Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Loaded and prejudicial language

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Use of sources

A FAIR Analysis of: One Nation Under Gods A work by author: Richard Abanes Loaded and prejudicial language

Absurd claims

Note: This is a review of claims and/or responses to misrepresentations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints found in this work. The inclusion of an author's work here does not imply that he or she is "anti-Mormon," or that none of his or her works have value. Those who do not wish to examine the claims contained in what some would consider an "anti-Mormon" work are advised to proceed no further.

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Loaded and prejudicial language

There are many instances in this work which employ loaded or prejudicial language in order to lead the reader to a specific conclusion. A number of instances of this practice are documented in this section.

Page	One Nation Under Gods
9-11	"[T]he Smiths finally gave up on finding deliverance from their poverty by any means that might be termed legitimate employment. They turned instead to borrowing, fast-talking, and 'money-digging' through occult divination."
60 (PB)	"This story would prove to be one of Smith's best tales."
104	"Mindless devotion to Smith's teachings also raised the ire of non-Mormons attempting to reason with the Saints about the folly of their beliefs. Reason and logical thinking meant little to Mormons, who commonly rejected analytical thought in favor of supernatural experience."
116	Joseph "recevied yet another revelation on August 2, 1833, the contents of which seemed to indicate that God also was unaware of the Missouri tragedy."
132 (PB)	"Although Smith never took any Lamanites as wives, he did begin establishing what would gradually become a fairly large harem of young girls and women taken from his flock of 'white and delightsome' disciples."
133 (PB)	"[A]n attempt to cover-up the Smith-Alger affair appeared in the church's 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants..."
135 (PB)	"Smith decided to solve his economic dilemma by establishing a bank for the purpose of land speculation."
136	"Smith resorted to a rather ingenious deception..."
172	"...for Joseph, his followers were more than willing to accept any excuse he might give them...intellectual reasoning and logical thought never had played more than a minor role in their belief system."
173	"[I]n lieu of Jesus Christ, who would reign supreme at his second coming, Smith installed himself as Zion's dictator."
175	"...the 'grandeur of Joseph Smith's life' was noted as the all-important truth that the world needed to hear. Levi [Edgar Young]'s prayer was that thousands would turn not to God, but to Joseph.'"

Further reading

A FAIR Analysis of Critical Works

• American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows— (Index of claims)
• An Insider's View of Mormon Origins — (Index of claims—Use of sources)
• Archaeology and the Book of Mormon
• Ashamed of Joseph: Mormon Foundations Crumble
• Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism/Inside Today's Mormonism — (Index of claims—Use of sources)
• Behind the Mask of Mormonism
• Specific works/Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows
• Specific works/By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus
• Counterfeit Gospel of Mormonism
• Covering Up the Black Hole in the Book of Mormon
  • Answering Mormon Scholars, Vol. 1
  • Answering Mormon Scholars, Vol. 2
• Decker's Complete Handbook on Mormonism
• Early Mormonism and the Magic World View — (Index of claims—Use of sources)
• Specific works/Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Mormonism
• Faithful History: Essays on Writing Mormon History
• From Captain Kidd's Treasure Ghost to the Angel Moroni: Changing Dramatis Personae in Early Mormonism
• In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith — (Index of Claims)
• Indian Origins and the Book of Mormon
• Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record
• Is the Mormon My Brother?
• Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet
• Joseph Smith and the Origins of The Book of Mormon (2nd edition)—(Index of claims)
• Joseph Smith's New York Reputation Reexamined
• The Kingdom of the Cults (Revised) — (Index of claims)
• Leaving the Saints
• Letters to a Mormon Elder
• Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church — (Index of claims)
• Mormon America: The Power and the Promise — (Index of claims)
• The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power — (Index of claims)
• The Mormon Mirage: Seeing Through the Illusion of Mainstream Mormonism
• Mormonism 101—Index of claims
• Mormonism (Kurt Van Gorden)
• Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? — (Index of claims)
• The Mysteries of Godliness—A History of Mormon Temple Worship
• Nauvoo Polygamy — (Index of claims—Use of sources—Prejudicial language—Presentism—Mind reading—Censorship—Romance—Assumptions—Magick)
• New Approaches to the Book of Mormon
• New Mormon Challenge
• No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith — (Index of claims)
• One Nation Under Gods — (Index of claims—Use of Sources—Prejudicial language—Absurd claims—Presentism—Mind reading—Rewording—Omissions—Sarcasm)
• The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644–1844
• Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example — (Index of claims)
• Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait of Religious Excess
• The Changing World of Mormonism — (Index of claims)
• Trouble Enough: Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon
• Under the Banner of Heaven — (Index of claims)
• Word of God: Essays on Mormon Scripture