Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Chapter 18

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Claims made in "Chapter 17: Is Mormonism Christian?"
A FAIR Analysis of:
Criticism of Mormonism/Books
A work by author: Richard Abanes
 Claims made in "Postscript" (paperback only)

Claims made in "Chapter 18: Cover-Ups, Conspiracies, and Controversies"

[T]he general public, especially outside America, still possesses little knowledge of the unsavory nature of Mormonism.
—One Nation Under Gods, p. 403.

∗       ∗       ∗
Page Claim Response Author's sources

402 (PB)
  • Does the Mormon Tabernacle Choir "proselytize unsuspecting music lovers?"
  • Author's opinion.

403
  •  Author's quote: "[T]he general public, especially outside America, still possesses little knowledge of the unsavory nature of Mormonism."
  • Author's opinion.

403, 605n9 (PB)
  • Baptisms for the dead were performed for Nazis, including Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun. Was this done so that they could "thereby become gods?"
  • Members of the Church leave all judgment in God's hands. They are commanded to perform vicarious ordinances for all deceased persons for whom records exist. This is no way guarantees or implies Hitler's acceptance of Mormonism or forgiveness. Such matters are left to God.
  • Does the author really wish to imply, though, that even the most wicked sinner might be beyond the reach of Christ's atoning grace? The Latter-day Saints do not.
  • Baptism for the dead
  • Loaded and prejudicial language
  • Helen Radkey, "The Mormon Church Attempts to Conceal Temple Records for Adolf Hitler"
  • Jan Cienski, "Jews Urge Mormons to Curb Zeal," National Post, June 6, 2001.

403
  • Are baptisms for the dead incompatible with Christianity?
  •  The author's claim is false: the Bible itself describes Christians carrying out this practice: 1 Corinthians 15:29.
  • It may not be a practice found in the author's brand of Christianity, but it has ample precedent among early believers.
  • Hugh W. Nibley, "Baptism for the Dead in Ancient Times," Improvement Era (1948, 1949), multiple. off-site
  • Baptism for the dead
  • Author's opinion.

404
  •  Author's quote: "It is possible that many readers of this book have had their deceased relatives baptized by proxy into Mormonism, even though such persons might not have wanted anything to do with Mormonism during their lives."
  • Author's opinion.

404, 605n14 (PB)
  • Did Latter-day Saints perform vicarious baptisms for Jews who had died in the Holocast?
  • Bob Mims, "LDS Try to End Unauthorized Work for Jews," Salt Lake Tribune, May 2, 2001.

405, 605n18-19 (PB)
  • Do LDS leaders suppress access to Church archives?
  • Steven L. Olsen, "Is the Church Archives Closed?" (FAIR Conference, 2007). FAIR link
  • The author fails to note that Fawn Brodie worked in the 1940s, when the archives were less well-organized—her experience is irrelevant to the present-day.
  • Censorship_and_revision_of_LDS_history
  • Fawn Brodie. Quoted by Newell G. Bringhurst, "Fawn McKay Brodie: Dissident Historian and Quintessential Critic of Mormondom," in Roger Launius, Linda Thatcher, Leonard J. Arrington, eds., Differing Visions: Dissenters in Mormon History, 290.
  • B. Carmon Hardy, "Truth and Mistruth in Mormon History," in Lavina Fielding Anderson and Janice Merrill Allred, eds., Case Reports of the Mormon Alliance, vol. 3, 279. (The author lists all three volumes as "available for purchase" from the Tanner's ULM.)

405, 607n21 (HB) 605n21 (PB)
  •  Author's quote: "LDS leaders re-write historical documents, deny that other documents exist, create fictitious historical data, add words to update old revelations so that they conform to current events/knowledge, and delete various sections of divine pronouncements said to have been transcribe perfectly when originally delivered."

406, 605n22 (PB)
  • The History of the Church was mostly written after his death, but reads as if he wrote it himself.
  • This is no secret; using Joseph's authorial voice was standard practice for the day.
  • The history was completed up to 5 August 1838 under Joseph's direction (See Jesse, 466).
  • Authorship of History of the Church

406
  • Was writing the History of the Church as if Joseph himself wrote it a "flagrant breach of standard protocol for persons producing historical works" as the book claims?
  •  The author's claim is false: using Joseph's authorial voice was standard practice for the day.
  • The Jesse article cited above by the author demonstrates that no effort was made to hide who had written the history.
  • Authorship of History of the Church
  • Presentism
  • No citation provided.

406, 608n23 (HB) 606n23 (PB)
  • Was a "forged prediction" added to the history that a "mighty people" that would dwell "in the midst of the Rocky Mountains?"
  • History of the Church, vol. 5, 85, 393-394, 398.
  • No other citation is given to support this claim, but the argument is found in Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979),  [ATTENTION!].([[The Changing World of Mormonism/Index [ATTENTION!]| Index of claims ]])

406, 606n23 (PB)
  • Was a "forged prediction" added to the history of the Church regarding the future political career of Senator Steven (sic) A. Douglas?"
  • (Note: Should be "Stephen" A. Douglas)
  •  The author's claim is false: in fact, the prediction was published more than a year before Douglas' attack on the Church; this was well-before his aspirations to the U.S. presidency or fall in political fortunes.
  • Timing of Stephen A. Douglas prophecy
  • History of the Church, vol. 5, 85, 393-394, 398.
  • No other citation is given to support this claim.

407, 606n26 (PB)
  • Were over 62,000 words were added or deleted from the history of the Church?
  • The endnote adds that LDS leaders claim that the "official history" is not "the most accurate history in all the world."
  • John Widtsoe, Joseph Smith-Seeker After Truth, 297.
  • Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 2, 199.

407
  • The minutes of a conference dealing with Sidney Rigdon discussed in Volume six of the History of the Church differs from the minutes originally printed in the Times and Seasons.
  • History of the Church, vol. 6, 47-48.
  • Times and Seasons, vol. 4, 330.

408, 608n28 (HB) 606n28 (PB)
  • Were Joseph's revelations revised to make them "more palatable?"
  • Hugh Nibley, letter to Morris L. Reynolds, May 12, 1966. Quoted in Jerald Tanner and Sandra Tanner, Case Against Mormonism (Salt Lake City: ULM, 1967), vol. 1, 132.

408, 607n33 (PB)
  • Did the Church attempt to suppress a copy of the Book of Commandments that was locked in the vault?
  • Tanner and Tanner, Major Problems of Mormonism, 135.

412
  • Is "academic dishonesty foisted upon church members by LDS scholars" as the book claims?
  • No source provided.

412
  •  Author's quote: "Mormonism has been an emotion-based religion opposed to intellectual, rational thought."
  • Many Mormons seem to have been able to use "intellectual, rational thought" to demonstrate the many errors, distortions, and misstatements in this work attacking their faith.
  • LDS testimonies involve both mind and heart.
  • Members of the Church become more active and committed to their faith as their degree of education increases: Education and belief. This does not prove the Church true, but it does put the lie to claims that members are ill-informed, uneducated, or ignorant.
  • Loaded and prejudicial language
  • Author's opinion.

412
  • Why are Latter-day Saints supposed to only rely on the "burning in the bosom" even if they are "faced with irrefutable facts that undermine the LDS church?"
  • Author's opinion.

412, 609n34 (HB) 607n34 (PB)
  • Are Latter-day Saints instructed to "simply not think and obey church authorities?"
  • The endnote states that this message was never offically rescinded by the Church.
  • Actually, President George Albert Smith immediately repudiated this message:

Even to imply that members of the Church are not to do their own thinking is grossly to misrepresent the true ideal of the Church, which is that every individual must obtain for himself a testimony of the truth of the Gospel, must, through the redemption of Jesus Christ, work out his own salvation, and is personally responsible to His Maker for his individual acts.

  • "Ward Teachers Message," Deseret News, May 26, 1945, 5.
  • Improvement Era, June 1945, 354.

413-414, 609-610n39 (HB) 607n39 (PB)
  • Did Ezra Taft Benson's talk about "Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet" speech eliminate the possibility of Latter-day Saints excercising independent thought?
  • Ezra Taft Benson, "Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet," February 26, 1980.

414, 610n42 (HB) 608n42 (PB)
  • Steve Benson said "When the prophet has spoken, the debate is over."
  • The original claim that "the thinking is done" was made once in a church magazine, and the president of the Church immediately declared it to be false. Anti-Mormons continue to invoke it.
  • N. Eldon Tanner did say the following in 1979 regarding moral issues:

Why should there be any debate over the moral issues which are confounding the world today? When the prophet speaks the debate is over. ("The Debate is Over", Ensign, August 1979} (emphasis added)

  • Steve Benson, 60 Minutes, April 7, 1996.

415, 608-609n43-57 (PB)
  • Did the Church excommunicate a number of "dissidents?"
  • Jerald and Sandra Tanner, "Mormon Inquisition?" LDS Leaders Move to Repress Rebellion," Salt Lake City Messenger (#85), November 1993.
  • Lavina Fielding Anderson, "The LDS Intellectual Community and Church Leadership: A Contemporary Chronology," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Spring 1993), vol. 26.
  • Paul Toscano, "All Is Not Well in Zion: Falsoe Teachings of the True Church" (1993), Sunstone Symposium lecture.
  • Maxine Hanks, Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism.
  • D. Michael Quinn, "On Being a Mormon Historian (and Its Aftermath)," in George D. Smith, Faithful History: Essays On Writing Mormon History, 76 (endnote #22 in Quinn).
  • Boyd K. Packer, "The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect", August, 22, 1981.
  • Boyd K. Packer, Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled, 106.
  • Boyd K. Packer. Quoted in Salt Lake Tribune, September 20, 1993.
  • Private Eye Weekly, Oct. 20, 1993. Quoted in Tanner and Tanner, "Mormon Inquisition?", 9.
  • Bryan Waterman and Brian Kagel, The Lord's University: Freedom and Authority at BYU.
  • David P. Wright, "In Plain Terms that We May Understand: Joseph Smith's Transformation of Hebrews in Alma 12-13" in Brent Metcalfe, ed., New Approaches to the Book of Mormon, 207.

418, 611n58 (HB) 609n58 (PB)
  • Did President Hinckley say that "dissidents" that were excommunicated got what they deserved "as cursed servants of Satan?" President Hinckley said:

"I think the Lord had them in mind when he declared: 'Cursed are all those that shall life up the heel against mine anointed, saith the Lord.'...[T]hey are the servants of sin, and are the children of disobedience themselves."

  • Gordon B. Hinckley, "Prophet Pre-eminently Grateful for Testimony," LDS Church News, April 8, 2000.

418, 611n59-60 (HB) 609n59-60 (PB)
  • Is the "Strengthening Church Members Committee" is a group used to spy on members of the Church?
  • Richard N. and Joan K. Ostling, Mormon America: The Power and the Promise, (New York:HarperCollins Publishers, 2000), 354. ( Index of claims )
  • Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Mormon Spies, Hughes, and the C.I.A.
  • Peggy Fletcher Stack, "Feminist BYU Professor Fired, but Not Discredited," Salt Lake Tribune, June 8, 1996.

419
  • Why did the 1997 Relief Society manual make it sound as if Brigham Young only had one wife and six children?
  • 1997 Relief Society manual.

420, 611n63 (HB) 609n63 (PB)
  • Did Gordon B. Hinckley try to cover up the Church's polygamous past when he appeared on Larry King Live and said that only two to five percent of the early LDS practiced it?
  • The author is assuming motive, and presuming that President Hinckley knew that his figure was wrong.
  • The calculated incidence of polygamy varies depending on one's assumptions. The 2-5% figure is true if all polygamous males are divided by total members, but this is probably not the best measure to use.
  • Incidence of polygamy
  • Larry King Live

420, 612n68-71 (HB) 610n68-71 (PB)
  • Does the Book of Mormon claim that Native Americans will miraculously turn "white-skinned" by accepting "Mormon beliefs?" *Didn't Brigham Young and Spencer W. Kimball say that they would become "white and delightsome?"
  • 2 Nephi 5꞉21
  • Brigham Young, [ Journal of Discourses 7:336].
  • Spencer W. Kimball, Improvement Era, December 1960, 922-923. Qjuoted in Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson, "Pure and Delightsome," Mormonism Researched, Spring 1994, 5.

422, 612n75 (HB) 610n75 (PB)
  • Did the Church acquire the Hofmann documents (later disovered to be forgeries) in order to suppress them?
  • Jerald and Sandra Tanner, "Hofmann Talks," Salt Lake City Messenger (#64), January 1987, 7.

424
  • Did LDS officials hinder the Hofmann investigation by not providing information about the Hofmann document acquisitions?
  • No source given.

424
  •  Author's quote: "Mormon leaders also blocked efforts by police to see exactly what documents were in LDS church vaults, apparently knowing that some of their authentic documents not yet released to the public might further damage the church's reputation if the contents of them were to be revealed."
  • This is pure conjecture on the part of the author.

424, 610n77
  • According to the Tanners, Richard Turley's book Victims: The LDS Church and the Mark Hofmann Case "shows that Mormon Church leaders were engaged in a conspiracy of silence with regard to the McLellin collection to save the church's image."
  • Jerald and Sandra Tanner, "Mormon Leaders suppress 'Key' Item in Murder Case," Salt Lake City Messenger (#83), November 1992, 3-4.

424, 612n78 (HB) 610n78 (PB)
  • Should LDS leaders have been capable of detecting the Hofmann deception?
  •  The author's claim is false: LDS doctrine is very clear that prophets will not always know deception when they see it. For it to be otherwise would be to threaten moral agency. Said the Lord to Joseph Smith: "as you cannot always judge the righteous, or as you cannot always tell the wicked from the righteous, therefore I say unto you, hold your peace until I shall see fit to make all things known unto the world concerning the matter" (DC 10꞉37).
  • Use of sources: Church leaders will always know deception
  • Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 197.
  • DC 46꞉27

427
  •  Author's quote: "The Mormon habit of sometimes taking detours around truth to protect the church has not always led to murder."
  • Author's statement.

428, n85
  • Paul H. Dunn defended his embellishments in order to "illustrate his theological and moral points."
  • Paul H. Dunn was disciplined by the Church, and required to apologize for his actions.
  • This demonstrates that the Church does not endorse or support Dunn's choices. His decision to justify himself is immaterial. Ought we to judge Jesus and his teachings by the choices of one of his apostles, Judas?
  • Richard Robertson, Arizona Republic, February 16, 1991, B9.

430-433
  • Was the Salt Lake Olympic bribery scandal the fault of the Church?
  • It is not clear what the actions of these individuals, despite the fact that some were LDS, has to do with the Church itself. Do we condemn other Christian faiths simply because their ministers may be found guilty of sex scandals, financial impropriety, or child abuse? Or, do we conclude that not all members of a faith live up to its precepts?
  • The author ignores that a Church member, Mitt Romney, was hired to "clean up" the games and eventually stage a successful Olympics.
  • Logical fallacies: guilt by association
  • Various citations regarding the scandal.

434, 614n117-127
  • Do Latter-day Saints believe they will rescue the Constitution from ruin, thus allowing "Mormonism" to take over the world?
  • No, actually this isn't a LDS belief at all—it isn't even discussed in Church.
  • Joseph F. Smith, conference Report, October 1912, 11.
  • Melvin J. Ballard, Conference Report, October 1928, 108.
  • Mark E. Petersen, Conference Report, April 1946, 171.
  • Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference REport, April 1950, 159.
  • Harold B. Lee, Conference Report, October 1952, 18.
  • Senator Wallace F. Bennett, BYU Speeches, February 15, 1961, 13.
  • Dr. Ernest L. Wilinson, BYU speeches, April 21, 1966, 7.
  • Ezra Taft Benson, "Jesus Christ-Gifts and Expectations," New Era, May 1975, 19.
  • Ezra Taft Benson, Teaching of Ezra Taft Benson, 619.
  • Daniel H. Ludlow, ed. Selections from Encyclopedia of Mormonism, "The Church and Society," 122.
  • "Weatherman's politics cloud his role on TV," Seattle Times, November 24, 2000, 2.

Further reading

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