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Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mormon America: The Power and the Promise/Index: Difference between revisions
 
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#REDIRECT [[Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mormon America: The Power and the Promise]]
{{FAIRAnalysisHeader
|title=[[../]]
|author=Richard N. Ostling and Joan K. Ostling
|noauthor=
|section=Index of Claims
|previous=<!-- [[../Overview|Overview]] -->
|next=<!-- [[../Use of sources|Use of sources]] -->
|notes={{AuthorsDisclaimer}}
}}
 
==Index to claims made in ''Mormon America: The Power and the Promise''==
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.
===Introduction: A New World Faith===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|xv||A temple of secret rituals with precincts forbidden to tourists and TV cameras.||[[Topical Guide/Temples|Temples]] ||
*No source provided.
|-
<!--
|xv||Majority stock in ZCMI held by church.|| ||
*No source provided.
|-
-->
|xviii||The Garden of Eden was literally located around Independence, Missouri.||[[Garden of Eden in Missouri?]]||
*No source provided.
|-
<!--
|xviii||LDS believe that the Lord will return to Independence, Missouri.|| ||
*No source provided.
|-
-->
|xix||God commissioned his American prophet to revise significant portions of the Bible that Smith taught had been corrupted by Jews and Christians.||[[Bible corrupted by Jews and Christians|Bible corrupted by Jews and Christians?]] {{nw}} ||
*No source provided.
|-
|xix||There is neither a forum for public debate nor a church legislature to set policy.||[[Should the Church be a democracy|Should the Church be a democracy?]] {{nw}}||
*No source provided.
|-
|xxv||They abstain from alcohol and tobacco, as many other groups do, but also from caffeinated beverages||[[Word of Wisdom/Cola drinks]]||
*No source provided
|}
 
===Chapter 1: Sealed with Blood===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|3||April 11, 1844: Joseph Smith organized the Council of Fifty to plan political future and had them anoint him “King, Priest and Ruler over Israel on Earth"||[[The Council of Fifty]]||
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Mormon Hierarchy|pages=127-128, 643}}
*Robert Bruce Flanders, ''Nauvoo: Kingdom on the Mississippi'', pp. 292-294
|-
|3||Joseph Smith petitioned Congress for authorization to raise and lead a 100000-man army to subdue the western territories from Texas to Oregon, and that anyone who would “attempt to hinder or molest the said Joseph Smith” would be subject to two years’ imprisonment.|| ||
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Mormon Hierarchy|pages=123-123, 360-362}}
|-
|10||The temple rituals had many similarities to the Masonic rituals that the prophet had just learned||[[Temple endowment and Freemasonry]]
|-
|12||1842: Disagreement between JS and John C. Bennett was “their competition for nineteen-year-old Nancy Rigdon as plural wife...Smith excommunicated Bennett."
|-
|13||On March 11, 1844, Council of Fifty was formed as a theocratic policymaking body “shadow government” (Flanders – RLDS historian) that functioned sporadically in Utah into the 1870’s||[[The Council of Fifty]]||
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Mormon Hierarchy|pages=127-128, 643}}
|-
|13||Two of the original 53 members of the Council of Fifty  “apparently were known counterfeiters."||[[The Council of Fifty]] {{nw}}||
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Mormon Hierarchy|pages=127-128, 643}}
|-
|13||Joseph Smith was anointed “King, Priest and Ruler over Israel on Earth."||[[The Council of Fifty]] ||
*D. Michael Quinn, April 11, 1844.
|-
<!--
|14||There is evidence that at some point Smith propositioned the wives of both William Law and Robert D. Foster.|| ||
*D. Michael Quinn, ''The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power'', pp. 124-132, 137-141, 642-645.
*Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, ''Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith: Prophet's Wife, "Elect Lady," Polygamy's Foe'', pp. 167-168, 177-178, 180-182.
*{{CriticalWork:Brodie:No Man Knows|pages=340, 343, 368-375}}
*Arrington and Bitton, ''The Mormon Experience'', pp. 77-82
*Allen and Leonard, ''The Story of the Latter-day Saints'', pp. 191-193
*{{CriticalWork:Van Wagoner:Mormon Polygamy|pages=63-71}}
|-
-->
|15||The Council of Fifty, "supposedly a civic body," took ecclesiastical action excommunicating Law and Foster.||[[The Council of Fifty]]{{nw}} ||
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Mormon Hierarchy|pages=127-128, 643}}
|-
|16||Quinn re. Expositor: “He could not allow the Expositor to publish the secret international negotiations masterminded by Mormonism’s earthly king.”||[[Nauvoo Expositor]] ||
*Authors' quoting the opinion of ''another'' author, D. Michael Quinn
|-
|16||“With the backing of his Council, Smith ordered that the new press be smashed and all possible copies of the press run destroyed.” (p16)||[[Nauvoo Expositor]] ||
*The statement is deliberately structured by the authors to lead the reader to an incorrect, and more sinister, conclusion. See [[../#Quote mining, selective quotation and distortion|Quote mining, selective quotation and distortion]]
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Mormon Hierarchy|pages=645}}
|-
|17||Someone slipped a six-shooter into his cell that he later fired into the attacking mob||[[Joseph Smith as a martyr]]
|}
 
===Chapter 2: Beginnings: A Very American Gospel===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|21||Swedenborgianism, with its concepts of eternal marriage and a three-tiered heaven.||[[Swedenborg and three degrees of glory]]||
*Source not provided
|-
|23||Lucy Mack Smith, "described Joseph Jr.’s youthful fascination with Indians in the years just prior to his translation of the Book of Mormon: ...Joseph would occasionally give us some of the most amusing recitals..."||[[Joseph Smith's "amusing recitals" of ancient American inhabitants]]||
*There is no mention of the fact that Joseph was receiving this information from Moroni during this period. See Lucy’s history prior to this statement.||
*Lucy Mack Smith, ''Biographical Sketches'', 1853. p. 85.
|-
|25||Seer stones illegal – 1826 Smith “found guilty” of disorderly conduct for money-digging||[[Joseph Smith's 1826 glasslooking trial]]||
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Magic World View|pages=}}
|-
|25||Isaac Hale objected to marriage of Emma to Joseph because of “disreputable occupation of looking for treasure with magic stones rather than working the land like a respectable farmer"||[[Joseph Smith and money digging]]||
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Magic World View|pages=}}
*Although Quinn is cited as the source, the statement of Isaac Hale was originally published in {{CriticalWork:Howe:Mormonism Unvailed|pages=}}. For details, see: [[The Hurlbut affidavits#Isaac Hale]]
|-
|26||During the translation, Joseph would work on one side of the blanket "with the Urim and Thummin{{cs}} as a kind of magic spectacles, his favorite seer stone, the golden plates, and the hat, while the scribe worked on the other.||[[Book of Mormon translation method]]||
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Magic World View|pages=}}
|-
|26||"Smith would bury his face with the seer stone in the hat and then dictate words to the scribe."||[[Joseph Smith and seer stones]]||
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Magic World View|pages=}}
|-
|29||View of the Hebrews...containing considerable material on the subject, as well as a description of ancient Central American Indian ruins||[[Book of Mormon and View of the Hebrews]]||
*The statement is incorrect. See [[../#Quote mining, selective quotation and distortion|Quote mining, selective quotation and distortion]]
|-
|31||Book of Abraham used to justify policy toward blacks||[[Blacks and the priesthood/Repudiated ideas]] {{nw}}
|-
|31||Joseph Smith used seer stone in 1836 to try and find treasure under a house in Salem, Mass.||[[Joseph Smith's "treasure hunting" trip to Salem]]||
*The statement is incorrect and pejorative. See [[../#Quote mining, selective quotation and distortion|Quote mining, selective quotation and distortion]]
*{{s||DC|111|}}
|-
|34||Danites were pledged to “plunder, lie, and even kill if deemed necessary."||[[Danites]]||
*Source not specified.
|}
 
===Chapter 3: The American Exodus===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
<!--
|40||A warrant was issued to arrest Brigham Young on a charge of sheltering counterfeiters.
|-
-->
|42||There is historical evidence that Joseph Smith blessed his son, Joseph III that he would become his successor.||[[Mark Hofmann]] {{nw}}||
*Mark Hofmann produced a forgery that was claimed to be the blessing given by Joseph Smith to his son Joseph Smith III.
|-
<!--
|52||Godbeite heresay.
|-
|52||No law was made or action carried out without approval of a shadow government operated by the Church.
|-
-->
|54||Mountain Meadows massacre||[[Mountain Meadows Massacre]]
|}
 
===Chapter 4: Polygamy Then and Now===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|58||Joseph started polygamy and had a large number of wives||[[Joseph Smith and polygamy]]||
*{{CriticalWork:Brodie:No Man Knows|pages=}}
*{{CriticalWork:Compton:Sacred Loneliness|pages=}}
|-
|58||Brodie’s research was largely substantiated by later scholarship||[[No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith]]||
*Actually, many of Brodie's claims have been losing ground in light of more recent scholarship. For example, see how Brodie's claims about [[Joseph Smith and polygamy/Children of polygamous marriages|Joseph Smith's alleged children through polygamous marriages]] have been refuted as the result of modern DNA research.
|-
|58||There were at least five cases of women who rejected his polygamous proposals||[[Joseph Smith and polygamy]]||
|-
|58||At least 11 of Joseph's wives married to another man. Mormon apologists have attempted to justify polygamy in part because it sheltered single women beyond marriageable age, the facts show otherwise. The vast majority of plural wives were younger than the first wife, often nubile teenagers.||[[Joseph Smith and polygamy]]||
|-
|59||Possibly a few exceptional cases involving his closest associates taking wives who already had husbands||[[Joseph Smith and polyandry]]
|-
|59||Smith often asked close friends for their wives and daughters||[[Joseph Smith and polygamy]]||
|-
|59||Some of the marriages were the result of pressure or spiritual coercion from the prophet||[[Joseph Smith and polygamy]]||
|-
<!--
|60||Smith’s ideas about marriage dates back to 1830. Emmas’s cousin, Hiel Lewis “accused Joseph of improper conduct with women.”
|-
|60||Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner wrote that Smith told her he had a vision in which she was the first woman God commanded him to take as a plural wife. Lightner became Smith plural wife at age twenty-four, after she had married another man.|| ||
*Newell and Avery, ''Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith: Prophet's wife, "Elect Lady," Polygamy's Foe'', p. 65.
|-
|60||There is "disputed evidence" that Joseph was tarred and feathered in Kirtland for proposing to 16-year-old Marinda Nancy Johnson|| ||
*Donna Hill, ''Joseph Smith: The First Mormon'', p. 146.
|-
-->
|60||The “comely sixteen-year-old Fanny Alger” became Joseph's plural wife in 1833||[[Joseph Smith and polygamy/Marriages to young women]]||
|-
|60||W.W. Phelps introduced an anti-polygamy resolution in Oliver Cowdery's handwriting while Joseph was away, which was adopted by the Church||[[1835 Doctrine and Covenants denies polygamy]]||
*{{CriticalWork:Brodie:No Man Knows|pages=185}}
|-
|60||Scriptural resolution in D&C against polygamy Phelps/Cowdery “became a scriptural revelation in the Doctrine and Covenants.” This remained until removed in 1876 and replaced by Section 132||[[1835 Doctrine and Covenants denies polygamy]]||
|-
<!--
|61||Smith conducted marriage for Newell Knight against law, since the woman was not yet divorced from her non-Mormon husband. Smith said "Gentile law has no power to call me to account for it."|| ||
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Mormon Hierarchy|pages=623}}
{{CriticalWork:Van Wagoner:Mormon Polygamy|pages=623}}
|-
-->
|61||His youngest bride, in some ways typical, was fourteen-year-old Helen Mar Kimball||[[Joseph Smith and polygamy/Marriages to young women]]||
*Note the author's pejorative opinion: "in some ways typical."
*{{CriticalWork:Compton:Sacred Loneliness|pages=486-534}}
|-
|62||Helen had not grasped that marriage in time would eventually have a sexual component.||[[Mormon America: The Power and the Promise#The nature of Helen Mar Kimball's marriage?|The nature of Helen Mar Kimball's marriage?]] ||
*The statement is not supported by the source. Compton never states anything about a "sexual component."
*{{CriticalWork:Compton:Sacred Loneliness|pages=486-534}}
|-
<!--
|63||Smith took funds from estate of Sarah and Maria Lawrence – later repaid by William Law?|| ||
*{{CriticalWork:Compton:Sacred Loneliness|pages=473-485}}
|-
-->
|66||The Book of Mormon was "conventionally monogamous:" "Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, Saith the Lord…Hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none" (Jacob 2:24, 27)||[[Book of Mormon condemns polygamy]]||
*{{s||Jacob|2|24-27}}
*''Encyclopedia of Mormonism''
|-
|67||Swedenborg taught “spiritual wifery” in marriage for eternity. Swedenborg was discussed in Smith’s hometown newspaper||[[Swedenborg and three degrees of glory]] {{nw}}||
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Magic World View|pages=115, 153, 176, 217-219, 487n}}
|-
|67||1842 declaration of monogamy in the ''Times and Seasons'' was signed by Emma and two of Smith’s wives Eliza Snow and Sarah Cleveland.
*Newell and Avery, ''Mormon Enigma'', pp. 128-129.
|-
<!--
|69||Smith “If you desire my love, you must never speak evil of Emma.”|| ||
*Newell and Avery, ''Mormon Enigma'', p. 147.
|-
-->
|}
 
===Chapter 7: Mormons, Inc.===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|115||"Outsider's money estimates always raise disclaimers from officialdom, presumably because of the danger that fat-loooking figures might weaken members' tithing compliance."|| ||
*Author's opinion
|}
 
===Chapter 10: Families Forever===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|160||Even God himself is married||[[Was Jesus Christ married?]] ||
*No source given
|-
|161||Couples are "sealed forever" through secret ritual in a Mormon temple||[[Topical Guide/Doctrinal issues/Marriage and Sexuality/Celestial Marriage|Celestial Marriage]]
|}
 
===Chapter 19: Are Mormons Christian? Are Non-Mormons Christian?===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|320||The people of the New World were visited by the "Mormon Jesus."||[[Latter-day Saints aren't Christians]]||
*The statement is pejorative. See [[../#Quote mining, selective quotation and distortion|Quote mining, selective quotation and distortion]]
|}
 
===Dissenters and Exiles===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|352||"The church has often swatted down intellectuals individually"||[[Excommunication of scholars]] ||
*Quote by Lavina Fielding Anderson
|-
|354||The Church operates a clipping service called the "Strengthening Church Members Committee" to monitor individual members, which Lavina Fielding Anderson refers to as "an internal espionage system."||[[Strengthening Church Members Committee]]||
*Lavina Fielding Anderson
|-
|354||The LDS system of internal discipline "operates more like a small cult than a major denomination."||[[LDS Church is a cult]] ||
*Author's opinion
*The statement is pejorative. See [[../#Quote mining, selective quotation and distortion|Quote mining, selective quotation and distortion]]
|-
|354||The LDS Church penalizes members for "merely criticizing officialdom or for publishing truthful&mdash;if uncomfortable&mdash;information," and "shroud their procedures with secrecy."||[[Excommunication]] {{nw}}
|-
|354||The LDS Church prosecutes "many more of its members" than other religious groups||[[Excommunication]] {{nw}}
|}
 
==Further reading==
{{FAIRAnalysisWiki}}

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