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Mormonism and Wikipedia/Joseph Smith, Jr./Death: Difference between revisions
(update to 9/3/2011 Wikipedia revision)
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[[/051909|19 May 2009]]
[[/051909|19 May 2009]]


=== Death {{WikipediaUpdate|7/6/2010}} ===
=== Death {{WikipediaUpdate|9/3/2011}} ===
{{Main|Death of Joseph Smith, Jr.}}


===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
|claim=
By the spring of 1844, a rift had developed between Smith and a half dozen of his closest associates,
Smith and his brother Hyrum were held in [[Carthage Jail]] on charges of treason.
|authorsources=
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=527–28}}.
*Joseph and Hyrum were accompanied in jail by [[John Taylor (Mormon)]] and Dr. [[Willard Richards]], who were not prisoners.
}}
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
most notably his trusted [[First Presidency|counselor]] [[William Law (Latter Day Saints)|William Law]] and Robert Foster, a [[general officer|general]] of the [[Nauvoo Legion]].
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=368}} (noting that Law and Foster were also the chief city contractors); {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=528}} (noting that Law had been was a member of the [[Anointed Quorum]]); {{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|p=528}} (Law was criticized in 1843 and then dropped from the Anointed Quorum in January 1844, but after being defended by [[Hiram Smith]], rejected an April 1844 offer by Joseph Smith to be restored to church positions if he stopped opposing polygamy).
}}
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Law and Foster disagreed with Smith about how to manage Nauvoo's [[theocracy|theocratic]] economy,
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|pp=368–69}} (Law believed that Smith was misappropriating donations for the [[Nauvoo House]] hotel and neglecting other building projects despite the acute housing shortage, while Smith had no respect for building projects by Law and Foster.); {{Harvtxt|Ostling|Ostling|1999|p=14}}.
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
and both believed Smith had [[marriage proposal|proposed marriage]] to their wives.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971}} ("With sorrow and suspicion Law watched Joseph ever enlarging his circle of wives. Then the prophet tried to approach Law's own wife, Jane." (p. 369); Robert D. Foster came home and caught Smith having dinner alone with his wife, and after a confrontation where weapons were drawn, Mrs. Foster fainted and then said Smith had proposed to her (p. 371)); {{Harvtxt|Van Wagoner|1992|p=39}}; {{Harvtxt|Ostling|Ostling|1999|p=14}}; {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=660–61}} (noting that Smith claimed that Jane Law had proposed to ''him'' (660–61), citing Journal of Alexander Neibaur, 24 May 1844 (Smith claimed that Jane Law lured him into her house alone, embraced him, and proposed to him, but that Smith resisted her advances); also noting that Smith confronted Mrs. Foster with two witnesses and got her to say that during their dinner, Smith had made no sexual advances and had not "preached the spiritual wife doctrine" (530–31).)).
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
After the dissidents organized, and one of them was heard predicting an uprising in Nauvoo,
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=371}}; {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=530}}; {{Citation|last=Williams|first=A.B.|title=Affidavit|date=15 May 1844|periodical=[[Times and Seasons]]|volume=5|issue=10|page=541|url=http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v5n10.htm}} (Affidavit stating, "Joseph H. Jackson said that Doctor Foster, Chauncy Higbee and the Laws were red-hot for a conspiracy, and he should not be surprised if in two weeks there should be not one of the Smith family left in Nauvoo").
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Smith excommunicated them on April 18, 1844.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=531}}.
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
The dissidents formed a [[True Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints|competing church]]
|authorsources=
*Bushman 2005 531
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
and the following month procured [[grand jury]] [[indictment]]s against Smith for [[polygamy]] and other crimes in [[Carthage, Illinois|Carthage]], the [[county seat]].
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=373}}.
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
In response, Smith and his followers unleashed a barrage of [[defamation]] against the dissidents,
|authorsources=
*Brodie 1971 373
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
and in a public sermon, Smith vehemently denied he had more than one wife.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=373}}; {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=538}} (arguing that Smith may have felt justified denying polygamy and "spiritual wifeism" because he thought it was based on a different principle than "plural marriage"); {{Harvtxt|Roberts|1912|pp=408–412}} (Smith stated, "I had not been married scarcely five minutes, and made one proclamation of the Gospel, before it was reported that I had seven wives....I have rattled chains before in a dungeon for truth's sake. I am innocent of all these charges, and you can bear witness of my innocence, for you know me yourselves....What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers." "This new holy prophet [Law] has gone to Carthage and swore that I had told him that I was guilty of adultery. This spiritual wifeism! Why, a man dares not speak or wink, for fear of being accused of this").
|response=
|response=
*One cited source, Bushman, states that Joseph's "main point as always was that he was not committing adultery, nor was he practicing 'spiritual wifeism,' another name for polygamy. To Joseph's enemies, the speech was blatant hypocrisy, but in his own mind, priesthood plural marriage was based on another principle than polygamy." (Bushman, p. 538)
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Polygamy#Hiding_the_Truth.3F|l1=Hiding the truth about polygamy}}
}}
}}


===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
|claim=
After the dissidents published a [[prospectus (book)|prospectus]] for a new newspaper that referred to Smith as a "self-constituted monarch,"
On June 27, 1844, an armed group with blackened faces stormed the jail and killed Hyrum instantly with a shot to the face.
|authorsources=
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|p=137–38}} (noting that the prospectus was published May 10, 1844, and that an informant within the [[Council of Fifty]] had told Law about Smith's ordination as king).
*{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=550}} ("Hyrum was the first to fall. A ball through the door struck him on the left side of the nose, throwing him to the floor.")
|response=
|response=
*The relevant passage from the Nauvoo Expositor:
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
<blockquote>
We have received from Nauvoo a Prospectus for a new paper, to be entitled the "Nauvoo Expositor." It is intended to be the organ of the Reformed Mormon Church, which has lately been organized in that place, and to oppose the power of `the self-constituted Monarch,' who has assumed the government of the Holy City. We care no more aboout the New Church than the Old one, as a church; for we regard both with indifference. But if it can be a means of humbling the haughty miscreant who rules in that city and exposing his rank villianies, than we shall wish both Church and Paper a hearty God speed! The gentlemen who have the new paper in charge, have the reputation of being men of character and talent; and have commenced the work in which they are engaged, in real earnest. We hope the public will encourage their effort. -- ''Upper Mississippian''.
</blockquote>
*{{Detail|Primary sources/Nauvoo Expositor Full Text}}
}}
}}


===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
|claim=
the [[Council of Fifty]] offered to reinstate Law, but he refused to return to the church unless it renounced polygamy.
Smith fired a [[pepper-box]] pistol that had been smuggled into the prison,
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|p=138}} (noting that the offer was presented by [[Sidney Rigdon]], who did not have authority to concede polygamy).
}}
 
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Therefore, on June 7, 1844, the dissidents published the first and only issue of the ''[[Nauvoo Expositor]]'', calling for reform within the church.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=539}}; {{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|pp=374}} (arguing that given its authors' intentions to reform the church, the paper was "extraordinarily restrained" given the explosive allegations it could have raised).
|response=
*{{Detail|Nauvoo Expositor}}
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
The paper decried [[polygamy]] and Smith's new "[[Mormon cosmology|doctrines of many Gods]]" (taught recently in his [[King Follet discourse]])
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=539}}; {{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|pp=374–75}}.
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
and alluded to Smith's kingship,
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|pp=375}} (stating that the Expositor contained "an unmistakable allusion to Joseph's kingship"); {{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|pp=139}}; {{Harvtxt|Marquardt|2005}};{{Harvtxt|Marquardt|1999|p=312}}.
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
promising to present evidence of its allegations in succeeding issues.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|pp=139}} (noting that the publishers intended to emphasize the details of Smith's delectable plan of government" in later issues).
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
At a meeting of the Nauvoo city council, Smith again denied that the church was practicing polygamy.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=377}} (Smith declared that the 1843 revelation on polygamy referred to in the ''Expositor'' "was in answer to a question concerning things which transpired in former days, and had no reference to the present time").
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
On the theory that the paper threatened to bring the countryside down on the Mormons,
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=340–41}}.
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
the council ordered the [[Nauvoo Legion]] to destroy the ''Expositor'''s printing press as a public [[nuisance]].
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=540}}; {{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=377}}; {{Harvtxt|Marquardt|2005}}; {{Harvtxt|Marquardt|1999|p=312}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Smith failed to foresee that suppressing the paper would sooner incite riots than allowing it to continue publishing.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=541}} (Smith "failed to see that suppression of the paper was far more likely to arouse a mob than the libels. It was a fatal mistake.").
|response=
*{{WikipediaNPOV}}There is a subtle difference in wording between what Bushman says and what the wiki editor states. Bushman states that Smith "failed to see," whereas the wiki editor claims that "Smith failed to ''foresee''." This is a subtle dig at Joseph's prophetic abilities.
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Destruction of the newspaper provoked a strident call to arms by [[Thomas C. Sharp]], editor of the ''[[Warsaw Signal]]''.
|authorsources=
*''Warsaw Signal'', June 14, 1844. ("Citizens arise, one and all!!! Can you stand by, and suffer such Infernal Devils! to rob men of their property and rights without avenging them. We have no time for comment, every man will make his own. Let it be made with Powder and Ball!!!."
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Fearing an uprising, Smith mobilized the [[Nauvoo Legion]] on June 18 and declared [[martial law]]. [[Carthage, Illinois|Carthage]] responded by mobilizing its small detachment of the state militia, and [[Governor of Illinois|Illinois Governor]] [[Thomas Ford (politician)|Thomas Ford]] appeared, threatening to raise a larger militia unless Smith and the Nauvoo city council surrendered themselves.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Ostling|Ostling|1999|p=16}}.
|response=
*According to the Ostlings: "Mormons feared anti-Mormon retaliation. Local non-Mormons feared the Nauvoo Legion. Smith also feared for his life. On June 18, he declared martial law and mobilized the Legion. Non-Mormons pressured Governor Thomas Ford to mobilize the state militia." {{CriticalWork:Ostling:Mormon America|pages=16}}
*{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Richard N. Ostling and Joan K. Ostling|work=Mormon America: The Power and the Promise}}
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
After instructing his clerk to hide or destroy the minutes of the [[Council of Fifty]] and ordering the [[Anointed Quorum]] to burn their [[temple garment]]s,
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|pp=140, 145–46}}.
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Smith fled across the [[Mississippi River]]. Nevertheless, under pressure from Emma and other Saints, he returned and surrendered to Ford. On June 23, Smith and his brother [[Hyrum Smith|Hyrum]] were taken to [[Carthage, Illinois|Carthage]] to stand trial for inciting a [[riot]].
|authorsources=
*Ostlings, 17; Bushman, 546. Eight Mormon leaders accompanied Smith to Carthage: Hyrum Smith, [[John Taylor (1808-1887)|John Taylor]], [[Willard Richards]], [[John P. Greene]], Stephen Markham, [[Dan Jones (Mormon)|Dan Jones]], John S. Fullmer, Dr. Southwick, and Lorenzo D. Wasson. [http://byustudies2.byu.edu/hc/6/31.html] All of Smith's associates left the jail, except his brother Hyrum, Richards and Taylor.
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Once the Smiths were in custody, the charges were increased to [[treason]] against Illinois.
|authorsources=
*
}}
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Smith and Hyrum were held in [[Carthage Jail]].
|authorsources=
*Joseph and Hyrum were accompanied in jail by [[John Taylor (Mormon)]] and Dr. [[Willard Richards]], who were not prisoners.
}}
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
On the morning of 27 June 1844, Smith sent a letter ordering the [[Nauvoo Legion]] to attack Carthage and free him, but the acting commander quietly disobeyed the order.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|p=141}} ([[Major General]] Jonathan Dunham "realized that such an assault by the Nauvoo Legion would result in two blood baths").
}}
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Later that day, an armed group with blackened faces stormed the jail and killed Hyrum instantly with a shot to the face.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=550}} ("Hyrum was the first to fall.  A ball through the door struck him on the left side of the nose, throwing him to the floor.")
}}
 
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
Smith fought back with a [[pepper-box]] pistol that had been smuggled into the prison
|authorsources=
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=393}} ("Joseph discharging all six barrels down the passageway. Three of them missed fire, but the other three found marks."); {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|2005|p=549}} (Smith received a smuggled six-shooter, and passed along a single-shot pistol to Hyrum).
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=393}} ("Joseph discharging all six barrels down the passageway. Three of them missed fire, but the other three found marks."); {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|2005|p=549}} (Smith received a smuggled six-shooter, and passed along a single-shot pistol to Hyrum).
|response=
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Martyrdom/Hiding Joseph's gun|Joseph Smith/Martyrdom/Joseph fired a gun}}
*{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Martyrdom/Joseph fired a gun}}
*{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}}  
}}
}}


Line 295: Line 51:
{{WikipediaPassage
{{WikipediaPassage
|claim=
|claim=
but was shot while jumping from a window, then shot and killed as he lay on the ground.
then "sprang to the window" before being shot several times. He died shortly after falling to the ground.
|authorsources=
|authorsources=
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|pp=393–94}}; {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005}}.
*{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|pp=393–94}}; {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005}}.
Line 310: Line 66:
|authorsources=
|authorsources=
*Arrington and Bitton, 82; Remini, 174-75.
*Arrington and Bitton, 82; Remini, 174-75.
|response=
{{WikipediaCorrect}}
}}
}}


Revision as of 22:37, 5 September 2011


1839 - 1844
A FairMormon Analysis of Wikipedia: Mormonism and Wikipedia/Joseph Smith, Jr.
 A work by a collaboration of authors (Link to Wikipedia article here) 		Distinctive views and teachings
The name Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. Wikipedia content is copied and made available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

An analysis of Wikipedia article "Joseph Smith, Jr."

Reviews of previous revisions of this section

19 May 2009

Death  Updated 9/3/2011

From the Wikipedia article:
Smith and his brother Hyrum were held in Carthage Jail on charges of treason.

Wikipedia footnotes:

FAIR's analysis:


From the Wikipedia article:
On June 27, 1844, an armed group with blackened faces stormed the jail and killed Hyrum instantly with a shot to the face.

Wikipedia footnotes:

  • Bushman (2005) , p. 550 ("Hyrum was the first to fall. A ball through the door struck him on the left side of the nose, throwing him to the floor.")

FAIR's analysis:


From the Wikipedia article:
Smith fired a pepper-box pistol that had been smuggled into the prison,

Wikipedia footnotes:

  • Brodie (1971) , p. 393 ("Joseph discharging all six barrels down the passageway. Three of them missed fire, but the other three found marks."); Bushman (2005) , p. 549 (Smith received a smuggled six-shooter, and passed along a single-shot pistol to Hyrum).

FAIR's analysis:


From the Wikipedia article:
then "sprang to the window" before being shot several times. He died shortly after falling to the ground.

Wikipedia footnotes:

  • Brodie (1971) , pp. 393–94; Bushman (2005) .

FAIR's analysis:


From the Wikipedia article:
Smith was buried in Nauvoo.

Wikipedia footnotes:

  • Arrington and Bitton, 82; Remini, 174-75.

FAIR's analysis:


From the Wikipedia article:
Five men were tried for his murder; all were acquitted.

Wikipedia footnotes:

  • Bushman (2005) , p. 552.

FAIR's analysis:


References

Wikipedia references for "Joseph Smith, Jr."
  • Abanes, Richard, (2003), One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church Thunder's Mouth Press
  • Allen, James B., The Significance of Joseph Smith's "First Vision" in Mormon Thought off-site .
  • (1992), The Mormon Experience University of Illinois Press .
  • (1980), The Lion and the Lady: Brigham Young and Emma Smith off-site .
  • Bergera, Gary James (editor) (1989), Line Upon Line: Essays on Mormon Doctrine Signature Books .
  • Bloom, Harold, (1992), The American Religion: The Emergence of the Post-Christian Nation Simon & Schuster .
  • Booth, Ezra, Mormonism—Nos. VIII–IX (Letters to the editor) off-site .
  • Brodie, Fawn M., (1971), No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith Knopf .
  • Brooke, , (1994), The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644–1844 Cambridge University Press .
  • Bushman, Richard Lyman, (2005), Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling , New York: Knopf .
  • Clark, John A., (1842), Gleanings by the Way , Philadelphia: W.J. & J.K Simmon off-site .
  • Compton, Todd, (1997), In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith Signature Books .
  • Foster, Lawrence, (1981), Religion and Sexuality: The Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community , New York: Oxford University Press .
  • Harris, Martin, (1859), Mormonism—No. II off-site .
  • Hill, Donna, (1977), Joseph Smith: The first Mormon , Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Co. .
  • Hill, Marvin S., (1976), Joseph Smith and the 1826 Trial: New Evidence and New Difficulties off-site .
  • Hill, Marvin S., (1989), Quest for Refuge: The Mormon Flight from American Pluralism Signature Books off-site .
  • Howe, Eber Dudley, (1834), Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of that Singular Imposition and Delusion, from its Rise to the Present Time , Painesville, Ohio: Telegraph Press off-site .
  • Hullinger, Robert N., (1992), Joseph Smith's Response to Skepticism Signature Books off-site .
  • Jessee, Dean, (1976), Joseph Knight's Recollection of Early Mormon History off-site .
  • Lapham, [La]Fayette, (1870), Interview with the Father of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, Forty Years Ago. His Account of the Finding of the Sacred Plates off-site .
  • Larson, Stan, (1978), The King Follett Discourse: A Newly Amalgamated Text off-site .
  • Mormon History off-site .
  • Mack, Solomon, (1811), A Narraitve [sic] of the Life of Solomon Mack Windsor: Solomon Mack off-site .
  • (1994), Inventing Mormonism Signature Books .
  • Marquardt, H. Michael, (1999), The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text and Commentary Signature Books .
  • Marquardt, H. Michael, (2005), The Rise of Mormonism: 1816–1844 Xulon Press .
  • Matzko, John, (2007), The Encounter of the Young Joseph Smith with Presbyterianism off-site .
  • Morgan, Dale, Walker, John Phillip (editor) (1986), Dale Morgan on Early Mormonism: Correspondence and a New History Signature Books off-site .
  • (2008), Joseph Smith Jr.: reappraisals after two centuries Oxford University Press .
  • Newell, Linda King, (1994), Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith University of Illinois Press .
  • (1999), Mormon America: The Power and the Promise HarperSanFrancisco .
  • Persuitte, David, (2000), Joseph Smith and the origins of the Book of Mormon McFarland & Co. .
  • Phelps, W.W. (editor) (1833), A Book of Commandments, for the Government of the Church of Christ , Zion: William Wines Phelps & Co. off-site .
  • Prince, Gregory A, (1995), Power From On High: The Development of Mormon Priesthood Signature Books .
  • Quinn, D. Michael, (1994), The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power Signature Books .
  • Quinn, D. Michael, (1998), Early Mormonism and the Magic World View Signature Books .
  • Remini, , (2002), Joseph Smith: A Penguin Life Penguin Group .
  • Roberts, B. H. (editor) (1902), History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , Salt Lake City: Deseret News off-site .
  • Roberts, B. H. (editor) (1904), History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , Salt Lake City: Deseret News off-site .
  • Roberts, B. H. (editor) (1905), History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , Salt Lake City: Deseret News off-site .
  • Roberts, B. H. (editor) (1909), History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , Salt Lake City: Deseret News off-site .
  • Shipps, Jan, (1985), Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition University of Illinois Press .
  • Smith, George D., (1994), Nauvoo Roots of Mormon Polygamy, 1841–46: A Preliminary Demographic Report off-site .
  • Smith, George D, (2008), Nauvoo Polygamy: "...but we called it celestial marriage" Signature Books .
  • Smith, Joseph, Jr., (1830), The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, Upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi , Palmyra, New York: E. B. Grandin off-site . See Book of Mormon.
  • Smith, Joseph, Jr., Jessee, Dean C (editor) (1832), Personal Writings of Joseph Smith , Salt Lake City: Deseret Book .
  • Jessee, Dean C (editor) (1839–1843), Personal Writings of Joseph Smith Deseret Book .
  • (1835), Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God , Kirtland, Ohio: F. G. Williams & Co off-site . See Doctrine and Covenants.
  • Smith, Joseph, Jr., Church History [Wentworth Letter] off-site . See Wentworth letter.
  • Smith, Lucy Mack, (1853), Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and His Progenitors for Many Generations , Liverpool: S.W. Richards off-site . See The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother
  • Tucker, Pomeroy, (1867), Origin, Rise and Progress of Mormonism , New York: D. Appleton off-site .
  • Turner, Orsamus, (1852), History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, and Morris' Reserve , Rochester, New York: William Alling off-site .
  • Joseph Smith: The Gift of Seeing off-site .
  • Van Wagoner, Richard S., (1992), Mormon Polygamy: A History Signature Books .
  • Vogel, Dan, (1994), The Locations of Joseph Smith's Early Treasure Quests off-site .
  • Vogel, Dan, (2004), Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet Signature Books .
  • Widmer, Kurt, (2000), Mormonism and the Nature of God: A Theological Evolution, 1830–1915 McFarland .


Further reading

Mormonism and Wikipedia



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Again, the answer is no. The truth is that Wikipedia is generally self-policing. Highly contentious articles do tend to draw the most passionate supporters and critics.

Why do certain LDS articles seem to be so negative?

Although some LDS-related Wikipedia articles may appear to have a negative tone, they are in reality quite a bit more balanced than certain critical works such as One Nation Under Gods. Although many critical editors often accuse LDS-related Wikipedia articles of being "faith promoting" or claim that they are just an extension of the Sunday School manual, this is rarely the case. Few, if any, Latter-day Saints would find Wikipedia articles to be "faith promoting." Generally, the believers think that the articles are too negative and the critics believe that the articles are too positive. LDS Wikipedia articles should be informative without being overtly faith promoting. However, most of the primary sources, including the words of Joseph Smith himself, are "faith promoting." This presents a dilemma for Wikipedia editors who want to remain neutral. The unfortunate consequence is that Joseph's words are rewritten and intermixed with contradictory sources, resulting in boring and confusing prose.

FairMormon's analysis of LDS-related Wikipedia articles

We examine selected Wikipedia articles and examine them on a "claim-by-claim" basis, with links to responses in the FairMormon Answers Wiki. Wikipedia articles are constantly evolving. As a result, the analysis of each article will be updated periodically in order to bring it more into line with the current version of the article. The latest revision date may be viewed at the top of each individual section. The process by which Wikipedia articles are reviewed is the following:

  1. Update each Wikipedia passage and its associated footnotes.
  2. Examine the use of sources and determine whether or not the passage accurately represents the source used.
  3. Provide links to response articles within the FairMormon Answers Wiki.
  4. If violation of Wikipedia rules is discovered, identify which Wikipedia editor (by pseudonym) made the edit, provide a description of the rule violated and a link to the Wikipedia "diff" showing the actual edit.
  5. If a violated rule is later corrected in a subsequent revision, the violation is removed and a notation is added that the passage is correct per cited sources. This doesn't mean that FAIR necessarily agrees with the passage—only that it is correct based upon the source used.

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, "Mormonism and Wikipedia: The Church History That “Anyone Can Edit”"

Roger Nicholson,  Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, (2012)

The ability to quickly and easily access literature critical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been made significantly easier through the advent of the Internet. One of the primary sites that dominates search engine results is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that “anyone can edit.” Wikipedia contains a large number of articles related to Mormonism that are edited by believers, critics, and neutral parties. The reliability of information regarding the Church and its history is subject to the biases of the editors who choose to modify those articles. Even if a wiki article is thoroughly sourced, editors sometimes employ source material in a manner that supports their bias. This essay explores the dynamics behind the creation of Wikipedia articles about the Church, the role that believers and critics play in that process, and the reliability of the information produced in the resulting wiki articles.

Click here to view the complete article

Wikipedia and anti-Mormon literature
Key sources
  • Roger Nicholson, "Mormonism and Wikipedia: The Church History That 'Anyone Can Edit'," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 1/8 (14 September 2012). [151–190] link
Wiki links
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