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Joseph Smith made some bold claims, many of which have been provably false for many years. In the past, the leadership of the LDS church found it fairly easy to focus church members on church-approved versions of the life of Smith and of early Mormon history. All opposing literature was smeared as “anti-Mormon,” and the faithful were warned against it, and to a large extent avoided it.
But the internet has exploded this system. Large numbers of Mormons are now wrestling with the unvarnished historical record.
In this episode I discuss my own history of thinking about Mormonism, and some books and a podcast that anyone interested in the history of Mormonism should know about.
Next week in part 2 I’ll discuss some interesting recent insider-whistleblowers, and the evidence they’ve presented about Smith and his claims.
Links for this episode:
- Mark Twain, Roughing It
- on the Book of Mormon
- historian Fawn Brodie
- No Man Knows My History (Amazon)
- interviewed
- Hugh W. Nibley, No, Ma’am, That’s Not History
- Richard Bushman
- Mormon Stories podcast
- South Park, “All About Mormons” episode
- on Smith as a pious fraud: “Joseph Smith’s Motives – The Prophet Puzzle – Dan Vogel“
- religious realism vs. anti-realism / non-realism
- fairmormon.org
- the problem of evil
- Logical Problem of Evil
- “Does Evil Imply Atheism?” – my lecture on a classic argument that if God existed, there would be no evil in the world at all, what is widely considered to be a compelling response to this “Logical” problem of evil, called the “free will defense.”
- Evidential Problem of Evil
- Logical Problem of Evil
- Freud’s psychological critique of belief in God – his theory in The Future of An Illusion
- This week’s thinking music is “Smiles” by Jesse Spillane.
Thanks for another fine episode. You have an interesting discussion about how you believe John Dehlin is now an atheist. But by the definition of God you provide, aren’t Mormons also atheists? After all, as I understand Mormonism they believe “As man is, God once was,” a claim which is wholly incompatible with your definition. Thus, while they profess belief in a being they call “God”, that being does not meet a standard theistic definition of God.
Thanks, Randal. I’m unclear on how official that famous phrase you quote is. But it could be that what the call “God” is just a finite deity, and not one which is necessarily unique. If they have no such being – and again I’m unclear on what their *official* view is, then yes, that is what I call polydeistic atheism.
Very nice and well done. I too have been interested in Mormonism for years and have read a bunch of books and watched DVDs on the topic. They sure do have a fascinating history, as exemplified in the development of their Book of Abraham.
I think my favorite event in the history of Mormonism is the Greek Psalter incident, where Reverend and Professor Henry Caswall visited Joseph Smith in Nauvoo and gave him a very old Greek Psalter to examine and report on what he thought it was. “Professor Caswell reported that Joseph examined the ancient document and replied that it was a Dictionary of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics.” (More here: http://www.mormonthink.com/greekweb.htm )
I too enjoyed that South Park episode “All About Mormons,” and also saw it on the Internet. My favorite part was the conversation about the missing 116 pages, which I recorded:
Stan: Wait, Mormons actually know this story and they still believe Joseph Smith was a prophet?
Mormon: Well sure, the story proves it, doesn’t it?
Stan: No, it proves he did make it all up! Are you blind?
Mormon: Well Stan, it’s all a matter of faith.
Stan: No, it’s a matter of logic. If you’re gunna say things that have been proven wrong like the first man and woman lived in Missouri and that Native Americans came from Jerusalem, then you better have something to back it up. All you’ve got are a bunch of stories about some a$$wipe who read plates nobody ever saw out of a hat and then couldn’t do it again when the translations were hidden!
(end quote)
Lastly, I like your introductory montage that includes Joseph Smith’s death mask.
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