the author notes that Brigham said that women "have no right to meddle in the affairs of the Kingdom of God."

Author's source(s)

Response


38

Claim
The author claims that Brigham "commended his police for nearly beating to death an apostate within the walls of the temple.

Author's source(s)

  • No source provided.

Response

  • Although the author provides no source for the claim, it is likely that this refers to the flogging of three men by Nauvoo Police.
  • For a detailed response, see: Flogging those out of fellowship?


38-39

Claim
The author mentions "the pending indictment of two leaders of the Church on counterfeiting charges..."

Author's source(s)

  • No source provided.

Response

  • Although the author provides no source for the claim, it is likely that this refers a critical claim that Brigham Young, Willard Richards, Parley Pratt, and Orson Hyde were involved in making counterfeit coins.
  • For a detailed response, see: Counterfeiting by the apostles at Nauvoo?


39

Claim
The author claims that "thousands of armed Mormons and Gentiles faced off" in Nauvoo.

Author's source(s)

  • No source provided.

Response

  •  Presentism or anachronism: Everyone on the frontier in 19th century America was armed—this was necessary for hunting and protection.
  • The Saints were driven out of Nauvoo by the threat of military force.


Notes


  1. ↑ See 1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14; 19:16
  2. ↑ Andrew F. Ehat, "'It Seems Like Heaven Began on Earth': Joseph Smith and the Constitution of the Kingdom of God," Brigham Young University Studies 20 no. 3 (1980), 260-61.
  3. ↑ Van Hale, "The Alleged Oath of Vengeance," recorded 1 July 2007 during the Mormon Miscellaneous Worldwide Talk Show,off-site
  4. ↑ See 30 March 1836 Jesse Hitchcock record in "MS Joseph Smith Journal, 1835-36," 193 pp., Joseph Smith Collection, Church Archives cited in Dean C. Jessee, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, revised edition, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 2002).
  5. ↑ Wilford Woodruff interview, Deseret News 22 November 1889
  6. ↑ For a history of prayer circles, see D. Michael Quinn, "Latter-day Saint Prayer Circles," Brigham Young University Studies 19 no. 1 (Fall 1978), 79–105. PDF link
  7. ↑ See his 21 December 1845 diary entry in The Nauvoo Endowment Companies, 1845–1846: A Documentary History, Richard Van Wagoner, Devery Scott Anderson, and Gary James Bergera, eds. (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2005).
  8. ↑ Claire Noall, "The Plains of Warsaw," Utah Historical Quarterly 25/1 (January 1957): 47–51.
  9. ↑ David John Buerger, "The Development of the Mormon Temple Endowment Ceremony," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 34 no. 1 (Spring/Summer 2001), 103.
  10. ↑ Paul H. Peterson, "The Mormon Reformation of 1856–1857: The Rhetoric and the Reality," Journal of Mormon History 15/1 (1989): 59–88.
  11. ↑ Richard Turley, Ron Walker and Glen Leonard, Massacre at Mountain Meadows (Oxford University Press, 2008), 13–14,92,135,181,286n48.
  12. ↑ Turley, Walker and Leonard, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, xiii–xiv.
  13. ↑ Testimony of August W. Lundstrom, Proceedings before the Committee on Privileges and Elections of the United States Senate in the Matter of the Protests Against the Right of Hon. Reed Smoot, a Senator from the State of Utah, to Hold His Seat (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1906), 2:153. PDF link
  14. ↑ Stenhouse, "Tell It All", x-xii, 618, the footnote on the latter page confirms the identity of the author as Ettie V. Smith, whose account supposedly formed the basis for Green's work.
Retrieved from "https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/answers/index.php?title=Criticism_of_Mormonism/Books/American_Massacre/Chapter_3&oldid=131915"