Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mormon America: The Power and the Promise/Index

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

Page Claim Response Use of sources
xv A temple of secret rituals with precincts forbidden to tourists and TV cameras. Temples
  • No source provided.
xviii The Garden of Eden was literally located around Independence, Missouri. Garden of Eden in 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?  [needs work]
  • 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?  [needs work]
  • 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

Page Claim Response 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
  • D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, pp. 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.
  • D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, pp. 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
  • D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, pp. 127-128, 643.
13 Two of the original 53 members of the Council of Fifty “apparently were known counterfeiters." The Council of Fifty  [needs work]
  • D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, pp. 127-128, 643.
13 Joseph Smith was annointed “King, Priest and Ruler over Israel on Earth." The Council of Fifty
  • D. Michael Quinn, April 11, 1844.
15 The Council of Fifty, "supposedly a civic body," took ecclesiastical action excommunicating Law and Foster. The Council of Fifty [needs work]
  • D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, pp. 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
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

Page Claim Response 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
  • D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View
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
26 During the translation, Joseph would work on one side of the blanket "with the Urim and Thummin 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
  • D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View
26 "Smith would bury his face with the seer stone in the hat and then dicate words to the scribe." Joseph Smith and seer stones
  • D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View
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
31 Book of Abraham used to justify policy toward blacks Blacks and the priesthood/Repudiated ideas  [needs work]
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
34 Danites were pledged to “plunder, lie, and even kill if deemed necessary." Danites
  • Source not specified.

Chapter 3: The American Exodus

Page Claim Response Use of sources
42 There is historical evidence that Joseph Smith blessed his son, Joseph III that he would become his successor. Mark Hofmann  [needs work]
  • Mark Hofmann produced a forgery that was claimed to be the blessing given by Joseph Smith to his son Joseph Smith III.
54 Mountain Meadows massacre Mountain Meadows Massacre

Chapter 4: Polygamy Then and Now

Page Claim Response Use of sources
58 Joseph started polygamy Joseph Smith and polygamy
58 Brodie’s research was largely substantiated by later scholarship No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith
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 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
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 His youngest bride, in some ways typical, was fourteen-year-old Helen Mar Kimball Joseph Smith and polygamy/Marriages to young women
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
67 Swedenborg taught “spiritual wifery” in marriage for eternity. Swedenborg was discussed in Smith’s hometown newspaper Swedenborg and three degrees of glory  [needs work]
67 1842 declaration of monogamy in Times and Seasons was signed by Emma and two of Smith’s wives Eliza Snow and Sarah Cleveland.

Chapter 10: Families Forever

Page Claim Response 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 Celestial Marriage

Chapter 19: Are Mormons Christian? Are Non-Mormons Christian?

Page Claim Response Use of sources
320 The people of the New World were visited by the "Mormon Jesus." Latter-day Saints aren't Christians
Retrieved from "https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/answers/index.php?title=Criticism_of_Mormonism/Books/Mormon_America:_The_Power_and_the_Promise/Index&oldid=28388"