Criticism of Mormonism/Books/American Massacre/Chapter 2

Chapter 1

A FAIR Analysis of: Criticism of Mormonism/Books A work by author: Sally Denton

Chapter 3

Claims made in "Chapter 2: Kirtland/Far west, 1831"

Page	Claim	Response	Author's sources
12	The author claims that in Kirtland that Joseph Smith was "infected with the virus of speculation."	Prejudicial or loaded language  Quotes another author's opinion as if it were fact How does the author know that Joseph was "speculating"?	Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 188-189. ( Index of claims )
13	It is claimed that Joseph stated that Independence Missouri was the site of the Garden of Eden and that the location of Far West was where Cain killed Abel.	Garden of Eden in Missouri?	No source provided.
14	The author, in describing the Kirtland period, states that Joseph became a "swaggering general in his Army of Israel" and that "[d]rilling and pageantry were quite suddenly pervasive aspects of a once-pacific Kirtland existence."	The author's claim is false The author seems to be confusing Kirtland and Nauvoo.	No source provided
14	Author's quote: "He then initiated the secret rituals that would further repel their conventional Christian neighbors-anointings, endowments, proxy baptisms, visions, healings, writhing ecstasies, and, especially, the concepts of 'eternal progression' and 'celestial marriage.'"	History unclear or in error: Proxy baptisms were not introduced until Nauvoo, they were not known at Kirtland. Healings and visions were present from the Church's very beginnings. "Writhing ecstasies" were condemned by LDS scripture by 1831 (see DC 50).  Prejudicial or loaded language: The U.S. Constitution protects private religious practices that do not harm others, including those which might "repel" one's conventional Christian neighbors.	No source provided
14	The name of the Church was changed to the "Church of Latter-day Saints" in 1834.	Name of the Church	No source provided.
14	Emma is claimed to have driven "the girl" [Fanny Alger] out of her house because she was "unable to conceal the consequences of her celestial relation with the Prophet."	Hostile accounts of Fanny Alger from the Webbs Fanny Alger and William McLellin Fanny Alger and the introduction of plural marriage	Wilhelm Wyl, Mormon Portraits Volume First: Joseph Smith the Prophet, His Family and Friends (Salt Lake City: Tribune Printing and Publishing Co., 1886), 57. Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 459. ( Index of claims )
15	Joseph issued his prophecy regarding the Civil War after visiting New York and hearing about how President Jackson should deal with "a rebellious South Carolina."	Civil War prophecy Attitude of Saints to Civil War prophecy	Joseph Smith's December 25, 1832 prophecy, quoted in D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power (Signature Books, 1994), 619.
15	Failure of the bank in Kirtland caused Joseph to leave Kirtland in the middle of the night.	Kirtland Safety Society	Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 199. ( Index of claims )
16	Joseph "organized a secret group of loyalists" called the Danites.	Danites Danites in anti-Mormon polemic	D. Michael Quinn, quoting Hallwas and Launius, Cultures in Conflict, 8.
16	The Danites introduced "blood atonement" who would "save" people by slitting their throats.	Blood atonement	John D. Lee
20	Joseph's "Mohammed speech" in Far West.