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Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mormon America: The Power and the Promise/Index
A FAIR Analysis of: Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mormon America: The Power and the Promise A work by author: Richard N. Ostling and Joan K. Ostling
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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 |
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| xviii | The Garden of Eden was literally located around Independence, Missouri. | Garden of Eden in Missouri? |
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| 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] |
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| xix | There is neither a forum for public debate nor a church legislature to set policy. | Should the Church be a democracy? [needs work] |
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| xxv | They abstain from alcohol and tobacco, as many other groups do, but also from caffeinated beverages | Word of Wisdom/Cola drinks |
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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 |
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| 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. |
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| 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 |
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| 13 | Two of the original 53 members of the Council of Fifty “apparently were known counterfeiters." | The Council of Fifty [needs work] |
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| 13 | Joseph Smith was anointed “King, Priest and Ruler over Israel on Earth." | The Council of Fifty |
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| 15 | The Council of Fifty, "supposedly a civic body," took ecclesiastical action excommunicating Law and Foster. | The Council of Fifty [needs work] |
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| 16 | Quinn re. Expositor: “He could not allow the Expositor to publish the secret international negotiations masterminded by Mormonism’s earthly king.” | Nauvoo Expositor |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 25 | Seer stones illegal – 1826 Smith “found guilty” of disorderly conduct for money-digging | Joseph Smith's 1826 glasslooking trial |
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| 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 |
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| 26 | During the translation, Joseph would work on one side of the blanket "with the Urim and Thummin [check spelling] 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 |
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| 26 | "Smith would bury his face with the seer stone in the hat and then dictate words to the scribe." | Joseph Smith and seer stones |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 34 | Danites were pledged to “plunder, lie, and even kill if deemed necessary." | Danites |
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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] |
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| 54 | Mountain Meadows massacre | Mountain Meadows Massacre |
Chapter 4: Polygamy Then and Now
| Page | Claim | Response | Use of sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 58 | Joseph started polygamy and had a large number of wives | Joseph Smith and polygamy |
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| 58 | Brodie’s research was largely substantiated by later scholarship | No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 62 | Helen had not grasped that marriage in time would eventually have a sexual component. | The nature of Helen Mar Kimball's marriage? |
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| 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 |
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| 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] |
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| 67 | 1842 declaration of monogamy in the Times and Seasons was signed by Emma and two of Smith’s wives Eliza Snow and Sarah Cleveland.
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Chapter 7: Mormons, Inc.
| Page | Claim | Response | Use of sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 115 | "Outsider's money estimates always raise disclaimers from officialdom, presumably because of the danger that fat-loooking figures might weaken members' tithing compliance." |
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Chapter 10: Families Forever
| Page | Claim | Response | Use of sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 160 | Even God himself is married | Was Jesus Christ married? |
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| 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 |
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Dissenters and Exiles
| Page | Claim | Response | Use of sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 352 | "The church has often swatted down intellectuals individually" | Excommunication of scholars |
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| 354 | The Church operates a clipping service called the "Strengthening Church Members Committee" to monitor individual members, which Lavina Fielding Anderson refers to as "an internal espionage system." | Strengthening Church Members Committee |
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| 354 | The LDS system of internal discipline "operates more like a small cult than a major denomination." | LDS Church is a cult |
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| 354 | The LDS Church penalizes members for "merely criticizing officialdom or for publishing truthful—if uncomfortable—information," and "shroud their procedures with secrecy." | Excommunication [needs work] | |
| 354 | The LDS Church prosecutes "many more of its members" than other religious groups | Excommunication [needs work] |
Further reading
| Template code | Inserts this reference | Click to edit |
|---|---|---|
| {{To learn more box:responses to: 8: The Mormon Proposition}} | To learn more box:responses to: 8: The Mormon Proposition | edit |
| {{To learn more box:''Under the Banner of Heaven''}} | To learn more about responses to: Under the Banner of Heaven | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Robert Price}} | To learn more about responses to: Robert Price | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Ankerberg and Weldon}} | To learn more about responses to: Ankerberg and Weldon | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Ashamed of Joseph}} | To learn more about responses to: Ashamed of Joseph | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Beckwith and Moser}} | To learn more about responses to: Beckwith and Moser | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Beckwith and Parrish}} | To learn more about responses to: Beckwith and Parrish | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Benjamin Park}} | To learn more about responses to: Benjamin Park | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Bible versus Joseph Smith}} | To learn more about responses to: Bible versus Joseph Smith | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Bible versus Book of Mormon}} | To learn more about responses to: Bible versus Book of Mormon | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: ''Big Love''}} | To learn more about responses to: Big Love | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Brett Metcalfe}} | To learn more about responses to: Brett Metcalfe | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Bill Maher}} | To learn more about responses to: Bill Maher | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Bruce H. Porter}} | To learn more about responses to: Bruce H. Porter | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Carol Wang Shutter}} | To learn more about responses to: Carol Wang Shutter | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: CES Letter}} | To learn more about responses to: CES Letter | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Charles Larson}} | To learn more about responses to: Charles Larson | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Christopher Nemelka}} | To learn more about responses to: Christopher Nemelka | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Colby Townshed}} | To learn more about responses to: Colby Townshed | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Contender Ministries}} | To learn more about responses to: Contender Ministries | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Crane and Crane}} | To learn more about responses to: Crane and Crane | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: D. Michael Quinn}} | To learn more about responses to: D. Michael Quinn | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Dan Vogel}} | To learn more about responses to: Dan Vogel | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: David John Buerger}} | To learn more about responses to: David John Buerger | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: David Persuitte}} | To learn more about responses to: David Persuitte | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Denver Snuffer}} | To learn more about responses to: Denver Snuffer | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Dick Bauer}} | To learn more about responses to: Dick Bauer | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Duwayne R Anderson}} | To learn more about responses to: Duwayne R Anderson | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Earl Wunderli}} | To learn more about responses to: Earl Wunderli | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Ed Decker}} | To learn more about responses to: Ed Decker | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Erikson and Giesler}} | To learn more about responses to: Erikson and Giesler | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Ernest Taves}} | To learn more about responses to: Ernest Taves | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Fawn Brodie}} | To learn more about responses to: Fawn Brodie | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: George D Smith}} | To learn more about responses to: George D Smith | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Grant Palmer}} | To learn more about responses to: Grant Palmer | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Hank Hanegraaff}} | To learn more about responses to: Hank Hanegraaff | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Hurlbut-Howe}} | To learn more about responses to: Hurlbut-Howe | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: James Brooke}} | To learn more about responses to: James Brooke | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: James Spencer}} | To learn more about responses to: James Spencer | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: James White}} | To learn more about responses to: James White | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Jerald and Sandra Tanner}} | To learn more about responses to: Jerald and Sandra Tanner | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Jesus Christ-Joseph Smith or Search for the Truth DVD}} | To learn more about responses to: Jesus Christ-Joseph Smith or Search for the Truth DVD | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: John Dehlin}} | To learn more about responses to: John Dehlin | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Jonathan Neville}} | To learn more about responses to: Jonathan Neville | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Kurt Van Gorden}} | To learn more about responses to: Kurt Van Gorden | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Laura King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery}} | To learn more about responses to: Laura King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Loftes Tryk aka Lofte Payne}} | To learn more about responses to: Loftes Tryk aka Lofte Payne | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Luke WIlson}} | To learn more about responses to: Luke WIlson | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Marquardt and Walters}} | To learn more about responses to: Marquardt and Walters | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Martha Beck}} | To learn more about responses to: Martha Beck | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Mcgregor Ministries}} | To learn more about responses to: Mcgregor Ministries | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: McKeever and Johnson}} | To learn more about responses to: McKeever and Johnson | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: New Approaches}} | To learn more about responses to: New Approaches to the Book of Mormon | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Richard Abanes}} | To learn more about responses to: Richard Abanes | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Richard Van Wagoner}} | To learn more about responses to: Richard Van Wagoner | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Richard and Joan Ostling}} | To learn more about responses to: Richard and Joan Ostling | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Rick Grunger}} | To learn more about responses to: Rick Grunger | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Robert Ritner}} | To learn more about responses to: Robert Ritner | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Rod Meldrum}} | To learn more about responses to: Rod Meldrum | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Roger I Anderson}} | To learn more about responses to: Roger I Anderson | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Ronald V. Huggins}} | To learn more about responses to: Ronald V. Huggins | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Sally Denton}} | To learn more about responses to: Sally Denton | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Simon Southerton}} | To learn more about responses to: Simon Southerton | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Thomas Murphy}} | To learn more about responses to: Thomas Murphy | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Todd Compton}} | To learn more about responses to: Todd Compton | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Vernal Holley}} | To learn more about responses to: Vernal Holley | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Walter Martin}} | To learn more about responses to: Walter Martin | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Wesley Walters}} | To learn more about responses to: Wesley Walters | edit |
| {{To learn more box:responses to: Will Bagley}} | To learn more about responses to: Will Bagley | edit |