An anonymous blog that provides out-of-context and embarrassing quotes from Brigham Young has manufactured a quote it attributes to the second president of the Church. On the “About” page, the blog owner says about himself:
I am a Prophet of God in this dispensation. I carry on the work that began with Joseph Smith. I led the Saints to the barren Salt Lake Valley and it is where we built Zion, even though Joseph Smith taught the Savior would return in Jackson County Missouri. Monogamous marriage is not the order of heaven, for it is only through polygamy that a man may achieve exaltation. The government should stay out of the lives of the Saints and let us worship and practice our religion according to the dictates of our own conscience. If there ever comes a day when the Saints interfere with the rights of others to live as they see fit, you can know with assurance that the Church is no longer led by a Prophet, but a mere man. The doctrines of this Church are eternal, for they were ordained before the world was and any man who changes these doctrines such as the temple ceremony, or the man who abandons polygamy, or allows blacks the Priesthood of God, is a fallen prophet.
I am Brother Brigham. And I am the voice of God.
The blog does not provide a citation for the quote. This is nothing more than a clumsy mashup of virtually every controversial subject on which Brigham ever spoke: Zion, polygamy, church and state, authoritarianism, the temple, and blacks and priesthood. And there’s an oblique reference to Proposition 8, too.
Normally this kind of juvenile prank would be ignored, but the quote was posted to a high-traffic discussion site for ex-Mormons, and now is being blogged and shared through Facebook.
FAIR volunteers have searched electronic databases of all of Brigham Young’s recorded sermons — the Journal of Discourses, the Deseret News, the 6-volume Brigham Young Addresses, and early Church newspapers — and have not found anything like this coming from Brigham’s mouth.
This quote is a hoax. Please pass the word.
For more, see the FAIR wiki:
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Update: The original blog owner has admitted that the quote is a fake, but that it is “merely words that sum up [Brigham’s] doctrine and [Brigham’s] teachings.”
You’re very kind, Mike. I’m not sure this activity deserves so gentlemanly a label as “misquoting.”
Only a complete fool would ever mistake that quote as being authentic. The line “even though Joseph Smith taught the Savior would return in Jackson County, Missouri” is the dead giveaway. The fabricator couldn’t even get three sentences in before blowing it.
Honestly, this is such cut-rate work, it’s not deserving of your attention. There are much more polished anti-Mormon idiots out there than this one.
I agree with Ryan, this quote is cut-rate work. Thanks, Mike, for your time and effort to set-up and run this site.
As a non-believer, I have encountered parts of this quotation before, but have never been able to find a source. I really appreciate your efforts, and will certainly pass it on if I encounter it again. Printed more fully, as it is here, the quote does sound ridiculous.
One particular portion of the fake “quote” related to Prop. 8 has taken on a life of it’s own, and is now appearing on numerous sites. A Google search on this sentence shows over 40 hits:
“The government should stay out of the lives of the Saints and let us worship and practice our religion according to the dictates of our own conscience. If there ever comes a day when the Saints interfere with the rights of others to live as they see fit, you can know with assurance that the Church is no longer led by a Prophet, but a mere man.”
Although the blog owner admitted that the quote was not real, he did so “in character” as “Brother Brigham,” claiming: “To answer your questions, the above information is merely words that sum up my doctrine and my teachings. While I never said these exact words (and they do not appear in any of my published works) they express my personal religious convictions and a life time of teachings.”
He has done little to alleviate the confusion, and is likely hoping that this will lead more people to his blog.
One correction to the message above. The sentence to search for is the second one: “If there ever comes a day when the Saints interfere with the rights of others to live as they see fit, you can know with assurance that the Church is no longer led by a Prophet, but a mere man.”
Brigham Young said a lot of crazy stuff. That’s what I think.
Jeremy #8: Since both “a lot” and “crazy” are highly subjective terms that can be broadly interpreted, your comment is essentially meaningless.
Mike, yes, you have a point.
I suppose that the mere fact that FAIR volunteers searched through the Journal of Discourses, etc. for a quote that is obviously a fake indicates that at least some people would consider it possible that Brigham Young said such a controversial thing.
In my opinion, it’s unfortunate that Brigham said some of the things that he said because some of his statements have led to a lot of controversy and some confusion (i.e. Adam-God doctrine, curse of Cain doctrine, polygamy, etc.). That’s not to say that every quote that is attributed to him is verifiable and, of course, context is important.
Jeremy,
Searching through the entire Journal of Discourses for any quote only takes a few seconds, since the entire electronic text of all 26 volumes of the JoD is contained in the FAIR Wiki (along with the complete text of all volumes of the Messenger and Advocate, and the Evening and the Morning Star). That takes just a few seconds of a volunteer’s time, and it is always appropriate for us to make the attempt to verify the source of any quote attributed to Brigham.