Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Chapter 13

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Response to claims made in "Chapter 13: Unholy Matrimony"


Claims made in "Chapter 12: Wars and Rumors of Wars"
A FAIR Analysis of:
One Nation Under Gods
A work by author: Richard Abanes
 Claims made in "Chapter 14: The Politics of Compromise"
Coexisting with these two deities was a limitless amount of cosmic spirit matter known as "intelligence," out of which Elohim and Heavenly Mother made countless spirit babies via celestial sex.
—One Nation Under Gods, p. 285
∗       ∗       ∗

282, 572n8 (PB)

Claim
  • Didn't Joseph approve a "pretend marriage" between his plural wife Sarah Ann Whitney and Joseph Kingsbury?

Author's source(s)
  • George D. Smith, An Intimate Chronicle: The Journals of William Clayton (1995), 27.
  • "History of Joseph Kingsbury, Written by His Own Hand, 1846, 1849, 1850," Stanley Snow Ivins Collection, vol. 15, 74-76, Utah State Historical Society.
Response

282, 572n8 (PB)

Claim
  • Did Joseph write a "revealing letter" to Sarah Ann Whitney's parent in which he invited them "to bring their daughter to visit him?"

Author's source(s)
  • George D. Smith, An Intimate Chronicle: The Journals of William Clayton (1995), 27.
  • Joseph Smith, letter to Whitney family, Aug. 18, 1842, photocopy, George Albert Smith papers, Special Collections, Marriott Library.
Response

283, 572n10 (PB)

Claim
  • Did Sarah Pratt's rejection of the Church have to do with her having been propositioned by Joseph?

Author's source(s)
  • W. Wyl, Mormon Portraits, 62.
Response

283, 572n11 (PB) - Why did Joseph publicly deny polygamy, when he stated: "What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one?"

The author(s) of One Nation Under Gods make(s) the following claim:

Why did Joseph publicly deny polygamy, when he stated: "What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one?"

Author's sources: History of the Church, vol. 6, 410-411.

FAIR's Response

Contents
Articles about Plural marriage
Doctrinal foundation of plural marriage
Introduction of plural marriage
Plural marriage in Utah
End of plural marriage

Did Joseph Smith ever publicly attempt to teach the doctrine of plural marriage?

Joseph initiated the practice of polygamy and hid it from the general Church membership during his lifetime

It is true that Joseph did not always tell others about plural marriage. One critic of the Church claims, "Joseph Smith publicly lied about his practice of polygamy, and lied to his own wife (Emma) about the practice." [1]

Joseph made at least one attempt to teach the doctrine, but it was rejected

Joseph did, however, make an attempt to teach the doctrine to the Saints. When Joseph tried to teach the doctrine, it was rejected by many Saints, including Emma, his wife. Joseph then began to teach the doctrine privately to those who would obey. A contemporary journal describes the reaction to Joseph's attempt to teach this doctrine:

When the prophet "went to his dinner," [Joseph Lee] Robinson wrote, "as it might be expected several of the first women of the church collected at the Prophet’s house with his wife [and] said thus to the prophet Joseph O mister Smith you have done it now it will never do it is all but Blassphemy you must take back what you have said to day is it is outrageous it would ruin us as a people." So in the afternoon session Smith again took the stand, according to Robinson, and said "Brethren and Sisters I take back what we said this morning and leave it as though there had been nothing said."[2]

Why did Joseph keep the doctrine of plural marriage private?

The Saints would have suffered negative consequences

Keeping the doctrine private was also necessary because the enemies of the Church would have used it as another justification for their assault on the Saints. Orson Hyde looked back on the Nauvoo days and indicated what the consequences of disclosure would have been:

In olden times they might have passed through the same circumstances as some of the Latter-day Saints had to in Illinois. What would it have done for us, if they had known that many of us had more than one wife when we lived in Illinois? They would have broken us up, doubtless, worse than they did.[3]

It is thus important to realize that the public preaching of polygamy—or announcing it to the general Church membership, thereby informing the public by proxy—was simply not a feasible plan.

Why did Joseph Smith say "I had not been married scarcely five minutes...before it was reported that I had seven wives"?

The Laws sought to have Joseph indicted for adultery and perjury

This statement refers to Joseph's well-known declaration on 26 May 1844 in his "Address of the Prophet—His Testimony Against the Dissenters at Nauvoo". Significantly, this address was given the day after the Laws sought to have Joseph indicted for adultery in the case of Maria Lawrence. (They also sought to indict him on a charge of perjury.)

Many have criticized or been concerned by the secrecy with which Joseph instituted plural marriage without appreciating the realities of the dangers involved. Illinois law only criminalized adultery or fornication if it was "open". Since Joseph was sealed to his plural wives for either eternity, or for time and eternity, he did not view these relationships as constituting adultery or fornication. Therefore, under Illinois law, as long as Joseph and his plural wives did not live in an "open," or "public," manner, they were not guilty of breaking any civil law then in force in Illinois. Furthermore, this reality explains some of Joseph's public denials, since he could be truthfully said to not be guilty of the charges leveled against him: he was not committing adultery or fornication.

Joseph was refuting the charge of adultery, not the fact that he had "seven wives"

History of The Church 6:410-411:

I had not been married scarcely five minutes, and made one proclamation of the Gospel, before it was reported that I had seven wives. I mean to live and proclaim the truth as long as I can.

This new holy prophet [William Law] has gone to Carthage and swore that I had told him that I was guilty of adultery. This spiritual wifeism! Why, a man dares not speak or wink, for fear of being accused of this.[4]....

A man asked me whether the commandment was given that a man may have seven wives; and now the new prophet has charged me with adultery. I never had any fuss with these men until that Female Relief Society brought out the paper against adulterers and adulteresses.

Dr. Goforth was invited into the Laws' clique, and Dr. Foster and the clique were dissatisfied with that document,[5] and they rush away and leave the Church, and conspire to take away my life; and because I will not countenance such wickedness,[6] they proclaim that I have been a true prophet, but that I am now a fallen prophet.

[Joseph H.] Jackson[7] has committed murder, robbery, and perjury; and I can prove it by half-a-dozen witnesses. Jackson got up and said—"By God, he is innocent," and now swears that I am guilty. He threatened my life.

There is another Law, not the prophet, who was cashiered for dishonesty and robbing the government. Wilson Law also swears that I told him I was guilty of adultery. Brother Jonathan Dunham can swear to the contrary. I have been chained. I have rattled chains before in a dungeon for the truth's sake. I am innocent of all these charges, and you can bear witness of my innocence, for you know me yourselves.

When I love the poor, I ask no favors of the rich. I can go to the cross—I can lay down my life; but don't forsake me. I want the friendship of my brethren.—Let us teach the things of Jesus Christ. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a downfall.

Be meek and lowly, upright and pure; render good for evil. If you bring on yourselves your own destruction, I will complain. It is not right for a man to bare down his neck to the oppressor always. Be humble and patient in all circumstances of life; we shall then triumph more gloriously. What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one.

I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers. I labored with these apostates myself until I was out of all manner of patience; and then I sent my brother Hyrum, whom they virtually kicked out of doors.[8]

Note the rejection of the term "spiritual wifeism". Note that "spiritual wifeism" likely refers to John C. Bennett's pattern of seduction and sexual license, which the Saints were always at pains to deny.

Joseph was not merely bluffing, nor was he lying—he literally could prove that the Laws were perjuring themselves on this point

In light of the circumstances under which they were spoken, Joseph's words were carefully chosen. Joseph was not merely bluffing, nor was he lying—he literally could prove that the Laws were perjuring themselves on this point in the charges brought only the day before.

Bradshaw cites a portion of Joseph's above statement, and then concludes:

A review of Joseph's remarks in light of the circumstances under which they were spoken shows that Joseph's words were carefully chosen. In this speech, Joseph was specifically reacting to the indictments for perjury and adultery that were presented by the grand jury the day earlier. Thus, when Joseph affirmed during the same speech: "I am innocent of all these charges," he was in particular refuting a claim that he and Maria [Lawrence] had openly and notoriously cohabitated, thus committing the statutory offense of adultery. He was also refuting the perjury charge. While the overall tone of Joseph's remarks may seem misleading, it is understandable that Joseph would have taken pains to dodge the plural marriage issue. By keeping his plural marriages in Nauvoo secret, Joseph effectively kept them legal, at least under the Illinois adultery statute.[9]:413

Was Joseph Smith ever charged with adultery under Illinois law?

William and Wilson Law charged Joseph with adultery in the case of Maria Lawrence

Joseph Smith was, in fact, once charged with adultery under Illinois Law. This occurred shortly before his death, when Robert Foster, William Law (Joseph's former counselor in the First Presidency) and Law's brother Wilson charged Joseph with adultery in the case of Maria Lawrence.[9]:403,414 Joseph took an aggressive stance in the defense of himself and Maria, which would be surprising if Illinois law was as detrimental to his case as many have assumed.

For example, as soon as Joseph was charged, two days later he and his supporters "rode to Carthage, intent on having" the charge "'investigated.'"[9]:404

Illinois law only criminalized adultery or fornication if it was "open"

It is vital to understand, however, that:

Joseph Smith could not have been properly convicted of adultery under the law of Illinois in 1844. Illinois law only criminalized adultery or fornication if it was "open". Had Joseph lived to face trial on this charge, he would have had good reason to expect acquittal because his relationships with his plural wives were not open, but were kept confidential and known by a relative few. Given a fair trial on this indictment, Joseph could have relied on several legal defenses.[9]:402

Joseph's relationships with his plural wives did not meet this definition

The same author emphasized:

The term "open" in [the Illinois Criminal Code of the day[10]] is a key element of this crime. The meaning of this term was then and still today is generally understood in law to cover conduct that is "notorious," "exposed to public view," or "visible," and which is "not clandestine." Joseph's relationships with his plural wives did not meet this definition.[9]:408

Were there any similar cases under Illinois adultery statute which demonstrate that Joseph was not breaking the law?

Two cases decided after Joseph's death demonstrate that there was nothing which would have permitted conviction

Two cases decided after Joseph's death but under the same legal regime likewise demonstrate that there was nothing about Maria and Joseph's relationship (regardless of whether or not they had sexual relations) which would have permitted conviction under the Illinois adultery statute. Additionally, Stephen R. Douglas (the famed Illinois judge and later candidate for the presidency of the United States) and Thomas Ford (the governor of Illinois at the time of Joseph's murder) prosecuted adultery cases during their legal careers and both were definitive that an "open" and "notorious" aspect to the cohabitation had to be proven under the statute.[9]:408-411

If Joseph been charged by his wife Emma with adultery, this could have served as grounds for divorce under Illinois law

By contrast, had Joseph been charged by his wife Emma with adultery, this could have served as grounds for divorce, and did not require the stringent requirements of being "open" or "notorious."[11]

It was later realized that Illinois law would probably support the practice of Latter-day Saint plural marriage, so they changed the wording of the law

Even Joseph's near-contemporaries would later realize that Illinois law would probably support the practice of Latter-day Saint plural marriage, perhaps even if done so openly.

Recognizing the breadth of [the] state constitutional provision [for religious freedom] as it stood in 1844, Illinois adopted a new constitution in 1869 that introduced a number of changes in the clause governing religious liberty, including wording specifically intended to give the state authority to prohibit Mormon polygamy or other religiously-based practices that might be deemed offensive. Comments by certain delegates to the 1869 Illinois Constitutional Convention show taht there was a concern that the Mormon practice of plural marriage could be protected under the state constitution....

Several delegates expressed support for changes in the wording of the Illinois constitution in order to protect the state from what they viewed as extreme forms of worship, including Mormon polygamy. These delegates feared that the more liberal wording of the earlier constitution (in force in Joseph's day) might actually protected practices such as polygamy. One such delegate was Thomas J. Turner...[who] stated:"...Mormonism is a form of religion 'grant it, a false religion' nevertheless, it claims to be the true Christian religion...[d]o we desire that the Mormons shall return to our State, and bring with them polygamy?"[9]:416, 416n45

Gregory L. Smith, M.D., "Polygamy, Prophets, and Prevarication: Frequently and Rarely Asked Questions about the Initiation, Practice, and Cessation of Plural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints"

Gregory L. Smith, M.D.,  FairMormon Papers, (2005)
Critics charge that Joseph Smith and his successors made repeated public statements in which they hid or frankly denied the practice of polygamy, despite knowledge to the contrary. It is argued that this dishonesty is morally dubious and inconsistent with the Church’s purported principles.


The concept of “civil disobedience” is essential to understanding those occasions in which Joseph Smith or other Church members were not forthright about the practice of polygamy.
Like obedience to civil law, honesty and integrity are foundational values to the Church of Jesus Christ. Indeed, the success which critics have in troubling members of the Church with tales of polygamy and its deceptive circumstances is, in a way, a compliment to the Church. If the Church as an institution typically taught its members to have a casual disregard for the truth, a discovery that Joseph Smith had deceived others about polygamy would not be troubling to most. But, because the Church (contrary to the suggestions of some critics) really does teach its members to aspire to live elevated lives of moral rectitude, the discovery that deception was involved with polygamy can come as something of a shock. Disillusionment can ensue if we follow the critics in assuming that because Joseph occasionally misled others in this specific context, he must therefore have lied about everything else, and been absolutely unworthy of trust.

But, as we have seen, the practice of polygamy must be viewed in its moral context as an act of religious devotion which the Saints were unwilling to forego simply because the state or society disapproved.

Click here to view the complete article

Joseph Smith's Polygamy: "1840—Plural Marriage Secretly Introduced", by Brian C. Hales

Summary: Sometime in 1840 Joseph Smith first broached the topic of plural marriage privately to trusted friends. Most of the apostles were in England and thus were unavailable for an introduction to the practice.

(Click here for full article)


Notes

  1. ↑ John Dehlin, "Questions and Answers," Mormon Stories Podcast (25 June 2014).
  2. ↑ Richard S. Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy: A History (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1986),48; citing Robinson, Journal, 23–24.
  3. ↑ Orson Hyde, "The Marriage Relations," (6 October 1854) Journal of Discourses 2:75-75.
  4. ↑ Note that "spiritual wifeism" likely refers to John C. Bennett's pattern of seduction and sexual license, which the Saints were always at pains to deny.
  5. ↑ That is, the Relief Society document condemning adultery, which Foster had engaged in under the tutelage of John C. Bennett.
  6. ↑ Again, Joseph is denying the spiritual wifeism of Bennett, which he calls "wickedness" and was quick to oppose via Church discipline.
  7. ↑ Jackson was another witness against Joseph Smith, and would go on to write an anti-Mormon tract: Joseph H. Jackson, The Adventures and Experiences of Joseph H. Jackson in Nauvoo, (Printed for the Publisher: Warsaw, Illinois, 1846).
  8. ↑ Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 volumes, edited by Brigham H. Roberts, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1957), 6:410-412. Volume 6 link
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 M. Scott Bradshaw, "Defining Adultery under Illinois and Nauvoo Law," in Sustaining the Law: Joseph Smith's Legal Encounters, edited by Gordon A. Madsen, Jeffrey N. Walker, and John W. Welch (Provo, Utah: BYU Studies, 2014), 401–426.
  10. ↑ Bradshaw cites Criminal Code, section 123, Revised Laws of Illinois: "Any man or woman who shall live together in an open state of adultery or fornication, or adultery and fornication, every such man and woman shall be indicted...." (Bradshaw, 407, emphasis added).
  11. ↑ "Compare [the strict criteria for statutory adultery] to Illinois divorce law which allowed adultery as a grounds for divorce; however, the cases that involved divorce petitions on this basis do not seemed [sic] to have followed any clear standard defining what constituted adultery, focusing rather on proving individual acts of adultery. Divorce law did not require that the conduct be "open" or "notorious." - Bradshaw, "Defining Adultery," 407–408n21.

284 (PB)

Claim
  • Weren't many of Joseph's plural wives teenagers?

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response

285, 575n21 (HB) 573n21 (PB)

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "Coexisting with these two deities was a limitless amount of cosmic spirit matter known as "intelligence," out of which Elohim and Heavenly Mother made countless spirit babies via celestial sex."

Author's source(s)
  • McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 387, 750.
  • Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 11:122..
  • Orson Pratt, "The Pre-Existence of Man," The Seer, March 1853, vol. 1, no. 3, 38
Response
  • The author uses the offensive term "celestial sex" to characterize LDS beliefs related to the pre-existence.
  • The sources quoted, Bruce R. McConkie, Brigham Young, and Orson Pratt never use the term "celestial sex."
  • No LDS leader has ever used the term "celestial sex."
  • The term "celestial sex" was popularized in Ed Decker's 1982 anti-Mormon film The God Makers. This source is not credited as a source by the author, but its influence is obvious.
  • Loaded and prejudicial language
  • Celestial sex?
  • This claim is also made in Becoming Gods, p. 154, 392n14

285, 574n25 (PB)

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "Earth, by the way, in this Mormon scenario, was fashioned as part of a joint creative project supervised by the most faithful of Heavenly Father's spiritual progeny (e.g., Jesus, Joseph Smith, Noah, Adam, John the Baptist, etc.). Elohim's other spirit children included: Lucifer, who would become the Devil (a.k.a. Satan); Napoleon; George Washington; Joseph Smith; Louis Armstrong, Donny and Marie Osmond, Senator Orrin Hatch, U.S. President George W. Bush, and everyone else who has ever lived on this planet."

Author's source(s)
  • McConkie, 169.
Response

286, 574n26 (PB)

Claim
  • Do Latter-day Saints believe that God the Father is a "polygamous god?"

Author's source(s)
  • Orson Pratt, "Celestial Marriage," The Seer, November 1853, vol. 1, no. 11, 172.
  • John J. Stewart, Brigham Young and His Wives and The True Story of Plural Marriage, 41.
Response

286 (PB)

Claim
  • Do Latter-day Saints believe that God the Father is "the god of this planet?"

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response

286, 575n29 (PB)

Claim
  • Do Latter-day Saints believe that our mortal life is similar to what God the Father had to go through in order to become God?

Author's source(s)
  • McConkie, 64.
Response

287 (PB)

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "More spirit children means more power, which in turn pushes a Mormon male further up the hierarchical ladder of gods in our universe."

Author's source(s)
  • Author's opinion.
Response

287, 575n38(PB)

Claim
  • Is it true that Latter-day Saints do not believe that Jesus Christ was not "conceived in any way that might be considered supernatural" and that He was not "miraculously begotten, for instance, by the Holy Ghost, as Christianity teaches"?

Author's source(s)
Response

287-8, 575n39 (PB)

Claim
  • Do Latter-day Saints believe that God the Father visited the earth to conceive Jesus Christ through Mary after "making her his wife" even though she was "his daughter" and "betrothed to Joseph?"

Author's source(s)
  • Brigham Young, Deseret News, October 10, 1866.
  • Brigham Young, August 19, 1866, Journal of Discourses, vol. 11, 268. Brigham says, "The man Joseph, the husband of Mary, did not, that we know of, have more than one wife, but Mary the wife of Joseph had another husband. On this account infidels have called the Savior a bastard. This is merely a human opinion upon one of the inscrutable doings of the Almighty. That very babe that was cradled in the manger, was begotten, not by Joseph, the husband of Mary, but by another Being. Do you inquire by whom? He was begotten by God our heavenly Father. This answer may suffice you—you need never inquire more upon that point. Jesus Christ is the only begotten of the Father, and he is the Savior of the world, and full of grace and truth."
  • Orson Pratt, :Celestial Marriage," The Seer, October 1853, vol. 1, no. 10, 158. (It should be noted that the First Presidency rejected Pratt's writings in The Seer as Church doctrine.)
Response

288, 576n42-43 (PB)

Claim
  • Do Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus became a polygamist just like His Father?

Author's source(s)
  • Orson Pratt, "Celestial Marriage," The Seer, 172, 158.
Response
  • The Church teaches no such doctrine. Most references to Elohim's status come from Orson Pratt, who believed that this was true. The Church, however, has neither accepted nor promoted such a teaching.
  • Was Jesus a polygamist?

288, 576n44

Claim
  • The author states that the "road to godhood" for others is "far more difficult and takes considerably longer" than the route taken by Jesus Christ, since Jesus did not require "wives" or "temple rituals" to achieve godhood.

Author's source(s)
  • Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 129.
Response
  • This is an absurd claim by the author. Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins—something that no man is even capable of doing for himself. This is what the author implies is the easier road to godhood?
  • Absurd claims

289, 578n51 (HB)
576n51 (PB)

Claim
The following differences exist between the hardback and paperback editions:
  • "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." (HB)
  • "In 1987, BYU scholar Eugene England noted how many "influential" Mormons and LDS religion teachers still saw women as mere "birth machines"—a view he called "one of the more popular rationales for eternal polygyny." Just recently "an increasing number of faithful Mormons" have started rejecting such a notion." (PB)

Author's source(s)
The following endnote was corrected in the paperback edition:
  • 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. (HB)
  • Eugene England, "On Fidelity, Polygamy, and Celestial Marriage," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Winter 1987), vol. 20, no. 4, 148. The note states, "England condemned this view, explaining that it was based on a too rigid interpretation of D&C 132:63. (PB)
Response

290, 577n56-57 (PB)

Claim
  • Ann Eliza Young in her 1875 book Wife No. 19 stated the polygamy in Utah was not an option, but a command.

Author's source(s)
  • Ernest H. Taves, This is the Place: Brigham Young and the New Zion, 153.
  • Ann Eliza Young, Wife No. 19, or the Story of A Life In Bondage, Being A Complete Expose of Mormonism, and Revealing the Sorrows, Sacrifices, and Sufferings of Women in Polygamy.
Response

294, 579n68

Claim
  • Is it true that early LDS leaders allowed the marriage of near relatives? The book specifically mentions the sealing of John Bernhisel to his sister, Maria, as quoted in Joseph's diary.

Author's source(s)
  • Scott H. Faulring, ed., An American Prophet's Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith, 424.
Response

294, 579n74

Claim
  • George D. Smith notes in a study of 153 polygamous men: "two of the wives were only thirteen years old, more than a dozen girls were fourteen, twenty-one were fifteen; and fifty-three were only sixteen."

Author's source(s)
  • George D. Smith. Cited in Jerald Tanner and Sandra Tanner, "Joseph Smith and Women," Salt Lake City Messenger (#91), November 1996, 7.
Response
  •  The author's claim is false: G.D. Smith is not an "LDS scholar." GD Smith is an atheist, writes frequently for secular humanism's flagship publication Free Inquiry, and finances Signature Books, which expends considerable effort attacking the foundational events and doctrines of the Church. [1]
  • Polygamy book/Age of wives

295, 579n77

Claim
  • Is it true that Latter-day Saint men treated women as "livestock or property."
  • The endnote refers to an alleged quote made by Brigham Young to Henry Jacobs in which he is claimed to have told Jacobs that "the woman that you claim for a wife does not belong to you. She is a spiritual wife of brother Joseph...and she, in his behalf, with her children, are my property..."

Author's source(s)
  • William Hall, The Abominations of Mormonism Exposed (Cincinnati: I. Hart & Co., 1853), 43-44.
  • T.B.H. Stenhouse, Rocky Mountain Saints: a full and complete history of the Mormons, from the first vision of Joseph Smith to the last courtship of Brigham Young (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1873), 185-186.
Response
  • Stenhouse could not have heard the alleged comment by Brigham in 1846, since he was baptized in England on July 14, 1845, and didn't come to the United States until late 1855. His "corroboration," therefore, is of no worth, and he is likely to have simply copied Hall's claim as his own.
  • Hall claimed that the comment was heard "in the hearing of hundreds," yet nobody else present among these "hundreds" has ever corroborated this story.
  • The claim also does not match Brigham Young's teachings on the subject.
  • Full details: Wyatt, "Zina and Her Men."

295, 582n81-82 (HB) 580n81-82 (PB)

Claim
  • Is it true, as the author claims, that "wife swapping" was "acceptable?"

Author's source(s)
  • Jedediah Grant. Quoted in T.B.H. Stenhouse, Rocky Mountain Saints: a full and complete history of the Mormons, from the first vision of Joseph Smith to the last courtship of Brigham Young (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1873), 294.
  • Jedediah Grant, February 19, 1854, Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, 14.
Response
  •  The author's claim is false: Grant's quote is about consecrating everything to God's service: money, wives, etc. It does not sanction "wife swapping."
  • This claim is also made in Becoming Gods, p. 237, 425n73-75

297, 581n88-89 (PB)

Claim
  • Were missionaries instructed to not select converted women as wives before they were brought back to Utah?

Author's source(s)
  • Heber C. Kimball, August 28, 1852, Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, 256.
  • Heber C. Kimball, Quoted in Stanley P. Hirshon, The Lion of the Lord: A Biography of the Mormon Leader, Brigham Young, 129-130.
Response
  • The author creates a composite idea from the two sources. Kimball's discourse doesn't actually mention plural marriage.
  • Kimball's quote in context:

"I say to those who are elected to go on missions, Go, if you never return; and commit what you have into the hands of God-your wives, your children, your brethren, and your property. Let truth and righteousness be your motto; and do not go into the world for anything else but to preach the Gospel, build up the kingdom of God, and gather the sheep into the fold. You are sent out as shepherds to gather the sheep together; and remember that they are not your sheep: they belong to Him that sends you: Then do not make a choice of any of those sheep; do not make selections before they are brought home and put into the fold."


297, 581n90-95 (PB)

Claim
  • If missionaries chose not to "heed Kimball's warning" about selecting wives before bringing them to Utah, were they castrated as a result?

Author's source(s)
Response

299, 581n95 (PB)

Claim
  • Why did Brigham Young say that "[t]he only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy?"

Author's source(s)
Response

301, 582n106 (PB)

Claim
  • Did Orson Pratt teach that anyone not entering into plural marriage "will be damned?"

Author's source(s)
Response

301 (PB)

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "Monogamy was equated with a failure to obey God, which not only displeased the Almighty, but endangered one's eternal destiny."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response

301-2, 582n108 (PB)

Claim
  • Did Brigham actually say that monogamy was the "source of prostitution and whoredom" throughout all Christendom?

Author's source(s)
Response
  •  Misrepresentation of source: Brigham actually said "a source," not "the source:"

302, 582n109 (PB)

Claim
  • Was failure to acquire plural wives considered a crime worthy of death?

Author's source(s)
  • Marie Cornwall, Camela Courtright, and Laga Van BeekHow, "Common the Principle?: Women As Plural Wives in 1860," Dialogue: a Journal of Mormon Thought (Summer 1993), vol. 26, 142.
Response

302 (PB)

Claim
  • Were single or monogamous men "mocked and ridiculed as practically impotent?"

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response
  • The author provides no source to back up this assertion. The burden of proof is upon him.

303, 582n111 (PB)

Claim
  • Were LDS women told that they could only be saved through their husbands, who would provide them with salvation?

Author's source(s)
  • Sandra Tanner, "How the LDS Husband Hopes to Resurrect His Wife According to the LDS Temple Ceremony"
Response
  • LDS believe that salvation only comes through the atonement of Jesus Christ, and do not believe that it is dependent upon any man.

304, 583n114 (PB)

Claim
  • Did Brigham say of women: "It is for you to bear children,...are you tormenting yourselves by thinking that your husbands do not love you? I would not care whether they loved a particle or not; but I would cry out, like one of old, in the joy of my heart, 'I have got a man from the Lord!' 'Hallelujah! I am a mother—I have borne an image of God!'"

Author's source(s)
Response

305 (PB)

Claim
  • Does the Bible not sanction or command polygamy?

Author's source(s)
  • Various references related to providing an Evangelical view of how polygamy in the Bible is viewed.
Response

306 (PB)

Claim
  • Did the Hebrews never consider polygamy a standard practice?

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response

307, 583-4n123-5 (PB)

Claim
  • Did Joseph Smith and Brigham Young believe that the New Testament teaches polygamy and that Jesus and his apostles were actually polygamists?

Author's source(s)
Response

308 (PB)

Claim
  • Doesn't the Book of Mormon condemn polygamy?

Author's source(s)
Response

Notes


  1. ↑ For Smith’s long-standing links to the secular humanist movement, see Louis Midgley, "George Dempster Smith, Jr., on the Book of Mormon (Review of On the Barricades: Religion and Free Inquiry in Conflict by Robert Basil, Mary Beth Gehrman, and Tim Madigan)," FARMS Review of Books 4/1 (1992): 5–12. off-site. See also Louis Midgley, "Atheists and Cultural Mormons Promote a Naturalistic Humanism (Review of Religion, Feminism, and Freedom of Conscience: A Mormon/Humanist Dialogue by George D. Smith," FARMS Review of Books 7/1 (1995): 229–297. off-site. On Signature Books’ ideological atheism, see Louis Midgley, "The Signature Books Saga," FARMS Review 16/1 (2004): 361–406. off-site
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