Index to claims made in One Nation Under Gods
This is an index of claims made in this work with links to corresponding responses within the FAIRwiki. An effort has been made to provide the author's original sources where possible.
It should be noted that Richard Abanes' response to the list of problems documented by FAIR is that the editing on the hardback edition of One Nation Under Gods was incomplete and that many of the problems were corrected in the paperback edition, published a year later. (This corrected paperback edition bears no markings indicating that it is a second edition or an updated edition; it simply appears as a paperback edition of the original.) Despite the author's statements, many of the problems noted exist in both the hardback and paperback versions. FAIR members are in the process of updating the problems so they address both editions of the book.
In the table below the Hardback is represented by "HB" and the Paperback by "PB."
Claims made in "Chapter 5: People of Zion"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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| 95, 522n74 (HB) |
Martin Harris stated that "all temporal and spiritual power would be given over to The Prophet Joseph Smith." |
Those Power-Hungry Mormons |
- Chandler, reprinted in Vogel, vol. 3, 222-223.
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Claims made in "Chapter 6: No Rest for the Righteous"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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Claims made in "Chapter 7: Woe In Ohio"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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Claims made in "Chapter 8: Big Trouble In Little Missouri"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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Claims made in "Chapter 9: March to Martyrdom"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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| 171, 542n1 (HB) |
"I combat the errors of the ages;...I solve mathematical problems of universities, with truth--diamond truth; and God is my 'right hand man.'...[God] will make me be God to you in his stead,...and if you don't like it, you must lump it....I have more to boast of than ever any man had....I boast that no man ever did such a work as I." |
Use of sources: Joseph Smith's Narcissism |
- Joseph Smith, HC (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1976/1980) vol. 6, 78, 319-320, 408-409.
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| 175, 543n21 (HB) |
Joseph Smith is considered "as important to their spirituality as Jesus Christ." |
Use of sources: Thou Shalt Not Raise a False Report |
- 21. Levi Edgar Young, letter dated April 14, 1961. Quoted in Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Mormonism—Shadow or Reality?, 5th edition, (Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1987), 252.
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| 177, 544n29 (HB) |
Joseph Smith declared: "I am the only man that has been able to keep the whole church together....Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it." |
Did Joseph Smith 'boast' of keeping the Church intact
Use of sources: Joseph's "Grandiose Sense of Self Importance" |
- History of the Church, vol. 408-409.
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| 178, 544n34 (HB) |
Joseph claimed: "I wrestled with William Wall, the most expert wrestler in Ramus, and threw him." |
Use of sources: The Wrestling Prophet |
- History of the Church, vol. 5, 302.
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| 179, 544n36 (HB) |
"Smith fought and boasted again of his strength, saying: 'I feel as strong as a giant....I pulled up with one hand the strongest man that could be found. Then two men tried, but they could not pull me up.'" |
Use of sources: America's Fighting Prophet |
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Claims made in "Chapter 10: A New Beginning"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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| 220, 553n77 (HB) |
Brigham "proudly admitted" "'I have been your dictator for twenty-seven years--over a quarter of a century I have dictated this people.'" |
Use of sources: Brigham, the Dictator |
- Brigham Young, August 13, 1871, JOD (Liverpool: George Q. Cannon, 1862; lithographed reprint of original edition, 1966), vol. 14, 205.
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| 222, 554n88 (HB) |
Brigham asserted that God's kingdom had already come. "[T]hat Kingdom is actually organized, and the inhabitants of earth do not [even] know it," |
Use of sources: Brigham and the Kingdom of God |
- Young, July 8, 1855, in JOD, vol. 2, 310.
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| 222, 554n89 (HB) |
Brigham said: "[W]e will roll on the Kingdom of our God, gather out the seed of Abraham, build the cities and temples of Zion, and establish the Kingdom of God to bear rule over all the earth." |
Use of sources: Ruling Over the Earth |
- Young, July 8, 1855, in JOD, vol. 2, 317.
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Claims made in "Chapter 11: Bloody Brigham"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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| 236-237, 563n53 (HB) |
"Apostates certainly were viewed as the worst of sinners, although every reprobate received the same penalty. As Brigham instructed his flock: 'If any miserable scoundrels come here, cut their throats.'" |
Use of sources: Brigham Says to "Cut Their Throats" |
- Brigham Young, July 8, 1855, in JOD, vol. 2., 311.
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| 244-245, 566n82 (HB) |
"...as the wagon-train traversed the southern route, conflict erupted between the emigrants and the Mormons, who refused to sell badly needed food and supplies to the travelers. Such conduct was unthinkable to the Baker-Fancher company. They had no idea that the refusals were in obedience to Brigham's prohibition on trading with the Gentiles." |
Use of sources: Orders to Starve Gentiles |
- On August 2, 1857, just one month before the massacre, Brigham Young wrote to [sic] a letter to church leaders telling them to make sure that no one sold as much as "one kernal" of food to the Saints "enemies" (Brigham Young letter to Bronson and Haight, August 2, 1857, MS 1234 LDSCA).
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Claims made in "Chapter 12: Wars and Rumors of Wars"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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Claims made in "Chapter 13: Unholy Matrimony"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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| 289, 578n51 (HB) |
"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." |
Use of sources: LDS "Birth Machines" |
- 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.
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Claims made in "Chapter 14: The Politics of Compromise"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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Claims made in "Chapter 15: Making the Transition"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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Claims made in "Chapter 16: Mormon Racism: Black Is Not Beautiful"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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Claims made in "Chapter 17: Is Mormonism Christian"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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| 389, 603n45 (HB) |
Gordon B. Hinckley said: "None of you need worry because you read something that was incompletely reported. You need not worry that I do not understand some matters of doctrine. I think I understand them thoroughly." |
Use of sources: Gordon B. Hinckley Understands Doctrine |
- Gordon B. Hinckley, October 1997 General Conference Address.
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Claims made in "Chapter 18: Cover-Ups, Conspiracies, and Controversies"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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| 408, 608n28 (HB) |
"Another tactic utilized by Mormon leaders has been to revise Smith's revelations so as to make the church's history more palatable." |
Use of sources: Advertising for the Tanners |
- 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.
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| 413-414, 609-610n39 (HB) |
"Some of the most disturbing instructions about blind obedience came from LDS president Ezra Taft Benson in his 'Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet' speech. His fundamentals for living a righteous Mormon life left little room for independent thought." |
Use of sources: The LDS as Mindless Followers |
- Ezra Taft Benson, "Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet," February 26, 1980.
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Claims made in "Appendix C: Abrahams Book?"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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Claims made in "Appendix D: Failed Joseph Smith Prophecies"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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Claims made in "Notes, Abbreviations"
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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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| 475 |
AOF: The Articles of Faith are thirteen statements that outline the more socially acceptable Mormon beliefs, usually discussed openly by Latter-day Saints when explaining Mormonism to potential converts. None of the articles deal with any doctrines that might be viewed as offensive or controversial to non-Mormons. The Articles of Faith are contained in modern LDS editions of the Pearl of Great Price, one of the Standard Works of the Mormon church. The AOF are on-line at http://www.exmormon.org/fourteen.htm. |
Use of sources: The Anti-Mormon Articles of Faith |
- Link is to an anti-Mormon site which provides a list of fourteen slanted and derogatory statements by a critic of the LDS faith
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Further reading
FAIR wiki articles
- REDIRECTReference_templates/To_learn_more_boxes/Responses_to
