The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (to use its proper name) is arguably America’s most important indigenous religion. It is a universal faith, but also “very American”, reckon Richard and Joan Ostling, authors of the excellent “Mormon America: The Power and the Promise”. Its history is entangled with America’s. Like American settlers, Mormons were pioneers who travelled far for religious freedom. Like America, Mormonism has grown fast. Smith had 26,000 followers when he died. Now he has more than 13m, more than half of them outside America. And within America, by one estimate, Mormonism is the fourth-largest denomination.
As it has grown, it has moved towards the mainstream. Its leaders renounced polygamy in 1890. Its members, following Smith’s view that the American constitution was divinely inspired, are patriotic and prone to public service. Mormons are also one of the best-behaved groups in America. Practising ones shun alcohol, cigarettes and even coffee. They work hard, marry, have lots of children and set aside an evening each week for quality time with the family. The 53,000 dark-suited, white-shirted, tie-wearing Mormon missionaries who fish for souls around the world can seem like America personified: earnest, friendly, optimistic, fond of Jesus and eager to tell you about it.
Yet many Americans have doubts about Mormonism. Only 53% of non-Mormon Americans think Mormons are Christian, despite the words “Jesus Christ” in the church’s name. Many evangelical Protestants think them heretics””the ruder ones regularly heckle Mormon conferences. Some secular Americans voice the opposite complaint: that Mormons are too pious and too likely to knock on your door.
This article is quite good for all the ground it covers in such a short time. But, some issues have a little more nuance and detail that is important.
The article does not really say much about the extent to which Mormons are discouraged from reading non-church sources of information, and the extent to which discussion of external sources of information is discouraged. This is, I think, the unhealthiest aspect of the church.
They formed an exclusive, polygamous community with a militia and territorial ambitions. The governor of Missouri, Lilburn Boggs, called for them to be “exterminated or driven from the stateâ€. Their prophet, Joseph Smith, was shot dead by a lynch mob in 1844.
It’s not so clear just when the polygamy started officially. Smith was publicly accused of it by a high level authority inside the church shortly before he was lynched. But plenty of the membership did not know it was going on at the time. Certainly, there were lots of other reasons Mormons were unpopular in those days. I’m not sure it is fair to call the pre-exodus church a ‘polygamous community.’ It had polygamous leadership.
So what do Mormons believe? In the Bible, to the extent that it is “translated correctlyâ€;
(the ‘translated correctly’ qualification being something Romney did not acknowledge in a recent debate, and never will acknowledge in public)
For example, in 1835, Smith bought some ancient Egyptian papyruses. One, he said, had been written by Abraham, the Jewish patriarch. He translated it and published it as the Book of Abraham. At the time, no one in America could read hieroglyphics, but when professional Egyptologists first saw facsimiles of Smith’s papyrus, they recognised them as fragments from an ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead that bore no relation to his translation.
This is the single greatest blow to Mormon claims. The evidence against Smith on this is so overwhelming it boggles the mind. I highly recommend the book “By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus,” by Charles M. Larson, which goes into excruciating detail of how strong the case really is.
The biggest threat to the church’s image comes from the hundreds of sects that have splintered from it.
This I disagree with. The splinters are no threat at all. The greatest threat to the LDS church is the internet and availability of information, where one can even stumble on the scholarly case against the church’s claims.