Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Introduction

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Response to claims made in "Introduction: A Thread of Prophecy"

A FAIR Analysis of: One Nation Under Gods A work by author: Richard Abanes

Claims made in "Chapter 1: Vagabond Visionaries"

xv, 477n2 (HB) ix, 475n2 (PB)

Claim

• Are histories produced by the LDS church the "least reliable" of all as the book claims?

Author's source(s)

• Boyd K. Packer, interview with D. Michael Quinn, 1976. Quoted in Smith, 105, endnote #22. (PB)
• Boyd K. Packer, "The Mantle is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect," Brigham Young University Studies 21 no. [3] (Summer 1981), 264-265. off-site (HB,PB)

Response

• Use of sources: Historical Suppression in the Church

xv, 477n5 (HB) ix, 475n5 (PB)

Claim

• Do LDS leaders attempt to "control depictions" of Church history?

Author's source(s)

• Allen Roberts, Private Eye Weekly, October 20, 1993, 12. Quoted in Jerald Tanner and Sandra Tanner, "Legacy: A Distorted View of Mormon History," Salt Lake City Messenger (#88), May 1995, 4 online at http://www.utlm.org/newsletters/no88.htm.

Response

• Use of sources: Calling All Mormon Scholars

xv-xvi, 477n6 (HB)

Claim

• Must LDS historian write histories which always defend the faith?

Author's source(s)

• John E. Hallwas and Roger D. Launius, Cultures in Conflict: A Documentary History of the Mormon War in Illinois (Logan, UT: Utah State University Press, 1995), 2-3.
• The balance of endnote is a laundry list of additional sources critical of the way history is treated by faithful LDS. It is deleted here, as it is not directly related to the use of the quote in question.

Response

• Use of sources: An Example of Biased Histories

xvii (HB)

Claim

• Does the "White Horse" prophecy predict that the U.S. government will become a "Mormon-ruled theocracy?"

Author's source(s)

• John J. Roberts, Journal of John J. Roberts http://www.helpingmormons.org/white_horse.htm http://www.2eternity.com/mormon/whitehorse.html
• Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses 6:152.
• James Burgess, James Burgess Notebook, LDSCA, vol. 1 cited in Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook, The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph, p. 279.
• Sandra Tanner, "Joseph Smith's 'White Horse' Prophecy," http://wtlm.org/onlineresources/whitehorseprophecy.htm

Response

• The White Horse prophecy

xviii, 475n5 (HB)

Claim

• Is the "White Horse" prophecy a "dominant element" of Latter-day Saint belief because LDS believe they will be "officers and administrators" during the period of Christ's millennial reign?

Author's source(s)

• Fred Esplin, "Mormon journalist and University of Utah spokesperson", "The Saints Go Marching On," Utah Holliday, June 1981, 34.

Response

• The "White Horse" prophecy is not a "dominant element of the faith"...it isn't even discussed in Church!
• The White Horse prophecy
• Use of sources: The Mormon Quest for Power

xix (HB)

Claim

• Have various Church leaders have reiterated the "White Horse" prophecy over the years?

Author's source(s)

• Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 2:182.
• George Q. Cannon, Journal of Discourses 23:123; 23:104.
• Preston Nibley, Deseret News, December 15, 1948 quoted in Ogden Kraut, The White Horse Prophecy, 65 http:/www/kingdomofzion.org/doctrines/gospellibrary/kraut/kraut.html

Response

• The White Horse prophecy

xx, 479n10 (HB) xiv, 477n10 (PB)

Claim

• Did Fred Esplin say that Mormonism existed as a "radical, immoral, and un-American band of religious zealots" as the hardback edition claims? (HB)
• Or, did Esplin say that Mormonism perceived as a "radical, immoral, and un-American band of religious zealots" as the paperback edition claims? (PB)

Author's source(s)

• Fred Esplin, "Mormon journalist and University of Utah spokesperson", "The Saints Go Marching On," Utah Holliday, June 1981, 33.

Response

• Use of sources: Perception and Reality

xx, 479n15 (HB) xiv, 477n15 (PB)

Claim

• Will Jesus Christ be setting up a theocracy in Missouri?

Author's source(s)

• Bruce McConkie, Mormon Doctrine (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1958; second edition, 1966), 855. During a December 23, 1866 sermon, Brigham Young declared that at Christ's second coming, he would first appear in "the land of America" (Brigham Young, December 23, 1866, Journal of Discourses, vol. 11, 279.)
• Note: The hardback has the page number incorrectly specified as page 249, which was corrected to page 279 in the paperback.

Response

• Use of sources: Christ Setting up a Theocracy in Missouri

xx, 479n17 (HB)

Claim

• Will everyone in the world will be forced to recognize "Mormonism" as "the one true" religion?

Author's source(s)

• Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses 7:53.

Response

• The White Horse prophecy
• Use of sources: Destroying Governments and Religions

xxi (HB); xiv (PB)

Claim

• Did Joseph claim in History of the Church that other governments and religions "must eventually be destroyed from the earth" as the hardback edition claims? (HB)
• Or, did Joseph claim that all non-Mormon nations "must eventually be destroyed from the earth" as the paperback edition claims? (PB)

Author's source(s)

• History of the Church 5:212

Response

• The quote from History of the Church says nothing about destroying "governments and religions."
• Use of sources: Destroying Governments and Religions

xxiv (HB)

Claim

• Why does the Church refuse to divulge "routine" financial data that other religions are "happy to provide over the phone?"

Author's source(s)

• Richard N. and Joan K. Ostling, Mormon America: The Power and the Promise, (New York:HarperCollins Publishers, 2000), 115. ( Index of claims )

Response

• This is simply a repeat of the Ostling's claim.

xxiv (HB)
xviii (PB)

Claim

• Do Latter-day Saints believe that they are "morally, ethically, and spiritually superior" to non-LDS?

Author's source(s)

• Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 4:269.
• Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation 1:236

Response

• Use of sources: Morally, ethically, spiritually superior?
• Attitude to non-members
• Salvation of non-members

Notes