FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Category:One Nation Under Gods
These pages respond to issues raised in the book One Nation Under Gods, by Richard Abanes.
Pages in category "One Nation Under Gods"
The following 200 pages are in this category, out of 317 total.
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- Bell: "the questionable traces above the head of the Osiris figure are actually the remains of his right hand"
- Bell: "there would not be enough available space to restore the hand of Anubis, the erect phallus of the Osiris, and the body and wings of Isis"
- Book of Mormon the "most correct of any book"
- Brigham Young as President of the United States
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- Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Use of sources/Brigham as President of the United States
- Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Use of sources/Calling All Mormon Scholars
- Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Use of sources/Church and state all one now
- Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Use of sources/Dallin H. Oaks on God
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- Ensign (Jan. 2013): "He...referred to it using an Old Testament term, Urim and Thummim...He also sometimes applied the term to other stones he possessed"
- Ensign (June 1994): "Highlights in the Prophet’s Life 20 Mar. 1826: Tried and acquitted on fanciful charge of being a “disorderly person,” South Bainbridge, Chenango County, New York
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- Gee: "Ferguson is largely unknown to the vast majority of Latter-day Saints; his impact on Book of Mormon studies is minimal"
- Gospel Topics: "Church authorities encountered faithful black and mixed-ancestry Mormons who had contributed financially and in other ways to the building of the São Paulo temple, a sanctuary they realized they would not be allowed to enter"
- Gospel Topics: "Even after 1852, at least two black Mormons continued to hold the priesthood"
- Gospel Topics: "Joseph Smith and his associates often used the term 'Urim and Thummim' to refer to the single stone as well as the interpreters"
- Gospel Topics: "Today, the Church disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse, or that it reflects actions in a premortal life"
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Q
- Question: After the end of the rebellion in South Carolina, did the Church not mention the Civil War prophecy for many years?
- Question: Are Christians monotheists?
- Question: Are Latter-day Saints ("Mormons") taught to look down upon or reject those who are not of their faith?
- Question: Are Mormons polytheists because they don't accept the Nicene Creed?
- Question: Are the "Mormons" secretly planning to eventually take over the U.S. Government?
- Question: Are the dead being "baptized into the Mormon faith?"
- Question: Are the Gadianton robbers in the Book of Mormon actually references to the anti-Masonic panic of Joseph Smith's era?
- Question: Are there any eyewitness accounts of the events that resulted in the trip to Canada to sell the Book of Mormon copyright?
- Question: Are there circumstances in which lying is necessary in order to avoid a greater harm?
- Question: Are there different degrees of glory assigned to "Mormons" versus "non-Mormons"?
- Question: Are there government records that prove that the apostles were involved in counterfeiting in Nauvoo?
- Question: Are there sources which identify the angel that visited Joseph as "Moroni" that date prior to the "Nephi" error?
- Question: Could Joseph Smith have acquired the names "Moroni" and "Cumorah" from a map of the Comoro archipelago off the coast of Africa?
- Question: Could Joseph Smith have modeled the "wicked character" named "Lemuel" in the Book of Mormon upon the Smith's landlord, Lemuel Durfee?
- Question: Could Joseph Smith have used Ethan Smith's ''View of the Hebrews'' as a guideline for creating the Book of Mormon?
- Question: Could the list of items on Joseph's person at the time of his death have been incomplete?
- Question: Did Aaron DeWitt, an ex-Mormon in Utah, receive threats to his life from the Church?
- Question: Did any publications prior to 1870 mention the phrase "This is My Beloved Son" in connection with the First Vision?
- Question: Did B.H. Roberts lose his faith in the Church and the Book of Mormon?
- Question: Did Brigham Young "proudly admit" to being a dictator?
- Question: Did Brigham Young advocate that apostates have their throats cut?
- Question: Did Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball encourage members to kill apostates in an attempt to save their souls?
- Question: Did Brigham Young believe that one could not enter the Celestial Kingdom unless they were a polygamist?
- Question: Did Brigham Young call for blood atonement in order to punish Washington politicians?
- Question: Did Brigham Young claim that the Kingdom of God was already organized on earth, and that the inhabitants of the earth did not know it?
- Question: Did Brigham Young create a 'culture of violence' in 19th century Utah with his incendiary speeches?
- Question: Did Brigham Young issue orders that no food or grain should be sold to "Gentiles" that were passing through Utah?
- Question: Did Brigham Young order that the Mount Meadows monument be destroyed?
- Question: Did Brigham Young plan to "rule over all the earth"?
- Question: Did Brigham Young state the Joseph Smith's character was easily on par with that of Jesus Christ?
- Question: Did Brigham Young tell Ettie V. Smith that he was her savior?
- Question: Did Bruce R. McConkie discourage people from attempting to form a "personal relationship" with Christ?
- Question: Did Charles Anthon validate the characters that Martin Harris brought to him that had been copied from the Book of Mormon plates?
- Question: Did David Whitmer ever deny his Book of Mormon witness because he thought that Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet?
- Question: Did Dee F. Green say that there is no such thing as Book of Mormon archaeology?
- Question: Did early Mormon leaders believe that Jesus Christ was a polygamist?
- Question: Did early Mormon leaders consider themselves Christians?
- Question: Did early Mormon leaders teach that apostasy was the unforgivable sin, and that the only thing an apostate could do to redeem himself was to give his own life, willingly or unwillingly?
- Question: Did Elder Dallin Oaks say that "so-called Christianity sees God as an entirely different kind of being"?
- Question: Did Elder David B. Haight make an astrological reference that people should 'do nothing without the assistance of the moon'?
- Question: Did Emma Smith discover her husband Joseph with Fanny Alger in a barn?
- Question: Did federal officials flee Utah because they feared for their lives?
- Question: Did Gordon B. Hinckley say that Latter-day Saints do not worship the biblical Jesus?
- Question: Did Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde order Nauvoo's police force to kill an apostate named Lambert Symes?
- Question: Did Heber C. Kimball claim that the apostles killed Judas?
- Question: Did Heber C. Kimball encourage violence and intimidation in order to keep followers "in line"?
- Question: Did Heber C. Kimball promise that after the Civil War ended, the Latter-day Saints would become the "sole rulers over every other government"?
- Question: Did Hosea Stout have three men flogged because they "were not in good fellowship"?
- Question: Did John Taylor believe that there was no longer a separation between Church and State?
- Question: Did Joseph order Jonathan Dunham, head of the Nauvoo legion, to rescue him?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon support the formation of a vigilante band called the Danites?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith attempt to "cover up" Oliver Cowdery's work with a divining rod by changing the wording of the revelation that became Doctrine and Covenants 8:6–8?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith become a baptized member of the Baptist Church in 1822?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith being sealed to mothers, daughters and sisters violate a biblical prohibition?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith believe that the Book of Mormon explained local legends associated with the "Mound Builders" of the Eastern United States?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith believe that the lost Ten Tribes were living under the polar ice cap?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith boast of his "violent deeds"?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith brag about his strength and prowess in fighting?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith claim that all governments and religions other than Mormonism would eventually be destroyed form the earth?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith claim that the Kirtland Safety Society was established by a revelation from God?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith copy the name "Nephi" from the Apocrypha?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith create the story of Nephi and Laban by plagiarizing concepts and phrases from the story of Judith and Holofernes in the Apocrypha?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith give Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball divining rods "as a symbol of gratitude for their loyalty"?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith have a Jupiter talisman on his person at the time of his death?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith hit a Baptist preacher and throw him to the ground?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith join the Methodist, Presbyterian, or Baptist churches between 1820 and 1830 despite the claim made in his 1838 history that he was forbidden by Deity from joining any denomination?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith marry Fanny Alger as his first plural wife in 1833?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith mislead investors in the Kirtland Safety Society by collecting boxes full of sand with money placed on top, in order to make it appear that the bank had more hard money than it did?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith or his associates attempt to reconcile with William Law before he published the ''Nauvoo Expositor''?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith originally identify the angel that visited him as "Nephi" instead of "Moroni"?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith plagiarize Josiah Priest's ''The Wonders of Nature and Providence Displayed''?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith prophesy that Jesus Christ would return in 1890?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith prophesy that the government would be overthrown and wasted?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith prophesy that Zion, in Jackson County, Missouri, would be redeemed by September 1836?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith really tell Orrin Porter Rockwell 'it was right to steal'?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith receive a revelation instructing him to to sell the copyright to the Book of Mormon in Canada and later claim that the revelation was false?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith simply conflate elements of the 1818 and 1824-25 revivals in his story of the First Vision?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith state that the moon was inhabited, and that its inhabitants were dressed like Quakers?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith use his own seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith use the Nephite interpreters to translate? Or did he use his own seer stone?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith write a "love letter" to his plural wife Sarah Ann Whitney to request a secret rendezvous?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith's family own "magic parchments" which suggest their involvement in the "occult"?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith's mother say that the First Vision was of an "angel"?
- Question: Did Joseph utter a false prophecy and show disregard for the Word of Wisdom in telling Orson Hyde that he would drink wine with him in Palestine?
- Question: Did Latter-day Saints wish to avoid being classified as Christians?
- Question: Did LDS leaders claim that Christians were no longer present on the earth after the apostasy?
- Question: Did Levi Edgar Young state that his prayer was that "thousands would turn not to God, but to Joseph"?
- Question: Did Levi Lewis claim that Joseph tried to seduce Eliza Winters in 1830?
- Question: Did Lucy Mack Smith join the Presbyterian Church after her son Alvin died in 1823?
- Question: Did Lucy Mack Smith state when she joined the Presbyterians?
- Question: Did Martin Harris claim that he only saw the gold plates as they were covered "as a city through a mountain"?
- Question: Did Martin Harris state that there would never be another president of the United States elected?
- Question: Did Mormons only recently claim to be Christian?
- Question: Did no one ever actually see the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated?
- Question: Did Oliver Cowdery state that Joseph did not know if a "supreme being" existed in 1823?
- Question: Did Orson Hyde state that it was permissible to "steal & be influenced by the spirit of the Lord to do it" as long as it was against non-Mormons?
- Question: Did Orson Pratt state that it was an angel that appeared during the First Vision?
- Question: Did Porter Rockwell admit to shooting Lilburn Boggs?
- Question: Did some of Joseph Smith's associates believe that he had an affair with Fanny Alger?
- Question: Did the Church cover up the fact that the Civil War prophecy was made during the 1832 rebellion in South Carolina?
- Question: Did the Church suppress a revelation given to Joseph Smith in 1831 which encouraged the implementation of polygamy by intermarriage with the Indians in order to make them a “white and delightsome” people?
- Question: Did the Council of Fifty order homicides to be committed?
- Question: Did the Nauvoo police commit "many murders, vicious beatings, and intimidating assaults" against people that they thought to be enemies of the Church?
- Question: Did the three witnesses's experience of seeing the plates and the angel take place only in their minds?
- Question: Did William Smith claim that a religious revival led to the Joseph's "first vision" of an angel in 1823?
- Question: Didn't Hugh Nibley claim that a record of this trial would be "the most damning evidence in existence" against Joseph Smith?
- Question: Do Latter-day Saints ("Mormons") actually believe that they are morally, ethically, spiritually superior to others?
- Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe in a "different" Jesus than "mainstream" Christians?
- 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: Do Latter-day Saints believe that no genuine Christians exist outside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
- Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe that the scriptural terms "church of the devil," the "great and abominable church," and the "whore of all the earth" refer to a specific religion?
- Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe that they were the only ones with a "legitimate right to be stewards" of all property on the earth?
- Question: Do Mormons believe Jesus Christ was a polygamist?
- Question: Do Mormons believe that Mary was still a virgin when Jesus was born?
- Question: Does Book of Abraham Facsimile 1 show a hand, or does it show the wing of a second bird?
- Question: Does Church manual, ''The Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young'', attempt to "hide history" by portraying Brigham Young (a well-known polygamist) as having only one wife?
- Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 98:31 justify the murder of one's personal enemies?
- Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 98:4-11 instruct Latter-day Saints to disobey secular law?
- Question: Does the "White Horse Prophecy" imply that "Mormons" encourage support for some candidates over others?
- Question: Does the 1832 account of the First Vision not prohibit Joseph from joining any church?
- Question: Does the belief by the witnesses that the experience had visionary qualities contradict the claim that the Book of Mormon plates were real?
- Question: Does the Bible forbid plural marriage?
- Question: Does the Bible prohibit polygamous marriages involving a mother and daughter?
- Question: Does the Book of Mormon contain anti-Masonic language?
- Question: Does the Book of Mormon plagiarize the King James Bible?
- Question: Does the Church teach that it is okay to "Lie for the Lord"?
- Question: Does the practice of baptism for the dead have ancient roots?
- Question: Does the Smithsonian Institution send out a letter regarding the use of the Book of Mormon as a guide for archaeological research?
- Question: Does the Strengthening Church Members Committee still exist?
- Question: Has the Church tried to hide Joseph's use of a seer stone?
- Question: Have any ancient horse remains from the Nephite period been found in the New World?
- Question: How did Joseph Smith use his seer stones as a youth?
- Question: How did Latter-day Saint scholars respond to the attempt to sell the Book of Mormon copyright prior to Page's letter coming to light?
- Question: How did the "curse of Ham" or "curse of Cain" become associated with Mormonism?
- Question: How do critics of Mormonism define "lying for the Lord"?
- Question: How do critics of the Church portray Joseph Smith's letter to the Whitney family as a "love letter"?
- Question: How do Latter-day Saints understand the significance of the blood shed by Christ?
- Question: How does David Whitmer's account of the attempt to sell the Book of Mormon copyright compare to those of the eyewitnesses?
- Question: How exactly did Joseph Smith translate the gold plates?
- Question: How have leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reacted to the stories of the White Horse prophecy?
- Question: How many copies of the Anthon transcript exist?
- Question: How many seer stones did Joseph Smith have in his possession?
- Question: How many times was the name of the Church changed through revelation?
- Question: How was the decision reached to destroy the ''Nauvoo Expositor''?
- Question: How was the wording of the "rod of nature" revelation that became Doctrine and Covenants 8:6–8 altered over time?
- Question: In the 1800s, did Latter-day Saints "glorify vengeance" through the singing of hymns?
- Question: In the Kirtland Egyptian Papers, why is each Egyptian character matched to an entire paragraph of English text?
- Question: Is a "burning in the bosom" simply a subjective, emotion-based, unreliable way to practice self-deception?
- Question: Is interracial marriage prohibited or condemned within the Church?
- Question: Is plural marriage required in order to achieve exaltation?
- Question: Is temple work being performed for victims of the Jewish Holocaust?
- Question: Is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a "cult"?
- Question: Is there a real-world match in the Old World for the land "Bountiful" described in the Book of Mormon?
- Question: Is there a viable real-world candidate in the Old World for the Valley of Lemuel described in the Book of Mormon?
- Question: Is there anything wrong with early Church leaders using the term "angel" to refer to Jesus Christ?
- Question: Many who listened to Elder Dunn's stories felt the spirit. Why would one feel the spirit upon hearing a story that was fabricated? Doesn't this confirm a lie?
- Question: Should the restoration of Book of Abraham Facsimile 1 include a phallus?
- Question: Was ''The Evening and the Morning Star'' threatening non-Mormon with "imminent destruction" if they did not repent?
- Question: Was 19th century Mormonism perceived as a group of "radical, immoral, and un-American band of religious zealots"?
- Question: Was a "forged" prophecy about Stephen A. Douglas added to the ''History of the Church''?
- Question: Was a "magic dagger" once owned by Hyrum Smith?
- Question: Was George A. Smith unaware that the Father and Son appeared to Joseph Smith during the First Vision?
- Question: Was Irvine Hodge murdered by Nauvoo policemen?
- Question: Was Isaac McWithy brought before the High Council on charges of "insolence" because he refused to sell his land to Joseph Smith for $3000?
- Question: Was it illegal for Joseph Smith to perform marriages in Ohio?
- Question: Was Joseph Smith anointed to be "King over the earth" by the Council of Fifty?
- Question: Was Joseph Smith married or sealed to women who were already married to other living men?
- Question: Was Joseph Smith's 1832 prophecy of the Civil War invalid because a civil war was "inevitable," and "anyone" could have predicted it?
- Question: Was Joseph Smith's 1832 prophecy of the Civil War invalid because slaves did not rise up against their masters in the Civil War?
- Question: Was Joseph Smith, Sr. a believer in witchcraft and the supernatural?
- Question: Was the destruction of the ''Nauvoo Expositor'' legal?
- Question: Was the idea that Blacks were neutral in the "war in heaven" ever official doctrine?
- Question: Was the Latter-day Saint periodical The Evening and Morning Star claiming that Missouri "rightfully belonged to Mormons?"
- Question: Was the original head of the priest in Book of Abraham Facsimile 1 actually the jackal head of Anubis?
- Question: Was the priest depicted in Book of Abraham Facsimile 1 holding a knife or was it some other object?
- Question: Was the priesthood ban lifted as the result of social or government pressure?
- Question: Was the young Joseph Smith a teller of "tall tales"?
- Question: Was there an oath in a former version of the Mormon temple endowment that required vengeance upon the government of the United States?
- Question: Was there no mention of revival activity in 1820 in the newspaper?