SECTION IX
Chapter 2. The Mormon Christian Church, or
           Church of Latter-Day Saints

  "I asked the personages [God and Jesus] who stood above me in the light
  which of all the [Christian] sects was right -- and which I should join.
  I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong, and
  the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an
  abomination in His sight: that those professors were all corrupt; that
  'they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me;
  they teach for doctrines the commandments of men: having a form of godliness,
  but they deny the power thereof'.

                                            --Joseph Smith
                                             (recounting his first vision
                                              in 1820)

 "Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion?
We have none".
                                             --Joseph Smith
(Joseph Smith, Ed., TEACHINGS OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH, 3rd ed. (Bountiful,
Utah: Restoration Research, 1982))


  The Mormon movement began in 1828 in Fayette, New York, after Joseph
Smith (prophet to Mormonism) received a series of heavenly visitations
that convinced him that all other religions were false, and that the "true"
gospel was about to be restored. An angel of the lord later led Smith to
discover ancient golden plates that had been buried under a hill near his
home in the state of New York.  According to Smith, these golden plates
recorded the history of ancient Hebrew tribes who had sailed to America--and
whose descendants had became the American Indians.

  Because the text on the golden plates were written in a hieroglyphic style
of writing, Joseph Smith used his "seer stone" (which, in previous years he
had used to locate buried treasure) to assist him in translating the golden
plates. Unfortunately per Smith, he was not able to keep these golden plates
as evidence of his visitation--because the angel carried them off with him
to heaven, immediately after Smith had finished translating them.

  The BOOK OF MORMON, which is the translation made from these plates by
Joseph Smith, tells the story of how hebrew tribes had emigrated to the
New World.  The first group (the Jaredites) had sailed to the New World in
boats that were 'tight like unto a dish' after the Tower of Babel incident
(ie when God confounded the languages of mankind.)  After many generations,
the Jaredites became sinful, and eventually destroyed each other after a
series of wars.

  The second wave of Hebrew immigration to the New World were descendants
of Lehi, a prophet who was warned by God to flee Jerusalem, just before its
capture by the Babylonians in 587 BC. Escaping to America in their boats,
the ancient hebrews repopulated the continent, forming two tribes-- the 
Nephites and the Lamanites. According to the BOOK OF MORMON, the Lamanites 
did "dwindle in unbelief" and consequently "God did cause a skin of blackness 
to come upon them." Cursed by God, they became "dark and loathsome... an idle 
people, full of mischief and subtlety." (George D. Smith, "Joseph Smith and 
the Book of Mormon", FREE INQUIRY, who in turn is quoting the curse of the 
"skin of blackness" in 1 Nephi 12:23; 2 Nephi 5:21-24; Jacob 3:5,9; 
Alma 3:6-10).

    The Nephites, on the other hand, remained faithful to God and as a
consequence, retained their white skin.  According to the BOOK OF MORMON,
after Jesus was resurrected from the cross, he made a special visit to the
Nephites in America.  There, he gathered another twelve apostles --Nephi,
Timothy, Jonas, Mathoni, Mathonihah, Kumen, Kumenonhi, Jeremiah, Shemnon,
Jonas, Zedekiah, and Isaiah (3 Nephi 19:4)).  There was a special Sermon on
the Mount, a replay of the New Testament miracles, and a sacrament of bread
and wine. (Ibid).

  Around 421 AD, the white Nephites were wiped out by the evil dark
Lamanites, and it was one of their last survivors, Moroni--son of Mormon,
who sealed up the history of their people which was recorded on the golden
plates. (Indeed, per Smith, it was the dead Moroni, now in angel form,
who had appeared to him and showed him where to find the lost golden plates).

Background Against Which the BOOK OF MORMON was "Discovered"

   Prior to Joseph Smith's discovery of the BOOK OF MORMON, Deists and
other skeptics (such as many Indians), had seriously questioned how
Christianity could be THE one universal religion-- since no mention is
EVER made in the Bible regarding the existance of the American continent or of
American Indians.

  According to George D. Smith, the controversies among Protestant groups
added to the uncertainty:

  "Unitarians rejected the trinitarian view of a three-person God.  Deists
  rejected the biblical portrayal of an arbitrary, vindictive, and cruel
  God and advocated the study of nature as true theology.  To counter the
  movement of "Rationalism", the churches launched the Second Great
  Awakening, a wave of revival meetings in search of spiritual conversions.
  There were claims of divine intervention and warnings of an imminent end to
  the world. William Miller announced in his Seventh-Day Adventists that
  Jesus would visit the earth in March 1843 and begin the millennium."

  Revivalist feelings were strong in western New York where Joseph Smith
lived--and many people in the area had previously reported seeing visions
and hearing voices.  According to George D. Smith, "So intense and prolonged
were the religious excitement and contention in western New York...at this
time that it was called the 'burned-over' district." (Ibid p 23)

   The most powerful counter-argument made by conservative religious
groups to the skeptical challenge of why Indians are not mentioned in the
Bible--was to argue that the American Indians were NONE OTHER THAN A REMNANT
OF THE LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL!  Among early American preachers putting forth
this view were William Penn, Roger Williams, Cotton Mather, and Jonathan
Edwards.  Josiah Priest, wrote in 1825 (ie some five years before Joseph
Smith translated the BOOK OF MORMON): "the opinion that the American
Indians are descendants of the Lost Ten Tribes is now a popular one and
generally believed." (Ibid, p 25 quoting Josiah Priest, WONDERS OF NATURE
AND PROVIDENCE, DISPLAYED (Albany, 1825, 1826) plus other references cited)

  Thus, Joseph Smith's discovery of ancient hebrew plates seemed to confirm
a view that was already very popular-- that Indians were one of the
last tribes of hebrews--and that their dark skin arose from God's curse on
them for their wickedness. (This tied in neatly with the observed fact that
the Indians no longer worshiped the God of the Old Testament--or Jesus either).
It also seemed to explain another enigma--the discovery of huge burial
mounds made by ancient Indians.  Since Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1799,
there was a new fascination with Egyptian artifacts and hieroglyphics.
To many, the shape of these burial mounds suggested the form of the ancient
pyramids of Egypt.  Some writers compared Egyptian hieroglyphics with Indian
picture writing.

The Growth of Early Mormonism

  Pictures of Joseph Smith show him to be very handsome and charismatic.
On April 6, 1830, he took a group of sixty believers with him to Kirtland,
Ohio. In the next two years, his base grew to over two thousand, and at
the time of Joseph Smith's murder, the sect had grown to about twenty
thousand. The Mormon apostle and missionary Orson Pratt gives some insight 
into the mindsets of some of Smith's early followers when he wrote in 1851:

  "The BOOK OF MORMON claims to be a divinely inspired record, written by
  a succession of prophets who inhabited Ancient America . . .

  "This book must be either true or false.  If true, it is one of the most
  important messages ever sent from God to man... If false, it is one of the
  most cunning, wicked, bold, deep-laid impositions ever palmed upon the world...

  "The nature of the message in the BOOK OF MORMON is such, that if true, no
  one can possibly be saved and reject it..." (Ibid, p 21 citing Orson Pratt,
  "Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon," in ORSON PRATT'S WORKS
  (Liverpool: Pratt, 1851), p. 1.)

Background of Joseph Smith

   Years before Joseph Smith had discovered the golden plates, he had
routinely offered his services to "divine" the location of buried treasure. 
Poor farmers would pay Smith to place his "seer stone" in a hat, and look 
into it for a vision. Smith would then provide information on the location 
of the treasure, along with any warnings from the guardian spirit that was 
protecting the treasure. Sometimes elaborate rituals and incantations had 
to take place before actual digging began.

  Despite all his efforts, Smith never was able to recover any treasures for
his client.  Per Smith, this was because as soon as they got close to the
treasure, the spirit would only bury it deeper.  Smith however would still
demand his fee. (Fawn M. Brodie, NO MAN KNOWS M HISTORY: THE LIFE OF JOSEPH
SMITH, 2nd ed, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1983) pp 16-30, 427-429.
Also Ernest H. Taves, TROUBLE ENOUGH: JOSEPH SMITH AND THE BOOK OF MORMON
(Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1984), pp 17-31)

   Joseph Smith purportedly found his "seer-stone" which he described as
"a chocolate colored, somewhat egg-shaped stone" when digging in a well in
1822. David Whitmer, a scribe of Joseph Smith and one of three witnesses to
the divine translation of THE BOOK OF MORMON, described how Smith used this
same seer-stone to translate the plates:

  "I will now give you a description of the manner in which the BOOK
  OF MORMON was translated.  Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into
  a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his
  face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would
  shine.  A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that
  appeared the writing.  One character at a time would appear, and under it
  was the interpretation in English.  Brother Joseph would read off the
  English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was
  written down and repeated by Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then
  it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would
  appear.   Thus the BOOK OF MORMON was translated by the gift and power
  of God, and   not by any power of man".  (David Whitmer, AN ADDRESS TO
  ALL BELIEVERS IN CHRIST (Richmond, Mo., 1887. ibid, p 27)

  Some two years before Smith switched his powers from locating buried treasure
to holy writings, he was tried for disorderly conduct.-- He had failed to
locate a lost silver mine for an established farmer in New York (for
which Smith charged the fee of fourteen dollars a month). (George Smith,
op cit, p 27, footnote 3)

Joseph Smith's Family and Childhood

   By his own family's accounts, Joseph Smith was just one of many gifted 
members of the family. According to his mother's BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF 
JOSEPH SMITH, THE PROPHET, she had her own visions, as did Joseph's sister.  
A brother of hers (Joseph's uncle) was a professional faith-healer. In 
addition, her husband (Joseph's father) also appeared to have visions. She 
related how in his "first vision" he walked with "an attendant spirit" who 
told him of "a certain log box, the contents of which, if you eat thereof, 
will make you wise, and give you wisdom and understanding". Unfortunately, 
her husband dropped the box, when he found himself confronted with "all 
manner of beasts, horned cattle, and roaring animals." (Ibid p 25. see Lucy 
Smith, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF JOSEPH SMITH THE PROPHET AND HIS PROGENITORS 
FOR MANY GENERATIONS (Liverpool, England: 1853), p 57)

  The young Joseph Smith seems to have had a great talent for telling
elaborate stories on the American Indians. In her autobiography, Joseph
Smith's mother related:

  "During our evening conversations, Joseph would occasionally give us the
  most amusing recitals that could be imagined.  He would describe the ancient
  inhabitants of this continent, their dress, mode of traveling, and the
  animals upon which they rode; their cities, their buildings, with every
  particular; their mode of warfare; and also their religious worship.  This
  he would do with as much ease, seemingly, as if he had spent his whole life
  with them."


Similarities of the Book of Mormon with the Masonic Legend of the Gold Plate of
  Enoch

  Both Joseph Smith and his brother belonged to the Masons.  Some Mormon
scholars have noted the similarity between the story in the BOOK OF MORMON
and the Masonic legend on the gold plate of Enoch--specifically how a buried
treasure was believed to have been buried in a sacred hill. (According to the
Masonic legend, Enoch was taken up in a vision to a hill named Moriah where
he saw a golden plate engraved with unknown characters, buried below.  Enoch
buried the golden plate, along with a marble pillar containing a hieroglyphic
account of the Tower of Babel, and a brass pillar that similarly described
the history of creation, in order to preserve them from the Great Flood.

  Centuries later, King Solomon's builders--the Masons--discovered these
buried records while excavating under the foundation of the Great Temple
in Jerusalem. These treasures were eventually stored to King Solomon's
Temple. (Ibid, p 29)  This and other stories of buried treasure (from the
Spanish and Indian gold and riches) were very popular in the region
while Joseph Smith was growing up.

Inscriptions from the Plates themselves.

  According to Joseph Smith, he was able to make a copy of the original
inscriptions on the golden plates, before the plates were taken away to
heaven by the angel Moroni.  In 1828, Martin Harris, a close associate of
Joseph Smith, reportedly took a copy of the BOOK OF MORMON inscriptions to
Professor Charles Anthon of Columbia University.  According to the
Mormon HISTORY OF THE CHURCH, vol 1, pp 19-20), the professor declared the
characters to be "true" Egyptian and ancient semitic characters, and that
Smith's translation of them was a "correct" and accurate translation.

  However, according to a letter written by Professor Anthon, (dated February
17,1834), he stated that he was misquoted and had never proclaimed the
Mormon inscription as being "reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics." Instead all
he saw were "all kinds of crooked characters disposed in columns, and had
evidently been prepared by some person who had before him at the time a book
containing various alphabets.  Greek and Hebrew letters, crosses and
flourishes, ...[etc] and evidently copied in such a way as not to betray
the source whence it was derived." (Ibid, p 23) quoting Eber D. Howe,
MORMONISM UNVAILED). The BOOK OF MORMON does not mention this letter.

   It was some ten years later, when the Frenchman, Champollion discovered 
the Rosetta Stone, and published his EGYPTIAN GRAMMER (1835) AND EGYPTIAN 
DICTIONARY (1841).  Champollion's discovery of the Rosetta Stone allowed
archeologists to translated Egyptian hieroglyphics into their Greek equivalents.
Prior to this time, no one, (including Professor Anthon) knew how to translate 
Egyptian hieroglyphics.--Since this time, no serious scholar has authenticated 
Joseph Smith's transcript as containing Egyptian characters. (Ibid p 29, 
footnote 22)

  Five years after publishing the BOOK OF MORMON, Joseph Smith bought some 
Egyptian papyrus scrolls and again used his seer stone to translate them.  
The result was the BOOK OF ABRAHAM.  Historians now know that the papyrus
scrolls used by Joseph Smith were funerary scrolls from the Egyptian Book of 
Breathings (commonly buried with mummies.)

  One of the papyruses that Joseph Smith purchased was damaged--whereby the 
picture of the priest had his head missing. When Joseph Smith, in his PEARL 
OF GREAT PRICE, showed this, he copied the priests body, while substituting
his own "guess" of what the head looked like--which he made a crude human head.
However, historians know from copies of other papyruses that were NOT damaged, 
that the real head should have be in the guise of a jackal--ie Anubis the 
Jackal). That is, despite the use of his  magic  seer stone, Smith drew this 
priest with a cartoon-like HUMAN head.  (Ibid, p 30)

The "Kinderhook Plates"

  In 1843, six brass plates covered with "hieroglyphics" were discovered
at an old earth-mound outside Kinderhook, Illinois.  These plates were
brought before Joseph Smith, who pronounced them genuine, and who proceeded
on to translate them.  Joseph Smith recorded this find in his Diary on
May 1, 1843 as follows:

  "I have translated a portion of them and find that they contain the
   history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendent
   of Ham through the loins of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and that he received
   his kingdom from the Ruler of heaven and earth." (HISTORY OF THE CHURCH,
   vol 5, p 372). Photographs of the six plates appear in the HISTORY OF
   THE CHURCH (Vol 5, pp 374-6)

  It was later uncovered that these plates were fakes prepared by enemies
of Joseph Smith to demonstrate that his "seer" powers were false.  In a letter
dated June 30, 1879, one of the men who had discovered the plates (named
Wilbur Fugate) stated that the plates were a "humbug" and had been cut
out of copper, etched with acid, and aged with nitric acid.

  In 1980, a scientific examination showed that 'Plate No. 5' was indeed a
brass alloy "typical of the mid-nineteenth century" which was etched with
acid." (Ibid) Mormon scholar Stanley P. Kimball concluded from the results
that "The time has come to admit that the Kinderhook plate incident of 1843
was a light-hearted, heavy-handed, frontier-style prank, or 'joke' as the
perpetrators themselves called it" (MORMON HISTORY ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER,
June 1981; tests reported in THE ENSIGN, August 1981), Ibid)

Analysis of the BOOK OF MORMON

  The BOOK OF MORMON is written in a style, similar to the King James
version of the Bible.  For example, note the strong comparisons in the
following passages:

  * "...death and hell delivered up the dead..." [Revelation f20:13]
    "...death and hell must deliver up their dead...[2 Nephi 6:28(RLDS)]

  * "...all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to
every man severally as he will." [1 Cor. 12:10]
    "..all these gifts come by the spirit of christ; and they come unto every
man severally, according as he will. [Moroni 10:12(RLDS)]

 * "For, behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven;  and all the
   proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the
  day cometh that shall burn them up.... shall the Son of righteousness
  arise with healings in his wings."

  "For behold, said the prophet... the day soon cometh that all the proud and
   they who do wickedly shall be as stubble; and the day cometh that they
  must be burned." (1 Nephi 22:15)

  *He shall rise from the dead with healing in his wings. (2 Nephi 25:13)
(Ibid, p 26)

  Interestingly, some passages in the BOOK OF MORMON are anachronistic.--
That is, they show the prophet Nephi (who lived around 550 BC) to be
quoting passages by the Old Testament writer Malachi. Malachi lived
roughly some one hundred fifty years LATER than Nephi--ie around 400 BC.
For example, in Malachi 4:1-2, one finds:
  
 Comparison of BOOK OF MORMON with an earlier work--A VIEW OF THE HEBREWS

   Scholars have noticed that much of the plot in the BOOK OF MORMON
appeared in an earlier fiction book, called A VIEW OF THE HEBREWS. Written
in 1832-- (some seven years before the BOOK OF MORMON), the A VIEW OF THE
HEBREWS was published only forty miles away from the birthplace of Joseph
Smith. The following strong parallels between the two books are shown below:
(Footnote: All examples were taken from George Smith, op cit pp 25-6)

  *Both books began their opening chapters with the destruction of
Jerusalem, followed by the dispersion and then re-gathering of the tribes
of Israel.

  *Both books described how the hebrew tribes crossed over a sea to reach an
uninhabited land "where man never dwelt" (per the A VIEW OF THE HEBREWS, P 75),
--"where there never had man been" (per the BOOK OF MORMON, Ether 2:5)

   * A VIEW OF THE HEBREWS traced the Indians to the "ten tribes of Israel";
the BOOK OF MORMON narrows this down to two main tribes.

  *Both books heavily quoted the prophet Isaiah.

  *In both books, the evil tribe(s) destroyed the other civilized, goodly
tribe(s). Both books erroneous assume that iron and steel weapons were
used by the ancient hebrews.

  *In A VIEW OF THE HEBREWS, the author quoted the German explorer Baron von
Humboldt, who held: "Israel brought into this new continent a considerable
degree of civilization; and the better part of them long laboured to maintain
it.  But others fell into the hunting and consequent savage state; whose
barbarous hordes invaded their more civilized brethren, and eventually
annihilated most of them" (p 184). (Note, this is the same basic plot as
exists in the BOOK OF MORMON.)

  *In A VIEW OF THE HEBREWS, the savage hebrew tribes had been "judged
by God; in the BOOK OF MORMON they were "cursed" of God.

  *In both books, sacred records had been handed down over the generations,
and eventually buried in a hill where they were later found by others.
A VIEW OF THE HEBREWS told how some hebrew parchments were "dug up...
on Indian Hill (near Pittsfield, Massachusetts)... probably from an Indian
grave" and even possibly from a "leading character in Israel" who buried
the records with him when he died. The BOOK OF MORMON told much the
same story-- where the sacred records were written by the Nephites and buried
"in the Hill Cumorah".

  *Both authors identified the American Indians as the "stick of Joseph or
Ephraim"

  *Both works stressed the importance of the white Christians to reconvert
the Indians to Christianity--thus fulfilling the prophecies which were then
believed to bring on the millennium.

Interesting Parallels In Character Names in the Book of Mormon

  There are some interesting parallels between the characters in the BOOK
of MORMON and the names of character in the life of Joseph Smith:
(Ibid, p 24)

  *Like Joseph Smith, Nephi (the author of the first books) had five brothers.
Two of them had the same names--Joseph and Samuel.

  *Nephi's bad brother, Lemuel has the same name as an enemy of Smith's--
Lemuel Durphee--who signed an affidavit charging Joseph Smith with immoral
character in 1833.

  *Nephi prophesized that a "choice seer" would discover the writings, and
that his name would be the same of his father--ie Joseph.

Dogma of Mormonism

     Mormons accept the divine nature of the Bible ("as far as it is translated
correctly") and of course the BOOK of MORMON.  Much of Mormon's dogma is
similar to other conservative Protestant sects.  Mormons believe in the
three-some personage of the Trinity, and the importance of obeying God's
laws. These laws include faith in Jesus Christ, repentance for one's sins,
healing through the laying of hands, speaking in tongues, and prophecy/
revelation.

   Mormons teach that other Christians (who are not Mormon) will go to hell.
Interestingly, one unique feature allows Mormons to baptize nonbelievers who
have already died-- but who never had the chance to hear or accept the Mormon
gospel.  Mormons quote I Peter 4:6 for scriptural authority on this matter:
"For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead."  The
baptism is not believed to completely save the soul of the deceased--but
faith and repentance must also be present.  This has led to the build up by
the Church of Latter-Day Saints of possibly the largest genealogical archives
in the world--all so that a believer can "save" as many of his/her ancestors
as possible. Interesting, some notable non-Mormon celebrities have been
"baptized" in this way--such as Abraham Lincoln.

Mormonism's Belief in Polygamy (Multiple Wives)

  One of the more controversial doctrines of Mormonism, was in restoring
the ancient practice of polygamy.  Mormon women are taught that there is
no salvation possible for them, unless they are "sealed" into eternity with
a good Mormon male, through the institution of marriage.  For this reason,
many Mormon women accepted living in plural marriages.

  Joseph Smith's clerk, William Clayton, recorded the revelation which
showed God approved of the practice of restoring the practice of "Moses,
Abraham, David and Solomon having many wives and concubines." Excerpts
include:

  "For behold, I reveal unto you a new and everlasting covenant...the
  law of the priesthood--if any man espouse a virgin and desire to espouse
  another...he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto him."

  One portion of the revelation appeared to have been directed at Joseph
Smiths's wife, Emma:

  "A commandment I give unto mine handmaid, Emma Smith, your wife... let
  mine handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all those that have been given unto my
  servant Joseph...but if she will not abide by this commandment she shall be
  destroyed, saith the Lord; for I am the Lord thy God, and will destroy her
  if she abide not in the law."

   There is some evidence that Emma was hostile to the idea of sharing her
husband with other women.--However, after Joseph Smith was murdered, she
denied that Joseph had ever engaged in polygamy.

  The record shows otherwise. When Joseph Smith had received the above
revelation in 1843, Joseph Smith was thirty five and had already taken
at least twelve plural wives.  At the time, this was kept secret to all,
but a few trusted members. (Jenson, H R 6:233-234) Mormon church historian,
Andrew Jenson, listed Fanny Alger (a maid to the Smith household) as "one
of the first plural wives sealed to the Prophet." ("Plural Marriage",
HISTORICAL RECORD, 6 (May 1887): 233, hereafter HR. Alger's proxy
marriage to Smith was in 1899 (Thomas M. Tinney, THE ROAY FAMILY OF
THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH, JR. [Salt Lake City: Green Family Organization,
1973], 41)

  Other young women became plural wives of Smith's after being told that
God had commanded them to do so. Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner recalled
how when she first met Smith: "the Savior appeared and commanded him to
seal me up to everlasting life, gave me to Joseph to be with him in his
kingdom." (Fawn M Brodie, NO MAN KNOWS MY HISTORY: THE LIFE OF JOSEPH
SMITH, THE MORMON PROPHET, 2nd ed., (New York: Knowpf, 1975) pp. 443-444)

   Sixteen year old Lucy Walker, who stayed in the household helping Emma
with the housework, stated she agreed to marry Smith after he threatened,
if she refused, that "the gate [of Heaven] will be closed forever against 
you." She was married to Smith while Emma was out shopping in St. Louis. 
(Journal, 100; Newell and Avery, 139 as quoted by George D. Smith "Mormon 
Plural Marriage, FREE INQUIRY, Summer 1992, Vol 12, No 3 p 36)

  In a letter to Nancy Rigdon, Joseph Smith tried (unsuccessfully) to
talk her into becoming one of his wives, by arguing "Whatever God
requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the
reason thereof". (JOURNAL OF MORMON HISTORY 5 [1978]. P 32. ibid, p 31)

  Joseph Smith believed that his status as prophet entitled him to
a DROIT DU SEIGNEUR--or right to all the eligible women in the community.
As such, some of Smith's marriages were to women who were already married.
(For example, on October 27, 1841 Smith married Zina B. Huntington--even
though she was already married to Henry Jacobs, and six months pregnant with
his child.  She remained living with Henry Jacobs.) (George D. Smith, op cit,
p 36)

  Although the plural marriages were kept secret, news of these practices
spread outside the Mormon community, creating a public outroar. When in 1844,
Joseph Smith (then 39) announced his candidacy for the U.S. Presidency, his
rivals made polygamy a campaign issue.  Outbreaks of violence followed, and
Smith was charged with treason and imprisoned. He was murdered in jail, after
it was stormed by an armed mob of men who had blackened their faces to disguise
themselves.  Afterwards, Joseph Smith was held out as a martyr of the Mormon
Church.

 In 1852, Brigham Young (who had assumed the majority leadership of Mormonism)
announced he had received a revelation by Smith on the issue of plural
marriages:

  "if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the
   first give her consent, and if he espoused the second, and they are
   virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then he is justified; he cannot
   commit adultery...and if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law,
   he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him."

  (One group of Mormons splintered off from Brigham Young's leadership,
primarily in opposition to Young's "revelation" on polygamy. Under the son
of Joseph Smith, they formed the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints. Their headquarters is in Independence, Missouri--as opposed to
Salt Lake City, which is of course the headquarters of the majority sect of
Mormonism--the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Therefore the
following discussion of polygamy only applies to the majority sect of
Mormonism.)

  During the middle nineteenth century, Mormons held lively debates with
other Christian sects, defending the concept of polygamy.  They pointed
out how the hebrew patriarchs in the Old Testament had multiple wives.  They
also noted how the New Testament does NOT forbid polygamy.

  The American author and satirist Mark Twain participated in one such
debate with a Mormon on the issue of polygamy.  Throughout the debate, Twain
sat largely silent, as his Mormon debater went through an elaborate
defense of polygamy using extensive quotes from the Bible.  Confident that
he had won the debate, the Mormon challenged Twain to refute him, stating:

"I'll wager you can't cite a SINGLE PASSAGE in the bible which forbids
 polygamy!"

  Mark Twain, rose to the challenge: "Sure I can!  No man can serve TWO masters!"

  (The howls of laughter that followed won the debate for Twain.)


 Polygamy Declared Illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court

    Because polygamy was no longer an accepted practice within either
Christianity or Judaism-- Mormons were often persecuted for these beliefs.
The Republican presidential platform of 1856 called for the elimination of
"the twin relics of barbarism", meaning slavery AND polygamy. Congress
inacted laws stipulating heavy fines and long jail sentences for convicted
polygamists.  Between 1885 and 1900, over a thousand Mormon men were
caught and convicted under these laws.  In 1890, the U.S. Supreme Court
outlawed the practice of polygamy.

  Around the time of the 1890 Supreme Court decision, Wilford Woodruff, then
head of the Mormon church, received a "divine command" outlawing the
practice of multiple wives. Although this has remained the official
policy of the Mormon church to this day, polygamy is still practiced
among fundamentalist Mormon sects, especially in the back country regions
of Utah and Arizona.

Conclusion

  Today virtually all modern historians believe that Indians migrated
from Asia via the Bering Stait--and not from ancient hebrews (who were
never known for being a strong seafaring people). According to Michael Coe, 
a noted archaeologist of Yale University,

  "The bare facts of the matter are that nothing, absolutely nothing, has
  ever shown up in any New World excavation which would suggest to a
  dispassionate observer that the Book of Mormon, as claimed by Joseph Smith,
  is a historical document relating to the history of early migrants to our
  hemisphere." (DIALOGUE: A JOURNAL OF MORMON THOUGHT, Summer 1973, 46, as
 cited in Tanner and Tanner, CHANGING WORLD, p. 134)

  Some Mormon scholars have tried to fit Joseph Smith's story of the hebrew
migrations within a small region of the Americas.--However this regionalized
view conflicts with the official doctrine of the Mormon Church. For the
fact is that the BOOK OF MORMON clearly indicates that ALL the Indians came
from ancient Hebrew tribes.  And the very foundation of Mormonism rests on
the divine (and therefore inerrant) status of the BOOK OF MORMON.

  The Mormon Church has, of this writing, a membership of over 5 million
adherents.  Many people have been approached at home, at one time or another,
by a young Mormon missionary--as the Church promotes such activities among
its members.  As for any historical problems associated with Joseph Smith's
discovery, the Church has largely side-stepped this, by stressing UNQUESTIONING
FAITH and trust in the Mormon leadership.  For example the LDS IMPROVEMENT
ERA once warned:

  "Lucifer...wins a great victory when he can get members of the church to
  speak against their leaders and 'do their own thing.'...When our
  leaders speak, the thinking has been done." (June, 1945, p 354).

  In the ENSIGN (August 1979, pp2-3), Apostle N. Eldon Tanner updated this
message with,

  "When the prophet speaks the debate is over."

Church president Heber J. Grant was quoted in one Mormon publication:

 "My boy, you always keep your eye on the President of the Church, and
  if he ever tells you to do anything, and it is wrong, and you do it,
  the Lord will bless you for it." (CONFERENCE REPORT, October 1960, p 78),
  Ibid p 31 footnote 47)