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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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12
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- The author claims that in Kirtland that Joseph Smith was "infected with the virus of speculation."
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- Prejudicial or loaded language
- Quotes another author's opinion as if it were fact
- How does the author know that Joseph was "speculating"?
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13
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- 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.
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14
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- 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."
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- The author's claim is false The author seems to be confusing Kirtland and Nauvoo.
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14
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- 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.'"
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- 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.
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14
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- The name of the Church was changed to the "Church of Latter-day Saints" in 1834.
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14
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- 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."
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15
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- 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."
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15
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- Failure of the bank in Kirtland caused Joseph to leave Kirtland in the middle of the night.
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16
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- Joseph "organized a secret group of loyalists" called the Danites.
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- D. Michael Quinn, quoting Hallwas and Launius, Cultures in Conflict, 8.
[ATTENTION!] - Check source--there's nothing by H&L on that page about Danites at all.....
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16
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- The Danites introduced "blood atonement" who would "save" people by slitting their throats.
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20
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- Joseph's "Mohammad speech" in Far West.
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