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Jesus Christ/The "Mormon" vs. the "Christian" Jesus

2010-06-11T12:44:37Z

Cachemagic: removed unnecessary "not"

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=={{Criticism label}}==
Critics claim that Latter-day Saints believe in a "different" Jesus that "mainstream" Christians.

{{CriticalSources}}

=={{Response label}}==
==="Mormon Beliefs About Jesus" versus "Christian Beliefs About Jesus"===
It would be enlightening for any Latter-day Saint to read this description of the "Mormon Jesus" in the left column and see just how much of this is recognizable as church doctrine. The list is taken from page ''One Nation Under Gods'', p. 378 (PB). This claim is repeated in the author's later work [[Becoming Gods#The "Mormon Jesus" versus the "Traditional Jesus"|''Becoming Gods''—The "Mormon Jesus" versus the "Traditional Jesus"]].
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="40%"|The "mainstream Christian" author's misrepresentation of "Mormon Beliefs About Jesus"
!width="40%"|Jesus Christ, as He is actually viewed by Latter-day Saints
!width="20%"|For more information...
|-
|A ''literal'' son (spirit-child) of a god (Elohim) and his wife.||
*Latter-day Saints believe that ''everyone'' is a spirit child of Heavenly Father, including Jesus. What is a spirit child? We don't have the details.
*Our eternal nature was organized into a spirit person, whatever that is. We don't know the details. We don't know the process by which we became a spirit person.
*The difference between us is that Jesus is divine, while the rest of us are not.
*Why the emphasis on the word "literal"? Apparently, to once again call attention to the subject of [["Celestial sex"|"Celestial Sex."]]
||
*[[Jesus Christ's conception]]
|-
|The elder brother of all spirits born in the pre-existence to Heavenly Father.||
*Latter-day Saints do not claim to know by what method a spirit is "born."
*Christ is the "eldest," but what this means is also not clear. Is it a question of temporality? (i.e., He came first in time) Is it a rank? Does it describe His relationship to us? We simply don't claim to know, since time is only measured unto man.
*Latter-day Saints do believe that Christ was ''not'' created ex nihilo at some moment; He is eternally self-existent.
||
*[[Creation in Colossians 1:16]]
|-
|A polygamous Jewish male.
||
*This is not a belief among Latter-day Saints, and is based entirely upon non-doctrinal statements made by Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt.
*It is surprising that this claim is still in the paperback edition of [[One Nation Under Gods|''One Nation Under Gods'']]. It was, however, removed from [[Becoming Gods|''Becoming Gods'']].
||
*[[Was Jesus Christ married/Was Jesus a polygamist|Do Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus was a polygamist?]]
|-
|One of three gods overseeing this planet.||
*There is only one God. Christ is one of three divine beings in the Godhead. They are one in purpose, not one in person. {{s||John|17|3}}, {{s||John|17|20-22}}
*Regardless of this, a creedal Christian ought not to have a problem with one God consisting of more than one Person.
||
*[[Godhead and the Trinity]]
|-
|Atoned only for Adam's transgression by sweating blood in Gethsemane.
||
*This statement is completely false.
*The Book of Mormon teaches that Christ's sacrifice was "infinite and eternal." (2 Nephi) It could not be exceeded in any sense. Christ suffered for the sins, griefs, and pains of all humanity (Alma 7), whether or not they repent.
*The benefits of that atonement are restricted if we refuse to do that which He asks of us to accept it (i.e. have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end.)
*Note that this statement was changed in [[Becoming Gods#The "Mormon Jesus" versus the "Traditional Jesus"|''Becoming Gods''—The "Mormon Jesus" versus the "Traditional Jesus"]] to "Atoned only for Adam's transgression, thereby providing the opportunity for us to obtain "eternal life" by our own efforts. The change, however, didn't really do anything to correct this falsehood.
||
*[[Salvation by faith alone]]
*[[Neglect grace]]
*[[Early Christian views on salvation]]
|-
|The ''literal'' spirit brother of Lucifer.||
*Again, note the emphasis on the word "literal." Latter-day Saints do ''not'' consider Jesus in any way to be Satan's "peer."
||
*[[Jesus Christ is the brother of Satan]]
|-
|Jesus' sacrificial death is not able to cleanse some people of ''all'' their sins.||
*Latter-day Saints believe that only those who ''reject the atonement'' cannot be cleansed from all their sins. If one doesn't accept the atonement, then the atonement can't save him or her. But, that is a reflection on the sinner, and does ''not'' imply that Christ's atonement was "not able" to cleanse our sins.
*This is probably alluding to [[Blood atonement|blood atonement]].
*Jesus Christ Himself taught that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost was an "unforgivable sin." {{s||Matthew|12|31-32}}
||
*[[Unforgivable sin]]
|-
|There is no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith as a prophet of God.||
*Latter-day Saints believe that there is no salvation without accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer. Salvation is obtained by receiving Jesus and his atoning sacrifice. The statement presented in the book is nonsense. All save the sons of perdition are saved. All will be resurrected.
*A fullness of salvation requires accepting the words of ALL the prophets--including those who wrote the Bible, and including Joseph Smith.
*If one believes that you have to accept the Bible witness to be saved, then how can one fault Latter-day Saints for believing that another prophet's witness must also be accepted? LDS doctrine saves infidels and non-Christians in a resurrection of glory, and provides for their evangelization after death.
||
*[[Joseph Smith's status in LDS belief]]
|}

=={{Conclusion label}}==
Critics wish to cast Latter-day Saints out as true followers of Jesus Christ by attempting to control the definition of who it is that we actually worship. The fact is, we worship the Jesus Christ of the Bible.

=={{Endnotes label}}==

''None''

=={{Further reading label}}==

==={{FAIR wiki articles label}}===
*[[Becoming Gods]]
**[[Becoming Gods/Index]]
*[[The God Makers]]
**[[The God Makers/Cartoon]]
*[[One Nation Under Gods/Index/Chapter 13]]
*[[The "Mormon" vs. the "Christian" Jesus]]


==={{External links label}}===
*Jeffery R. Holland, [http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=d2552bce258f5110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&hideNav=1 The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent], ''Ensign'', Nov 2007, 40–42.


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[[fr:Jesus Christ/The "Mormon" vs. the "Christian" Jesus]]

Mormonism and politics/California Proposition 8

2009-07-13T21:08:58Z

Cachemagic: /* The vote */

{{Heading1|Latter-day Saints and California Proposition 8}}

:''We hope that now and in the future all parties involved in this issue will be well informed and act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility toward those with a different position. No one on any side of the question should be vilified, intimidated, harassed or subject to erroneous information...''

:''Before it accepted the invitation to join broad-based coalitions for the amendment, the Church knew that some of its members would choose not to support its position. Voting choices by Latter-day Saints, like all other people, are influenced by their own unique experiences and circumstances. As we move forward from the election, Church members need to be understanding and accepting of each other and work together for a better society.''

:—''The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'', Nov. 5, 2008
[[Image:NoOn8.vandalism.png|center]]

=Overview=
The passage of California Proposition 8 during the November 2008 election has generated a number of criticisms of the Church regarding a variety of issues including the separation of church and state, the Church's position relative to people who experience same-sex attraction, accusations of bigotry by members, and the rights of a non-profit organization to participate in the democratic process on matters not associated with elections of candidates. The proposition added a single line to the state constitution defining marriage as being between "a man and a woman." There are 29 states which currently have such a definition of marriage in their constitution. {{ref|pew1}} This article provides information about the Church's involvement with the passage of the Proposition and its aftermath. There have been more than 40 states that have put in place protections of marriage as being between a man and a woman. {{ref|ldspr1}} See [http://www.heritage.org/research/family/marriage50/ Heritage.org] and [http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=3450 TraditionalValues.org] for details on legislations and constitutional amendments protecting traditional marriage.

The campaign to support Proposition 8 placed members of the Church outside their comfort zone. Many vigorously supported the measure, while others felt conflicted between their desire to follow the Prophet's counsel and their desire not to become involved in an effort that might alienate them from friends and family members. Church critics—most notably ex-Mormons—took advantage of the effort to promote their agenda by leveraging Prop 8 to enhance their attacks on the Church, even going so far as to attempt to publicly identify and humiliate members who had donated to the campaign. The subsequent passage of the Proposition brought new challenges for members, as protests were organized, blacklists created, and even terrorist tactics employed, with the result being public humiliation and loss of business or employment for several Church members who chose to follow the Prophet's recommendation. (See: [http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/first-presidency-urges-respect-civility-in-public-discourse First Presidency Urges Respect, Civility in Public Discourse]). A good summary of post-election events by Seminary teacher Kevin Hamilton may be found in Orson Scott Card's article: [http://mormontimes.com/mormon_voices/orson_scott_card/?id=5002 Heroes and victims in Prop. 8 struggle] (Nov. 13, 2008)

This article documents the events leading up to and resulting from the effort to pass California Proposition 8 as they relate to Latter-day Saints. We recognize that there was a broad coalition of supporters, of which Latter-day Saints were only a small part. However, given the disproportionate negative reaction to the Church after the passage of the proposition, it is prudent to clarify misperceptions and answer commonly asked question about Church members' involvement in this issue.

'''Further information'''
*LDS Newsroom, [http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/measured-voices-provide-reason-support-amidst-proposition-8-reaction Measured Voices Provide Reason, Support Amidst Proposition 8 Reaction] (Nov. 21, 2008)
*[http://mormontimes.com/people_news/church_news/?id=5115 LDS Church issues new Prop. 8 overview] (Nov. 21, 2008)
*Robert P. George, Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, [http://www.byub.org/devotionals/?selectedMonth=10&selectedYear=2008 On the Moral Purposes of Law and Government], BYU Devotional (Oct. 2008)—A good explanation of why this matters to the Church. (Currently available as video only)
*LDS Newsroom, [http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/church-response-to-california-supreme-court-decision-on-proposition-8 Church Response to California Supreme Court Decision on Proposition 8] (May 26, 2009).

=The text of Proposition 8=
The following text is from the California Voter Guide for 2008:

:This initiative measure is submitted to the people in accordance with the provisions of Article II, Section 8, of the California Constitution. This initiative measure expressly amends the California Constitution by adding a section thereto; therefore, new provisions proposed to be added are printed in italic type to indicate that they are new.
:SECTION 1. Title
:This measure shall be known and may be cited as the “California Marriage Protection Act.”
:SECTION 2. Section 7.5 is added to Article I of the California Constitution, to read:
:''SEC. 7.5. Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.'' {{ref|calvoterguide}}

California Attorney General Jerry Brown modified the title of the measure to read "Eliminates right of same-sex couples to marry" before it appeared on the ballot.

=The Family: A Proclamation to the World=
In an October broadcast from Salt Lake City to Church Members in California, Elder's Ballard and Cook of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles emphasized the Church's principled stand regarding Proposition 8 by referencing among other things a document titled "The Family: A Proclamation to the World"{{ref|proclamation}}.

It reads in part:

:''We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children.''

It also declares:

:''All human beings - male and female - are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual pre-mortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.''

=Church involvement in the "Yes on 8" effort=
{{Heading2|How did the Church become involved in the Proposition 8 campaign?}}

The California Supreme Court, in the case of ''[http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/archive/S147999.PDF In Re Marriage Cases],'' on May 15, 2008, overturned a 2000 California law that established marriage as between a man and a woman. At the time, certain members of the California electorate had already been seeking an amendment to the California constitution that could not be overturned by judicial review.{{ref|sosd1}}

A ballot proposition was prepared by California residents opposed to gay marriage and disturbed by what they viewed as judicial activism. The measure needed 694,354 signatures to be placed on the ballot but 1,120,801 signatures were submitted. The measure, known as Proposition 8, was certified and placed on the ballot on June 2, 2008. The LDS church was not involved in placing Proposition 8 on the ballot.{{ref|state1}}

After Proposition 8 was placed on the ballot, the Church was approached in June 2008 in a letter sent by San Francisco Catholic Archbishop George Niederauer. This letter initiated the formation of a coalition of religions with the common goal of promoting passage of the proposition. {{ref|sfchron1}} The coalition included Catholics, Evangelicals, Protestants, Orthodox Jews, Muslims, and Latter-day Saints.

'''For more information:'''
*[[Church involvement in politics]]

{{Heading2|How were members informed?}}

==Initial letter to members==
Ecclesiastical leaders in California were sent a letter in the third week of June 2008, with instructions to read the letter to their congregations on June 29, 2008. (Only leaders in California received the letter.) The following is the text of the letter:

:'''Preserving Traditional Marriage and Strengthening Families'''

:''In March 2000 California voters overwhelmingly approved a state law providing that “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” The California Supreme Court recently reversed this vote of the people. On November 4, 2008, Californians will vote on a proposed amendment to the California state constitution that will now restore the March 2000 definition of marriage approved by the voters.''

:''The Church’s teachings and position on this moral issue are unequivocal. Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God, and the formation of families is central to the Creator’s plan for His children. Children are entitled to be born within this bond of marriage.''

:''A broad-based coalition of churches and other organizations placed the proposed amendment on the ballot. The Church will participate with this coalition in seeking its passage. Local Church leaders will provide information about how you may become involved in this important cause.''

:''We ask that you do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time to assure that marriage in California is legally defined as being between a man and a woman. Our best efforts are required to preserve the sacred institution of marriage.'' {{ref|ldsnews1}}

==Satellite broadcast==
The Church followed up the letter with a satellite broadcast to members on October 8, 2008. During the broadcast, members were told:
<blockquote>
"We invite you tonight to consider the following as your time and circumstances allow. For those with young families, substantial involvement may be out of the question, even though it may matter most to you. For others, however, we hope what we are inviting you to consider tonight will inspire you to respond with your time and your energy."
</blockquote>

Among the suggestions made during the broadcast for member involvement was a request from Elder Russell M. Ballard for young people to make use of the latest communication technology to support Proposition 8:
<blockquote>
“How do we go about that? You are critical in this effort because so many of you are connected. You are engaged in conversations through the use of technologies that were the dreams of science fiction in my day. As most of you know, we encourage members to join in the conversation. Many of you will text message, blog, make phone calls, walk your neighborhoods, and just talk to friends, associates and neighbors. These methods of engaging will be major elements of informing people of the issues and of the coalition’s position. As you do this, please do so in a sensitive manner. Our approach must always be with respect for others and their positions and opinions.”
</blockquote>

{{Heading2|Establishment of call centers}}
Among the plans mentioned by Church leaders during the satellite broadcast was the establishment of call centers. These call centers were set up in individual members' homes within the state of California. Members were to come with their mobile phones, work from coordinated lists, and then make calls. The first pass was to simply poll the people and ascertain where they stood on the issue, and if they were not familiar with it, introduce it to them. There were no "pitch" efforts involved, only education and polling.

Once the polling process was done, the day(s) before the actual election California members gathered together and went through the list of those polled and made calls to remind those considered "yes" or "probably yes" to get out and vote.
The day of the election member began calling in the morning and went to the actual polling locations to check the list of voters. Those who were on the previously compiled list of "yes" and "probably yes" who had not voted were called again. In some areas, callers asked voters who planned to vote "yes" if they knew where their polling place was and in some cases even asked them if they needed a ride to the polls.

These phone banks were not set up to "push" the passage of the proposition, but were instead designed only to be sure
that those who ''favored'' the proposition had every chance and reminder to get out and vote on the day of the election. At no time was there a pressure sale to the voters. When explaining the amendment, members were instructed to state that the proposition was for a constitutional amendment that added the following 14 words to the California constitution "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California". If someone asked what that meant, the caller explained that it meant marriage as it has been traditionally defined would be the only form of union recognized as marriage in California, meaning that marriage was only between individuals of the opposite sex.

{{Heading2|Were Church members told how to vote and commanded to work for passage of Proposition 8?}}

Church members were ''not'' told how to vote on Proposition 8. As stated in the letter and the satellite broadcast, members were asked to “do all you can to support” the passage of Proposition 8. There was no commandment for members to work on the campaign. Support was organized at a local level and volunteers' experiences varied according to area, need and campaign leaders. Members were asked to support Proposition 8 ("We ask that you do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment..."), but not commanded. While prophets may ask people to do some things, the actual “doing” is left to the individual and their agency. It is ''their'' choice to determine whether to do what the prophet asks and how much to actually do. Church leaders are aware that members within the church come from different backgrounds, have different life experiences, and different ideologies. To make an ultimatum on this issue would unnecessarily alienate people.

'''For more information:'''
*[[Authoritarianism and Church leaders]]

{{Heading2|How did Church members respond to the request to become involved?}}


In the letter from the First Presidency, there was no indication of how members were expected to fulfill the request to lend support to their requests. Members were told that "Local Church leaders will provide information about how you may become involved in this important cause," but were also left to decide for themselves how they might support Proposition 8. Support developed in several ways that typically accompany political campaigns. Members support for passage of the proposition included:

*Monetary donations
*Going door-to-door to poll voters
*Phoning voters to remind them to vote
*Sign-waving on street corners
*Hanging voting reminders on doors

There is nothing unusual in the methods that were used to support passage of the amendment. Members of the LDS Church proved instrumental in the efforts to pass Proposition 8 because members were already part of a "network" of individuals that could be utilized to educate, encourage, and mobilize others within their communities. This network succeeded, as well as it did, because the members were used to working together on projects that involved contacting people and asking for their support for various Church activities. According to David Campbell (professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame), Latter-day Saints "only get mobilized when a match is lit, and that doesn't happen very often." {{ref|sltrib.11-21}} Additionally, they were personally committed to the concept of traditional marriage, and were willing to make a special personal effort to help the proposition pass. This personal commitment was crucial to the outpouring of support for, and eventual passage of Proposition 8.

=The "No on 8" response=
:''"This was political malpractice," says a Democratic consultant who operates at the highest level of California politics...."and it was painful to watch. They shouldn't be allowed to pawn this off on the Mormons or anyone else. They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, and now hundreds of thousands of gay couples are going to pay the price.''"
:—"Same-Sex Setback," ''Rolling Stone'' (Dec. 11, 2008) 
{{parabreak}}
The "No on 8" group campaign did not emphasize that California already has domestic partnership laws in place which grant same-sex couples the civil rights associated with marriage. (See [http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=fam&group=00001-01000&file=297-297.5 California FAMILY.CODE SECTION 297-297.5]) Instead, Proposition 8 was portrayed as ''removing'' marriage rights. The passage of Proposition 8 did not remove already existing rights for same-sex couples, except for the use of the word "marriage" to describe such unions. The same rights, privileges and protections that were in place before the election remained in place after the election. However, religious organizations perceived a very real threat to their rights if Proposition 8 did not pass. The right to be licensed to perform adoptions was in jeopardy in California, as demonstrated by the North Coast Women's Care Medical Group Inc. case decided on 1 April 2008 by the California Supreme Court. This decision held that those who are licensed by the State cannot treat homosexuals differently than heterosexuals. It is easy to see how such a holding will result in LDS Social Services being denied licensing to perform adoptions if it won't perform adoptions for homosexual couples. Thus, religious groups perceived no gain and no loss to same-sex couples from passing Proposition 8, but anticipated a large possible downside to religious organizations and their essential services if it did not pass.

{{Heading2|Attempts to identify and "dig up dirt" on LDS donors before the election}}
:''There are no websites dedicated to “outing” Catholics who supported Proposition 8, even though Catholic voters heavily outnumber Mormons.''
:—Editorial, [http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YTU5MjZmMDIyMDU3NjRiMjBlNjcxYTlmOGQ2ODA5NjA Legislating Immorality], ''National Review Online'' (Nov. 24, 2008)
{{parabreak}}
*Nadine Hansen, a lawyer residing in Cedar City, Utah, created a web site called "Mormonsfor8.com" prior to the election. Hansen urges visitors to her site to "help by helping us identify Mormon donors." Hansen apparently felt that singling out the LDS donors was necessary, since religious affiliation of the donors is ''not recorded by the state''. When questioned about the purpose of this site, Hansen responded, "Any group that gets involved in the political arena has to be treated like a political action committee...You can't get involved in politics and say, 'Treat me as a church.'" {{ref|sfgate.10-27}} Hansen gave a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcL9R94MGMk speech at the 2008 Sunstone Symposium] on Proposition 8 prior to the election.

*Dante Atkins, an elected delegate to the state Democratic convention, initiated a campaign to identify and scrutinize the lives of the LDS donors. Atkins' blog in the ''Daily Kos'' linked to Hansen's web site and called for "No on 8" supporters to dig up dirt on LDS donors. Atkins asked readers to "use OpenSecrets to see if these donors have contributed to...shall we say...less than honorable causes, or if any one of these big donors has done something otherwise egregious." {{ref|beliefnet1}}

{{Heading2|The infamous "Mormon missionary home invasion" commercial}}
:''What was the reaction to the ad? Widespread condemnation? Scorn? Rebuke? Tepid criticism?
:''Nope.''
:''This newspaper, a principled opponent of Proposition 8, ran an editorial saying that the "hard-hitting ad" was too little, too late.''
:''The upshot seemed to be that if the pro-gay-marriage forces had just flooded the airwaves with more religious slander, things would have turned out better.
:—Jonah Goldberg, [http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-goldberg2-2008dec02,0,6411205.column An ugly attack on Mormons], ''Los Angeles Times'' (Dec. 2, 2008)
{{parabreak}}
On October 31, 2008, an organization calling itself the "Campaign Courage Issues Committee" released an ad on YouTube depicting two "Mormon missionaries" entering the home of a lesbian couple. The "missionaries" proclaimed that they were there to "take away your rights." The "missionaries" proceeded to ransack their home, including their underwear drawer, until they located their marriage license. They then tore up the license and left the home, claiming that it was "too easy," and wondering what rights they could take away next.

*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q28UwAyzUkE "Home Invasion": Vote NO on Prop 8] (YouTube Video)

The ad was actually aired on several television stations on election day.

{{Heading2|Accusations that "Yes on 8" ads were promoting lies}}
===The ads===
The advertising messages created for the "Yes on 8" campaign were based on case law and real-life situations. However, a rebuttal to an anonymously written "Yes on 8" document called "“Six Consequences . . . if Proposition 8 Fails” was written by LDS lawyer Morris Thurston. {{ref|thurston1}} This document was used by "No on 8" supporters to show that even LDS realized that lies were being promoted. Thurston's points were contested by another LDS attorney, Blake Ostler. {{ref|ostler1}} Upon discovering that the "No on 8" campaign was making use of his comments, Thurston issued a press release which pointed out that "A press release dated October 19 from a public relations firm representing 'No on 8' is inaccurate and misleading," and that he was "erroneously cited as having 'debunked' new California Prop 8 ads." (See [http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/prnewswire/press_releases/national/California/2008/10/21/LATU558 LDS Lawyer's Commentary Mischaracterized in 'No on 8' Press Release])

Ads and mailers produced by "Yes on 8" showed children's books promoting same-sex marriage that have been sent home with young students. One young girl tells her mother that she learned in school that "I learned how a prince can marry a prince, and I can marry a princess!"

With regard to schools, we see this statement from the "No on 8" side weeks after the election:

:Thankfully there are some great organizations out there to help schools create a safer, more inclusive environment. GLSEN works with school communities to create safe learning environments through policy advocacy and trainings for school administrators, teachers and students. Groundspark, creator of a number of educational films on preventing school bias and celebrating family diversity, will soon premier "Straightlaced," a new film encouraging teens to question their assumptions about gender roles and homophobia. Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere and (in the Bay Area) Our Family Coalition help families and youth navigate the school system and advocate for all families.

:So there's one thing both the proponents and opponents of Prop. 8 were right about -- Prop. 8 had nothing to do with the schools. And it had everything to do with the schools.
:—Isobel White, [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/isobel-white/prop-8-and-our-schools_b_150720.html Prop. 8 and our schools -- time to tell it like it is.], ''Huffington Post'', (Dec. 12, 2008)

*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PgjcgqFYP4 Yes on 8 TV Ad: It's Already Happened]
*[http://hedgehogcentral.blogspot.com/2008/10/proposition-8-and-californias.html Proposition 8 and California's Schoolchildren: A Primer on Falsehoods]

===Claims by the "No on 8" campaign===
The following claims were made by "No on 8" supporters regarding the "Yes on 8" campaign: {{ref|edge1}}
*"Unless marriage rights were rescinded, schoolchildren would be forced to learn about gay marriage in the classroom starting as early as kindergarten."
*Proposition 8 supporters "fraudulently indicated to voters that Barack Obama was in favor of Proposition 8."

===Issues incorporated into the "Yes on 8" ads during the campaign===
The following incidents occurred during the course of the campaign and influenced the "Yes on 8" advertising:

*A group of school children were taken on a field trip to their gay teacher's wedding in San Francisco. {{ref|sfgate.10-11}} The "Yes on 8" supporters incorporated a photo of this headline into subsequent mailers. The "No on 8" campaign stated that "an outing of second graders to the wedding of their lesbian teacher made headlines and proved to be a ready-made example for the Yes on 8 campaign’s claims." {{ref|edge2}}

*A teacher at the Faith Ringgold School of Arts and Science, a public school that is part of the Hayward Unified School District, "passed out cards produced by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network to her class of kindergartners." The children were asked to sign these cards, which pledged them to "not use anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) language or slurs; intervene, when I feel I can, in situations where others are using anti-LGBT language or harassing other students and actively support safer schools efforts." {{ref|faith1}} After this incident, the "Yes on 8" campaign produced a new video about the [http://californiacrusader.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/faith-ringgold-school-kindergarten-pledge-card/ Faith Ringgold Kindergarten School Pledge Card].

=Where did the money come from?=

Opponents of Proposition 8 have criticized the Church for donations to the "Yes on 8" campaign. Records filed with the State of California indicate that the Church did not make any contributions with the exception of an "in kind" contribution (non monetary) for some travel expenses. All other LDS-related money was contributed by Church members individually, not by the Church.

The amounts contributed to both sides were very high. It is reasonable for critics to question why their greater contributions to defeat Proposition 8 didn't carry the vote as they expected, but to imply that the participation of Latter-day Saint citizens—most of whom were California residents—was improper is inappropriate. Such an accusation is an exercise in empowering a straw man of their own creation.

<table border="1" align="center">
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td align="center">'''In-State Donations'''</td>
<td align="center">'''Out-of-State Donations'''</td>
<td align="center">'''Total Donations'''</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>'''For Proposition 8'''</td>
<td align="center">$25,388,955</td>
<td align="center">$10,733,582</td>
<td align="center">$36,122,538</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>'''Against Proposition 8'''</td>
<td align="center">$26,464,589</td>
<td align="center">$11,968,285</td>
<td align="center">$38,432,873</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>'''Totals'''</td>
<td align="center">$51,853,544</td>
<td align="center">$22,701,867</td>
<td align="center">$74,555,411</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="4" align="center">Source: [http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-moneymap,0,2198220.htmlstory Tracking the money], ''Los Angeles Times''</td>
</tr>
</table>

Note that out-of-state contributions to the "No" side were over $1.2 million higher than the out-of-state contributions to the "Yes" side and that out-of-state contributions to the "No" side constituted a higher percentage of the overall "No" funding than out-of-state contributions did for the "Yes" side.

There have been various estimates of monies donated to the "Yes on 8" campaign by LDS Church members, ranging from $14 to $20 million. No firm figures are available because the State of California does not request or record the religion of donors.

Estimates of LDS-related monies also do not include donations the "No on 8" campaign received as a result of LDS Church involvement in the campaign. For instance, Bruce Bastian, a onetime Mormon, has publicly stated that he donated $1 million to the "No on 8" campaign in response to LDS involvement as an effort to "level the financial playing field."{{ref|bast1}}

=The vote=

The LDS, while instrumental in helping with the passage of Proposition 8, were not solely responsible for the 52% to 48% margin (7,001,084 to 6,401,482) by which the proposition passed in the general electorate; the number of LDS voters was simply too small to account for the margin. Encouragement from LDS volunteers may have been key in turning out the "Yes on 8" vote, but to say that LDS involvement was solely responsible for such turnout seems rather myopic.

LDS may encourage their neighbors to vote "Yes on 8," but the neighbor still has to actually cast the vote. Anecdotal reports from FAIR members who live in California indicate that LDS volunteers worked closely with non-LDS volunteers to promote the proposition and turn out the vote.

{{Heading2|Voter demographics}}

*Latter-day Saints constitute less than 2% of the population of California. There are approximately 800,000 LDS out of a total population of approximately 34 million.
*Not all LDS voted in favor of Proposition 8. Active Latter-day Saints likely voted near the affirmative ratio (84-16) that their peer group that attends church at least weekly did. {{ref|cnnprop8exit}} Religion, in general, was a large factor. Self-identifying Catholics and Protestants both went around 65-35 for the amendment, with white evangelicals going 81-19.
*LDS voters represented less than 5% of the "Yes" vote. At most the Latter-day Saint vote only accounts for 58% of the victory margin using the current count on CNN. {{ref|cnnprop8count}} In other words, the Latter-day Saint vote was not enough by itself to make a difference in the final Prop 8 election results.
*The large African-American turnout (10%) for Barack Obama appears to have facilitated the passage of the proposition.{{ref|ladailynews1}} Scaling exit poll numbers, the net African-American vote (70-30) accounts for 92% of the victory margin.
*The net Latino (18%) vote at 53-47 contributed to 25% of the victory margin.
*The generation gap also played a factor. Senior citizens (15%) supported the measure at 61-39 while voters under 30 (20%) opposed it 39-61.

While Mormons played a significant role in mobilizing like-minded voters, these trends show that public perception has assigned a disproportionate amount of credit for passing Proposition 8.

=Post-election questions and myths=
{{Main|Latter-day Saints and California Proposition 8/Questions and myths}}

A number of questions have arisen, and some new myths have been propagated, since the passage of the proposition. The following links provide further detail:

*[[/Questions and myths#Questions|Questions]]
**[[/Questions and myths#Were Church members who were opposed to Proposition 8 disciplined?|Were Church members who were opposed to Proposition 8 disciplined?]]
**[[/Questions and myths#Did the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints contribute money to the "Yes on 8" campaign?|Did the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints contribute money to the "Yes on 8" campaign?]]
** [[/Questions and myths#Did the Church use its facilities or donation processing system to collect money destined for the "Yes on 8" campaign?|Did the Church use its facilities or donation processing system to collect money destined for the "Yes on 8" campaign?]]
**[[/Questions and myths#Did the Church violate its tax-exempt status by participating in the "Yes on 8" campaign?|Did the Church violate its tax-exempt status by participating in the "Yes on 8" campaign?]]
**[[/Questions and myths#But what about the companies that the Church owns?|But what about the companies that the Church owns?]]
**[[/Questions and myths#Were the contributions made by Church members tax deductible?|Were the contributions made by Church members tax deductible?]]
**[[/Questions and myths#Were Church members told how much to contribute to the effort?|Were Church members told how much to contribute to the effort?]]
**[[/Questions and myths#Did the Church invest more money in Proposition 8 than in all of its combined humanitarian efforts?|Did the Church invest more money in Proposition 8 than in all of its combined humanitarian efforts?]]
**[[/Questions and myths#Wouldn't the money that Church members contributed to the cause have been better spent on humanitarian needs?|Wouldn't the money that Church members contributed to the cause have been better spent on humanitarian needs?]]
**[[/Questions and myths#How does the Church reconcile its opposition to same-sex marriage when it once supported plural marriage|How does the Church reconcile its opposition to same-sex marriage when it once supported plural marriage?]]
*[[/Questions and myths#Myths|Myths]]
**[[/Questions and myths#MYTH: Large numbers of people are resigning from the Church because of its support of Prop 8|Large numbers of people are resigning from the Church because of its support of Prop 8]]
**[[/Questions and myths#MYTH: Mormons were motivated to do this merely as a vehicle to be considered more mainstream Christian|Mormons were motivated to do this merely as a vehicle to be considered more mainstream Christian]]
**[[/Questions and myths#MYTH: The church sent thousands of missionaries door to door in CA handing out fliers|The church sent thousands of missionaries door to door in CA handing out fliers]]
**[[/Questions and myths#MYTH: The Church sent large numbers of out-of-state people in to assist with the "Yes-on-8" campaign|The Church sent large numbers of out-of-state people in to assist with the "Yes-on-8" campaign]]

=Post-election events=
{{Main|Latter-day Saints and California Proposition 8/Post-Election Events}}
[[Image:Ukiah.vandalism.1B.png|right]]
:''In the days after the election, tens of thousands of people, gay and straight, took to the streets of cities and towns throughout the country in spontaneously organized protest. But the mood at these gatherings, by all accounts, was seldom angry; it was cheerful, determined, and hopeful.''
:—Hendrik Hertzberg, [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27887428/ (Proposition) Eight is enough], ''The New Yorker'' (Nov. 24, 2008)
{{parabreak}}
:''The outbreak of attacks on the Mormon church since the passage of Proposition 8 has been chilling: envelopes full of suspicious white powder were sent to church headquarters in Salt Lake City; protesters showed up en masse to intimidate Mormon small-business owners who supported the measure; a website was created to identify and shame members of the church who backed it; activists are targeting the relatives of prominent Mormons who gave money to pass it, as well as other Mormons who are only tangentially associated with the cause; some have even called for a boycott of the entire state of Utah.''
:—Editorial, [http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YTU5MjZmMDIyMDU3NjRiMjBlNjcxYTlmOGQ2ODA5NjA Legislating Immorality], ''National Review Online'' (Nov. 24, 2008)
{{parabreak}}
:''The Mormon church has had to rely on our tolerance in the past, to be able to express their beliefs...This is a huge mistake for them. It looks like they've forgotten some lessons.''
:—San Francisco supervisor Bevan Dufty, at a protest in front of the Oakland Temple
{{parabreak}}
:''Members of the Mormon church have experienced significant intolerance ranging from expulsion from Illinois in the dead of winter to an extermination order by the Governor of Missouri. It has seen its members raped and murdered as the result of state sponsored intolerance, acts you seem to condone by implication. Are these the lessons you refer to, and are you proposing to apply those lessons again? Are you suggesting that Mormon’s need your permission to participate in the political process or to practice our beliefs, and what remedy do you propose for failed compliance?''
:—FAIR's response to Supervisor Dufty, which remains unanswered.
{{parabreak}}
There were a large number of post-election events targeted toward Latter-day Saints, and some targeted towards others. Click on any of the following items to see complete details:

*[[/Post-Election Events#Threats from "No on 8" supporters|Threats from "No on 8" supporters]]
*[[/Post-Election Events#Church response|Church response]]
*[[/Post-Election Events#Negative reactions|Negative reactions]]
**[[/Post-Election Events#Accusations of hatred and bigotry|Accusations of hatred and bigotry]]
**[[/Post-Election Events#Protests at LDS places of worship|Protests at LDS places of worship]]
**[[/Post-Election Events#Protests at other Christian places of worship|Protests at other Christian places of worship]]
**[[/Post-Election Events#Vandalism of LDS Chapels by "No on 8" supporters|Vandalism of LDS Chapels by "No on 8" supporters]]
**[[/Post-Election Events#Harassment|Harassment]]
**[[/Post-Election Events#Mormons have "forgotten some lessons"?|Mormons have "forgotten some lessons"?]]
**[[/Post-Election Events#Terrorist tactics|Terrorist tactics]]
**[[/Post-Election Events#Hacking of Church related web site|Hacking of Church related web site]]
**[[/Post-Election Events#Threats to revoke the Church's tax-exempt status|Threats to revoke the Church's tax-exempt status]]
**[[/Post-Election Events#Blacklists and boycotts|Blacklists and boycotts]]
**[[/Post-Election Events#Intimidation and forced resignation of donors by identifying their religious affiliation as LDS|Intimidation and forced resignation of donors by identifying their religious affiliation as LDS]]
**[[/Post-Election Events#Intimidation of gays and lesbians|Intimidation of gays and lesbians]]
**[[/Post-Election Events#Absence of support from political leaders|Absence of support from political leaders]]
*[[/Post-Election Events#Positive effects|Positive effects]]
**[[/Post-Election Events#Expressions of support from other Christians|Expressions of support from other Christians]]
**[[/Post-Election Events#Condemnation of criminal activity by those who opposed Proposition 8|Condemnation of criminal activity by those who opposed Proposition 8]]

=Endnotes=
{{ExplicitLanguage}}
#{{note|pew1}}[http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=370 States With Voter-Approved Constitutional Bans on Same-Sex Marriage, 1998-2008 ], ''The Pew Forum'' (Nov. 13, 2008)
#{{note|ldspr1}}[http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/first-presidency-urges-respect-civility-in-public-discourse First Presidency Urges Respect, Civility in Public Discourse] (Nov. 14, 2008)
#{{note|calvoterguide}}[http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov/text-proposed-laws/text-of-proposed-laws.pdf California Voter Guide]
#{{note|proclamation}}[http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=e1fa5f74db46c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=5fd30f9856c20110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&hideNav=1 The Family: A Proclamation to the World]

#{{note|sosd1}}Bill Ainsworth, "[http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20071112-9999-1n12gayright.html Groups Joust Over Gay Rights in California]," ''San Diego Union Tribune'' (Nov. 12, 2007).
#{{note|state1}}Folmar, Kate (June 2, 2008). [http://www.sos.ca.gov/admin/press-releases/2008/DB08-068.pdf Secretary of State Debra Bowen Certifies Eighth Measure for November 4, 2008, General Election] (PDF). ''California Secretary of State.''
#{{note|sfchron1}}Matthai Kuruvila, [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/10/MNU1140AQQ.DTL "Catholics, Mormons allied to pass Prop. 8"], ''San Francisco Chronicle'' (Nov. 10, 2008)

#{{note|ldsnews1}}[http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/california-and-same-sex-marriage California and Same-Sex Marriage], LDS Newsroom
#{{note|sltrib.11-21}}Peggy Fletcher Stack, [http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_11044660?source=rss Prop 8 involvement a P.R. fiasco for LDS Church], ''Salt Lake Tribune'' (Nov. 21, 2008)

#{{note|sfgate.10-27}}Matthai Kuruvila, [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/26/BAP113OIRD.DTL&tsp=1 Mormons face flak for backing Prop. 8], ''San Francisco Chronicle'' (Oct. 27, 2008)
#{{note|beliefnet1}}[http://blog.beliefnet.com/news/2008/10/for-mormons-californias-prop-8.php For Mormons, California's Prop 8 Battle Turns Personal], ''beliefnet'' (Oct. 4, 2008)
#{{note|thurston1}}Morris Thurston, [http://www.hrc.org/documents/Responses_to_Six_Consequences_if_Prop_8_Fails.pdf A Commentary on the Document “Six Consequences . . . if Proposition 8 Fails”]
#{{note|ostler1}}Blake Ostler, [http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2008/10/prop-8-comment-they-would-not-print/569/ Prop 8 comment (that is now a Prop 8 post)] (Oct. 20, 2008)
#{{note|edge1}}Kilian Melloy, [http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc2=news&sc3=&id=83977 ’No on 8’ Heads Justify Their Losing Campaign], ''Edge'' (Nov. 27, 2008)
#{{note|sfgate.10-11}}Jill Tucker, [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/10/MNFG13F1VG.DTL Class surprises lesbian teacher on wedding day], ''San Francisco Chronicle'' (Oct. 11, 2008)
#{{note|edge2}}Kilian Melloy, [http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc2=news&sc3=&id=83977 ’No on 8’ Heads Justify Their Losing Campaign], ''Edge'' (Nov. 27, 2008)
#{{note|faith1}}Michelle Maskaly , [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,445865,00.html School Clams Up on 'Gay' Pledge Cards Given to Kindergartners], ''Fox News'' (Nov. 1, 2008)
#{{note|bast1}}John Wildermuth, "[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/16/BAJG144PTB.DTL&type=politics Wealthy gay men backed anti-Prop. 8 effort]," ''San Francisco Chronicle'' (Nov. 16, 2008).

#{{note|cnnprop8exit}}CNN exit poll, [http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#val=CAI01p1 California Proposition 8: Ban on Gay Marriage, 2,240 Respondents] (last accessed Nov. 17, 2008)
#{{note|cnnprop8count}}CNN Election Center 2008, [http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/individual/#CAI01 California Proposition 8: Ban on Gay Marriage, Full Results] (last accessed Nov. 17, 2008)
#{{note|ladailynews1}}Tony Castro, [http://www.dailynews.com/ci_10910908 Black, Latino voters helped Prop. 8 pass], ''LA Daily News'' (Nov. 5, 2008)

=Further reading=

==FAIR wiki articles==
{{PoliticsWiki}}


==Videos==
'''Yes on 8 ads'''
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l61Pd5_jHQw Yes on 8 TV Ad: Truth]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7352ZVMKBQM Yes on 8 TV Ad: Everything To Do With Schools]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PgjcgqFYP4 Yes on 8 TV Ad: It's Already Happened]

'''No on 8 ads'''
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB0lZ8XbmJM advanced Conversation - No On Prop 8]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opx-v_OhFnQ Parents]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7LdC1RxvZg Senator Feinstein: No on Prop 8]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIL7PUl24hE Prop 8 has nothing to do with schools], Jack O. Connell, California Superintendant of Schools
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSCop9BtgdU&feature=related California Clergy Urge You to Vote No on Prop 8]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q28UwAyzUkE "Home Invasion": Vote NO on Prop 8]

'''Press conferences'''
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU8uuPhQog0 Prop 8 Proponents Speak Out Against Attacks] (Press conference held Nov. 14, 2008)

==External links==
'''Proposition 8 related'''
*Paul Bishop, [http://www.ldsmag.com/ideas/081110hate.html In the Face of Hatred], ''Meridian Magazine'', November 12, 2008.
'''Church involvement in politics'''
*{{Ensign1|author=Gordon B. Hinckley|article=Why We Do Some of the Things We Do|date=November 1999|start=52}}{{link|url=http://www.lds.org/portal/site/LDSOrg/menuitem.b12f9d18fae655bb69095bd3e44916a0/?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=ff1b6a4430c0c010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1}}
*{{BYUS | author=Hugh Nibley | article=[http://byustudies.byu.edu/shop/pdfsrc/15.1Nibley.pdf Beyond Politics]|vol=15|num=1|date=1974|start=1|end=21}}

{{Suggestions}}

[[de:Proposition_8]]

Question: Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

2009-06-24T15:39:48Z

Cachemagic: /* Areas in Utah with High Subscription Rates */

{{draft}} 
{{question}}
==Criticism==
Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

===Source(s) of the Criticism===

* This criticism got its start on the Internet. The source of the data upon which it is based is: Benjamin Edelman published a study in the ''Journal of Economic Perspectives'' (vol 23, Number 1; p 209-220) on [http://www.people.hbs.edu/bedelman/papers/redlightstates.pdf Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?]

The data showed that Utah had the highest number of subscriptions (5.47 per thousand home broadband users). Since Utah also has the largest concentration of Mormons, it has been suggested that there is a correlation between the rate of adult subscriptions and the large percentage of Mormons in Utah.

==Response==
===Is the Ranking Significant?===
Professor Edelman mentioned in his paper that difference from the top state to the bottom state on this metric is rather small.

:The ratio of these extremes is just 2.85--relatively small in comparison to states' diversity in other respects. For extremes in overall population density (excluding Alaska), compare New Jersey (1,175 people per square mile) to Wyoming (5.25), a ratio of 223:1. In truck ownership, compare North Dakota (590 trucks per thousand people) to New York (0.15), a ratio of 3933:1. In proportion of the population over 65, compare Pennsylvania (15.2 percent) to Alaska (5.3 percent) and Utah (7.3 percent), ratios of 2.86:1 and 2.08:1.

So although Utah is rated the highest in number of subscriptions, it is not far above even the lowest state (Montana at 1.92) in the number of subscriptions. While Utah is also a participant in the worldwide pornography phenomenon, it is not significantly above other states in their participation. Of course the question still to be resolved is why Utah is the leader in this comparison.

Use of adult entertainment sites is very pervasive. The same report states, "As of June 2008, 36 percent of Internet users visit at least one adult website each month" (page 212).

===What Makes Utah Different?===
Utah has significant restrictions on the display and sales of hard core pornographic materials. The [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1206 Utah Statutes] [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1228] have the effect of making it much more difficult to get easy access to adult material. This forces those who might otherwise buy magazines or other adult materials to use the web to get access to that information. In Utah, access to most adult entertainment requires the use of the Internet. Therefore, the number of Internet users of pornography would be higher than states with different laws if all other factors were the same.

In an email with Deseret News, Edelman write, "one possibility is that Utah consumers find it difficult to obtain their desired adult entertainment through retail purchases. . . . As a result, Utah residents may be buying online (hence appearing in my dataset), whereas people elsewhere buy retail (hence not in my dataset)." [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html?pg=1]

Even though Utah started out as predominantly LDS, that is no longer the case. LDS population estimates for Utah suggest that they only make up 60% of the state with Salt Lake County barely over 50%. Even these figures will not give a complete pictures since many of those that are still considered members of the Church have no active involvement in the Church or feel a need to maintain Church standards.

Logan psychotherapist Tod Freestone says the fact that porn is not as visible in Utah makes it more enticing. "If you're seeing it all the time" in cities like Las Vegas, he says, "and it flashes up on your computer screen, then it's not that big a deal." [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html?pg=2]

"The forbidden is really tempting," University of Utah sociology professor Theresa A. Martinez told Davidson. "Where you have a culture that is known for family values, morality and apple pie, you will also have curiosity and interest in the forbidden."[http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html?pg=2]

===How Do Other Mormon Communities Rank?===
After Utah, the next two states with significant LDS populations are Idaho (26%) and Wyoming (10%). Interestingly, they are both much lower in adult subscriptions than Utah. Wyoming shows a subscription rate of 2.29 per thousand home broadband users and Idaho is second to last place at 1.98.

===What are the Factors that Would Affect the Ranking?===
In the report by Mr. Edelman, he outlined 13 factors (pages 216-219) and how they influenced the subscription rate for adult entertainment.

# '''Household Income.''' A $1,000 increase in average household income in a ZIP Code is associated with a 0.36 percent increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Age 15-24.''' A 1% increase in residents aged 15-24 (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.19 percentage increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Over 65.''' A 1% increase in residents of age 65 or older (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.13 percent reduction in subscriptions.
# '''College Graduates.''' A 1% increase in college graduates is associated with a 0.12 percent increase in subscribers.
# '''Graduate Degrees.''' 1% more graduate degrees yields 0.30 percent fewer subscriptions.
# '''Urban Areas.''' Subscriptions are 38% more prevalent in urban areas.
# '''High-density Urban.''' In high-density urban areas (more than 5000 people per square mile), subscriptions drop somewhat.
# '''Marriage Rates.''' A 1% increase in marriage rates is associated with a 0.65 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''Divorce Rate.''' A 1% increase in divorce rates is associated with a 0.28 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''States with Conservative Legislation.''' Subscriptions are slightly more prevalent in states that have enacted conservative legislation on sexuality... In such states...11 percent more than in other states.
# '''States with Conservative Positions on Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where surveys indicate conservative positions on religion, gender roles, and sexuality.
# '''Where People Agree with Miracles and God.''' In states where more people agree that "Even today miracles are performed by the power of God" and "I never doubt the existence of God," there are more subscriptions.
# '''Old Fashioned Values about Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where more people agree that "I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage" and "AIDS might be God's punishment for immoral sexual behavior."

Of course, some of these factors will be interrelated, but we can look at which factors could apply to Utah and we will see that the demographics of the state would suggest that Utah should have a higher than normal subscription rate. In almost every case these factors would suggest that Utah would have a higher subscription rate than the average population.

===Do Some in Utah Have a Pornography Addiction?===
Yes, of course, as do some throughout the rest of the United States. Interestingly, Utah is also more concerned about pornography addiction than any other state as shown by ranking in Google Trends. Using Utah as the baseline, the three top states for "pornography addiction" search request are 100% in Utah, 43% in Idaho and 23.5% in Tennessee, with Salt Lake City (100%), Boise, Idaho (41.5%)and Portland, Oregon (26.5%) as the three leading cities.

There are Pornography Addiction Support Group (PASG) meetings run by LDS Family Services throughout Utah most days of the week. [http://providentliving.org/content/list/0,11664,4177-1,00.html LDS Family Services] sponsors addiction recovery support meetings to assist individuals who desire freedom from addiction and a better life through gospel fellowship.

==Conclusion==

# The difference between top and bottom state is small—it may be difficult to draw firm conclusions when relatively small numbers of people can make the difference in ranking.
# Legal restrictions on other forms of pornography in Utah may make on-line sources the most attractive for those who seek this material.
# The social/religious pressure ''against'' pornography in LDS culture may make the privacy of on-line access particularly appealing, as opposed to sex shops, porno theaters, magazine subscriptions or purchases, etc.
# Utah has many characteristics which would tend to increase use in this type of study:
* higher than average household [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R1901&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-redoLog=false&-format=US-30&-mt_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_R1901_US30&-CONTEXT=grt income data]
* population that skews younger [http://governor.utah.gov/dea/projections.html data]
* higher than average college graduates [http://www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/index.php?measure=93 data]
* conservative legislation controlling pornography distribution via other channels
* conservative ideas about religion, marriage, and God (perhaps at least partly due to the social stigma against pornography consumption that is not 'hidden' from others)

It is not clear, however, that the characteristics of Utah (e.g., less divorce, more education, younger) are necessarily ''bad'' things. Utah may represent a sort of "perfect storm" in this study in which a number of factors come together to boost its scores.

The Church, of course, abhors and repudiates both the production of pornography—which exploits the participants—and its consumption, since it is spiritually damaging and harmful to a healthy marital and sexual life.

==Endnotes==

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki===
{{StatsWiki}}

===FAIR website===
{{StatsFAIR}}

===On-line articles===
{{StatsLinks}}

===Print works===
{{StatsPrint}}

Question: Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

2009-06-23T15:13:36Z

Cachemagic: /* What Makes Utah Different? */

{{draft}} 
{{question}}
==Criticism==
Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

===Source(s) of the Criticism===

* This criticism got its start on the Internet. The source of the data upon which it is based is: Benjamin Edelman published a study in the ''Journal of Economic Perspectives'' (vol 23, Number 1; p 209-220) on [http://www.people.hbs.edu/bedelman/papers/redlightstates.pdf Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?]

The data showed that Utah had the highest number of subscriptions (5.47 per thousand home broadband users). Since Utah also has the largest concentration of Mormons, it has been suggested that there is a correlation between the rate of adult subscriptions and the large percentage of Mormons in Utah.

==Response==
===Is the Ranking Significant?===
Professor Edelman mentioned in his paper that difference from the top state to the bottom state on this metric is rather small.

:The ratio of these extremes is just 2.85--relatively small in comparison to states' diversity in other respects. For extremes in overall population density (excluding Alaska), compare New Jersey (1,175 people per square mile) to Wyoming (5.25), a ratio of 223:1. In truck ownership, compare North Dakota (590 trucks per thousand people) to New York (0.15), a ratio of 3933:1. In proportion of the population over 65, compare Pennsylvania (15.2 percent) to Alaska (5.3 percent) and Utah (7.3 percent), ratios of 2.86:1 and 2.08:1.

So although Utah is rated the highest in number of subscriptions, it is not far above even the lowest state (Montana at 1.92) in the number of subscriptions. While Utah is also a participant in the worldwide pornography phenomenon, it is not significantly above other states in their participation. Of course the question still to be resolved is why Utah is the leader in this comparison.

Use of adult entertainment sites is very pervasive. The same report states, "As of June 2008, 36 percent of Internet users visit at least one adult website each month" (page 212).

===What Makes Utah Different?===
Utah has significant restrictions on the display and sales of hard core pornographic materials. The [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1206 Utah Statutes] [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1228] have the effect of making it much more difficult to get easy access to adult material. This forces those who might otherwise buy magazines or other adult materials to use the web to get access to that information. In Utah, access to most adult entertainment requires the use of the Internet. Therefore, the number of Internet users of pornography would be higher than states with different laws if all other factors were the same.

In an email with Deseret News, Edelman write, "one possibility is that Utah consumers find it difficult to obtain their desired adult entertainment through retail purchases. . . . As a result, Utah residents may be buying online (hence appearing in my dataset), whereas people elsewhere buy retail (hence not in my dataset)." [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html?pg=1]

Even though Utah started out as predominantly LDS, that is no longer the case. LDS population estimates for Utah suggest that they only make up 60% of the state with Salt Lake County barely over 50%. Even these figures will not give a complete pictures since many of those that are still considered members of the Church have no active involvement in the Church or feel a need to maintain Church standards.

Logan psychotherapist Tod Freestone says the fact that porn is not as visible in Utah makes it more enticing. "If you're seeing it all the time" in cities like Las Vegas, he says, "and it flashes up on your computer screen, then it's not that big a deal." [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html?pg=2]

"The forbidden is really tempting," University of Utah sociology professor Theresa A. Martinez told Davidson. "Where you have a culture that is known for family values, morality and apple pie, you will also have curiosity and interest in the forbidden."[http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html?pg=2]

===Areas in Utah with High Subscription Rates===
While the report didn't indicate the results for all of the zip codes in Utah, the [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html Deseret News] reported the following ZIP Codes with "unexpectedly high subscriptions relative to their population and broadband usage."

* 84766 - Sevier, UT an unincorporated community in Sevier County with a population of 157, no registered sex offenders
* 84112 - University of Utah
* 84018 - Croydon, UT with a population of 134 and 2 registered sex offenders
* 84006 - Bingham, UT with a population of 859 and 4 registered sex offenders
* 84536 - Monument Valley, UT with a population of 1,836 and no registered sex offenders

These all seem to be low population centers that can be easily affected by just a few subscribers, plus the University of Utah which is likely to have a more diverse population that would not be representative of the rest of Utah. But this population could have a significant affect on the subscription rates that are computed for the whole state.

===How Do Other Mormon Communities Rank?===
After Utah, the next two states with significant LDS populations are Idaho (26%) and Wyoming (10%). Interestingly, they are both much lower in adult subscriptions than Utah. Wyoming shows a subscription rate of 2.29 per thousand home broadband users and Idaho is second to last place at 1.98.

===What are the Factors that Would Affect the Ranking?===
In the report by Mr. Edelman, he outlined 13 factors (pages 216-219) and how they influenced the subscription rate for adult entertainment.

# '''Household Income.''' A $1,000 increase in average household income in a ZIP Code is associated with a 0.36 percent increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Age 15-24.''' A 1% increase in residents aged 15-24 (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.19 percentage increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Over 65.''' A 1% increase in residents of age 65 or older (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.13 percent reduction in subscriptions.
# '''College Graduates.''' A 1% increase in college graduates is associated with a 0.12 percent increase in subscribers.
# '''Graduate Degrees.''' 1% more graduate degrees yields 0.30 percent fewer subscriptions.
# '''Urban Areas.''' Subscriptions are 38% more prevalent in urban areas.
# '''High-density Urban.''' In high-density urban areas (more than 5000 people per square mile), subscriptions drop somewhat.
# '''Marriage Rates.''' A 1% increase in marriage rates is associated with a 0.65 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''Divorce Rate.''' A 1% increase in divorce rates is associated with a 0.28 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''States with Conservative Legislation.''' Subscriptions are slightly more prevalent in states that have enacted conservative legislation on sexuality... In such states...11 percent more than in other states.
# '''States with Conservative Positions on Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where surveys indicate conservative positions on religion, gender roles, and sexuality.
# '''Where People Agree with Miracles and God.''' In states where more people agree that "Even today miracles are performed by the power of God" and "I never doubt the existence of God," there are more subscriptions.
# '''Old Fashioned Values about Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where more people agree that "I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage" and "AIDS might be God's punishment for immoral sexual behavior."

Of course, some of these factors will be interrelated, but we can look at which factors could apply to Utah and we will see that the demographics of the state would suggest that Utah should have a higher than normal subscription rate. In almost every case these factors would suggest that Utah would have a higher subscription rate than the average population.

===Do Some in Utah Have a Pornography Addiction?===
Yes, of course, as do some throughout the rest of the United States. Interestingly, Utah is also more concerned about pornography addiction than any other state as shown by ranking in Google Trends. Using Utah as the baseline, the three top states for "pornography addiction" search request are 100% in Utah, 43% in Idaho and 23.5% in Tennessee, with Salt Lake City (100%), Boise, Idaho (41.5%)and Portland, Oregon (26.5%) as the three leading cities.

There are Pornography Addiction Support Group (PASG) meetings run by LDS Family Services throughout Utah most days of the week. [http://providentliving.org/content/list/0,11664,4177-1,00.html LDS Family Services] sponsors addiction recovery support meetings to assist individuals who desire freedom from addiction and a better life through gospel fellowship.

==Conclusion==

# The difference between top and bottom state is small—it may be difficult to draw firm conclusions when relatively small numbers of people can make the difference in ranking.
# Legal restrictions on other forms of pornography in Utah may make on-line sources the most attractive for those who seek this material.
# The social/religious pressure ''against'' pornography in LDS culture may make the privacy of on-line access particularly appealing, as opposed to sex shops, porno theaters, magazine subscriptions or purchases, etc.
# Utah has many characteristics which would tend to increase use in this type of study:
* higher than average household [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R1901&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-redoLog=false&-format=US-30&-mt_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_R1901_US30&-CONTEXT=grt income data]
* population that skews younger [http://governor.utah.gov/dea/projections.html data]
* higher than average college graduates [http://www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/index.php?measure=93 data]
* conservative legislation controlling pornography distribution via other channels
* conservative ideas about religion, marriage, and God (perhaps at least partly due to the social stigma against pornography consumption that is not 'hidden' from others)

It is not clear, however, that the characteristics of Utah (e.g., less divorce, more education, younger) are necessarily ''bad'' things. Utah may represent a sort of "perfect storm" in this study in which a number of factors come together to boost its scores.

The Church, of course, abhors and repudiates both the production of pornography—which exploits the participants—and its consumption, since it is spiritually damaging and harmful to a healthy marital and sexual life.

==Endnotes==

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki===
{{StatsWiki}}

===FAIR website===
{{StatsFAIR}}

===On-line articles===
{{StatsLinks}}

===Print works===
{{StatsPrint}}

Question: Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

2009-06-23T15:10:57Z

Cachemagic: /* What Makes Utah Different? */

{{draft}} 
{{question}}
==Criticism==
Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

===Source(s) of the Criticism===

* This criticism got its start on the Internet. The source of the data upon which it is based is: Benjamin Edelman published a study in the ''Journal of Economic Perspectives'' (vol 23, Number 1; p 209-220) on [http://www.people.hbs.edu/bedelman/papers/redlightstates.pdf Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?]

The data showed that Utah had the highest number of subscriptions (5.47 per thousand home broadband users). Since Utah also has the largest concentration of Mormons, it has been suggested that there is a correlation between the rate of adult subscriptions and the large percentage of Mormons in Utah.

==Response==
===Is the Ranking Significant?===
Professor Edelman mentioned in his paper that difference from the top state to the bottom state on this metric is rather small.

:The ratio of these extremes is just 2.85--relatively small in comparison to states' diversity in other respects. For extremes in overall population density (excluding Alaska), compare New Jersey (1,175 people per square mile) to Wyoming (5.25), a ratio of 223:1. In truck ownership, compare North Dakota (590 trucks per thousand people) to New York (0.15), a ratio of 3933:1. In proportion of the population over 65, compare Pennsylvania (15.2 percent) to Alaska (5.3 percent) and Utah (7.3 percent), ratios of 2.86:1 and 2.08:1.

So although Utah is rated the highest in number of subscriptions, it is not far above even the lowest state (Montana at 1.92) in the number of subscriptions. While Utah is also a participant in the worldwide pornography phenomenon, it is not significantly above other states in their participation. Of course the question still to be resolved is why Utah is the leader in this comparison.

Use of adult entertainment sites is very pervasive. The same report states, "As of June 2008, 36 percent of Internet users visit at least one adult website each month" (page 212).

===What Makes Utah Different?===
Utah has significant restrictions on the display and sales of hard core pornographic materials. The [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1206 Utah Statutes] [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1228] have the effect of making it much more difficult to get easy access to adult material. This forces those who might otherwise buy magazines or other adult materials to use the web to get access to that information. In Utah, access to most adult entertainment requires the use of the Internet. Therefore, the number of Internet users of pornography would be higher than states with different laws if all other factors were the same.

Even though Utah started out as predominantly LDS, that is no longer the case. LDS population estimates for Utah suggest that they only make up 60% of the state with Salt Lake County barely over 50%. Even these figures will not give a complete pictures since many of those that are still considered members of the Church have no active involvement in the Church or feel a need to maintain Church standards.

Logan psychotherapist Tod Freestone says the fact that porn is not as visible in Utah makes it more enticing. "If you're seeing it all the time" in cities like Las Vegas, he says, "and it flashes up on your computer screen, then it's not that big a deal." [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html?pg=2]

"The forbidden is really tempting," University of Utah sociology professor Theresa A. Martinez told Davidson. "Where you have a culture that is known for family values, morality and apple pie, you will also have curiosity and interest in the forbidden."[http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html?pg=2]

===Areas in Utah with High Subscription Rates===
While the report didn't indicate the results for all of the zip codes in Utah, the [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html Deseret News] reported the following ZIP Codes with "unexpectedly high subscriptions relative to their population and broadband usage."

* 84766 - Sevier, UT an unincorporated community in Sevier County with a population of 157, no registered sex offenders
* 84112 - University of Utah
* 84018 - Croydon, UT with a population of 134 and 2 registered sex offenders
* 84006 - Bingham, UT with a population of 859 and 4 registered sex offenders
* 84536 - Monument Valley, UT with a population of 1,836 and no registered sex offenders

These all seem to be low population centers that can be easily affected by just a few subscribers, plus the University of Utah which is likely to have a more diverse population that would not be representative of the rest of Utah. But this population could have a significant affect on the subscription rates that are computed for the whole state.

===How Do Other Mormon Communities Rank?===
After Utah, the next two states with significant LDS populations are Idaho (26%) and Wyoming (10%). Interestingly, they are both much lower in adult subscriptions than Utah. Wyoming shows a subscription rate of 2.29 per thousand home broadband users and Idaho is second to last place at 1.98.

===What are the Factors that Would Affect the Ranking?===
In the report by Mr. Edelman, he outlined 13 factors (pages 216-219) and how they influenced the subscription rate for adult entertainment.

# '''Household Income.''' A $1,000 increase in average household income in a ZIP Code is associated with a 0.36 percent increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Age 15-24.''' A 1% increase in residents aged 15-24 (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.19 percentage increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Over 65.''' A 1% increase in residents of age 65 or older (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.13 percent reduction in subscriptions.
# '''College Graduates.''' A 1% increase in college graduates is associated with a 0.12 percent increase in subscribers.
# '''Graduate Degrees.''' 1% more graduate degrees yields 0.30 percent fewer subscriptions.
# '''Urban Areas.''' Subscriptions are 38% more prevalent in urban areas.
# '''High-density Urban.''' In high-density urban areas (more than 5000 people per square mile), subscriptions drop somewhat.
# '''Marriage Rates.''' A 1% increase in marriage rates is associated with a 0.65 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''Divorce Rate.''' A 1% increase in divorce rates is associated with a 0.28 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''States with Conservative Legislation.''' Subscriptions are slightly more prevalent in states that have enacted conservative legislation on sexuality... In such states...11 percent more than in other states.
# '''States with Conservative Positions on Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where surveys indicate conservative positions on religion, gender roles, and sexuality.
# '''Where People Agree with Miracles and God.''' In states where more people agree that "Even today miracles are performed by the power of God" and "I never doubt the existence of God," there are more subscriptions.
# '''Old Fashioned Values about Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where more people agree that "I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage" and "AIDS might be God's punishment for immoral sexual behavior."

Of course, some of these factors will be interrelated, but we can look at which factors could apply to Utah and we will see that the demographics of the state would suggest that Utah should have a higher than normal subscription rate. In almost every case these factors would suggest that Utah would have a higher subscription rate than the average population.

===Do Some in Utah Have a Pornography Addiction?===
Yes, of course, as do some throughout the rest of the United States. Interestingly, Utah is also more concerned about pornography addiction than any other state as shown by ranking in Google Trends. Using Utah as the baseline, the three top states for "pornography addiction" search request are 100% in Utah, 43% in Idaho and 23.5% in Tennessee, with Salt Lake City (100%), Boise, Idaho (41.5%)and Portland, Oregon (26.5%) as the three leading cities.

There are Pornography Addiction Support Group (PASG) meetings run by LDS Family Services throughout Utah most days of the week. [http://providentliving.org/content/list/0,11664,4177-1,00.html LDS Family Services] sponsors addiction recovery support meetings to assist individuals who desire freedom from addiction and a better life through gospel fellowship.

==Conclusion==

# The difference between top and bottom state is small—it may be difficult to draw firm conclusions when relatively small numbers of people can make the difference in ranking.
# Legal restrictions on other forms of pornography in Utah may make on-line sources the most attractive for those who seek this material.
# The social/religious pressure ''against'' pornography in LDS culture may make the privacy of on-line access particularly appealing, as opposed to sex shops, porno theaters, magazine subscriptions or purchases, etc.
# Utah has many characteristics which would tend to increase use in this type of study:
* higher than average household [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R1901&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-redoLog=false&-format=US-30&-mt_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_R1901_US30&-CONTEXT=grt income data]
* population that skews younger [http://governor.utah.gov/dea/projections.html data]
* higher than average college graduates [http://www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/index.php?measure=93 data]
* conservative legislation controlling pornography distribution via other channels
* conservative ideas about religion, marriage, and God (perhaps at least partly due to the social stigma against pornography consumption that is not 'hidden' from others)

It is not clear, however, that the characteristics of Utah (e.g., less divorce, more education, younger) are necessarily ''bad'' things. Utah may represent a sort of "perfect storm" in this study in which a number of factors come together to boost its scores.

The Church, of course, abhors and repudiates both the production of pornography—which exploits the participants—and its consumption, since it is spiritually damaging and harmful to a healthy marital and sexual life.

==Endnotes==

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki===
{{StatsWiki}}

===FAIR website===
{{StatsFAIR}}

===On-line articles===
{{StatsLinks}}

===Print works===
{{StatsPrint}}

Question: Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

2009-06-21T16:02:02Z

Cachemagic: /* Conclusion */

{{draft}} 
{{question}}
==Criticism==
Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

===Source(s) of the Criticism===

* This criticism got its start on the Internet. The source of the data upon which it is based is: Benjamin Edelman published a study in the ''Journal of Economic Perspectives'' (vol 23, Number 1; p 209-220) on [http://www.people.hbs.edu/bedelman/papers/redlightstates.pdf|Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?]

The data showed that Utah had the highest number of subscriptions (5.47 per thousand home broadband users). Since Utah also has the largest concentration of Mormons, it has been suggested that there is a correlation between the rate of adult subscriptions and the large percentage of Mormons in Utah.

==Response==
===Is the Ranking Significant?===
Professor Edelman mentioned in his paper that difference from the top state to the bottom state on this metric is rather small.

:The ratio of these extremes is just 2.85--relatively small in comparison to states' diversity in other respects. For extremes in overall population density (excluding Alaska), compare New Jersey (1,175 people per square mile) to Wyoming (5.25), a ratio of 223:1. In truck ownership, compare North Dakota (590 trucks per thousand people) to New York (0.15), a ratio of 3933:1. In proportion of the population over 65, compare Pennsylvania (15.2 percent) to Alaska (5.3 percent) and Utah (7.3 percent), ratios of 2.86:1 and 2.08:1.

So although Utah is rated the highest in number of subscriptions, it is not far above even the lowest state (Montana at 1.92) in the number of subscriptions. While Utah is also a participant in the worldwide pornography phenomenon, it is not significantly above other states in their participation. Of course the question still to be resolved is why Utah is the leader in this comparison.

Use of adult entertainment sites is very pervasive. The same report states, "As of June 2008, 36 percent of Internet users visit at least one adult website each month" (page 212).

===What Makes Utah Different?===
Utah has significant restrictions on the display and sales of hard core pornographic materials. The [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1206|Utah Statutes] [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1228] have the effect of making it much more difficult to get easy access to adult material. This forces those who might otherwise buy magazines or other adult materials to use the web to get access to that information. In Utah, access to most adult entertainment requires the use of the Internet. Therefore, the number of Internet users of pornography would be higher than states with different laws if all other factors were the same.

Even though Utah started out as predominantly LDS, that is no longer the case. LDS population estimates for Utah suggest that they only make up 60% of the state with Salt Lake County barely over 50%. Even these figures will not give a complete pictures since many of those that are still considered members of the Church have no active involvement in the Church or feel a need to maintain Church standards.

===Areas in Utah with High Subscription Rates===
While the report didn't indicate the results for all of the zip codes in Utah, the [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html|Deseret News] reported the following ZIP Codes with "unexpectedly high subscriptions relative to their population and broadband usage."

* 84766 - Sevier, UT an unincorporated community in Sevier County with a population of 157, no registered sex offenders
* 84112 - University of Utah
* 84018 - Croydon, UT with a population of 134 and 2 registered sex offenders
* 84006 - Bingham, UT with a population of 859 and 4 registered sex offenders
* 84536 - Monument Valley, UT with a population of 1,836 and no registered sex offenders

These all seem to be low population centers that can be easily affected by just a few subscribers, plus the University of Utah which is likely to have a more diverse population that would not be representative of the rest of Utah. But this population could have a significant affect on the subscription rates that are computed for the whole state.

===How Do Other Mormon Communities Rank?===
After Utah, the next two states with significant LDS populations are Idaho (26%) and Wyoming (10%). Interestingly, they are both much lower in adult subscriptions than Utah. Wyoming shows a subscription rate of 2.29 per thousand home broadband users and Idaho is second to last place at 1.98.

===What are the Factors that Would Affect the Ranking?===
In the report by Mr. Edelman, he outlined 13 factors (pages 216-219) and how they influenced the subscription rate for adult entertainment.

# '''Household Income.''' A $1,000 increase in average household income in a ZIP Code is associated with a 0.36 percent increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Age 15-24.''' A 1% increase in residents aged 15-24 (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.19 percentage increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Over 65.''' A 1% increase in residents of age 65 or older (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.13 percent reduction in subscriptions.
# '''College Graduates.''' A 1% increase in college graduates is associated with a 0.12 percent increase in subscribers.
# '''Graduate Degrees.''' 1% more graduate degrees yields 0.30 percent fewer subscriptions.
# '''Urban Areas.''' Subscriptions are 38% more prevalent in urban areas.
# '''High-density Urban.''' In high-density urban areas (more than 5000 people per square mile), subscriptions drop somewhat.
# '''Marriage Rates.''' A 1% increase in marriage rates is associated with a 0.65 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''Divorce Rate.''' A 1% increase in divorce rates is associated with a 0.28 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''States with Conservative Legislation.''' Subscriptions are slightly more prevalent in states that have enacted conservative legislation on sexuality... In such states...11 percent more than in other states.
# '''States with Conservative Positions on Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where surveys indicate conservative positions on religion, gender roles, and sexuality.
# '''Where People Agree with Miracles and God.''' In states where more people agree that "Even today miracles are performed by the power of God" and "I never doubt the existence of God," there are more subscriptions.
# '''Old Fashioned Values about Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where more people agree that "I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage" and "AIDS might be God's punishment for immoral sexual behavior."

Of course, some of these factors will be interrelated, but we can look at which factors could apply to Utah and we will see that the demographics of the state would suggest that Utah should have a higher than normal subscription rate. In almost every case these factors would suggest that Utah would have a higher subscription rate than the average population.

===Do Some in Utah Have a Pornography Addiction?===
Yes, of course, as do some throughout the rest of the United States. Interestingly, Utah is also more concerned about pornography addiction than any other state as shown by ranking in Google Trends. Using Utah as the baseline, the three top states for "pornography addiction" search request are 100% in Utah, 43% in Idaho and 23.5% in Tennessee, with Salt Lake City (100%), Boise, Idaho (41.5%)and Portland, Oregon (26.5%) as the three leading cities.

There are Pornography Addiction Support Group (PASG) meetings run by LDS Family Services throughout Utah most days of the week. [http://providentliving.org/content/list/0,11664,4177-1,00.html| LDS Family Services] sponsors addiction recovery support meetings to assist individuals who desire freedom from addiction and a better life through gospel fellowship.

==Conclusion==

# The difference between top and bottom state is small—it may be difficult to draw firm conclusions when relatively small numbers of people can make the difference in ranking.
# Legal restrictions on other forms of pornography in Utah may make on-line sources the most attractive for those who seek this material.
# The social/religious pressure ''against'' pornography in LDS culture may make the privacy of on-line access particularly appealing, as opposed to sex shops, porno theatres, magazine subscriptions or purchases, etc.
# Utah has many characteristics which would tend to increase use in this type of study:
* higher than average household income [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R1901&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-redoLog=false&-format=US-30&-mt_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_R1901_US30&-CONTEXT=grt|income data]
* population that skews younger [http://governor.utah.gov/dea/projections.html| data]
* higher than average college graduates [http://www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/index.php?measure=93| data]
* conservative legislation controlling pornography distribution via other channels
* conservative ideas about religion, marriage, and God (perhaps at least partly due to the social stigma against pornography consumption that is not 'hidden' from others)

It is not clear, however, that the characteristics of Utah (e.g., less divorce, more education, younger) are necessarily ''bad'' things. Utah may represent a sort of "perfect storm" in this study in which a number of factors come together to boost its scores.

The Church, of course, abhors and repudiates both the production of pornography—which exploits the participants—and its consumption, since it is spiritually damaging and harmful to a healthy marital and sexual life.

==Endnotes==

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki===
{{StatsWiki}}

===FAIR website===
{{StatsFAIR}}

===On-line articles===
{{StatsLinks}}

===Print works===
{{StatsPrint}}

Question: Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

2009-06-21T16:01:19Z

Cachemagic: /* Conclusion */

{{draft}} 
{{question}}
==Criticism==
Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

===Source(s) of the Criticism===

* This criticism got its start on the Internet. The source of the data upon which it is based is: Benjamin Edelman published a study in the ''Journal of Economic Perspectives'' (vol 23, Number 1; p 209-220) on [http://www.people.hbs.edu/bedelman/papers/redlightstates.pdf|Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?]

The data showed that Utah had the highest number of subscriptions (5.47 per thousand home broadband users). Since Utah also has the largest concentration of Mormons, it has been suggested that there is a correlation between the rate of adult subscriptions and the large percentage of Mormons in Utah.

==Response==
===Is the Ranking Significant?===
Professor Edelman mentioned in his paper that difference from the top state to the bottom state on this metric is rather small.

:The ratio of these extremes is just 2.85--relatively small in comparison to states' diversity in other respects. For extremes in overall population density (excluding Alaska), compare New Jersey (1,175 people per square mile) to Wyoming (5.25), a ratio of 223:1. In truck ownership, compare North Dakota (590 trucks per thousand people) to New York (0.15), a ratio of 3933:1. In proportion of the population over 65, compare Pennsylvania (15.2 percent) to Alaska (5.3 percent) and Utah (7.3 percent), ratios of 2.86:1 and 2.08:1.

So although Utah is rated the highest in number of subscriptions, it is not far above even the lowest state (Montana at 1.92) in the number of subscriptions. While Utah is also a participant in the worldwide pornography phenomenon, it is not significantly above other states in their participation. Of course the question still to be resolved is why Utah is the leader in this comparison.

Use of adult entertainment sites is very pervasive. The same report states, "As of June 2008, 36 percent of Internet users visit at least one adult website each month" (page 212).

===What Makes Utah Different?===
Utah has significant restrictions on the display and sales of hard core pornographic materials. The [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1206|Utah Statutes] [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1228] have the effect of making it much more difficult to get easy access to adult material. This forces those who might otherwise buy magazines or other adult materials to use the web to get access to that information. In Utah, access to most adult entertainment requires the use of the Internet. Therefore, the number of Internet users of pornography would be higher than states with different laws if all other factors were the same.

Even though Utah started out as predominantly LDS, that is no longer the case. LDS population estimates for Utah suggest that they only make up 60% of the state with Salt Lake County barely over 50%. Even these figures will not give a complete pictures since many of those that are still considered members of the Church have no active involvement in the Church or feel a need to maintain Church standards.

===Areas in Utah with High Subscription Rates===
While the report didn't indicate the results for all of the zip codes in Utah, the [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html|Deseret News] reported the following ZIP Codes with "unexpectedly high subscriptions relative to their population and broadband usage."

* 84766 - Sevier, UT an unincorporated community in Sevier County with a population of 157, no registered sex offenders
* 84112 - University of Utah
* 84018 - Croydon, UT with a population of 134 and 2 registered sex offenders
* 84006 - Bingham, UT with a population of 859 and 4 registered sex offenders
* 84536 - Monument Valley, UT with a population of 1,836 and no registered sex offenders

These all seem to be low population centers that can be easily affected by just a few subscribers, plus the University of Utah which is likely to have a more diverse population that would not be representative of the rest of Utah. But this population could have a significant affect on the subscription rates that are computed for the whole state.

===How Do Other Mormon Communities Rank?===
After Utah, the next two states with significant LDS populations are Idaho (26%) and Wyoming (10%). Interestingly, they are both much lower in adult subscriptions than Utah. Wyoming shows a subscription rate of 2.29 per thousand home broadband users and Idaho is second to last place at 1.98.

===What are the Factors that Would Affect the Ranking?===
In the report by Mr. Edelman, he outlined 13 factors (pages 216-219) and how they influenced the subscription rate for adult entertainment.

# '''Household Income.''' A $1,000 increase in average household income in a ZIP Code is associated with a 0.36 percent increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Age 15-24.''' A 1% increase in residents aged 15-24 (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.19 percentage increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Over 65.''' A 1% increase in residents of age 65 or older (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.13 percent reduction in subscriptions.
# '''College Graduates.''' A 1% increase in college graduates is associated with a 0.12 percent increase in subscribers.
# '''Graduate Degrees.''' 1% more graduate degrees yields 0.30 percent fewer subscriptions.
# '''Urban Areas.''' Subscriptions are 38% more prevalent in urban areas.
# '''High-density Urban.''' In high-density urban areas (more than 5000 people per square mile), subscriptions drop somewhat.
# '''Marriage Rates.''' A 1% increase in marriage rates is associated with a 0.65 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''Divorce Rate.''' A 1% increase in divorce rates is associated with a 0.28 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''States with Conservative Legislation.''' Subscriptions are slightly more prevalent in states that have enacted conservative legislation on sexuality... In such states...11 percent more than in other states.
# '''States with Conservative Positions on Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where surveys indicate conservative positions on religion, gender roles, and sexuality.
# '''Where People Agree with Miracles and God.''' In states where more people agree that "Even today miracles are performed by the power of God" and "I never doubt the existence of God," there are more subscriptions.
# '''Old Fashioned Values about Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where more people agree that "I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage" and "AIDS might be God's punishment for immoral sexual behavior."

Of course, some of these factors will be interrelated, but we can look at which factors could apply to Utah and we will see that the demographics of the state would suggest that Utah should have a higher than normal subscription rate. In almost every case these factors would suggest that Utah would have a higher subscription rate than the average population.

===Do Some in Utah Have a Pornography Addiction?===
Yes, of course, as do some throughout the rest of the United States. Interestingly, Utah is also more concerned about pornography addiction than any other state as shown by ranking in Google Trends. Using Utah as the baseline, the three top states for "pornography addiction" search request are 100% in Utah, 43% in Idaho and 23.5% in Tennessee, with Salt Lake City (100%), Boise, Idaho (41.5%)and Portland, Oregon (26.5%) as the three leading cities.

There are Pornography Addiction Support Group (PASG) meetings run by LDS Family Services throughout Utah most days of the week. [http://providentliving.org/content/list/0,11664,4177-1,00.html| LDS Family Services] sponsors addiction recovery support meetings to assist individuals who desire freedom from addiction and a better life through gospel fellowship.

==Conclusion==

# The difference between top and bottom state is small—it may be difficult to draw firm conclusions when relatively small numbers of people can make the difference in ranking.
# Legal restrictions on other forms of pornography in Utah may make on-line sources the most attractive for those who seek this material.
# The social/religious pressure ''against'' pornography in LDS culture may make the privacy of on-line access particularly appealing, as opposed to sex shops, porno theatres, magazine subscriptions or purchases, etc.
# Utah has many characteristics which would tend to increase use in this type of study:
* higher than average household income [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R1901&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-redoLog=false&-format=US-30&-mt_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_R1901_US30&-CONTEXT=grt|income data]
* population that skews younger [http://governor.utah.gov/dea/projections.html| data]
* higher than average college graduates [http://www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/index.php?measure=93| data]
* low divorce rate
* conservative legislation controlling pornography distribution via other channels
* conservative ideas about religion, marriage, and God (perhaps at least partly due to the social stigma against pornography consumption that is not 'hidden' from others)

It is not clear, however, that the characteristics of Utah (e.g., less divorce, more education, younger) are necessarily ''bad'' things. Utah may represent a sort of "perfect storm" in this study in which a number of factors come together to boost its scores.

The Church, of course, abhors and repudiates both the production of pornography—which exploits the participants—and its consumption, since it is spiritually damaging and harmful to a healthy marital and sexual life.

==Endnotes==

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki===
{{StatsWiki}}

===FAIR website===
{{StatsFAIR}}

===On-line articles===
{{StatsLinks}}

===Print works===
{{StatsPrint}}

Question: Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

2009-06-21T16:00:47Z

Cachemagic: /* Conclusion */

{{draft}} 
{{question}}
==Criticism==
Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

===Source(s) of the Criticism===

* This criticism got its start on the Internet. The source of the data upon which it is based is: Benjamin Edelman published a study in the ''Journal of Economic Perspectives'' (vol 23, Number 1; p 209-220) on [http://www.people.hbs.edu/bedelman/papers/redlightstates.pdf|Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?]

The data showed that Utah had the highest number of subscriptions (5.47 per thousand home broadband users). Since Utah also has the largest concentration of Mormons, it has been suggested that there is a correlation between the rate of adult subscriptions and the large percentage of Mormons in Utah.

==Response==
===Is the Ranking Significant?===
Professor Edelman mentioned in his paper that difference from the top state to the bottom state on this metric is rather small.

:The ratio of these extremes is just 2.85--relatively small in comparison to states' diversity in other respects. For extremes in overall population density (excluding Alaska), compare New Jersey (1,175 people per square mile) to Wyoming (5.25), a ratio of 223:1. In truck ownership, compare North Dakota (590 trucks per thousand people) to New York (0.15), a ratio of 3933:1. In proportion of the population over 65, compare Pennsylvania (15.2 percent) to Alaska (5.3 percent) and Utah (7.3 percent), ratios of 2.86:1 and 2.08:1.

So although Utah is rated the highest in number of subscriptions, it is not far above even the lowest state (Montana at 1.92) in the number of subscriptions. While Utah is also a participant in the worldwide pornography phenomenon, it is not significantly above other states in their participation. Of course the question still to be resolved is why Utah is the leader in this comparison.

Use of adult entertainment sites is very pervasive. The same report states, "As of June 2008, 36 percent of Internet users visit at least one adult website each month" (page 212).

===What Makes Utah Different?===
Utah has significant restrictions on the display and sales of hard core pornographic materials. The [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1206|Utah Statutes] [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1228] have the effect of making it much more difficult to get easy access to adult material. This forces those who might otherwise buy magazines or other adult materials to use the web to get access to that information. In Utah, access to most adult entertainment requires the use of the Internet. Therefore, the number of Internet users of pornography would be higher than states with different laws if all other factors were the same.

Even though Utah started out as predominantly LDS, that is no longer the case. LDS population estimates for Utah suggest that they only make up 60% of the state with Salt Lake County barely over 50%. Even these figures will not give a complete pictures since many of those that are still considered members of the Church have no active involvement in the Church or feel a need to maintain Church standards.

===Areas in Utah with High Subscription Rates===
While the report didn't indicate the results for all of the zip codes in Utah, the [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html|Deseret News] reported the following ZIP Codes with "unexpectedly high subscriptions relative to their population and broadband usage."

* 84766 - Sevier, UT an unincorporated community in Sevier County with a population of 157, no registered sex offenders
* 84112 - University of Utah
* 84018 - Croydon, UT with a population of 134 and 2 registered sex offenders
* 84006 - Bingham, UT with a population of 859 and 4 registered sex offenders
* 84536 - Monument Valley, UT with a population of 1,836 and no registered sex offenders

These all seem to be low population centers that can be easily affected by just a few subscribers, plus the University of Utah which is likely to have a more diverse population that would not be representative of the rest of Utah. But this population could have a significant affect on the subscription rates that are computed for the whole state.

===How Do Other Mormon Communities Rank?===
After Utah, the next two states with significant LDS populations are Idaho (26%) and Wyoming (10%). Interestingly, they are both much lower in adult subscriptions than Utah. Wyoming shows a subscription rate of 2.29 per thousand home broadband users and Idaho is second to last place at 1.98.

===What are the Factors that Would Affect the Ranking?===
In the report by Mr. Edelman, he outlined 13 factors (pages 216-219) and how they influenced the subscription rate for adult entertainment.

# '''Household Income.''' A $1,000 increase in average household income in a ZIP Code is associated with a 0.36 percent increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Age 15-24.''' A 1% increase in residents aged 15-24 (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.19 percentage increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Over 65.''' A 1% increase in residents of age 65 or older (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.13 percent reduction in subscriptions.
# '''College Graduates.''' A 1% increase in college graduates is associated with a 0.12 percent increase in subscribers.
# '''Graduate Degrees.''' 1% more graduate degrees yields 0.30 percent fewer subscriptions.
# '''Urban Areas.''' Subscriptions are 38% more prevalent in urban areas.
# '''High-density Urban.''' In high-density urban areas (more than 5000 people per square mile), subscriptions drop somewhat.
# '''Marriage Rates.''' A 1% increase in marriage rates is associated with a 0.65 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''Divorce Rate.''' A 1% increase in divorce rates is associated with a 0.28 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''States with Conservative Legislation.''' Subscriptions are slightly more prevalent in states that have enacted conservative legislation on sexuality... In such states...11 percent more than in other states.
# '''States with Conservative Positions on Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where surveys indicate conservative positions on religion, gender roles, and sexuality.
# '''Where People Agree with Miracles and God.''' In states where more people agree that "Even today miracles are performed by the power of God" and "I never doubt the existence of God," there are more subscriptions.
# '''Old Fashioned Values about Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where more people agree that "I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage" and "AIDS might be God's punishment for immoral sexual behavior."

Of course, some of these factors will be interrelated, but we can look at which factors could apply to Utah and we will see that the demographics of the state would suggest that Utah should have a higher than normal subscription rate. In almost every case these factors would suggest that Utah would have a higher subscription rate than the average population.

===Do Some in Utah Have a Pornography Addiction?===
Yes, of course, as do some throughout the rest of the United States. Interestingly, Utah is also more concerned about pornography addiction than any other state as shown by ranking in Google Trends. Using Utah as the baseline, the three top states for "pornography addiction" search request are 100% in Utah, 43% in Idaho and 23.5% in Tennessee, with Salt Lake City (100%), Boise, Idaho (41.5%)and Portland, Oregon (26.5%) as the three leading cities.

There are Pornography Addiction Support Group (PASG) meetings run by LDS Family Services throughout Utah most days of the week. [http://providentliving.org/content/list/0,11664,4177-1,00.html| LDS Family Services] sponsors addiction recovery support meetings to assist individuals who desire freedom from addiction and a better life through gospel fellowship.

==Conclusion==

# The difference between top and bottom state is small—it may be difficult to draw firm conclusions when relatively small numbers of people can make the difference in ranking.
# Legal restrictions on other forms of pornography in Utah may make on-line sources the most attractive for those who seek this material.
# The social/religious pressure ''against'' pornography in LDS culture may make the privacy of on-line access particularly appealing, as opposed to sex shops, porno theatres, magazine subscriptions or purchases, etc.
# Utah has many characteristics which would tend to increase use in this type of study:
* higher than average [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R1901&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-redoLog=false&-format=US-30&-mt_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_R1901_US30&-CONTEXT=grt|income data]
* population that skews younger [http://governor.utah.gov/dea/projections.html| data]
* higher than average college graduates [http://www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/index.php?measure=93| data]
* low divorce rate
* conservative legislation controlling pornography distribution via other channels
* conservative ideas about religion, marriage, and God (perhaps at least partly due to the social stigma against pornography consumption that is not 'hidden' from others)

It is not clear, however, that the characteristics of Utah (e.g., less divorce, more education, younger) are necessarily ''bad'' things. Utah may represent a sort of "perfect storm" in this study in which a number of factors come together to boost its scores.

The Church, of course, abhors and repudiates both the production of pornography—which exploits the participants—and its consumption, since it is spiritually damaging and harmful to a healthy marital and sexual life.

==Endnotes==

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki===
{{StatsWiki}}

===FAIR website===
{{StatsFAIR}}

===On-line articles===
{{StatsLinks}}

===Print works===
{{StatsPrint}}

Question: Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

2009-06-21T15:52:04Z

Cachemagic: /* Conclusion */

{{draft}} 
{{question}}
==Criticism==
Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

===Source(s) of the Criticism===

* This criticism got its start on the Internet. The source of the data upon which it is based is: Benjamin Edelman published a study in the ''Journal of Economic Perspectives'' (vol 23, Number 1; p 209-220) on [http://www.people.hbs.edu/bedelman/papers/redlightstates.pdf|Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?]

The data showed that Utah had the highest number of subscriptions (5.47 per thousand home broadband users). Since Utah also has the largest concentration of Mormons, it has been suggested that there is a correlation between the rate of adult subscriptions and the large percentage of Mormons in Utah.

==Response==
===Is the Ranking Significant?===
Professor Edelman mentioned in his paper that difference from the top state to the bottom state on this metric is rather small.

:The ratio of these extremes is just 2.85--relatively small in comparison to states' diversity in other respects. For extremes in overall population density (excluding Alaska), compare New Jersey (1,175 people per square mile) to Wyoming (5.25), a ratio of 223:1. In truck ownership, compare North Dakota (590 trucks per thousand people) to New York (0.15), a ratio of 3933:1. In proportion of the population over 65, compare Pennsylvania (15.2 percent) to Alaska (5.3 percent) and Utah (7.3 percent), ratios of 2.86:1 and 2.08:1.

So although Utah is rated the highest in number of subscriptions, it is not far above even the lowest state (Montana at 1.92) in the number of subscriptions. While Utah is also a participant in the worldwide pornography phenomenon, it is not significantly above other states in their participation. Of course the question still to be resolved is why Utah is the leader in this comparison.

Use of adult entertainment sites is very pervasive. The same report states, "As of June 2008, 36 percent of Internet users visit at least one adult website each month" (page 212).

===What Makes Utah Different?===
Utah has significant restrictions on the display and sales of hard core pornographic materials. The [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1206|Utah Statutes] [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1228] have the effect of making it much more difficult to get easy access to adult material. This forces those who might otherwise buy magazines or other adult materials to use the web to get access to that information. In Utah, access to most adult entertainment requires the use of the Internet. Therefore, the number of Internet users of pornography would be higher than states with different laws if all other factors were the same.

Even though Utah started out as predominantly LDS, that is no longer the case. LDS population estimates for Utah suggest that they only make up 60% of the state with Salt Lake County barely over 50%. Even these figures will not give a complete pictures since many of those that are still considered members of the Church have no active involvement in the Church or feel a need to maintain Church standards.

===Areas in Utah with High Subscription Rates===
While the report didn't indicate the results for all of the zip codes in Utah, the [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html|Deseret News] reported the following ZIP Codes with "unexpectedly high subscriptions relative to their population and broadband usage."

* 84766 - Sevier, UT an unincorporated community in Sevier County with a population of 157, no registered sex offenders
* 84112 - University of Utah
* 84018 - Croydon, UT with a population of 134 and 2 registered sex offenders
* 84006 - Bingham, UT with a population of 859 and 4 registered sex offenders
* 84536 - Monument Valley, UT with a population of 1,836 and no registered sex offenders

These all seem to be low population centers that can be easily affected by just a few subscribers, plus the University of Utah which is likely to have a more diverse population that would not be representative of the rest of Utah. But this population could have a significant affect on the subscription rates that are computed for the whole state.

===How Do Other Mormon Communities Rank?===
After Utah, the next two states with significant LDS populations are Idaho (26%) and Wyoming (10%). Interestingly, they are both much lower in adult subscriptions than Utah. Wyoming shows a subscription rate of 2.29 per thousand home broadband users and Idaho is second to last place at 1.98.

===What are the Factors that Would Affect the Ranking?===
In the report by Mr. Edelman, he outlined 13 factors (pages 216-219) and how they influenced the subscription rate for adult entertainment.

# '''Household Income.''' A $1,000 increase in average household income in a ZIP Code is associated with a 0.36 percent increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Age 15-24.''' A 1% increase in residents aged 15-24 (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.19 percentage increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Over 65.''' A 1% increase in residents of age 65 or older (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.13 percent reduction in subscriptions.
# '''College Graduates.''' A 1% increase in college graduates is associated with a 0.12 percent increase in subscribers.
# '''Graduate Degrees.''' 1% more graduate degrees yields 0.30 percent fewer subscriptions.
# '''Urban Areas.''' Subscriptions are 38% more prevalent in urban areas.
# '''High-density Urban.''' In high-density urban areas (more than 5000 people per square mile), subscriptions drop somewhat.
# '''Marriage Rates.''' A 1% increase in marriage rates is associated with a 0.65 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''Divorce Rate.''' A 1% increase in divorce rates is associated with a 0.28 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''States with Conservative Legislation.''' Subscriptions are slightly more prevalent in states that have enacted conservative legislation on sexuality... In such states...11 percent more than in other states.
# '''States with Conservative Positions on Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where surveys indicate conservative positions on religion, gender roles, and sexuality.
# '''Where People Agree with Miracles and God.''' In states where more people agree that "Even today miracles are performed by the power of God" and "I never doubt the existence of God," there are more subscriptions.
# '''Old Fashioned Values about Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where more people agree that "I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage" and "AIDS might be God's punishment for immoral sexual behavior."

Of course, some of these factors will be interrelated, but we can look at which factors could apply to Utah and we will see that the demographics of the state would suggest that Utah should have a higher than normal subscription rate. In almost every case these factors would suggest that Utah would have a higher subscription rate than the average population.

===Do Some in Utah Have a Pornography Addiction?===
Yes, of course, as do some throughout the rest of the United States. Interestingly, Utah is also more concerned about pornography addiction than any other state as shown by ranking in Google Trends. Using Utah as the baseline, the three top states for "pornography addiction" search request are 100% in Utah, 43% in Idaho and 23.5% in Tennessee, with Salt Lake City (100%), Boise, Idaho (41.5%)and Portland, Oregon (26.5%) as the three leading cities.

There are Pornography Addiction Support Group (PASG) meetings run by LDS Family Services throughout Utah most days of the week. [http://providentliving.org/content/list/0,11664,4177-1,00.html| LDS Family Services] sponsors addiction recovery support meetings to assist individuals who desire freedom from addiction and a better life through gospel fellowship.

==Conclusion==

# The difference between top and bottom state is small—it may be difficult to draw firm conclusions when relatively small numbers of people can make the difference in ranking.
# Legal restrictions on other forms of pornography in Utah may make on-line sources the most attractive for those who seek this material.
# The social/religious pressure ''against'' pornography in LDS culture may make the privacy of on-line access particularly appealing, as opposed to sex shops, porno theatres, magazine subscriptions or purchases, etc.
# Utah has many characteristics which would tend to increase use in this type of study:
* higher than average [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R1901&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-redoLog=false&-format=US-30&-mt_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_R1901_US30&-CONTEXT=grt|income data]
* population that skews younger [http://governor.utah.gov/dea/projections.html| data]
* higher than average college graduates [ data?]
* low divorce rate
* conservative legislation controlling pornography distribution via other channels
* conservative ideas about religion, marriage, and God (perhaps at least partly due to the social stigma against pornography consumption that is not 'hidden' from others)

It is not clear, however, that the characteristics of Utah (e.g., less divorce, more education, younger) are necessarily ''bad'' things. Utah may represent a sort of "perfect storm" in this study in which a number of factors come together to boost its scores.

The Church, of course, abhors and repudiates both the production of pornography—which exploits the participants—and its consumption, since it is spiritually damaging and harmful to a healthy marital and sexual life.

==Endnotes==

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki===
{{StatsWiki}}

===FAIR website===
{{StatsFAIR}}

===On-line articles===
{{StatsLinks}}

===Print works===
{{StatsPrint}}

Question: Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

2009-06-21T15:40:13Z

Cachemagic: /* Conclusion */

{{draft}} 
{{question}}
==Criticism==
Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

===Source(s) of the Criticism===

* This criticism got its start on the Internet. The source of the data upon which it is based is: Benjamin Edelman published a study in the ''Journal of Economic Perspectives'' (vol 23, Number 1; p 209-220) on [http://www.people.hbs.edu/bedelman/papers/redlightstates.pdf|Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?]

The data showed that Utah had the highest number of subscriptions (5.47 per thousand home broadband users). Since Utah also has the largest concentration of Mormons, it has been suggested that there is a correlation between the rate of adult subscriptions and the large percentage of Mormons in Utah.

==Response==
===Is the Ranking Significant?===
Professor Edelman mentioned in his paper that difference from the top state to the bottom state on this metric is rather small.

:The ratio of these extremes is just 2.85--relatively small in comparison to states' diversity in other respects. For extremes in overall population density (excluding Alaska), compare New Jersey (1,175 people per square mile) to Wyoming (5.25), a ratio of 223:1. In truck ownership, compare North Dakota (590 trucks per thousand people) to New York (0.15), a ratio of 3933:1. In proportion of the population over 65, compare Pennsylvania (15.2 percent) to Alaska (5.3 percent) and Utah (7.3 percent), ratios of 2.86:1 and 2.08:1.

So although Utah is rated the highest in number of subscriptions, it is not far above even the lowest state (Montana at 1.92) in the number of subscriptions. While Utah is also a participant in the worldwide pornography phenomenon, it is not significantly above other states in their participation. Of course the question still to be resolved is why Utah is the leader in this comparison.

Use of adult entertainment sites is very pervasive. The same report states, "As of June 2008, 36 percent of Internet users visit at least one adult website each month" (page 212).

===What Makes Utah Different?===
Utah has significant restrictions on the display and sales of hard core pornographic materials. The [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1206|Utah Statutes] [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1228] have the effect of making it much more difficult to get easy access to adult material. This forces those who might otherwise buy magazines or other adult materials to use the web to get access to that information. In Utah, access to most adult entertainment requires the use of the Internet. Therefore, the number of Internet users of pornography would be higher than states with different laws if all other factors were the same.

Even though Utah started out as predominantly LDS, that is no longer the case. LDS population estimates for Utah suggest that they only make up 60% of the state with Salt Lake County barely over 50%. Even these figures will not give a complete pictures since many of those that are still considered members of the Church have no active involvement in the Church or feel a need to maintain Church standards.

===Areas in Utah with High Subscription Rates===
While the report didn't indicate the results for all of the zip codes in Utah, the [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html|Deseret News] reported the following ZIP Codes with "unexpectedly high subscriptions relative to their population and broadband usage."

* 84766 - Sevier, UT an unincorporated community in Sevier County with a population of 157, no registered sex offenders
* 84112 - University of Utah
* 84018 - Croydon, UT with a population of 134 and 2 registered sex offenders
* 84006 - Bingham, UT with a population of 859 and 4 registered sex offenders
* 84536 - Monument Valley, UT with a population of 1,836 and no registered sex offenders

These all seem to be low population centers that can be easily affected by just a few subscribers, plus the University of Utah which is likely to have a more diverse population that would not be representative of the rest of Utah. But this population could have a significant affect on the subscription rates that are computed for the whole state.

===How Do Other Mormon Communities Rank?===
After Utah, the next two states with significant LDS populations are Idaho (26%) and Wyoming (10%). Interestingly, they are both much lower in adult subscriptions than Utah. Wyoming shows a subscription rate of 2.29 per thousand home broadband users and Idaho is second to last place at 1.98.

===What are the Factors that Would Affect the Ranking?===
In the report by Mr. Edelman, he outlined 13 factors (pages 216-219) and how they influenced the subscription rate for adult entertainment.

# '''Household Income.''' A $1,000 increase in average household income in a ZIP Code is associated with a 0.36 percent increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Age 15-24.''' A 1% increase in residents aged 15-24 (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.19 percentage increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Over 65.''' A 1% increase in residents of age 65 or older (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.13 percent reduction in subscriptions.
# '''College Graduates.''' A 1% increase in college graduates is associated with a 0.12 percent increase in subscribers.
# '''Graduate Degrees.''' 1% more graduate degrees yields 0.30 percent fewer subscriptions.
# '''Urban Areas.''' Subscriptions are 38% more prevalent in urban areas.
# '''High-density Urban.''' In high-density urban areas (more than 5000 people per square mile), subscriptions drop somewhat.
# '''Marriage Rates.''' A 1% increase in marriage rates is associated with a 0.65 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''Divorce Rate.''' A 1% increase in divorce rates is associated with a 0.28 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''States with Conservative Legislation.''' Subscriptions are slightly more prevalent in states that have enacted conservative legislation on sexuality... In such states...11 percent more than in other states.
# '''States with Conservative Positions on Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where surveys indicate conservative positions on religion, gender roles, and sexuality.
# '''Where People Agree with Miracles and God.''' In states where more people agree that "Even today miracles are performed by the power of God" and "I never doubt the existence of God," there are more subscriptions.
# '''Old Fashioned Values about Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where more people agree that "I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage" and "AIDS might be God's punishment for immoral sexual behavior."

Of course, some of these factors will be interrelated, but we can look at which factors could apply to Utah and we will see that the demographics of the state would suggest that Utah should have a higher than normal subscription rate. In almost every case these factors would suggest that Utah would have a higher subscription rate than the average population.

===Do Some in Utah Have a Pornography Addiction?===
Yes, of course, as do some throughout the rest of the United States. Interestingly, Utah is also more concerned about pornography addiction than any other state as shown by ranking in Google Trends. Using Utah as the baseline, the three top states for "pornography addiction" search request are 100% in Utah, 43% in Idaho and 23.5% in Tennessee, with Salt Lake City (100%), Boise, Idaho (41.5%)and Portland, Oregon (26.5%) as the three leading cities.

There are Pornography Addiction Support Group (PASG) meetings run by LDS Family Services throughout Utah most days of the week. [http://providentliving.org/content/list/0,11664,4177-1,00.html| LDS Family Services] sponsors addiction recovery support meetings to assist individuals who desire freedom from addiction and a better life through gospel fellowship.

==Conclusion==

# The difference between top and bottom state is small—it may be difficult to draw firm conclusions when relatively small numbers of people can make the difference in ranking.
# Legal restrictions on other forms of pornography in Utah may make on-line sources the most attractive for those who seek this material.
# The social/religious pressure ''against'' pornography in LDS culture may make the privacy of on-line access particularly appealing, as opposed to sex shops, porno theatres, magazine subscriptions or purchases, etc.
# Utah has many characteristics which would tend to increase use in this type of study:
* higher than average [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R1901&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-redoLog=false&-format=US-30&-mt_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_R1901_US30&-CONTEXT=grt|income data]
* population that skews younger [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/49000.html| data]
* higher than average college graduates [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/49000.html| data]
* low divorce rate
* conservative legislation controlling pornography distribution via other channels
* conservative ideas about religion, marriage, and God (perhaps at least partly due to the social stigma against pornography consumption that is not 'hidden' from others)

It is not clear, however, that the characteristics of Utah (e.g., less divorce, more education, younger) are necessarily ''bad'' things. Utah may represent a sort of "perfect storm" in this study in which a number of factors come together to boost its scores.

The Church, of course, abhors and repudiates both the production of pornography—which exploits the participants—and its consumption, since it is spiritually damaging and harmful to a healthy marital and sexual life.

==Endnotes==

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki===
{{StatsWiki}}

===FAIR website===
{{StatsFAIR}}

===On-line articles===
{{StatsLinks}}

===Print works===
{{StatsPrint}}

Question: Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

2009-06-21T15:39:27Z

Cachemagic: /* Conclusion */

{{draft}} 
{{question}}
==Criticism==
Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

===Source(s) of the Criticism===

* This criticism got its start on the Internet. The source of the data upon which it is based is: Benjamin Edelman published a study in the ''Journal of Economic Perspectives'' (vol 23, Number 1; p 209-220) on [http://www.people.hbs.edu/bedelman/papers/redlightstates.pdf|Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?]

The data showed that Utah had the highest number of subscriptions (5.47 per thousand home broadband users). Since Utah also has the largest concentration of Mormons, it has been suggested that there is a correlation between the rate of adult subscriptions and the large percentage of Mormons in Utah.

==Response==
===Is the Ranking Significant?===
Professor Edelman mentioned in his paper that difference from the top state to the bottom state on this metric is rather small.

:The ratio of these extremes is just 2.85--relatively small in comparison to states' diversity in other respects. For extremes in overall population density (excluding Alaska), compare New Jersey (1,175 people per square mile) to Wyoming (5.25), a ratio of 223:1. In truck ownership, compare North Dakota (590 trucks per thousand people) to New York (0.15), a ratio of 3933:1. In proportion of the population over 65, compare Pennsylvania (15.2 percent) to Alaska (5.3 percent) and Utah (7.3 percent), ratios of 2.86:1 and 2.08:1.

So although Utah is rated the highest in number of subscriptions, it is not far above even the lowest state (Montana at 1.92) in the number of subscriptions. While Utah is also a participant in the worldwide pornography phenomenon, it is not significantly above other states in their participation. Of course the question still to be resolved is why Utah is the leader in this comparison.

Use of adult entertainment sites is very pervasive. The same report states, "As of June 2008, 36 percent of Internet users visit at least one adult website each month" (page 212).

===What Makes Utah Different?===
Utah has significant restrictions on the display and sales of hard core pornographic materials. The [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1206|Utah Statutes] [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1228] have the effect of making it much more difficult to get easy access to adult material. This forces those who might otherwise buy magazines or other adult materials to use the web to get access to that information. In Utah, access to most adult entertainment requires the use of the Internet. Therefore, the number of Internet users of pornography would be higher than states with different laws if all other factors were the same.

Even though Utah started out as predominantly LDS, that is no longer the case. LDS population estimates for Utah suggest that they only make up 60% of the state with Salt Lake County barely over 50%. Even these figures will not give a complete pictures since many of those that are still considered members of the Church have no active involvement in the Church or feel a need to maintain Church standards.

===Areas in Utah with High Subscription Rates===
While the report didn't indicate the results for all of the zip codes in Utah, the [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html|Deseret News] reported the following ZIP Codes with "unexpectedly high subscriptions relative to their population and broadband usage."

* 84766 - Sevier, UT an unincorporated community in Sevier County with a population of 157, no registered sex offenders
* 84112 - University of Utah
* 84018 - Croydon, UT with a population of 134 and 2 registered sex offenders
* 84006 - Bingham, UT with a population of 859 and 4 registered sex offenders
* 84536 - Monument Valley, UT with a population of 1,836 and no registered sex offenders

These all seem to be low population centers that can be easily affected by just a few subscribers, plus the University of Utah which is likely to have a more diverse population that would not be representative of the rest of Utah. But this population could have a significant affect on the subscription rates that are computed for the whole state.

===How Do Other Mormon Communities Rank?===
After Utah, the next two states with significant LDS populations are Idaho (26%) and Wyoming (10%). Interestingly, they are both much lower in adult subscriptions than Utah. Wyoming shows a subscription rate of 2.29 per thousand home broadband users and Idaho is second to last place at 1.98.

===What are the Factors that Would Affect the Ranking?===
In the report by Mr. Edelman, he outlined 13 factors (pages 216-219) and how they influenced the subscription rate for adult entertainment.

# '''Household Income.''' A $1,000 increase in average household income in a ZIP Code is associated with a 0.36 percent increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Age 15-24.''' A 1% increase in residents aged 15-24 (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.19 percentage increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Over 65.''' A 1% increase in residents of age 65 or older (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.13 percent reduction in subscriptions.
# '''College Graduates.''' A 1% increase in college graduates is associated with a 0.12 percent increase in subscribers.
# '''Graduate Degrees.''' 1% more graduate degrees yields 0.30 percent fewer subscriptions.
# '''Urban Areas.''' Subscriptions are 38% more prevalent in urban areas.
# '''High-density Urban.''' In high-density urban areas (more than 5000 people per square mile), subscriptions drop somewhat.
# '''Marriage Rates.''' A 1% increase in marriage rates is associated with a 0.65 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''Divorce Rate.''' A 1% increase in divorce rates is associated with a 0.28 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''States with Conservative Legislation.''' Subscriptions are slightly more prevalent in states that have enacted conservative legislation on sexuality... In such states...11 percent more than in other states.
# '''States with Conservative Positions on Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where surveys indicate conservative positions on religion, gender roles, and sexuality.
# '''Where People Agree with Miracles and God.''' In states where more people agree that "Even today miracles are performed by the power of God" and "I never doubt the existence of God," there are more subscriptions.
# '''Old Fashioned Values about Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where more people agree that "I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage" and "AIDS might be God's punishment for immoral sexual behavior."

Of course, some of these factors will be interrelated, but we can look at which factors could apply to Utah and we will see that the demographics of the state would suggest that Utah should have a higher than normal subscription rate. In almost every case these factors would suggest that Utah would have a higher subscription rate than the average population.

===Do Some in Utah Have a Pornography Addiction?===
Yes, of course, as do some throughout the rest of the United States. Interestingly, Utah is also more concerned about pornography addiction than any other state as shown by ranking in Google Trends. Using Utah as the baseline, the three top states for "pornography addiction" search request are 100% in Utah, 43% in Idaho and 23.5% in Tennessee, with Salt Lake City (100%), Boise, Idaho (41.5%)and Portland, Oregon (26.5%) as the three leading cities.

There are Pornography Addiction Support Group (PASG) meetings run by LDS Family Services throughout Utah most days of the week. [http://providentliving.org/content/list/0,11664,4177-1,00.html| LDS Family Services] sponsors addiction recovery support meetings to assist individuals who desire freedom from addiction and a better life through gospel fellowship.

==Conclusion==

# The difference between top and bottom state is small—it may be difficult to draw firm conclusions when relatively small numbers of people can make the difference in ranking.
# Legal restrictions on other forms of pornography in Utah may make on-line sources the most attractive for those who seek this material.
# The social/religious pressure ''against'' pornography in LDS culture may make the privacy of on-line access particularly appealing, as opposed to sex shops, porno theatres, magazine subscriptions or purchases, etc.
# Utah has many characteristics which would tend to increase use in this type of study:
* higher than average [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R1901&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-redoLog=false&-format=US-30&-mt_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_R1901_US30&-CONTEXT=grt|income data]
* population that skews younger [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/49000.html| data]
* higher than average college graduates [data?]
* low divorce rate
* conservative legislation controlling pornography distribution via other channels
* conservative ideas about religion, marriage, and God (perhaps at least partly due to the social stigma against pornography consumption that is not 'hidden' from others)

It is not clear, however, that the characteristics of Utah (e.g., less divorce, more education, younger) are necessarily ''bad'' things. Utah may represent a sort of "perfect storm" in this study in which a number of factors come together to boost its scores.

The Church, of course, abhors and repudiates both the production of pornography—which exploits the participants—and its consumption, since it is spiritually damaging and harmful to a healthy marital and sexual life.

==Endnotes==

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki===
{{StatsWiki}}

===FAIR website===
{{StatsFAIR}}

===On-line articles===
{{StatsLinks}}

===Print works===
{{StatsPrint}}

Question: Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

2009-06-21T15:23:48Z

Cachemagic: /* Do Some in Utah Have a Pornography Addiction? */

{{draft}} 
{{question}}
==Criticism==
Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

===Source(s) of the Criticism===

* This criticism got its start on the Internet. The source of the data upon which it is based is: Benjamin Edelman published a study in the ''Journal of Economic Perspectives'' (vol 23, Number 1; p 209-220) on [http://www.people.hbs.edu/bedelman/papers/redlightstates.pdf|Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?]

The data showed that Utah had the highest number of subscriptions (5.47 per thousand home broadband users). Since Utah also has the largest concentration of Mormons, it has been suggested that there is a correlation between the rate of adult subscriptions and the large percentage of Mormons in Utah.

==Response==
===Is the Ranking Significant?===
Professor Edelman mentioned in his paper that difference from the top state to the bottom state on this metric is rather small.

:The ratio of these extremes is just 2.85--relatively small in comparison to states' diversity in other respects. For extremes in overall population density (excluding Alaska), compare New Jersey (1,175 people per square mile) to Wyoming (5.25), a ratio of 223:1. In truck ownership, compare North Dakota (590 trucks per thousand people) to New York (0.15), a ratio of 3933:1. In proportion of the population over 65, compare Pennsylvania (15.2 percent) to Alaska (5.3 percent) and Utah (7.3 percent), ratios of 2.86:1 and 2.08:1.

So although Utah is rated the highest in number of subscriptions, it is not far above even the lowest state (Montana at 1.92) in the number of subscriptions. While Utah is also a participant in the worldwide pornography phenomenon, it is not significantly above other states in their participation. Of course the question still to be resolved is why Utah is the leader in this comparison.

Use of adult entertainment sites is very pervasive. The same report states, "As of June 2008, 36 percent of Internet users visit at least one adult website each month" (page 212).

===What Makes Utah Different?===
Utah has significant restrictions on the display and sales of hard core pornographic materials. The [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1206|Utah Statutes] [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1228] have the effect of making it much more difficult to get easy access to adult material. This forces those who might otherwise buy magazines or other adult materials to use the web to get access to that information. In Utah, access to most adult entertainment requires the use of the Internet. Therefore, the number of Internet users of pornography would be higher than states with different laws if all other factors were the same.

Even though Utah started out as predominantly LDS, that is no longer the case. LDS population estimates for Utah suggest that they only make up 60% of the state with Salt Lake County barely over 50%. Even these figures will not give a complete pictures since many of those that are still considered members of the Church have no active involvement in the Church or feel a need to maintain Church standards.

===Areas in Utah with High Subscription Rates===
While the report didn't indicate the results for all of the zip codes in Utah, the [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html|Deseret News] reported the following ZIP Codes with "unexpectedly high subscriptions relative to their population and broadband usage."

* 84766 - Sevier, UT an unincorporated community in Sevier County with a population of 157, no registered sex offenders
* 84112 - University of Utah
* 84018 - Croydon, UT with a population of 134 and 2 registered sex offenders
* 84006 - Bingham, UT with a population of 859 and 4 registered sex offenders
* 84536 - Monument Valley, UT with a population of 1,836 and no registered sex offenders

These all seem to be low population centers that can be easily affected by just a few subscribers, plus the University of Utah which is likely to have a more diverse population that would not be representative of the rest of Utah. But this population could have a significant affect on the subscription rates that are computed for the whole state.

===How Do Other Mormon Communities Rank?===
After Utah, the next two states with significant LDS populations are Idaho (26%) and Wyoming (10%). Interestingly, they are both much lower in adult subscriptions than Utah. Wyoming shows a subscription rate of 2.29 per thousand home broadband users and Idaho is second to last place at 1.98.

===What are the Factors that Would Affect the Ranking?===
In the report by Mr. Edelman, he outlined 13 factors (pages 216-219) and how they influenced the subscription rate for adult entertainment.

# '''Household Income.''' A $1,000 increase in average household income in a ZIP Code is associated with a 0.36 percent increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Age 15-24.''' A 1% increase in residents aged 15-24 (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.19 percentage increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Over 65.''' A 1% increase in residents of age 65 or older (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.13 percent reduction in subscriptions.
# '''College Graduates.''' A 1% increase in college graduates is associated with a 0.12 percent increase in subscribers.
# '''Graduate Degrees.''' 1% more graduate degrees yields 0.30 percent fewer subscriptions.
# '''Urban Areas.''' Subscriptions are 38% more prevalent in urban areas.
# '''High-density Urban.''' In high-density urban areas (more than 5000 people per square mile), subscriptions drop somewhat.
# '''Marriage Rates.''' A 1% increase in marriage rates is associated with a 0.65 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''Divorce Rate.''' A 1% increase in divorce rates is associated with a 0.28 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''States with Conservative Legislation.''' Subscriptions are slightly more prevalent in states that have enacted conservative legislation on sexuality... In such states...11 percent more than in other states.
# '''States with Conservative Positions on Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where surveys indicate conservative positions on religion, gender roles, and sexuality.
# '''Where People Agree with Miracles and God.''' In states where more people agree that "Even today miracles are performed by the power of God" and "I never doubt the existence of God," there are more subscriptions.
# '''Old Fashioned Values about Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where more people agree that "I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage" and "AIDS might be God's punishment for immoral sexual behavior."

Of course, some of these factors will be interrelated, but we can look at which factors could apply to Utah and we will see that the demographics of the state would suggest that Utah should have a higher than normal subscription rate. In almost every case these factors would suggest that Utah would have a higher subscription rate than the average population.

===Do Some in Utah Have a Pornography Addiction?===
Yes, of course, as do some throughout the rest of the United States. Interestingly, Utah is also more concerned about pornography addiction than any other state as shown by ranking in Google Trends. Using Utah as the baseline, the three top states for "pornography addiction" search request are 100% in Utah, 43% in Idaho and 23.5% in Tennessee, with Salt Lake City (100%), Boise, Idaho (41.5%)and Portland, Oregon (26.5%) as the three leading cities.

There are Pornography Addiction Support Group (PASG) meetings run by LDS Family Services throughout Utah most days of the week. [http://providentliving.org/content/list/0,11664,4177-1,00.html| LDS Family Services] sponsors addiction recovery support meetings to assist individuals who desire freedom from addiction and a better life through gospel fellowship.

==Conclusion==

# The difference between top and bottom state is small—it may be difficult to draw firm conclusions when relatively small numbers of people can make the difference in ranking.
# Legal restrictions on other forms of pornography in Utah may make on-line sources the most attractive for those who seek this material.
# The social/religious pressure ''against'' pornography in LDS culture may make the privacy of on-line access particularly appealing, as opposed to sex shops, porno theatres, magazine subscriptions or purchases, etc.
# Utah has many characteristics which would tend to increase use in this type of study:
* higher than average [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R1901&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-redoLog=false&-format=US-30&-mt_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_R1901_US30&-CONTEXT=grt|income data]
* population that skews younger [data?]
* higher than average college graduates [data?]
* low divorce rate
* conservative legislation controlling pornography distribution via other channels
* conservative ideas about religion, marriage, and God (perhaps at least partly due to the social stigma against pornography consumption that is not 'hidden' from others)

It is not clear, however, that the characteristics of Utah (e.g., less divorce, more education, younger) are necessarily ''bad'' things. Utah may represent a sort of "perfect storm" in this study in which a number of factors come together to boost its scores.

The Church, of course, abhors and repudiates both the production of pornography—which exploits the participants—and its consumption, since it is spiritually damaging and harmful to a healthy marital and sexual life.

==Endnotes==

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki===
{{StatsWiki}}

===FAIR website===
{{StatsFAIR}}

===On-line articles===
{{StatsLinks}}

===Print works===
{{StatsPrint}}

Question: Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

2009-06-21T15:18:54Z

Cachemagic: /* Areas in Utah with High Subscription Rates */

{{draft}} 
{{question}}
==Criticism==
Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

===Source(s) of the Criticism===

* This criticism got its start on the Internet. The source of the data upon which it is based is: Benjamin Edelman published a study in the ''Journal of Economic Perspectives'' (vol 23, Number 1; p 209-220) on [http://www.people.hbs.edu/bedelman/papers/redlightstates.pdf|Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?]

The data showed that Utah had the highest number of subscriptions (5.47 per thousand home broadband users). Since Utah also has the largest concentration of Mormons, it has been suggested that there is a correlation between the rate of adult subscriptions and the large percentage of Mormons in Utah.

==Response==
===Is the Ranking Significant?===
Professor Edelman mentioned in his paper that difference from the top state to the bottom state on this metric is rather small.

:The ratio of these extremes is just 2.85--relatively small in comparison to states' diversity in other respects. For extremes in overall population density (excluding Alaska), compare New Jersey (1,175 people per square mile) to Wyoming (5.25), a ratio of 223:1. In truck ownership, compare North Dakota (590 trucks per thousand people) to New York (0.15), a ratio of 3933:1. In proportion of the population over 65, compare Pennsylvania (15.2 percent) to Alaska (5.3 percent) and Utah (7.3 percent), ratios of 2.86:1 and 2.08:1.

So although Utah is rated the highest in number of subscriptions, it is not far above even the lowest state (Montana at 1.92) in the number of subscriptions. While Utah is also a participant in the worldwide pornography phenomenon, it is not significantly above other states in their participation. Of course the question still to be resolved is why Utah is the leader in this comparison.

Use of adult entertainment sites is very pervasive. The same report states, "As of June 2008, 36 percent of Internet users visit at least one adult website each month" (page 212).

===What Makes Utah Different?===
Utah has significant restrictions on the display and sales of hard core pornographic materials. The [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1206|Utah Statutes] [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1228] have the effect of making it much more difficult to get easy access to adult material. This forces those who might otherwise buy magazines or other adult materials to use the web to get access to that information. In Utah, access to most adult entertainment requires the use of the Internet. Therefore, the number of Internet users of pornography would be higher than states with different laws if all other factors were the same.

Even though Utah started out as predominantly LDS, that is no longer the case. LDS population estimates for Utah suggest that they only make up 60% of the state with Salt Lake County barely over 50%. Even these figures will not give a complete pictures since many of those that are still considered members of the Church have no active involvement in the Church or feel a need to maintain Church standards.

===Areas in Utah with High Subscription Rates===
While the report didn't indicate the results for all of the zip codes in Utah, the [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html|Deseret News] reported the following ZIP Codes with "unexpectedly high subscriptions relative to their population and broadband usage."

* 84766 - Sevier, UT an unincorporated community in Sevier County with a population of 157, no registered sex offenders
* 84112 - University of Utah
* 84018 - Croydon, UT with a population of 134 and 2 registered sex offenders
* 84006 - Bingham, UT with a population of 859 and 4 registered sex offenders
* 84536 - Monument Valley, UT with a population of 1,836 and no registered sex offenders

These all seem to be low population centers that can be easily affected by just a few subscribers, plus the University of Utah which is likely to have a more diverse population that would not be representative of the rest of Utah. But this population could have a significant affect on the subscription rates that are computed for the whole state.

===How Do Other Mormon Communities Rank?===
After Utah, the next two states with significant LDS populations are Idaho (26%) and Wyoming (10%). Interestingly, they are both much lower in adult subscriptions than Utah. Wyoming shows a subscription rate of 2.29 per thousand home broadband users and Idaho is second to last place at 1.98.

===What are the Factors that Would Affect the Ranking?===
In the report by Mr. Edelman, he outlined 13 factors (pages 216-219) and how they influenced the subscription rate for adult entertainment.

# '''Household Income.''' A $1,000 increase in average household income in a ZIP Code is associated with a 0.36 percent increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Age 15-24.''' A 1% increase in residents aged 15-24 (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.19 percentage increase in subscriptions.
# '''Percentage Over 65.''' A 1% increase in residents of age 65 or older (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.13 percent reduction in subscriptions.
# '''College Graduates.''' A 1% increase in college graduates is associated with a 0.12 percent increase in subscribers.
# '''Graduate Degrees.''' 1% more graduate degrees yields 0.30 percent fewer subscriptions.
# '''Urban Areas.''' Subscriptions are 38% more prevalent in urban areas.
# '''High-density Urban.''' In high-density urban areas (more than 5000 people per square mile), subscriptions drop somewhat.
# '''Marriage Rates.''' A 1% increase in marriage rates is associated with a 0.65 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''Divorce Rate.''' A 1% increase in divorce rates is associated with a 0.28 percent decrease in subscription rates.
# '''States with Conservative Legislation.''' Subscriptions are slightly more prevalent in states that have enacted conservative legislation on sexuality... In such states...11 percent more than in other states.
# '''States with Conservative Positions on Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where surveys indicate conservative positions on religion, gender roles, and sexuality.
# '''Where People Agree with Miracles and God.''' In states where more people agree that "Even today miracles are performed by the power of God" and "I never doubt the existence of God," there are more subscriptions.
# '''Old Fashioned Values about Marriage.''' Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where more people agree that "I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage" and "AIDS might be God's punishment for immoral sexual behavior."

Of course, some of these factors will be interrelated, but we can look at which factors could apply to Utah and we will see that the demographics of the state would suggest that Utah should have a higher than normal subscription rate. In almost every case these factors would suggest that Utah would have a higher subscription rate than the average population.

===Do Some in Utah Have a Pornography Addiction?===
Yes, of course, as do some throughout the rest of the United States. Interestingly, Utah is also more concerned about pornography addiction than any other state as shown by ranking in Google Trends. Using Utah as the baseline, the three top states for "pornography addiction" search request are 100% in Utah, 43% in Idaho and 23.5% in Tennessee, with Salt Lake City (100%), Boise, Idaho (41.5%)and Portland, Oregon (26.5%) as the three leading cities.

==Conclusion==

# The difference between top and bottom state is small—it may be difficult to draw firm conclusions when relatively small numbers of people can make the difference in ranking.
# Legal restrictions on other forms of pornography in Utah may make on-line sources the most attractive for those who seek this material.
# The social/religious pressure ''against'' pornography in LDS culture may make the privacy of on-line access particularly appealing, as opposed to sex shops, porno theatres, magazine subscriptions or purchases, etc.
# Utah has many characteristics which would tend to increase use in this type of study:
* higher than average [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R1901&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-redoLog=false&-format=US-30&-mt_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_R1901_US30&-CONTEXT=grt|income data]
* population that skews younger [data?]
* higher than average college graduates [data?]
* low divorce rate
* conservative legislation controlling pornography distribution via other channels
* conservative ideas about religion, marriage, and God (perhaps at least partly due to the social stigma against pornography consumption that is not 'hidden' from others)

It is not clear, however, that the characteristics of Utah (e.g., less divorce, more education, younger) are necessarily ''bad'' things. Utah may represent a sort of "perfect storm" in this study in which a number of factors come together to boost its scores.

The Church, of course, abhors and repudiates both the production of pornography—which exploits the participants—and its consumption, since it is spiritually damaging and harmful to a healthy marital and sexual life.

==Endnotes==

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki===
{{StatsWiki}}

===FAIR website===
{{StatsFAIR}}

===On-line articles===
{{StatsLinks}}

===Print works===
{{StatsPrint}}

Question: Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

2009-06-20T03:30:10Z

Cachemagic: /* Conclusion */

{{draft}} 
{{question}}
==Criticism==
Why does Utah lead the United States in subscriptions to online adult entertainment?

===Source(s) of the Criticism===

* This criticism got its start on the Internet. The source of the data upon which it is based is: Benjamin Edelman published a study in the ''Journal of Economic Perspectives'' (vol 23, Number 1; p 209-220) on [http://www.people.hbs.edu/bedelman/papers/redlightstates.pdf| Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?]

The data showed that Utah had the highest number of subscriptions (5.47 per thousand home broadband users). Since Utah also has the largest concentration of Mormons, it has been suggested that there is a correlation between the rate of adult subscriptions and the large percentage of Mormons in Utah.

==Response==
===Is the ranking Significant?===
Professor Edelman mentioned in his paper that difference from the top state to the bottom state on this metric is rather small.

:The ratio of these extremes is just 2.85--relatively small in comparison to states' diversity in other respects. For extremes in overall population density (excluding Alaska), compare New Jersey (1,175 people per square mile) to Wyoming (5.25), a ratio of 223:1. In truck ownership, compare North Dakota (590 trucks per thousand people) to New York (0.15), a ratio of 3933:1. In proportion of the population over 65, compare Pennsylvania (15.2 percent) to Alaska (5.3 percent) and Utah (7.3 percent), ratios of 2.86:1 and 2.08:1.

So although Utah is rated the highest in number of subscriptions, it is not far above even the lowest state (Montana at 1.92) in the number of subscriptions. So while Utah is also a participant in worldwide pornography participation, it is not significantly above other states in their participation. Of course the question still to be resolved is why Utah is the leader in this comparison.

Use of adult entertainment sites if very pervasive. In this same report, he reports that "As of June 2008, 36 percent of Internet users visit at least one adult website each month." (page 212)

===What makes Utah Different?===
Utah has significant restrictions on the display and sales of hard core pornographic materials. The Utah [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1206| Statues] [http://www.le.state.ut.us/UtahCode/getCodeSection?code=76-10-1228| ] have the effect of making it much more difficult to get easy access to adult material. This forces those who might otherwise buy magazines or other adult materials to use the web to get access to that information. In Utah, access to most of the adult entertainment will require the use of the Internet. Therefore, the number of Internet users of pornography would be higher if all other factors were the same.

Even though Utah started out as predominantly LDS, that is no longer the case. LDS population estimates for Utah suggest that they only make up 60% of the state with Salt Lake county barely over 50%. Even these figures will not give a complete pictures since many of those that are still considered members of the church have no active involvement in the church or feel a need to maintain church standards.

===Areas in Utah with High Subscription Rates===
While the report didn't indicate the results for all of the zip codes in Utah, the [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705288350,00.html| Deseret News] reported the following zip codes with "unexpectedly high subscriptions relative to their population and broadband usage."

* 84766 - Sevier, UT an unincorporated community in Sevier county with a population of 80, no registered sex offenders.
* 84112 - University of Utah
* 84018 - Croydon, UT with a population of 134 and 2 registered sex offenders
* 84006 - Bingham, UT with a population of 859 and 4 registered sex offenders
* 84536 - Monument Valley, UT with a population of 1,836 and no registered sex offenders

These all seem to be low population centers that can be easily affected by just a few subscribers, plus the University of Utah which is likely to have a more diverse population that would not be representative of the rest of Utah. But this population could have a significant affect on the subscription rates that are computed for the whole state.

===How Do Other Mormon communities rank?===
After Utah, the next two states with significant LDS populations over are Idaho (26%) and Wyoming (10%). Interestingly, they are both much lower in adult subscriptions than Utah. Wyoming shows a subscription rate of 2.29 per thousand home broadband users and Idaho is second to last place at 1.98.

===What are the factors that would affect the ranking?===
In the report by Mr. Edelman, he outlined 13 factors (pages 216-219) and how they influenced the subscription rate for the adult entertainment.

1. household income
:A $1,000 increase in average household income in a zip code is associated with a 0.36 percent increase in subscriptions.

2. percentage age 15-24
:A 1% increase in residents aged 15-24 (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.19 percentage increase in subscriptions.

3. percentage over 65
:A 1% increase in residents of age 65 or older (as a proportion of zip code population) yields a 0.13 percent reduction in subscriptions.

4. college graduates
:A 1% increase in college graduates is associated with a 0.12 percent increase in subscribers.

5. graduate degrees
:1% more graduate degrees yields 0.30 percent fewer subscriptions

6. urban areas
:subscriptions are 38% more prevalent in urban areas

7. high density urban
:In high-density urban areas (more than 5000 people per square mile), subscriptions drop somewhat.

8. marriage rates
:A 1% increase in marriage rates is associated with a 0.65 percent decrease in subscription rates.

9. divorce rate
:A 1% increase in divorce rates is associated with a 0.28 percent decrease in subscription rates.

10. states with conservative legislation
:Subscriptions are slighly more prevalent in states that have enacted conservative legislation on sexuality. . . In such states . . . 11 percent more than in other states.

11. states with conservative positions on marriage
:subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where surveys indicate conservative positions on religion, gender roles, and sexuality.

12. Where people agree with miracles and God
:In states where more people agree that "Even today miracles are performed by the power of God" and "I never doubt the existence of God," there are more subscriptions.

13. Old fashioned values about marriage
:Subscriptions are also more prevalent in states where more people agree that "I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage" and "AIDS might be God's punishment for immoral sexual behavior."

Of course some of these factors will be interrelated, but we can look at which factors could apply to Utah and we will see that the demographics of the state would suggest that Utah should have a higher than normal subscription rate. In almost every case these factors would suggest that Utah would have a higher subscription rate than the average population.

===Do some in Utah have a Pornographic Addiction?===
Yes, of course, as do some throughout the rest of the United States. Interestingly, Utah is also more concerned about Pornography Addiction than any other state as shown by ranking in Google Trends. Using Utah as the baseline, the three top states for "pornography addiction" search request are 100% in Utah, 43% in Idaho and 23.5% in Tennessee, with Salt Lake City (100%), Boise, ID (41.5%)and Portland, OR (26.5%) as the three leading cities.

==Conclusion==

# The difference between top and bottom state is small—it may be difficult to draw firm conclusions when relatively small numbers of people can make the difference in ranking.
# Legal restrictions on other forms of pornography in Utah may make on-line sources the most attractive for those who seek this material.
# The social/religious pressure ''against'' pornography in LDS culture may make the privacy of on-line access particularly appealing, as opposed to sex shops, porno theatres, magazine subscriptions or purchases, etc.
# Utah has many characteristics which would tend to increase use in this type of study:
* higher than average income [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R1901&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-redoLog=false&-format=US-30&-mt_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_R1901_US30&-CONTEXT=grt| data]
* population that skews younger [data?]
* higher than average college graduates [data?]
* low divorce rate
* conservative legislation controlling pornography distribution via other channels
* conservative ideas about religion, marriage, and God (perhaps at least partly due to the social stigma against pornography consumption that is not 'hidden' from others).

It is not clear, however, that the characteristics of Utah (e.g., less divorce, more education, younger) are necessarily ''bad'' things. Utah may represent a sort of "perfect storm" in this study in which a number of factors come together to boost its scores.

The Church, of course, abhors and repudiates both the production of pornography—which exploits the participants—and its consumption, since it is spiritually damaging, and harmful to a healthy marital and sexual life.

==Endnotes==

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki===
{{StatsWiki}}

===FAIR website===
{{StatsFAIR}}

===On-line articles===
{{StatsLinks}}

===Print works===
{{StatsPrint}}

Joseph Smith/Occultism and magic/Jupiter talisman

2009-06-15T16:24:33Z

Cachemagic: /* Source of the tale */

{{JosephSmithPortal}}
==Criticism==
Critics claim that Joseph Smith had a Jupiter Talisman on his person when he was martyred and cite this as proof of his fascination with the occult. As one work put it:

:The fact that Smith owned a Jupiter talisman shows that his fascination with the occult was not just a childish fad. At the time of his death, Smith had on his person this talisman...{{ref|mormon101}}

===Source(s) of the Criticism===
{{MagicCritics}}

==Response==
Did Joseph have this Talisman on him when he was murdered? What would it mean if he did?

This well circulated claim finds its origins in a 1974 talk by Dr. Reed Durham. Durham said that Joseph "evidently [had a Talisman] on his person when he was martyred. The talisman, originally purchased from the Emma Smith Bidamon family, fully notarized by that family to be authentic and to have belonged to Joseph Smith, can now be identified as a Jupiter talisman."{{ref|fn3}}

===Source of the tale===
The source of the Talisman story, upon which Dr. Durham based his remarks, was Wilford C. Wood, who was told it by Charles Bidamon, the illegitimate son of Lewis Bidamon. Lewis was Emma Smith's non-Mormon second husband. Charles was born following an affair between Lewis Bidamon and Nancy Abercrombie, which occurred while Lewis was married to Emma. Charles was taken in by Emma when four years old, and raised by her until her death 11 years later.{{ref|fn4}} (This action says much for Emma's charity.)

Richard Lloyd Anderson wrote that the Talisman, or "silver pocket piece" as described in 1937, appeared on a list of items purportedly own by Joseph Smith which were to be sold by Charles Bidamon. One item listed was "a silver pocket piece which was in the Prophet's pocket at the time of his assassination."{{ref|fn5}} Wilford Wood, who collected Mormon memorabilia, purchased it in 1938 along with a document from Bidamon certifying that the Prophet possessed it when murdered. The affidavit sworn to by Charles Bidamon at the time of Wilford C. Wood's purchase was very specific:

:This piece came to me through the relationship of my father, Major L. C. Bidamon, who married the Prophet Joseph Smith's widow, Emma Smith. I certify that I have many times heard her say, when being interviewed, and showing the piece, that it was in the Prophet's pocket when he was martyred at Carthage, Ill.{{ref|fn6}}

Anderson noted that Bidamon waited fifty-eight years after Emma’s death to make his certification, and notes that at the time of her death he was only fifteen years old.

Durham based his comments on Wood's description for the item which was: "This piece [the Talisman] was in Joseph Smith's pocket when he was martyred at Carthage Jail."{{ref|fn7}} However, a list of the items in Joseph's possession at the time of his death was provided to Emma following the martyrdom. On this list there was no mention made of any Talisman-like item. If there had been such an article, it ought to have been listed.

In 1984, Anderson located and published the itemized list of the contents of Joseph Smith's pockets at his death. The list was originally published in 1885 in Iowa by James W. Woods, Smith's lawyer, who collected the prophet's personal effects after the Martyrdom. The contents from the published 1885 printing are as follows:

:Received, Nauvoo, Illinois, July 2, 1844, of James W. Woods, one hundred and thirty- five dollars and fifty cents in gold and silver and receipt for shroud, one gold finger ring, one gold pen and pencil case, one penknife, one pair of tweezers, one silk and one leather purse, one small pocket wallet containing a note of John P. Green for $50, and a receipt of Heber C. Kimball for a note of hand on Ellen M. Saunders for one thousand dollars, as the property of Joseph Smith. - Emma Smith.{{ref|fn8}}

No Talisman or item like it is listed. It could not be mistaken for a coin or even a "Masonic Jewel" as Durham first thought. Anderson described the Talisman as being “an inch-and-a-half in diameter and covered with symbols and a prayer on one side and square of sixteen Hebrew characters on the other.”{{ref|fn9}} Significant is the fact that no associate of Joseph Smith has ever mentioned anything like this medallion. There are no interviews that ever record Emma mentioning any such item as attested to by Charles Bidamon, though he claimed she often spoke of it.

===Variations on a theme===

More recent arguments contend that Wood’s list was exaggerated or was an all together different type of list. For example, some suggest that since neither Joseph's gun or hat were on the report, the list must not be complete. It should be obvious, however, that these items were not found ''on Joseph's person''. The record clearly states that he dropped his gun and left it behind before being murdered. As for the hat, even if he had been wearing it indoors, it seems unlikely to have remained on his head after a gun-fight and fall from a second-story window.

Critics also argue that the Talisman was not accounted for was because it ought to have been worn around the neck, hidden from view and secret to all (including Emma no less). Thus, the argument runs, it was overlooked in the inventory. While it may be true that Talismans are worn around the neck, Bidamon's certification clearly states that the Talisman was "in the Prophet’s pocket when he was martyred." So which is it? In his pocket like a lucky charm or secretly worn around his neck as such an item should properly be used? In either case, the record is clear that he did not have a Talisman on his person at the time of his death. The rest is speculation.

The critics also resort to arguing that a prisoner could not possibly have had a penknife, so how accurate can the list of Joseph's possessions be? Obviously, the fact that he had a gun makes the possession of a knife a matter of no consequence.{{ref|fn10}} Critics will dismiss contemporary evidence simply because it is inconvenient.

As a final note to the saga, when Durham was later asked how he felt about his speech regarding the Talisman, he replied:

:I now wish I had presented some of my material differently.” “For instance, at the present time, after checking my data, I find no primary evidence that Joseph Smith ever possessed a Jupiter Talisman. The source for my comment was a second-hand, late source. It came from Wilford Wood, who was told it by Charlie Bidamon, who was told it by his father, Lewis Bidamon, who was Emma’s second husband and non-Mormon not too friendly to the LDS Church. So the idea that the Prophet had such a talisman is highly questionable.{{ref|fn11}}

{{ProbabilityMagicItems}}

==Conclusion==

There is only one source of evidence that claims Joseph Smith had the Jupiter Talisman on his person, and that source is Charles Bidamon. Bidamon's statement was made long after the death of Joseph and Emma, relied on memories from his youth, and was undergirded by financial motives.

By contrast, contemporary evidence demonstrates that Joseph did not have such a Talisman in his possession at his death.

==Endnotes==

#{{note|mormon101}} Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson, ''Mormonism 101: Examining the Religion of the Latter-day Saints'' (Baker Books, 2000), 255.

#{{note|fn3}} Dr. Reed Durham’s Presidential Address before the Mormon History Association on 20 April 1974.
#{{note|fn4}} Jerald R. Johansen, ''After the Martyrdom: What Happened to the Family of Joseph Smith'' (Springville, Utah: Horizon Publishers, 2004[1997]), 79. ISBN 0882905961. {{link|url=http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0882905961/ref=sib_dp_pt/104-7659138-5835160#reader-link}}
#{{note|fn5}} See page 541 of {{MatureJS}}
#{{note|fn6}} Anderson, "Mature Joseph Smith," 558.
#{{note|fn7}} Anderson, "Mature Joseph Smith," 558; with the original coming from LaMar C. Berett, ''The Wilford Wood Collection'', Vol. 1 (Provo, UT: Wilford C. Wood Foundation, 1972), 173.
#{{note|fn8}} Anderson, "Mature Joseph Smith," 558; Anderson points to its original source in J. W. Woods "The Mormon Prophet," ''Daily Democrat'' (Ottumwa, Iowa), 10 May 1885; and in Edward H. Stiles, ''Recollections and Sketches of Notable Lawyers and Public Men of Early Iowa'' (Des Moines: Homestead Publishing Co., 1916), 271.
#{{note|fn9}} Anderson, "Mature Joseph Smith," 541.
#{{note|fn10}} These are examples of later arguments by Quinn in an attempt to refute Anderson.
#{{note|fn11}} {{TruthGodmakers1|start=180}}
{{ProbabilityMagicItemsEndnotes}}
==Further reading==
===FAIR wiki articles===
{{MagicWiki}}

===FAIR web site===
{{MagicFAIR}}

===External links===
{{MagicLinks}}

===Printed material===
{{MagicPrint}}
[[de:Joseph_Smith_und_der_Jupiter-Talisman]]

Evangelical witnessing to Mormons/Craig Blomberg - Jesus to the Mormons

2009-05-21T19:22:04Z

Cachemagic: /* (a) Nicene Trinitarianism */

{{DoYouHaveQuestions}}

==Dr. Craig Blomberg's 'Top Ten Things Jesus Would Say to Mormons'==

Dr. Craig Blomberg, a noted Evangelical scholar, gave a [http://www.soundliving.org/sermons/mp3_files/20070722.m3u speech] in which he discussed ten things which he claims Jesus would tell Latter-day Saints. These points have been [http://ldstalk.wordpress.com/2007/08/27/the-top-10-things-jesus-would-say-to-mormons/ summarized]. FAIR will not presume to put words in Jesus' mouth save those recorded in scripture, but Dr. Blomberg's comments are worthy of response.

==Dr. Blombert's Top Ten List==

===#10 I admire your devotion to your families, to your wards and to giving generously to your church.===

{{nw}}

Latter-day Saints also give generously to various non-Church and humanitarian causes around the world. They do these things because they believe that Jesus has commanded them to love and serve others.

===#9 I never intended anyone to believe in me and act in any way they please. You are right to reject that idea.===

Latter-day Saints whole-heartedly agree with this idea. As we will see in #3 below, however, this conviction is often misunderstood or misrepresented by Evangelicals.

===#8 Please don’t judge me based on unkind things done by some who profess to know me.===

Why would Latter-day Saints judge ''Jesus'' simply because others have misused his name? Dr. Blomberg seems to presume that Latter-day Saints have misjudged the value of "true" [i.e., conservative Evangelical] Christianity based on the actions of others. This is not the case—Latter-day Saints have discovered Jesus and come to know him through the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the teachings of modern prophets.

Latter-day Saints do not reject Evangelical Christianity because of the actions of Evangelicals—they reject it because they believe they have found something better that teaches them ''more'' about Jesus.

It is true, though, that the actions of a small minority of Evangelicals—those who engage in anti-Mormon polemics and tactics—do little to enhance the reputation of Evangelicals among the Latter-day Saints. Dr. Blomberg could probably best address this problem from within his own tradition, in correcting or denouncing the unchristian behavior of others (see #9 above).

===#7 I applaud your restored emphasis on Bible study. Please note when you read the Book of Mormon how often it says I am one God in three persons and how often it says that salvation comes by my grace alone.===

This point consists of two main claims:

====(a) Nicene Trinitarianism====
Latter-day Saints—like the Bible and Book of Mormon—believe that God is one. There have been many answers to the question of how God can be one, while also consisting of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Dr. Blomberg wishes to have Jesus say that Latter-day Saints ought to believe in the Nicene Trinitarianism solution to that problem.

Latter-day Saints who practice Bible study know that the idea of God being "one God in three persons" is [[Godhead_and_the_Trinity|nowhere taught in the Bible]]. It is also not taught in the Book of Mormon. Bible scholars are unanimous that these ideas are not to be found in the Bible, or in Christian history for more than two centuries after Christ's resurrection. Jesus himself and the apostles were not Nicene Trinitarians, and neither were any Bible writers or first century Christians:

:Thus the New Testament itself is far from any doctrine of the Trinity or of a triune God who is three co-equal Persons of One Nature.{{ref|hill1}}

:The New Testament does not contain the developed doctrine of the Trinity.{{ref|ntt1}}

:There is in them [the Apostolic Fathers], of course, no trinitarian doctrine and no awareness of a trinitarian problem."{{ref|kelly1}}

:The Church had to wait for more than three hundred years for a final synthesis, for not until the Council of Constantinople [AD 381] was the formula of one God existing in three coequal Persons formally ratified.{{ref|fortman3}}

Dr. Blomberg is reading his own theology into scripture; it is simply not there, as virtually all scholars have long recognized.

http://en.fairmormon.org/Godhead_and_the_Trinity

====(b) Salvation by grace alone====

Since the Latter-day Saints accept Jesus as both Savior and Lord, they feel bound to strive to obey Jesus' commandments. As Jesus himself said:

:"why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" ({{b||Luke|6|46}})

If we truly believe that Jesus is Lord, we will obey him. Thus, while we are saved by grace, it is unbiblical to claim that our actions have no role to play in salvation.

Jesus also taught:

:"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." ({{B||Matthew|7|21}})

Grace saves us, but the Book of Mormon and the Bible teach that Jesus requires our engagement and participation in that process.

'''''To learn more'''''
{{GraceWiki}}

===#6: It is tragic how often my churches have fought with one another, but no one who has ever rejected all of the existing churches and tried to restart my church has ever gotten it correct.===

Dr. Blomberg assumes that Christ has multiple "churches." Yet, the Bible tells us that there is "one Lord, one faith, and one baptism" ().

How can all these Church's be Christ's? No two denominations agree on all points of theology. Evangelical Christians are divided about such fundamental matters as Calvinism vs. Arminism, {{nw}} [need other examples for here]. Is God the author of confusion? How can all these different perspectives come from him?

Dr. Blomberg is not a Catholic—yet, the founders of ''his'' denomination rejected the existing religious practices to form their own denomination. Indeed, Evangelical Christianity is a relative latecomer to Christian history. How does Dr. Blomberg presume to know that "no one" has gotten it right—and if this is true, why isn't this equally true of ''his'' theology or ''his'' religion?

This statement also implies that the Latter-day Saints reject everything ''in'' other churches. This is not true, since the Saints believe that there is much truth in many faiths. They simply reject the idea that any Church before the gospel was restored was complete.

===#5: I liked what Joseph Smith was doing at the beginning a lot more than what he was doing at the end.===

It is presumptuous for Dr. Blomberg to presume to speak for Jesus about the mission of Joseph Smith. God is able to speak for himself to any sincere seeker about the value of Joseph Smith's claims and mission.

===#4: I never established any priesthood or ordinances that required you to be part of One True Church to receive them.===

It is understandable that Dr. Blomberg would wish to minimize the importance of legitimate priesthood, since his relatively new denomination clearly cannot claim to have such a priesthood. He would also wish to dismiss the idea of necessary ordinances, because this doctrine conflicts with his belief that we can be saved by "grace alone."

However, the words that Dr. Blomberg thus puts into Jesus' mouth require us to ignore the words of the Bible:

{{nw}}

===#3: I LOVE your good deeds, but PLEASE don’t count on them to earn you anything. (Blomberg notes that in his discussions with LDS scholars everyone on both sides of the table agrees on this one).===

If Dr. Blomberg is sincere in his claim that no deeds matter or earn us anything, then it is strange that he insists so strongly (see #7) that Latter-day Saints accept a certain theology—the Nicene creed. If the good works commanded by Jesus have no role in our salvation, then why does the work or act of accepting or not accepting a theological claim make any difference?

Latter-day Saints do not obey because they believe they can earn salvation. They obey because they love the Lord, wish to emulate him, and have promised him that they will do so.

'''''To learn more'''''
{{GraceWiki}}

===#2: On judgment day all that will really matter is that you have accepted me as Savior and Lord. . . and it has to be both.===

If this is true, then Dr. Blomberg's concern for the Latter-day Saints is misguided and unnecessary—since the Saints unreservedly consider Jesus to be both Savior and Lord.

We again cannot escape the impression, however (see #7), that Dr. Blomberg seems to believe that Latter-day Saints must also accept various theological claims and positions (e.g., Nicene Trinitarianism) in order to be safely saved. If he truly believes that only accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord is necessary, he and his denomination need have no worries about the Latter-day Saints.

Since the Latter-day Saints accept Jesus as both Savior and Lord, they feel bound to strive to obey Jesus' commandments. As Jesus himself said:

:"why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" ({{b||Luke|6|46}})

If we truly believe that Jesus is Lord, we will obey him. Thus, while we are saved by grace, it is unbiblical to claim that our actions have no role to play in salvation.

'''''To learn more'''''
{{GraceWiki}}

===#1: I love you and really do want you to be part of my forever family.===

On this we can certainly all agree.

And, because Christ requires the salvation of all humanity, he has again called prophets and apostles to teach us how to return to him. The Latter-day Saints gratefully bear witness that we do not need to trust man-made interpretations of scripture, disputes between denominations, or later historical developments in theology to understand God's will.

Instead God continues to speak in our day, answers prayers, provides scripture, and gives living prophets and apostles to teach modern Christians just as he did for the people of God throughout the Bible.

Dr. Blomberg and all others are invited to enjoy the blessings which come from an enhanced appreciation and understanding of Jesus and his will for us, which will complement the truths they have already accepted from the Bible.

{{DoYouHaveQuestions}}

==Footnotes==
#{{note|hill1}}William J. Hill, ''The Three-Personed God'' (Washington DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1982), 27.
#{{note|ntt1}}''New Testament Theology'' (Grand Rapids MI, Zondervan, 1967), 1:84.
#{{note|kelly1}}JND Kelly, ''Early Christian Doctrines'', revised edition, (New York: Harper, 1978), 95.
#{{note|fortman3}}Edmund J. Fortman, ''The Triune God: A Historical Study of the Doctrine of the Trinity'' (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1972), 44.

Mormon ordinances/Marriage/Jews and early Christians on marriage after death

2009-02-09T16:58:49Z

Cachemagic: /* Response */

{{question}} {{draft}}

==Question==
What can you tell me about Biblical, Jewish, or early Christian teachings about marriage which lasts beyond the grave?

==Response==
The Jews seem to have believed in eternal marriage from at least second-temple times, since they posed the question about the woman with seven successive husbands, asking which of them would be her husband "in the resurrection" ({{b||Matthew|22|28}}; {{b||Mark|12|23}}; {{b||Luke|20|33}}). The concept of eternal marriage is well-attested among Jews in the medieval period and is frequently mentioned in the ''Zohar'', which also notes that God has a wife, the Matrona ("mother"), and is known in the Talmud. In the Falasha (the black Jews of Ethiopia's text) 5 Baruch, it has Jeremiah's scribe, Baruch, being shown various parts of the heavenly Jerusalem, with different gates for different heirs. The text then says, "I asked the angel who conducted me and said to him: 'Who enters through this gate?' He who guided me answered and said to me: 'Blessed are those who enter through this gate. [Here] the husband remains with his wife and the wife remains with her husband'"{{ref|falasha.1}}

A hint of the eternal nature of marriage is found in Tertuillian's discourse on the widow, in which he wrote: "Indeed, she prays for his [her husband's] soul, and requests refreshment for him meanwhile, and fellowship (with him) in the first resurrection."{{ref|tert.1}} In the same passage, speaking of marriage, he wrote: "If we believe the resurrection of the dead, of course we shall be bound to them with whom we are destined to rise, to render an account the one of the other…But if 'in that age they will neither marry nor be given in marriage, but will be equal to angels,' is not the fact that there will be no restitution of the conjugal relation a reason why we shall not be bound (to them), because we are destined to a better estate - destined (as we are) to rise to a spiritual consortship, to recognize as well our own selves as them who are ours…Consequently, we who shall be with God shall be together, since we shall all be with the one God - albeit the wages be various, albeit there be 'many mansions,' in the house of the same Father - having labored for the 'one penny' of the selfsame hire, that is, of eternal life; in which (eternal life) God will still less separate those whom He has conjoined, than in this lesser life He forbids them to be separated."{{ref|tert.2}}

The pseudepigraphic Joseph and Aseneth 15:6 has a heavenly messenger telling Aseneth, "Behold, I have given you today to Joseph for a bride, and he himself will be your bridegroom, forever (and) ever." In a later passage, the Egyptian king tells Joseph "Behold, is not this one betrothed to you since eternity? And shall be your wife from now own and forever (and) ever?" (Joseph and Aseneth 21:3). Pharaoh then tells Asenth, "justly the Lord, the God of Joseph, has chosen you as a bride for Joseph, because he is the firstborn of God. And you shall be called a daughter of the Most High and a bride of Joseph from now and forever" (Joseph and Aseneth 21:4).{{ref|aseneth}}

Some critics bring up Christ's encounter with the Sadducees as evidence against marriage for all eternity ({{b||Matthew|22|30}}; {{b||Mark|12|25}}; {{b||Luke|20|35}}).

{{main|Marriage not needed for exaltation#Jesus and "neither marry nor given in marriage"}}

As noted earlier, Tertullian did not understand this passage to mean that there would be no marriage in the hereafter. More importantly, however, is the source of the story the Sadducees told Jesus. It comes from one of the book of the Apocrypha, Tobit, where a woman named Sara was married to seven men, each of whom died on the wedding night ([http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=DIV1&byte=3785365 Tobit] 3:7-9; 6:13; 7:10-11). The text also notes that "Raphael [the archangel] was sent…to give Sara the daughter of Raguel for a whife to Tobias the son of Tobit…because she belonged to Tobias by right of inheritance [cf. {{b||Deuteronomy|25|5-6}}]" ([http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=DIV1&byte=3785365 Tobit] 3:17). Jesus probably had this account in mind when He told his Sadduceean interrogators, "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God" ({{b||Matthew|22|29}}). They had neglected to note that she had married an eighth husband and that God had sent an angel to arrange the marriage.

==Conclusion==
Exegetically, there is nothing in these passages to refute marriage in heaven, or belief, in some form or another, of God having a consort, and provides indirect evidence that Joseph Smith did restore a doctrine that has ancient support.

==Endnotes==
#{{note|falasha.1}} Wolf Leslau, ''Falasha Antholog'' (New Haven: Yale, 1951, 1971), 65.
#{{note|tert.1}} Tertuillian, ''On Monogamy'', 10.
#{{note|tert.2}} {{Anf1|author=Tertuillian|article=|vol=4|citation=?|start=56, 67}}
#{{note|aseneth}} ''The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha'', ed. James H. Charlesworth, (Broadway, New York: Doubleday, 1983), 2:202–47

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki articles===
{{CultureAttitudeWiki}}

===FAIR web site===
{{CultureAttitudeFAIR}}

===External links===
{{CultureAttitudeLinks}}
===Printed material===
{{CultureAttitudePrint}}

Fallibility of prophets

2009-01-04T02:02:36Z

Cachemagic: /* Establishing new doctrine */

==Criticism==
Critics are fond of imposing their absolutist assumptions on the Church. Many critics hold inerrantist beliefs about scriptures or prophets, and assume that the LDS have similar views.

Critics therefore insist—without reason—that any statement by any LDS Church leader represents LDS doctrine, and something believed by a given member.

===Source(s) of the Criticism===
*{{CriticalWork:McKeeverJohnson:Mormonism 101|pages=Chapter 18}}
*{{CriticalWork:Tanner:Changing World|pages=437}}
* {{50Questions}}

==Response==

===Prophets in the LDS tradition are not "infallible"===
The LDS do not believe that prophets and apostles are incapable of error, despite being called of God and receiving revelation. Joseph Smith himself taught that ‘a prophet was a prophet only when he was acting as such’.{{ref|js1}} The Church has always taught that its leaders are human and subject to failings as are all mortals. Only Jesus was perfect, as explained in this statement from the First Presidency:

:The position is not assumed that the men of the New Dispensation —its prophets, apostles, presidencies, and other leaders—are without faults or infallible, rather they are treated as men of like passions with their fellow men."{{ref|clark1}}

Lu Dalton, writing in the Church's periodical for women, explained:

:We consider God, and him alone, infallible; therefore his revealed word to us cannot be doubted, though we may be in doubt some times about the knowledge which we obtain from human sources, and occasionally be obliged to admit that something which we had considered to be a fact, was really only a theory.{{ref|dalton1}}

===Standard of doctrine in the Church===
President George Q. Cannon (counselor in the First Presidency) explained that the scriptures are the only source of official doctrine, coupled with later revelation to the prophets that has been presented to the Church and sustained:

:I hold in my hand the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and also the book, The Pearl of Great Price, which books contain revelations of God. In Kirtland, the Doctrine and Covenants in its original form, as first printed, was submitted to the officers of the Church and the members of the Church to vote upon. As there have been additions made to it by the publishing of revelations which were not contained in the original edition, it has been deemed wise to submit these books with their contents to the conference, to see whether the conference will vote to accept the books and their contents as from God, and binding upon us as a people and as a Church.{{ref|cannon1}}

B.H. Roberts further explained that only those things within the Standard Works and those presented for a sustaining vote by the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles is binding upon the Church and its members:

:The Church has confined the sources of doctrine by which it is willing to be bound before the world to the things that God has revealed, and which the Church has officially accepted, and those alone. These would include the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price; these have been repeatedly accepted and endorsed by the Church in general conference assembled, and are the only sources of absolute appeal for our doctrine.{{ref|roberts1}}

Anything else is valuable and may be of use for explanation, exhortation, and instruction, but does not bear the weight of ‘scripture’ in the LDS canon. Harold B. Lee was equally explicit:

:If anyone, regardless of his position in the Church, were to advance a doctrine that is not substantiated by the standard Church works, meaning the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price, you may know that his statement is merely his private opinion. The only one authorized to bring forth any new doctrine is the President of the Church, who, when he does, will declare it as revelation from God, and it will be so accepted by the Council of the Twelve and sustained by the body of the Church. And if any man speak a doctrine which contradicts what is in the standard Church works, you may know by that same token that it is false and you are not bound to accept it as truth.{{ref|lee1}}

Elsewhere, President Lee taught the same principle:

:It is not to be thought that every word spoken by the General Authorities is inspired, or that they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost in everything they speak and write. Now you keep that in mind. I don't care what his position is, if he writes something or speaks something that goes beyond anything that you can find in the standard works, unless that one be the prophet, seer, and revelator—please note that one exception—you may immediately say, "Well, that is his own idea!" And if he says something that contradicts what is found in the standard works (I think that is why we call them "standard"—it is the standard measure of all that men teach), you may know by that same token that it is false; regardless of the position of the man who says it.{{ref|lee2}}

In ''Mormon Doctrine'', Elder Bruce R. McConkie was equally clear:

:The books, writings, explanations, expositions, views, and theories of even the wisest and greatest men, either in or out of the Church, do not rank with the standard works. Even the writings, teachings, and opinions of the prophets of God are acceptable only to the extent they are in harmony with what God has revealed and what is recorded in the standard works.{{ref|mcconkie3}}

===Prophets and new scripture===

Brigham Young made another statement which critics abuse:

:"Well, brethren and sisters, try and be Saints. I will try; I have tried many years to live according to the law which the Lord reveals unto me. I know just as well what to teach this people and just what to say to them and what to do in order to bring them into the celestial kingdom, as I know the road to my office. It is just as plain and easy. The Lord is in our midst. He teaches the people continually. I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call Scripture. Let me have the privilege of correcting a sermon, and it is as good Scripture as they deserve. The people have the oracles of God continually. In the days of Joseph, revelation was given and written, and the people were driven from city to city and place to place, until we were led into these mountains. Let this [discourse] go to the people with "Thus saith the Lord," and if they do not obey it, you will see the chastening hand of the Lord upon them. But if they are plead with, and led along like children, we may come to understand the will of the Lord and he may preserve us as we desire.{{ref|by1}}

Brigham here says that his remarks are "scripture." However, the critics rarely provide Brigham's ''own explanation'' of this comment:

:Brother Orson Hyde referred to a few who complained about not getting revelations. I will make a statement here that has been brought against me as a crime, perhaps, or as a fault in my life. Not here, I do not allude to anything of the kind in this place, but in the councils of the nations—that Brigham Young has said "when he sends forth his discourses to the world they may call them Scripture." I say now, when they are copied and approved by me they are as good Scripture as is couched in this Bible, and if you want to read revelation read the sayings of him who knows the mind of God, without any special command to one man to go here, and to another to go yonder, or to do this or that, or to go and settle here or there.{{ref|by2}}

Brigham Young made it clear that his previous statement should not mean that anything he said was scripture, but only that which he had the opportunity to correct and send to the Saints ''as'' scripture. This provides a good example of why this rule exists at all: what a prophet may intend to convey may not be what his listeners hear, or what scribes recorded. Thus, teachings must be approved by the author ''and'' submitted as binding scripture in order for them to be considered such.

===Establishing new doctrine===

:It is not sufficient to quote sayings purported to come from Joseph Smith or Brigham Young upon matters of doctrine. Our own people also need instruction and correction in respect of this. It is common to hear some of our older brethren say, ‘But I heard Brother Joseph myself say so,’ or ‘Brother Brigham preached it; I heard him.’ But that is not the question. The question is has God said it? Was the prophet speaking officially? . . . As to the printed discourses of even leading brethren, the same principle holds. They do not constitute the court of ultimate appeal on doctrine. They may be very useful in the way of elucidation and are very generally good and sound in doctrine, but they are not the ultimate sources of the doctrines of the Church, and are not binding upon the Church. The rule in that respect is—What God has spoken, and what has been accepted by the Church as the word of God, by that, and that only, are we bound in doctrine.{{ref|roberts2}}

Leaders of the Church even spoke out against those who might try to think that some other standard applied for ‘official’ Church doctrine:

:[The Seer, a magazine published by a Church leader] contain[s] doctrines which we cannot sanction, and which we have felt impressed to disown, so that the Saints who now live, and who may live hereafter, may not be misled by our silence, or be left to misinterpret it…It ought to have been known, years ago, by every person in the Church—for ample teachings have been given on the point—that no member of the Church has the right to publish any doctrines, as the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, without first submitting them for examination and approval to the First Presidency and the Twelve. There is but one man upon the earth, at one time, who holds the keys to receive commandments and revelations for the Church, and who has the authority to write doctrines by way of commandment unto the Church. And any man who so far forgets the order instituted by the Lord as to write and publish what may be termed new doctrines, without consulting with the First Presidency of the Church respecting them, places himself in a false position, and exposes himself to the power of darkness by violating his Priesthood. While upon this subject, we wish to warn all the Elders of the Church, and to have it clearly understood by the members, that, in the future, whoever publishes any new doctrines without first taking this course, will be liable to lose his Priesthood.{{ref|seer1}}

Later leaders of the Church have continued to teach this principle. Joseph Fielding Smith wrote:

:It makes no difference what is written or what anyone has said, if what has been said is in conflict with what the Lord has revealed, we can set it aside. My words, and the teachings of any other member of the Church, high or low, if they do not square with the revelations, we need not accept them. Let us have this matter clear. We have accepted the four standard works as the measuring yardsticks, or balances, by which we measure every man¹s doctrine. You cannot accept the books written by the authorities of the Church as standards of doctrine, only in so far as they accord with the revealed word in the standard works. Every man who writes is responsible, not the Church, for what he writes. If Joseph Fielding Smith writes something which is out of harmony with the revelations, then every member of the Church is duty bound to reject it. If he writes that which is in perfect harmony with the revealed word of the Lord, then it should be accepted.{{ref|jfs1}}

Elder Bruce R. McConkie, whose writings some critics attempt to elevate to "official status," despite the fact that he explicitly states that he writes only on his own behalf,{{ref|mcconkie1}} said:

:With all their inspiration and greatness, prophets are yet mortal men with imperfections common to mankind in general. They have their opinions and prejudices and are left to work out their own problems without inspiration in many instances. Joseph Smith recorded that he "visited with a brother and sister from Michigan, who thought that 'a prophet is always a prophet'; but I told them that a prophet was a prophet only when he was acting as such." (Teachings, p. 278.) Thus the opinions and views even of prophets may contain error unless those opinions and views are inspired by the Spirit. Inspired statements are scripture and should be accepted as such. (D. & C. 68:4.). 

:Since "the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets" (1 Cor. 14:32), whatever is announced by the presiding brethren as counsel for the Church will be the voice of inspiration. But the truth or error of any uninspired utterance of an individual will have to be judged by the standard works and the spirit of discernment and inspiration that is in those who actually enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost.{{ref|mcconkie2}}

This was recently reiterated by the First Presidency (who now approves all statements published on the Church's official website):

:''Not every statement made by a Church leader, past or present, necessarily constitutes doctrine. A single statement made by a single leader on a single occasion often represents a personal, though well-considered, opinion, but is not meant to be officially binding for the whole Church. With divine inspiration, the First Presidency...and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles...counsel together to establish doctrine that is consistently proclaimed in official Church publications. This doctrine resides in the four “standard works” of scripture (the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price), official declarations and proclamations, and the Articles of Faith. Isolated statements are often taken out of context, leaving their original meaning distorted.''
:—LDS Newsroom, "Approaching Mormon Doctrine," ''lds.org'' (4 May 2007) {{link|url=http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/approaching-mormon-doctrine}}]

===Biblical standard?===

Some critics will protest that this standard is not applied to Biblical prophets, but this comes from a superficial analysis of the Biblical record. One Bible commentator noted that the Biblical authors were not perfect, and that they made errors of expression even in the Biblical record:

:Though purified and ennobled by the influence of His Holy Spirit; men each with his own peculiarities of manner and disposition—each with his own education or want of education—each with his own way of looking at things—each influenced differently from another by the different experiences and disciplines of his life. Their inspiration did not involve a suspension of their natural faculties; it did not even make them free from earthly passion; it did not make them into machines—it left them men. Therefore we find their knowledge sometimes no higher than that of their contemporaries.{{ref|dummelow1}}

Paul’s accounts even contain a contradictory account of his vision (Compare [http://scriptures.lds.org/acts/9/7#7 Acts 9:7] & [http://scriptures.lds.org/acts/22/9#9 Acts 22:9]). Paul and Barnabas disagreed severely enough for it to disrupt their missions [http://scriptures.lds.org/acts/15/36#39 Acts 15:36–39]. Peter and Paul also criticized the other’s writing [http://scriptures.lds.org/2_pet/3/16#16 2 Peter 3:16] and behavior regarding the Church [http://scriptures.lds.org/gal/2/11#16 Galatians 2:11–16].

===Protection against error===

The Church's system of councils provides protection against the fallibility of a single man or leader. President Smith explained:

:An individual may fall by the wayside, or have views, or give counsel which falls short of what the Lord intends. But the voice of the First Presidency and the united voice of those others who hold with them the keys of the kingdom shall always guide the Saints and the world in those paths where the Lord wants them to be.{{ref|jfs2}}

Dallin H. Oaks explained how the Lord allows all His children to grow through struggling with problems:

:Revelations from God . . . are not constant. We believe in continuing revelation, not continuous revelation. We are often left to work out problems without the dictation or specific direction of the Spirit. That is part of the experience we must have in mortality. Fortunately, we are never out of our Savior's sight, and if our judgment leads us to actions beyond the limits of what is permissible and if we are listening, . . . the Lord will restrain us by the promptings of his Spirit.{{ref|oaks1}}

The Lord will not help his children avoid all stumbling and error; He will protect them from permanent harm to His work, as Boyd K. Packer taught:

:Even with the best of intentions, [Church government] does not always work the way it should. Human nature may express itself on occasion, but ''not to the permanent injury of the work''.{{ref|packer1}}

Does this mean that members must simply have "blind trust" in their leaders? Hardly, says President Lorenzo Snow:

:There may be some things that the First Presidency do; that the Apostles do, that cannot for the moment be explained; yet the spirit, the motives that inspire the action can be understood, because each member of the Church has a right to have that measure of the Spirit of God that they can judge as to those who are acting in their interests or otherwise.{{ref|snow1}}

===Biblical comparison===

To get a better idea of how prophets are limited yet still divinely called, it can be helpful to look at some examples of Bible prophets and compare them with modern prophets.

{| border="0" cellpadding="10" style=background:#eeeeee
|- style="align:center; background:#dddddd; text-align:center"
| '''Bible prophets'''
| '''Modern prophets'''
|- valign="top"
| '''Moses''' disobeyed God's instruction to speak to the rock and instead hit it. He then attributed the miracle to himself and Aaron, saying, "Must ''we'' fetch you water out of this rock?" He was chastized by the Lord afterward. ({{b||Numbers|20||}})
|
|- valign="top"
| '''Joshua''' was deceived by the inhabitants of Gibeon when they claimed to come from a far country so they could get a peace accord with Joshua. Then the Israelites found that instead of living a long distant away, that people from Gibeon lived among them. ({{b||Joshua|9||}})
| '''Gordon B. Hinckley''' was temporarily deceived by [[Mark Hofmann]], who had done so in order to obtain money. Hofmann was even responsible for the death of some people. After some investigation, he was discovered and sentenced.
|- valign="top"
| '''Gideon''' repeatedly asked the Lord for signs even though the Lord has said, "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign." ({{b||Judges|7|}}; {{b||Matthew|12|39}})
|
|- valign="top"
| '''Nathan''' told David that the Lord approved of his desire to build a temple, and that he should commence the project. The Lord later told Nathan that such was ''not'' His desire, and that he was to tell David that the temple would be built by another. ({{b|2|Samuel|7||}})
|
|- valign="top"
| '''Jonah''' felt some personal prejudices against Assyrians, to the point of expecting the Lord to give them fewer blessings than to Jews. ({{b||Jonah|4|1}})
| '''Brigham Young''' felt some personal prejudices against [[Racist_statements_by_Church_leaders|blacks]], to the point of expecting the Lord to give them fewer blessings than caucasians.
|- valign="top"
| '''Jesus' apostles''' may not always have been perfectly humble or modest. They once disputed over which of them would be the greatest in heaven. ({{b||Mark|9|34}})
| '''Joseph Smith''' may not always have been perfectly humble or modest. He once said he had "more to boast of than ever any man had."{{ref|js2}} ''See [[Did_Joseph_Smith_'boast'_of_keeping_the_Church_intact|here]], though, to see how critics misinterpret this event.''
|}
A person could spend all day looking for examples of the Lord's chosen servants making mistakes, but such an activity does nothing to edify or strengthen people. In all of these situations, a prophet's weakness or mistakes do not make him any less a prophet, called of God to do His work.

==Conclusion==
The prophets are not perfect, but they are called of God. They may speak as men, but may speak scripture as well. Every person may know for themselves whether they speak the truth through the same power that their revelation is given: the power of the Holy Ghost.

==Endnotes==
#{{note|js1}} {{HoC1|vol=5|start=265}}; See also {{TPJS1|start=278}}
#{{note|clark1}} James R. Clark, quoting B. H. Roberts, ''Messages of the First Presidency,'' edited by James R. Clark, Vol. 4, (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1970), p. xiv–xv.
#{{note|dalton1}} Lu Dalton, ''Woman's Exponent'' (Salt Lake City: 15 July 1882), p. 31.
#{{note|cannon1}} {{MS1|author=George Q. Cannon|article=Comments|vol=42|num=46|date=15 November 1880|start=724}} (10 October 1880, General Conference)
#{{note|roberts1}} Brigham H. Roberts, sermon of 10 July 1921, delivered in Salt Lake Tabernacle, printed in ''Deseret News'' (23 July 1921) sec. 4:7.
#{{note|lee1}}Harold B. Lee, ''The First Area General Conference for Germany, Austria, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium, and Spain of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, held in Munich Germany, August 24–26, 1973, with Reports and Discourses'', 69.
#{{note|lee2}} Harold B. Lee, "The Place of the Living Prophet, Seer, and Revelator," Address to Seminary and Institute of Religion Faculty, BYU, 8 July 1964.
#{{note|mcconkie3}} {{MD1|start=111}}
#{{note|by1}} {{JoD13_1|author=Brigham Young|title=Latter-Day Saint Families, etc.|date=2 January 1870|start=95|end=95}}
#{{note|by2}} {{JoD13_1|author=Brigham Young|title=Texts for Preaching Upon at Conference—Revelations, etc.|date=6 October 1870|start=264|end=264}}
#{{note|roberts2}} B.H. Roberts, ''Deseret News'' (23 July 1921) sec. 4:7.
#{{note|seer1}} Proclamation of the First Presidency and Twelve, dated 21 October 1865, re: ''The Seer''. Printed in ''Messages of the First Presidency,'' edited by James R. Clark, Vol. 2, (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965), 238–39.
#{{note|jfs1}} {{DoS|vol=3|start=203|end=204}}
#{{note|mcconkie1}} See, for example, Elder McConkie's "Preface" from the first edition of ''Mormon Doctrine'', where he writes "For the work itself, I assume sole and full responsibility." This comment is reprinted in the second edition.{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=208552}}
#{{note|mcconkie2}}{{MD1|start=608}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=210019}}
#{{note|dummelow1}} James R. Dummelow, ''A Commentary on the Holy Bible: Complete in one volume, with general articles'' (New York : Macmillan, 1984 [1904]), p. cxxxv.
#{{note|jfs2}} {{Ensign1|author=Joseph Fielding Smith|article=Eternal Keys and the Right to Preside|date=July 1972|start=88}}{{link|url=http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1972.htm/ensign%20july%201972%20.htm/eternal%20keys%20and%20the%20right%20to%20preside.htm}}
#{{note|oaks1}} {{Ensign1|author=Dallin H. Oaks|article=Teaching and Learning by the Spirit|date=March 1997|start=14}}{{link|url=http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1997.htm/ensign%20march%201997.htm/teaching%20and%20learning%20by%20the%20spirit.htm}}
#{{note|packer1}} Boyd K. Packer, "I Say unto You, Be One," in ''BYU Devotional and Fireside Speeches, 1990–1991'' (Provo, Utah: University Publications, 1991), 84.
#{{note|snow1}} {{CR1|author=Lorenzo Snow|article=A Serious ordeal, etc.|date=October 1898|start=54}}
#{{note|js2}} {{HoC | vol=6|start=408|end=409 }} This statement, when understood in its proper context, doesn't appear to be a statement of personal pride at all. Joseph Smith read to the congregation [http://scriptures.lds.org/en/2_cor/11 2 Corinthians 11] and then mimicked Paul in his "boasting." In its proper context, Joseph Smith was not acting in a proud manner at all but was using the rhetoric of Paul to defend his own authority as a prophet against those who were then proclaiming him a "fallen prophet." This statement, however, is used often in anti-Mormon literature as a criticism of the prophet and is used here only to show that even if he were in fact proud, it doesn't damage his authority as a prophet/apostles any more than it damaged Jesus' apostles' authority.

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki articles===
{{AdamWiki}}
{{BlacksPriesthoodWiki}}
{{ProphecyWiki}}
===FAIR web site===
{{AdamFAIR}}
{{ProphecyFAIR}}

===External links===
{{ProphecyLinks}}

===Printed material===
{{ProphecyPrint}}

User:Cachemagic/Sandbox/Rights

2008-12-09T16:53:41Z

Cachemagic:

=Marriage - Is it a Civil Right?=

Thomas Sowell, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University [http://www.mormontimes.com/people_news/church_news/?linkTrack=dailyEmail&id=5067 Right to Win]

Hawaii Supreme Court held in Baehr v. Lewin that the government had to show a reason for the denial of the freedom to marry, not just deny marriage licenses to the plaintiff gay couples.

Baker v. Vermont was decided in 1999 by the Vermont Supreme Court. The decision represented one of the first high-level judicial affirmations of same-sex couples' right to treatment equivalent to that of traditionally married couples. The unanimous decision found that existing prohibitions on same-sex marriage were a violation of rights granted by the Vermont Constitution. As a result, the Vermont legislature was ordered to either allow same-sex marriages, or implement an alternative legal mechanism according similar rights. In 2000, the Legislature complied by instituting civil unions for same-sex couples. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recognition_of_same-sex_unions_in_Vermont ]

"Churches oppose same-sex marriage in part because it represents an implicit threat to freedom of conscience and belief. California already had one of the broadest civil-unions laws in the country. There was little in the way of government-sanctioned privileges that a state-issued marriage license would confer. But the drive for same-sex marriage is in practice about legislating moral conformity — demanding that everybody recognize homosexual relationships in the same way, regardless of their own beliefs."
[http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YTU5MjZmMDIyMDU3NjRiMjBlNjcxYTlmOGQ2ODA5NjA National Review Editorial Nov. 24, 2003]

French Studies on Gay Marriage [http://www.preservemarriage.ca/docs/France%20-%20summary.pdf summary]
and the [http://www.marriageinstitute.ca/images/PARLIAMENTARY%20REPORT%20ON%20THE%20FAMILY%20AND%20THE%20RIGHTS%20OF%20CHILDREN.pdf full report]

In short, the case is about what "marriage" is, not about whether an individual is denied the ability to enter a "marriage." All adults in California equally enjoy the fundamental right to enter a marriage, i.e., a union between one man and one woman, and no person holds a right to enter any other form of relationship and call it "marriage." [http://blog.beliefnet.com/lynnvsekulow/2008/12/proposition-8-respecting-the-w.html Beliefnet]

[http://www.the-tidings.com/2008/120508/homosexuals.htm Catholic Review of Rights case]

[http://www.fairblog.org/2008/06/27/same-sex-marriage-equality-and-california-mormons-a-response-to-jeffrey-s-nielsen/ Legal Reasons to not allow same-sex marriage]

User:Cachemagic/Sandbox/Rights

2008-12-09T16:53:17Z

Cachemagic:

User:Cachemagic/Sandbox/Rights

2008-12-09T16:52:29Z

Cachemagic:

=Marriage - Is it a Civil Right?=

Thomas Sowell, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University [http://www.mormontimes.com/people_news/church_news/?linkTrack=dailyEmail&id=5067 Right to Win]

Hawaii Supreme Court held in Baehr v. Lewin that the government had to show a reason for the denial of the freedom to marry, not just deny marriage licenses to the plaintiff gay couples.

Baker v. Vermont was decided in 1999 by the Vermont Supreme Court. The decision represented one of the first high-level judicial affirmations of same-sex couples' right to treatment equivalent to that of traditionally married couples. The unanimous decision found that existing prohibitions on same-sex marriage were a violation of rights granted by the Vermont Constitution. As a result, the Vermont legislature was ordered to either allow same-sex marriages, or implement an alternative legal mechanism according similar rights. In 2000, the Legislature complied by instituting civil unions for same-sex couples. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recognition_of_same-sex_unions_in_Vermont ]

"Churches oppose same-sex marriage in part because it represents an implicit threat to freedom of conscience and belief. California already had one of the broadest civil-unions laws in the country. There was little in the way of government-sanctioned privileges that a state-issued marriage license would confer. But the drive for same-sex marriage is in practice about legislating moral conformity — demanding that everybody recognize homosexual relationships in the same way, regardless of their own beliefs."
[http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YTU5MjZmMDIyMDU3NjRiMjBlNjcxYTlmOGQ2ODA5NjA National Review Editorial Nov. 24, 2003]

French Studies on Gay Marriage [http://www.preservemarriage.ca/docs/France%20-%20summary.pdf summary]
and the [http://www.marriageinstitute.ca/images/PARLIAMENTARY%20REPORT%20ON%20THE%20FAMILY%20AND%20THE%20RIGHTS%20OF%20CHILDREN.pdf full report]

In short, the case is about what "marriage" is, not about whether an individual is denied the ability to enter a "marriage." All adults in California equally enjoy the fundamental right to enter a marriage, i.e., a union between one man and one woman, and no person holds a right to enter any other form of relationship and call it "marriage." [http://blog.beliefnet.com/lynnvsekulow/2008/12/proposition-8-respecting-the-w.html Beliefnet]

[http://www.the-tidings.com/2008/120508/homosexuals.htm Catholic Review of Rights case]

[http://tinyurl.com/5g4gwa Legal Reasons to no allow same-sex marriage]

The Spalding Theory of Book of Mormon authorship

2008-12-08T21:22:59Z

Cachemagic: /* Endnotes */

==Criticism==

Critics claim that Joseph Smith either plagiarized or relied upon a manuscript by Solomon Spaulding to write the Book of Mormon.

===Source(s) of the Criticism===

''Sources which accept the Spaulding manuscript theory:''
* Henry Caswall, ''The Prophet of the Nineteenth Century, or, the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints : To Which Is Appended an Analysis of the Book of Mormon'' (London: Printed for J. G. F. & J. Rivington, 1843), 13–25.
*John A. Clark, ''Gleanings By The Way'' (Philadelphia: W.J. and J.K. Simon; New York: Robert Carter, 1842), 246–254.
*{{CriticalWork:Howe:Mormonism Unvailed|pages=}}
*William Alexander Linn, ''The Story of the Mormons'' (New York: Macmillan, 1902).
* Mrs. T.B.H. [Fanny] Stenhouse, ''"Tell It All": The Story of a Life's Experience in Mormonism'' (Hartford, Conn.: A.D. Worthington & Co., 1875), 267.
*{{CriticalWork:Wyl:Mormon Portraits Volume First|pages=20, 118, 122–124, 238–243}}
''Claimed the existence of a '''second''' Spaulding manuscript when the first theory failed:''
*George B. Arbaugh, ''Revelation in Mormonism'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1932).
*Howard A. Davis, Wayne L. Cowdrey, and Walter Martin, ''Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?'' (Santa Ana, Ca.: Vision House Publishers, 1977.)
*Wayne L. Cowdery, Howard A. Davis, and Arthur Vanick, ''Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? The Spalding Enigma.'' (St. Louis: Concordia, 2005.)

==Response==

Since the Book of Mormon was first published, many have been unwilling to accept Joseph Smith's account of how it was produced. It's easy to dismiss Joseph's story of angels, gold plates, and a miraculous interpretation process; it's much harder to come up with an alternative explanation that accounts for the complexity and consistency of the Book of Mormon, as well as the historical details of its production.

Many critics, unwilling to credit the uneducated, backwater farm boy Joseph Smith as the Book of Mormon's author, have looked to possible sources from which he could have plagiarized. One of the earliest theories was that Joseph plagiarized the unpublished manuscript of a novel written by the Reverend Solomon Spaulding (1761–1816).

Spaulding was a lapsed Calvinist clergyman and author of an epic tale of the ancient Native American "Mound Builders." The theory postulates that Spaulding wrote his manuscript in biblical phraseology and read it to many of his friends. He subsequently took the manuscript to Pittsburg, where it fell into the hands of a Mr. Patterson, in whose office Sidney Rigdon worked, and that through Sidney Rigdon it came into the possession of Joseph Smith and was made the basis of the Book of Mormon.

There are three major problems with this theory:

#The historical record indicates that Sidney Rigdon first learned of the Book of Mormon from Parley P. Pratt and his missionary companions in November 1830, and that Rigdon did not meet Joseph Smith until December of that same year. All of this was long after the Book of Mormon was translated and published. Critics can only marshal circumstantial evidence of a conspiracy in which Rigdon met Joseph much earlier, then later pretended to be converted to Mormonism.
#The purported Spaulding manuscript was not brought forward for analysis because no one knew where it was, or if it even existed. In 1884 an authentic Solomon Spalding manuscript titled "Manuscript Story—Conneaut Creek" was recovered by Lewis L. Rice in Honolulu, Hawaii and taken to the Oberlin College Library in Ohio. The unfinished story bore hardly any resemblance to the Book of Mormon. {{ref|roper.21n62}} The text was published by the RLDS Church in 1885 under the title "Manuscript Found." The LDS Church also published the text. (See "Further Reading," below, for links to online texts).
#Claims that Spaulding wrote a second manuscript is easily discredited by the fact that the published Spaulding manuscript clearly shows that it was not finished until after Spaulding moved away from many of the people who claimed to have heard him read from the later story. {{ref|lightplanet}}

The discovery and publishing of the manuscript put to rest the Spaulding theory for several decades. But in the early 20th century the theory surfaced again, only this time its advocates claimed there was a ''second'' Spaulding manuscript that was the ''real'' source for the Book of Mormon. However, supporters of the revised Spaulding theory have not produced this second purported manuscript.

===Rejection of the Spaulding theory by critics of the Book of Mormon===

Many ''critics'' of the Book of Mormon reject the Spaulding theory as unworkable:
* Davis H. Bays, ''The Doctrines and Dogmas of Mormonism Examined and Refuted,'' (St. Louis: Christian Publishing, 1897), 22, 25
::[This theory is] "erroneous, and it will lead to almost certain defeat.... The facts are all opposed to this view, and the defenders of the Mormon dogma have the facts well in hand.... The Spaulding story is a failure. Do not attempt to rely upon it — it will let you down."
* Fawn Brodie, ''No Man Knows My History'' (New York, A. A. Knopf, 1945), 453
::"The tenuous chain of evidence accumulated to support the Spaulding-Rigdon theory breaks altogether when it tries to prove that Rigdon met Joseph Smith before 1830."
* Jerald and Sandra Tanner, ''Did Spaulding Write the Book of Mormon?'' (Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1977).

One might ask the question: If Mormonism's most prominent critics find the Spalding theory unworkable, then what motivates those who tenuously hold to this theory and continue to pursue it? Those that continue to promote this theory have not effectively dealt with the major objections highlighted by other anti-Mormon critics. {{ref|roper.10}}

==Conclusion==

Modern supporters of the Spaulding authorship theory simply ignore the inconvenient fact that the manuscript recovered in the late 19th century bears no resemblance to the Book of Mormon and that no second manuscript has been discovered.

Until the purported second manuscript appears, all these critics have is a nonexistent document which they can claim says anything they want. This is doubtlessly the attraction of the "theory" and shows the lengths to which critics will go to disprove the Book of Mormon.

It is interesting to consider that the best explanation such critics can propose requires that they invent a document, then invent its contents.

==Endnotes==
#{{note|roper.21n62}}{{FR-17-2-3}}, p. 21, note 62. 
#{{note|lightplanet}} The Spaulding Theory Debunked [http://lightplanet.com/response/spalding.htm#connection%20to%20Book%20of%20Mormon off-site]
#{{note|roper.10}}{{FR-17-2-3}}, p. 10. 

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki articles===
{{BofM authorship theories}}

===FAIR web site===
*{{tg|url=http://www.fairlds.org/apol/ai115.html|topic=Spaulding Theory}}
{{BoMAuthorshipFAIR}}
*Matthew B. Brown, "Solomon Spaulding and the Book of Mormon" {{fairlink|url=http://www.fairlds.org/apol/bom/bom09.html}}
*John K. Wise, "Clouds Without Water, Zeal Without Knowledge" {{fairlink|url=http://www.fairlds.org/Reviews/Rvw01010.html}}

===External links===
* '''Online text''' of "Manuscript Found", the Spaulding document discovered in 1884 and published by the RLDS Church.{{link|url=http://www.solomonspalding.com/docs/rlds1885.htm}}
*{{Ensign|author=Bruce D. Blumell|article=Would you respond to the theories that the Book of Mormon is based on the Spaulding manuscript or on Ethan Smith's ''View of the Hebrews?''|date=September 1976|start=83|end=87}}{{link|url=http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1976.htm/ensign%20september%201976.htm/i%20have%20a%20question.htm?fn=document-frame.htm$f=templates$3.0#LPTOC2}}
*{{Dialogue|author=Lester Bush|article=The Spalding [sic] Theory Then and Now|vol=10|num=4|date=Autumn 1977|start=40|end=69}}{{link|url=http://content.lib.utah.edu/cgi-bin/docviewer.exe?CISOROOT=/dialogue&CISOPTR=1260&CISOSHOW=1149}}
*{{Ensign|author=Orson Scott Card|article=News of the Church: Spaulding ''Again?''|vol=7|date=September 1977|start=94|end=95}}{{link|url=http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1977.htm/ensign%20september%201977.htm/news%20of%20the%20church.htm?fn=document-frameset.htm$f=templates$3.0#LPTOC4}}
*Jeff Lindsay, "Plagiarism in the Book of Mormon: Is It Derived from Modern Writings?, ''jefflindsay.com'' (accessed 5 October 2005).{{link|url=http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/FQ_BMProb3.shtml}}
*{{FR-1-1-10}}
*{{BYUS|author=Gary F. Novak|article=Naturalistic Assumptions and the Book of Mormon|vol=30|num=3|date=1990|start=23|end=40}}{{link|url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/docviewer.exe?CISOROOT=/byustudies&CISOPTR=21980&CISOSHOW=9859}}
*"Origins of the Spaulding Manuscript", by Professor A. S. Root, Oberlin College, 12 May 1927.{{link|url=http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/faq/spaulding_origins.html}}
*{{FR-17-2-3}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=282981}}{{NB}}
*{{IE1|author=President Joseph F. Smith|article=The Manuscript Found|vol=33|num=4|date=February 1900|start=? page}}{{link|url=http://www2.ida.net/graphics/shirtail/manuscri.htm}}
{{BoMAuthorshipLinks}}

===Printed material===
:'''''Responses to the Spalding theory:'''''
*{{BoMComesForth|article=The Spalding-Rigdon Theory|start=185|end=201}}
*{{NewWitnessesForGod | vol=3, Chapter XLIV|article=Counter Theories of Origin|start=347 | end=406}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=211299}}
*{{DFS1 |vol=1|article=A Brief Debate on the Book of Mormon|start=365|}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=205446}}
*{{DFS1 |vol=2|article=The Origin of the Book of Mormon|start=95|end=229|}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=205459}}
*Benjamin Winchester, ''The Origin of the Spaulding Story, Concerning the Manuscript Found,'' (Philadelphia: Brown, Bicking & Guilfert, 1840).
*Dean C. Jessee, 'Spalding theory' re-examined,' ''Church News'' (20 August 1977): 3–5.
{{BoMAuthorshipPrint}}

[[de:Buch_Mormon_Autorschaft:_Das_Spaulding_Manuskript]]

{{Suggestions}}

The Spalding Theory of Book of Mormon authorship

2008-12-08T21:17:04Z

Cachemagic: /* Endnotes */

==Criticism==

Critics claim that Joseph Smith either plagiarized or relied upon a manuscript by Solomon Spaulding to write the Book of Mormon.

===Source(s) of the Criticism===

''Sources which accept the Spaulding manuscript theory:''
* Henry Caswall, ''The Prophet of the Nineteenth Century, or, the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints : To Which Is Appended an Analysis of the Book of Mormon'' (London: Printed for J. G. F. & J. Rivington, 1843), 13–25.
*John A. Clark, ''Gleanings By The Way'' (Philadelphia: W.J. and J.K. Simon; New York: Robert Carter, 1842), 246–254.
*{{CriticalWork:Howe:Mormonism Unvailed|pages=}}
*William Alexander Linn, ''The Story of the Mormons'' (New York: Macmillan, 1902).
* Mrs. T.B.H. [Fanny] Stenhouse, ''"Tell It All": The Story of a Life's Experience in Mormonism'' (Hartford, Conn.: A.D. Worthington & Co., 1875), 267.
*{{CriticalWork:Wyl:Mormon Portraits Volume First|pages=20, 118, 122–124, 238–243}}
''Claimed the existence of a '''second''' Spaulding manuscript when the first theory failed:''
*George B. Arbaugh, ''Revelation in Mormonism'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1932).
*Howard A. Davis, Wayne L. Cowdrey, and Walter Martin, ''Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?'' (Santa Ana, Ca.: Vision House Publishers, 1977.)
*Wayne L. Cowdery, Howard A. Davis, and Arthur Vanick, ''Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? The Spalding Enigma.'' (St. Louis: Concordia, 2005.)

==Response==

Since the Book of Mormon was first published, many have been unwilling to accept Joseph Smith's account of how it was produced. It's easy to dismiss Joseph's story of angels, gold plates, and a miraculous interpretation process; it's much harder to come up with an alternative explanation that accounts for the complexity and consistency of the Book of Mormon, as well as the historical details of its production.

Many critics, unwilling to credit the uneducated, backwater farm boy Joseph Smith as the Book of Mormon's author, have looked to possible sources from which he could have plagiarized. One of the earliest theories was that Joseph plagiarized the unpublished manuscript of a novel written by the Reverend Solomon Spaulding (1761–1816).

Spaulding was a lapsed Calvinist clergyman and author of an epic tale of the ancient Native American "Mound Builders." The theory postulates that Spaulding wrote his manuscript in biblical phraseology and read it to many of his friends. He subsequently took the manuscript to Pittsburg, where it fell into the hands of a Mr. Patterson, in whose office Sidney Rigdon worked, and that through Sidney Rigdon it came into the possession of Joseph Smith and was made the basis of the Book of Mormon.

There are three major problems with this theory:

#The historical record indicates that Sidney Rigdon first learned of the Book of Mormon from Parley P. Pratt and his missionary companions in November 1830, and that Rigdon did not meet Joseph Smith until December of that same year. All of this was long after the Book of Mormon was translated and published. Critics can only marshal circumstantial evidence of a conspiracy in which Rigdon met Joseph much earlier, then later pretended to be converted to Mormonism.
#The purported Spaulding manuscript was not brought forward for analysis because no one knew where it was, or if it even existed. In 1884 an authentic Solomon Spalding manuscript titled "Manuscript Story—Conneaut Creek" was recovered by Lewis L. Rice in Honolulu, Hawaii and taken to the Oberlin College Library in Ohio. The unfinished story bore hardly any resemblance to the Book of Mormon. {{ref|roper.21n62}} The text was published by the RLDS Church in 1885 under the title "Manuscript Found." The LDS Church also published the text. (See "Further Reading," below, for links to online texts).
#Claims that Spaulding wrote a second manuscript is easily discredited by the fact that the published Spaulding manuscript clearly shows that it was not finished until after Spaulding moved away from many of the people who claimed to have heard him read from the later story. {{ref|lightplanet}}

The discovery and publishing of the manuscript put to rest the Spaulding theory for several decades. But in the early 20th century the theory surfaced again, only this time its advocates claimed there was a ''second'' Spaulding manuscript that was the ''real'' source for the Book of Mormon. However, supporters of the revised Spaulding theory have not produced this second purported manuscript.

===Rejection of the Spaulding theory by critics of the Book of Mormon===

Many ''critics'' of the Book of Mormon reject the Spaulding theory as unworkable:
* Davis H. Bays, ''The Doctrines and Dogmas of Mormonism Examined and Refuted,'' (St. Louis: Christian Publishing, 1897), 22, 25
::[This theory is] "erroneous, and it will lead to almost certain defeat.... The facts are all opposed to this view, and the defenders of the Mormon dogma have the facts well in hand.... The Spaulding story is a failure. Do not attempt to rely upon it — it will let you down."
* Fawn Brodie, ''No Man Knows My History'' (New York, A. A. Knopf, 1945), 453
::"The tenuous chain of evidence accumulated to support the Spaulding-Rigdon theory breaks altogether when it tries to prove that Rigdon met Joseph Smith before 1830."
* Jerald and Sandra Tanner, ''Did Spaulding Write the Book of Mormon?'' (Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1977).

One might ask the question: If Mormonism's most prominent critics find the Spalding theory unworkable, then what motivates those who tenuously hold to this theory and continue to pursue it? Those that continue to promote this theory have not effectively dealt with the major objections highlighted by other anti-Mormon critics. {{ref|roper.10}}

==Conclusion==

Modern supporters of the Spaulding authorship theory simply ignore the inconvenient fact that the manuscript recovered in the late 19th century bears no resemblance to the Book of Mormon and that no second manuscript has been discovered.

Until the purported second manuscript appears, all these critics have is a nonexistent document which they can claim says anything they want. This is doubtlessly the attraction of the "theory" and shows the lengths to which critics will go to disprove the Book of Mormon.

It is interesting to consider that the best explanation such critics can propose requires that they invent a document, then invent its contents.

==Endnotes==
#{{note|roper.21n62}}{{FR-17-2-3}}, p. 21, note 62. 
#{{note|lightplanet}} The Spaulding Theory Debunked [http://lightplanet.com/response/spalding.htm#connection%20to%20Book%20of%20Mormon ]
#{{note|roper.10}}{{FR-17-2-3}}, p. 10. 

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki articles===
{{BofM authorship theories}}

===FAIR web site===
*{{tg|url=http://www.fairlds.org/apol/ai115.html|topic=Spaulding Theory}}
{{BoMAuthorshipFAIR}}
*Matthew B. Brown, "Solomon Spaulding and the Book of Mormon" {{fairlink|url=http://www.fairlds.org/apol/bom/bom09.html}}
*John K. Wise, "Clouds Without Water, Zeal Without Knowledge" {{fairlink|url=http://www.fairlds.org/Reviews/Rvw01010.html}}

===External links===
* '''Online text''' of "Manuscript Found", the Spaulding document discovered in 1884 and published by the RLDS Church.{{link|url=http://www.solomonspalding.com/docs/rlds1885.htm}}
*{{Ensign|author=Bruce D. Blumell|article=Would you respond to the theories that the Book of Mormon is based on the Spaulding manuscript or on Ethan Smith's ''View of the Hebrews?''|date=September 1976|start=83|end=87}}{{link|url=http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1976.htm/ensign%20september%201976.htm/i%20have%20a%20question.htm?fn=document-frame.htm$f=templates$3.0#LPTOC2}}
*{{Dialogue|author=Lester Bush|article=The Spalding [sic] Theory Then and Now|vol=10|num=4|date=Autumn 1977|start=40|end=69}}{{link|url=http://content.lib.utah.edu/cgi-bin/docviewer.exe?CISOROOT=/dialogue&CISOPTR=1260&CISOSHOW=1149}}
*{{Ensign|author=Orson Scott Card|article=News of the Church: Spaulding ''Again?''|vol=7|date=September 1977|start=94|end=95}}{{link|url=http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1977.htm/ensign%20september%201977.htm/news%20of%20the%20church.htm?fn=document-frameset.htm$f=templates$3.0#LPTOC4}}
*Jeff Lindsay, "Plagiarism in the Book of Mormon: Is It Derived from Modern Writings?, ''jefflindsay.com'' (accessed 5 October 2005).{{link|url=http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/FQ_BMProb3.shtml}}
*{{FR-1-1-10}}
*{{BYUS|author=Gary F. Novak|article=Naturalistic Assumptions and the Book of Mormon|vol=30|num=3|date=1990|start=23|end=40}}{{link|url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/docviewer.exe?CISOROOT=/byustudies&CISOPTR=21980&CISOSHOW=9859}}
*"Origins of the Spaulding Manuscript", by Professor A. S. Root, Oberlin College, 12 May 1927.{{link|url=http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/faq/spaulding_origins.html}}
*{{FR-17-2-3}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=282981}}{{NB}}
*{{IE1|author=President Joseph F. Smith|article=The Manuscript Found|vol=33|num=4|date=February 1900|start=? page}}{{link|url=http://www2.ida.net/graphics/shirtail/manuscri.htm}}
{{BoMAuthorshipLinks}}

===Printed material===
:'''''Responses to the Spalding theory:'''''
*{{BoMComesForth|article=The Spalding-Rigdon Theory|start=185|end=201}}
*{{NewWitnessesForGod | vol=3, Chapter XLIV|article=Counter Theories of Origin|start=347 | end=406}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=211299}}
*{{DFS1 |vol=1|article=A Brief Debate on the Book of Mormon|start=365|}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=205446}}
*{{DFS1 |vol=2|article=The Origin of the Book of Mormon|start=95|end=229|}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=205459}}
*Benjamin Winchester, ''The Origin of the Spaulding Story, Concerning the Manuscript Found,'' (Philadelphia: Brown, Bicking & Guilfert, 1840).
*Dean C. Jessee, 'Spalding theory' re-examined,' ''Church News'' (20 August 1977): 3–5.
{{BoMAuthorshipPrint}}

[[de:Buch_Mormon_Autorschaft:_Das_Spaulding_Manuskript]]

{{Suggestions}}

The Spalding Theory of Book of Mormon authorship

2008-12-08T21:14:18Z

Cachemagic: /* Response */

==Criticism==

Critics claim that Joseph Smith either plagiarized or relied upon a manuscript by Solomon Spaulding to write the Book of Mormon.

===Source(s) of the Criticism===

''Sources which accept the Spaulding manuscript theory:''
* Henry Caswall, ''The Prophet of the Nineteenth Century, or, the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints : To Which Is Appended an Analysis of the Book of Mormon'' (London: Printed for J. G. F. & J. Rivington, 1843), 13–25.
*John A. Clark, ''Gleanings By The Way'' (Philadelphia: W.J. and J.K. Simon; New York: Robert Carter, 1842), 246–254.
*{{CriticalWork:Howe:Mormonism Unvailed|pages=}}
*William Alexander Linn, ''The Story of the Mormons'' (New York: Macmillan, 1902).
* Mrs. T.B.H. [Fanny] Stenhouse, ''"Tell It All": The Story of a Life's Experience in Mormonism'' (Hartford, Conn.: A.D. Worthington & Co., 1875), 267.
*{{CriticalWork:Wyl:Mormon Portraits Volume First|pages=20, 118, 122–124, 238–243}}
''Claimed the existence of a '''second''' Spaulding manuscript when the first theory failed:''
*George B. Arbaugh, ''Revelation in Mormonism'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1932).
*Howard A. Davis, Wayne L. Cowdrey, and Walter Martin, ''Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?'' (Santa Ana, Ca.: Vision House Publishers, 1977.)
*Wayne L. Cowdery, Howard A. Davis, and Arthur Vanick, ''Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? The Spalding Enigma.'' (St. Louis: Concordia, 2005.)

==Response==

Since the Book of Mormon was first published, many have been unwilling to accept Joseph Smith's account of how it was produced. It's easy to dismiss Joseph's story of angels, gold plates, and a miraculous interpretation process; it's much harder to come up with an alternative explanation that accounts for the complexity and consistency of the Book of Mormon, as well as the historical details of its production.

Many critics, unwilling to credit the uneducated, backwater farm boy Joseph Smith as the Book of Mormon's author, have looked to possible sources from which he could have plagiarized. One of the earliest theories was that Joseph plagiarized the unpublished manuscript of a novel written by the Reverend Solomon Spaulding (1761–1816).

Spaulding was a lapsed Calvinist clergyman and author of an epic tale of the ancient Native American "Mound Builders." The theory postulates that Spaulding wrote his manuscript in biblical phraseology and read it to many of his friends. He subsequently took the manuscript to Pittsburg, where it fell into the hands of a Mr. Patterson, in whose office Sidney Rigdon worked, and that through Sidney Rigdon it came into the possession of Joseph Smith and was made the basis of the Book of Mormon.

There are three major problems with this theory:

#The historical record indicates that Sidney Rigdon first learned of the Book of Mormon from Parley P. Pratt and his missionary companions in November 1830, and that Rigdon did not meet Joseph Smith until December of that same year. All of this was long after the Book of Mormon was translated and published. Critics can only marshal circumstantial evidence of a conspiracy in which Rigdon met Joseph much earlier, then later pretended to be converted to Mormonism.
#The purported Spaulding manuscript was not brought forward for analysis because no one knew where it was, or if it even existed. In 1884 an authentic Solomon Spalding manuscript titled "Manuscript Story—Conneaut Creek" was recovered by Lewis L. Rice in Honolulu, Hawaii and taken to the Oberlin College Library in Ohio. The unfinished story bore hardly any resemblance to the Book of Mormon. {{ref|roper.21n62}} The text was published by the RLDS Church in 1885 under the title "Manuscript Found." The LDS Church also published the text. (See "Further Reading," below, for links to online texts).
#Claims that Spaulding wrote a second manuscript is easily discredited by the fact that the published Spaulding manuscript clearly shows that it was not finished until after Spaulding moved away from many of the people who claimed to have heard him read from the later story. {{ref|lightplanet}}

The discovery and publishing of the manuscript put to rest the Spaulding theory for several decades. But in the early 20th century the theory surfaced again, only this time its advocates claimed there was a ''second'' Spaulding manuscript that was the ''real'' source for the Book of Mormon. However, supporters of the revised Spaulding theory have not produced this second purported manuscript.

===Rejection of the Spaulding theory by critics of the Book of Mormon===

Many ''critics'' of the Book of Mormon reject the Spaulding theory as unworkable:
* Davis H. Bays, ''The Doctrines and Dogmas of Mormonism Examined and Refuted,'' (St. Louis: Christian Publishing, 1897), 22, 25
::[This theory is] "erroneous, and it will lead to almost certain defeat.... The facts are all opposed to this view, and the defenders of the Mormon dogma have the facts well in hand.... The Spaulding story is a failure. Do not attempt to rely upon it — it will let you down."
* Fawn Brodie, ''No Man Knows My History'' (New York, A. A. Knopf, 1945), 453
::"The tenuous chain of evidence accumulated to support the Spaulding-Rigdon theory breaks altogether when it tries to prove that Rigdon met Joseph Smith before 1830."
* Jerald and Sandra Tanner, ''Did Spaulding Write the Book of Mormon?'' (Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1977).

One might ask the question: If Mormonism's most prominent critics find the Spalding theory unworkable, then what motivates those who tenuously hold to this theory and continue to pursue it? Those that continue to promote this theory have not effectively dealt with the major objections highlighted by other anti-Mormon critics. {{ref|roper.10}}

==Conclusion==

Modern supporters of the Spaulding authorship theory simply ignore the inconvenient fact that the manuscript recovered in the late 19th century bears no resemblance to the Book of Mormon and that no second manuscript has been discovered.

Until the purported second manuscript appears, all these critics have is a nonexistent document which they can claim says anything they want. This is doubtlessly the attraction of the "theory" and shows the lengths to which critics will go to disprove the Book of Mormon.

It is interesting to consider that the best explanation such critics can propose requires that they invent a document, then invent its contents.

==Endnotes==
#{{note|roper.21n62}}{{FR-17-2-3}}, p. 21, note 62. 
#{{note|roper.10}}{{FR-17-2-3}}, p. 10. 

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki articles===
{{BofM authorship theories}}

===FAIR web site===
*{{tg|url=http://www.fairlds.org/apol/ai115.html|topic=Spaulding Theory}}
{{BoMAuthorshipFAIR}}
*Matthew B. Brown, "Solomon Spaulding and the Book of Mormon" {{fairlink|url=http://www.fairlds.org/apol/bom/bom09.html}}
*John K. Wise, "Clouds Without Water, Zeal Without Knowledge" {{fairlink|url=http://www.fairlds.org/Reviews/Rvw01010.html}}

===External links===
* '''Online text''' of "Manuscript Found", the Spaulding document discovered in 1884 and published by the RLDS Church.{{link|url=http://www.solomonspalding.com/docs/rlds1885.htm}}
*{{Ensign|author=Bruce D. Blumell|article=Would you respond to the theories that the Book of Mormon is based on the Spaulding manuscript or on Ethan Smith's ''View of the Hebrews?''|date=September 1976|start=83|end=87}}{{link|url=http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1976.htm/ensign%20september%201976.htm/i%20have%20a%20question.htm?fn=document-frame.htm$f=templates$3.0#LPTOC2}}
*{{Dialogue|author=Lester Bush|article=The Spalding [sic] Theory Then and Now|vol=10|num=4|date=Autumn 1977|start=40|end=69}}{{link|url=http://content.lib.utah.edu/cgi-bin/docviewer.exe?CISOROOT=/dialogue&CISOPTR=1260&CISOSHOW=1149}}
*{{Ensign|author=Orson Scott Card|article=News of the Church: Spaulding ''Again?''|vol=7|date=September 1977|start=94|end=95}}{{link|url=http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1977.htm/ensign%20september%201977.htm/news%20of%20the%20church.htm?fn=document-frameset.htm$f=templates$3.0#LPTOC4}}
*Jeff Lindsay, "Plagiarism in the Book of Mormon: Is It Derived from Modern Writings?, ''jefflindsay.com'' (accessed 5 October 2005).{{link|url=http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/FQ_BMProb3.shtml}}
*{{FR-1-1-10}}
*{{BYUS|author=Gary F. Novak|article=Naturalistic Assumptions and the Book of Mormon|vol=30|num=3|date=1990|start=23|end=40}}{{link|url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/docviewer.exe?CISOROOT=/byustudies&CISOPTR=21980&CISOSHOW=9859}}
*"Origins of the Spaulding Manuscript", by Professor A. S. Root, Oberlin College, 12 May 1927.{{link|url=http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/faq/spaulding_origins.html}}
*{{FR-17-2-3}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=282981}}{{NB}}
*{{IE1|author=President Joseph F. Smith|article=The Manuscript Found|vol=33|num=4|date=February 1900|start=? page}}{{link|url=http://www2.ida.net/graphics/shirtail/manuscri.htm}}
{{BoMAuthorshipLinks}}

===Printed material===
:'''''Responses to the Spalding theory:'''''
*{{BoMComesForth|article=The Spalding-Rigdon Theory|start=185|end=201}}
*{{NewWitnessesForGod | vol=3, Chapter XLIV|article=Counter Theories of Origin|start=347 | end=406}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=211299}}
*{{DFS1 |vol=1|article=A Brief Debate on the Book of Mormon|start=365|}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=205446}}
*{{DFS1 |vol=2|article=The Origin of the Book of Mormon|start=95|end=229|}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=205459}}
*Benjamin Winchester, ''The Origin of the Spaulding Story, Concerning the Manuscript Found,'' (Philadelphia: Brown, Bicking & Guilfert, 1840).
*Dean C. Jessee, 'Spalding theory' re-examined,' ''Church News'' (20 August 1977): 3–5.
{{BoMAuthorshipPrint}}

[[de:Buch_Mormon_Autorschaft:_Das_Spaulding_Manuskript]]

{{Suggestions}}

Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Becoming Gods/Index

2008-12-08T16:40:13Z

Cachemagic: /* Claims made in Chapter 1: God's Latter-Day Prophet */

==Index to claims made in ''Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism''==
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.

===Claims made in Preface: "Can't We All Just Get Along?"===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|13||Mormons exist in "two distinct groups:" Chapel Mormons and Internet Mormons.||[[Internet Mormons vs. Chapel Mormons]]||
*Jason Gallentine (a.k.a. "Dr. Shades"), "Internet Mormonism vs. Chapel Mormonism"
|-
|15||The Journal of Discourses was viewed on par with the Standard Works by early Church members.||[[Journal of Discourses]]
|-
|16||"Gospel Principles" is published by the Church, but contains a disclaimer that states that it is not an official publication of the Church.
|-
|17, 331 n.35||Mormons "focus on a minor issue while dismissing the broader point that is being made by a critic of the church."||[[Becoming Gods#Mormons believe in Celestial Sex?|Mormons believe in Celestial Sex?]] ||
*The author uses as an example in the endnotes the alleged LDS belief in "Celestial Sex."
|}

===Claims made in Chapter 1: God's Latter-Day Prophet===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|24||Joseph's family survived by "money digging."||[[Joseph Smith and money digging]]||
*{{CriticalWork:Persuitte:Origins|pages=35}}
|-
|24||Joseph was adept at "occult ritual."||[[Joseph Smith and the occult]]||
*No reference given by the author: The note simply says "Smith was well-known as a money-digger throughout western New York and northern Pennsylvania."
|-
|24||Joseph's neighbors thought that he was "an imposter, hypocrite and liar."||[[The Hurlbut affidavits]] [http://lightplanet.com/response/js-family.htm Lighplanet Response]||
*{{CriticalWork:Howe:Mormonism Unvailed|pages=}}
|-
|26||During the First Vision, Joseph was told that "all Christian creeds" were an abomination and that "all Christian teachers" were corrupt.||[[Individual versus organizational apostasy]] {{nw}}
|-
|26||Many Mormons believe that "their salvation, to a limited degree, rests upon Smith."||[[Joseph Smith's status in LDS belief]]||
*In a note on page 332, Abanes says "I do not mean to say the Mormons hold Joseph Smith on an equal par with Jesus Christ. Smith holds a place just below Christ."
*{{CriticalWork:Tanner:Case Against|pages=vol. 1, p. 75}}
*Joseph Field Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, p. 302
|-
|26||Bruce R. McConkie said that "we must turn to Joseph Smith to gain salvation."||[[Joseph Smith's status in LDS belief]]||
*Bruce R. McConkie, ''The Millennial Messiah'' (SLC: Deserat Book, 1982), p. 334.
|-
|26||Dallin Oaks said that "I have built my life on the testimony and mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith."||[[Joseph Smith's status in LDS belief]]||
*Dallin Oaks, "Joseph, the Man and the Prophet," Ensign, May 1996, p. 71.
|-
|27||Joseph Smith was "harsh and violent."||[[Personal failings of Joseph Smith]]
|-
|27||James E. Faust said that Joseph Smith "was the greatest prophet who ever lived upon the earth."||[[Joseph Smith's status in LDS belief]]||
*James E. Faust, "The Importance of Bearing Testimony," Liahona, Mar. 1997, p.3.
|-
|28||Joseph Smith may have been a "pious fraud," who believed that he had been called of God while perpetrating fraud.||[[Psychobiographical analysis of Joseph Smith]]||
*Dan Vogel in Waterman, p. 50
|-
|28||Joseph Smith and other church leaders "often used deception to conceal their activities."||[[Personal failings of Joseph Smith]] [[Joseph Smith's character]] {{nw}}
|-
|28||Polygamy was practiced in secret and denied publicly.||[[Joseph Smith and polygamy]]||
*Times and Seasons, Mar 15, 1843, vol. 4, no. 9, p. 143
|-
|28||Heber C. Kimball predicted that the world would someday see Joseph Smith as "a god."||[[Joseph Smith's status in LDS belief]]||
*Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, 5:88
|-
|28||Brigham Young applied 1 John 4:3 to Joseph Smith.|| ||
*Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:176
|-
|29||LDS claim that Joseph Smith "told but one" First Vision.||[[First Vision accounts]]||
*Preston Nibley, Joseph Smith the Prophet (SLC: Deseret News, 1944), p. 30.
|-
|30||The 1832 account of the First Vision states that Joseph was in his "sixteenth year," and that he "probably meant when he was 16 years old.||[[Different age provided in the 1832 text]]||
*Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:28
|-
|30||The 1832 account does not mention two personages.||[[Only one Personage appears in the 1832 account]]||
*Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:28
|-
|30||The 1832 account does not mention that "all the churches in Joseph's day were false."||[[1832 account doesn't forbid joining a church]]||
*Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:28
|-
|31||Joseph claimed that he learned about the errors in Christendom through personal Bible study several years before the First Vision.|| ||
*Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:27
|-
|31||Orson Pratt said the the two personages "declared themselves to be angels."||[[Orson Pratt confused about "angel" or Father-Son]]||
*Pratt in "Biography and Journal of William I. Appleby, Elder in the Church of Latter Day Saints," 1848 reprinted in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, vol. 1, pp. 146-147.
|-
|31||Church historian Andrew Jenson said that "The angel again forbade Joseph to join any of these churches."||[[Andrew Jenson called personage an "angel"]]||
*Andrew Jenson, "Joseph Smith, The Prophet," Jan. 1888, vol. 3, nos. 1-3, p. 355.
|-
|31||Joseph dictated the 1838 account of the First Vision to counter the leadership crisis in Kirtland.||[[1838 account modified to offset leadership crisis?]]
|-
|31||The visit of Moroni was confused with the First Vision, and "was probably the real first vision."||[[First Vision fabricated to give "Godly authority"]]
|-
|34||"Not a single piece" of literature published in the 1830's mentions a visit by the Father and the Son.||[[No reference to First Vision in 1830s publications?]]
|-
|34||Joseph's mother said that the First Vision was of an angel.||[[Prophet's mother said First Vision was of an "angel"]]||
*Lucy Mack Smith, letter to Solomon Mack Jr., Jan. 6, 1831, reprinted in Vogel, ''Early Mormon Documents'', vol. 1, p. 216.
|-
|34||Joseph privately began reworking the story of seeing an angel into a vision of Christ.||[[Oliver Cowdery not aware of First Vision in 1834-35]]||
*Oliver Cowdery, ''Messenger and Advocate'', Feb. 1835, vol. 1, no. 5, pp. 77-80.
|-
|34||Without "Mormonism's so-called" Melchizedek Priesthood, no man can see God and live.||[[D&C 84 says God not seen without priesthood]]||
*{{s||DC|84|21-22}}
|-
|34||Nobody knows "when or how" the Joseph received the Melchizedek Priesthood.||[[Date of the restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood]]||
*Online reference to anti-Mormon site "lds-mormon.com"
|-
|34||Joseph "had to backdate" the First Vision to 1820 in response to a leadership crisis.||[[1838 account modified to offset leadership crisis?]]||
*Grant Palmer, [[An Insider's View of Mormon Origins|''An Insider's View of Mormon Origins'']], p. 251
|-
|35||The First Vision originally stated that the personages were angels.||[[The "Angels" of the 1835 account]]||
*William Smith, Vogel, ''Early Mormon Documents'', vol. 1, p. 495.
*George A. Smith
*Lucy Smith
*Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 2:171
*John Taylor, Journal of Discourses vol. ?, p. 167.
*Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, 6:29"
|-
|35||There was no 1820 revival in Palmyra that converted "great multitudes" of people.||[[Religious revivals in 1820]]||
*Oliver Cowdery, ''Messenger and Advocate'', Feb. 1835, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 42.
|-
|35||Joseph Smith joined other churches after having been told that churches were wrong.||[[Joseph Smith joined other churches]]
|-
|35, 342 n. 79, n. 80||Newspapers reported in 1829 that Joseph Smith had a dream in 1827 about a spirit visiting him three times in one night.|| ||
*From the Palmyra Freeman: Golden Bible, Niagra Courier, Aug. 27, 1829, vol. 2, no. 18.
*"The Gold Bible," Rochester Advertiser and Telegraph, Aug. 31, 1829.
|-
|35-36, 343 n. 83||Joseph Smiths First Vision may have been a dream of a "bloody ghost dressed as a Spaniard.|| ||
*Hiel Lewis, letter ot James T. Cobb, Amboy Journal, Apr. 30, 1879, reprinted in Wyl, pp. 79-80
*Fayette Lapham in Vogel, ''Early Mormon Documents'', vol. 1, p. 459."
|-
|36, 343 n. 85||Joseph Smith was an "occultist."||[[Joseph Smith and the occult]]||
*Lance S. Owens, "Joseph Smith: America's Hermetic Prophet," ''Gnosis'', Spring 1995, no. 35, p. 60
|-
|36||Early Mormons believed in "witchcraft."|| ||
*John L. Brooke, ''The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology'', 1644-1844, pp. 71-72.
|-
|36||Joseph's mother talked about "magic circles" and the "faculty of Abrac."|| ||
*Dan Vogel, ''Early Mormon Documents'', vol. 1, p. 285.
|-
|37, 344 n. 93||Joseph's family had a "magick dagger" that was owned by Hyrum Smith.|| ||
*No source given.
*The endnote describes the dagger and its alleged importance to Joseph without acknowledging the source of the information.
|-
|37, 344 n. 94||Joseph's family had "three magick parchments." One of these was owned by Hyrum Smith.|| ||
*No source given.
*The endnote mentions the ""Holiness to the Lord,"" the ""Saint Peter Bind Them,"" and the ""Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah"" parchments without showing how they are related to the Smith family.
*An indirect reference is made to the book Occult Sciences."
|-
|37, 344 n. 95||Joseph had a "Jupiter talisman" with him the day he died.||[[Joseph Smith and Jupiter talisman]]||
*No source given.
*The endnote simply states the date of Joseph's death."
|-
|38||"Researchers of Mormonism" now believe that Joseph was influenced by "Jewish kabbalism."
|-
|38||Joseph considered the date April 6th to have "astrological significance."|| ||
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Magic World View|pages=76-79, 278-280}}
|-
|38-39, 346 n. 104-109||Joseph was arrested in 1826 for being a "disorderly person and an imposter."||[[Joseph Smith's 1826 glasslooking trial]]||
*Dan Vogel, "Rethinking the 1826 Judicial Decision," Mormon Scripture Studies: An E-Journal of Critical Thought.
|-
|39||No "statements of repentance by Smith" for money digging have ever been found.|| ||
*Sam Katich, "Joseph Smith," www.fairlds.org/apol/morm201/m20117b.html
|-
|40, 348 n. 123||Gordon B. Hinckley cited false documentation to support the story of an 1820 revival.||[[Religious revivals in 1820]] {{nw}}||
*Gordon B. Hinckley, ''Truth Restored'', pp. 1-2.
|-
|42, 349 n. 126||There is no evidence that Joseph Smith was "persecuted" for telling the story of his vision between 1820 and 1824.|| ||
*Dan Vogel, ''Early Mormon Documents'', vol. 1, p. 29, 46-47.
|-
|42||Contradictions in the stories of Paul's vision were "long ago resolved by scholars analyzing the Greek texts."|| ||
*No reference given.
|-
|42||Brodie's idea that the First Vision may have been "the elaboration of some half-remembered dream stimulated by the early revival excitement" is a satisfactory way to "explain things."||[[Psychobiographical analysis of Joseph Smith]] ||
*{{CriticalWork:Brodie:No Man Knows|pages=25}}
|-
|44||Brodie's idea that the First Vision may have been "created some time after 1830 when the need arose for a magnificent tradition to cancel out the stories of his fortune-telling and money-digging" "further weakens" Mormon claims.||[[Psychobiographical analysis of Joseph Smith]] ||
*{{CriticalWork:Brodie:No Man Knows|pages=25}}
|-
|45, 351 n. 144||Joseph "continued practicing magick, divination, astrology, and soothsaying long after the LDS Church was founded in 1830."||[[Joseph Smith and seer stones]]||
*No specific reference is provided.
*The note simply mentions that seer stones continued to be used after the Church was organized in 1830 - a fact that could be easily deduced from reading the Doctrine and Covenants.
|-
|46||Brigham Young used Oliver Cowdery's divining rod to point out the location where the temple would be built in Salt Lake City.|| ||
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Magic World View|pages=206}}
|-
|46||Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball were given divining rods by Joseph Smith.|| ||
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Magic World View|pages=256}}
|-
|46||Joseph received a revelation praising Oliver's gift of using his divining talents.||[[Oliver Cowdery and the "rod of nature"]]
|-
|48||Joseph continued to discover and use new seer stones.||[[Joseph Smith and seer stones]] {{nw}}||
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Magic World View|pages=200}}
|-
|48||Joseph "never stopped being" an occultist.||[[Joseph Smith and the occult]]||
*Author's conclusion.
|-
|49||The activities of Joseph's family may have been "satanic."||[[Joseph Smith and the occult]]||
*Author's conclusion.
|}

===Claims made in Chapter 2: And it Came to Pass===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|51, 353 n. 2, 354 n. 3||Some Book of Mormon stories are simply reworked from the Bible or the Apocrypha.||[[Book of Mormon plagiarized from the Bible]]||
*{{CriticalWork:Brodie:No Man Knows|pages=62-63}}
|-
|55||The 1839 history of the Church identified the angel who delivered the plates to Joseph as Nephi rather than Moroni.||[[Nephi or Moroni]]||
*Joseph Smith 1839 History
*''Messenger and Advocate'', vol. 3, no 12, pp. 53, 71.
*1851 Pearl of Great Price, "Joseph Smith History," p. 41
*Lucy Mack Smith, ''Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and His Progenitors for many Generations'', p. 79.
*John C. Whitmer, "The Eight Witnesses," published in Andrew Jenson, HR, Oct. 1888, vol. 7, p. 621."
|-
|56||The name "Nephi" is related to "generic terms used by nineteenth-century occultists for spirit messengers."|| ||
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Magic World View|pages=198-199}}
|-
|56, 357 n. 34||Joseph used his seer stone to locate the plates.|| ||
*Martin Harris, ''Tiffany's Monthly'' interview, 1859.
*Hosea Stout, On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout, Juanita Brooks, ed., vol. 2. p. 593.
|-
|56, 357 n. 33||Joseph Smith's vision of Moroni may have taken place through his seer stone|| ||
*Steven C. Walker, "Joseph Smith: 'The Gift of Seeing,'" in Bryan Waterman ed., ''The Prophet Puzzle'', p. 97.
|-
|56, 357 n. 35, 36||The "golden book" was originally supposed to be about "hidden treasure" — the "religious twist" was added later.|| ||
*Parley Chase, letter to James T. Cobb, Apr. 3, 1879, in Wilhelm Ritter von Wymetal, Joseph Smith, the Prophet, His Family, and His Friends, p. 276, reprinted in Vogel, ''Early Mormon Documents'', vol. 3, p. 135.
*Hiel Lewis, The Amboy Journal, Apr. 30, 1879, quoted in Wesley P. Walters, "The Mormon Prophet Attempts to Join the Methodists"
|-
|56||Joseph translated the plates by looking at his seer stone in his hat. The plates were not nearby.||[[Joseph Smith and seer stones]]||
*Isaac Hale, "Mormonism," ''Susquehanna Register'', and Northern Pennsylvanian, May 1, 1834, p. 1.
|-
|57, 358-9 n. 47||Each sentence and word in the 1830 Book of Mormon "had supposedly come directly from God."||[[Book of Mormon translation method]]||
*Joseph F. Smith, quoted by Oliver B. Huntington, ''Journal of Oliver Huntington'', p. 168.
|-
|57-58, 359 n. 49||A voice from heaven proclaimed that the translation was correct, therefore no further editing should have been required.||[[Book of Mormon textual changes]]||
*''History of the Church'', vol. 1, pp. 54-55.
|-
|58, 359 n. 50, 51||The use of the word "synagogue" in the Book of Mormon is an anachronism.||[[Book of Mormon anachronisms/Synagogues]] {{nw}}||
*Book of Mormon, 1830 edition, p. 268
*{{s||Alma|16|13}}
*The New International Dictionary of the Bible, p. 972
|-
|58, 359 n. 52, 53||There are references to cows, oxen, horses, and goats in the New World hundreds of years before Christ.||[[Book of Mormon anachronisms/Animals]]||
*{{s|1|Nephi|18|25}}
*Thomas D.S. Key, ""A Biloogist Looks at the Book of Mormon,"" Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation, June 1985, XXX-VIII, p. 3."
|-
|58, 359 n. 53||"LDS apologist John Sorenson has suggested that Smith mistranslated numerous words" from the gold plates and that "cattle and oxen should have been rendered deer and bison," and that "horses should also have been translated deer."||[[Book of Mormon anachronisms/Animals]]||
*John L. Sorenson, ''An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon'', pp. 191-276, 299.
|-
|58, 359 n. 54||The Book of Mormon "is simply a rehashing" of the speculation in the 19th century regarding Indian origins due to the presence of burial mounds "dotting the land."||[[Book of Mormon and the Mound Builders]]||
*{{CriticalWork:Brodie:No Man Knows|pages=34}}
|-
|60, 360 n. 58||Joseph Smith incorporated text from Josiah Priest's ''The Wonders of Nature'' into the Book of Mormon.||[[Book of Mormon plagiarism accusations/The Wonders of Nature]]||
*Josiah Priest, ''The Wonders of Nature'', 1825
*Abanes, p. 69
*The Tanners are the source of this comparison, although it is not explicitly stated by the author. The author does mention that the Tanners demonstrate that a copy of the book was available in the Manchester library."
|-
|60-61, 360 n. 59-63||Joseph Smith plagiariazed Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews||[[Book of Mormon and View of the Hebrews]]||
*Ethan Smith, View of the Hebrews, 1825
*David Persuitte, p. 107, 122
*Sandra Tanner, ""Where Did Joseph Smith Get His Ideas for the Book of Mormon?"""
|-
|61||Anyone who looked on the gold plates would die.||[[Viewing gold plates would result in death|Viewing the gold plates would result in death?]]||
*Martin Harris, ''Tiffany's Monthly'' interview, 1859.
|-
|62, 361 n. 69-72||The witnesses never actually physically saw the plates - they only saw them in visions.||[[Book of Mormon witnesses/Spiritual or literal]]||
*{{CriticalWork:Palmer:Insider|pages=175-176}}
|-
|64||Martin Harris said that he never saw the plates with his "natural eyes."||[["Eye of Faith"/"Spiritual Eye" statements by Martin Harris]]||
*LDS apostle Stephen Burnett, letter to Lyman E. Johnson, April 15, 1838 reprinted in Vogel, ''Early Mormon Documents'' 2:291
|-
|64, 362 n. 81-82||Cowdery, Whitmer and Harris's statements that they actually saw the plates only refer to times that the plates were either covered with a cloth or in a wooden box.||[[Book of Mormon witnesses/Spiritual or literal]]||
*{{CriticalWork:Palmer:Insider|pages=198-199}}
*Harris, Tiffany's Monthly interview, 1859."
|-
|64, 362 n. 83-84||Martin Harris said that none of the eight witnesses had seen or handled the plates.||[[Book of Mormon witnesses/Spiritual or literal]]||
*{{CriticalWork:Palmer:Insider|pages=204-206}}
|-
|65||The Book of Mormon "can hardly be considered unique" since James Strang produced a set of plates that were seen by witnesses.||[[James Strang]]||
*{{CriticalWork:Palmer:Insider|pages=208-212}}
|-
|65, 362 n. 87||LDS defenders (apologists) have redefined many of the terms that Joseph Smith used in the Book of Mormon text: steel means iron, horses are deer, tents are huts, etc.||[[Book of Mormon anachronisms]] ||
*Dan Vogel, Brent Metcalfe, ''American Apocrypha'', p. xiii.
|-
|66, 362 n. 88||LDS scholars such as Dee F. Green have stated that Book of Mormon archaeology is a "myth."||[[Book of Mormon archeology]]||
*Dee F. Green, "Book of Mormon Archeology: The Myths and the Alternatives," ''Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought'' (Summer 1969), vol. 4, pp. 72-80
|-
|66, 362 n. 89||Dr. Michael Coe stated that there was no Book of Mormon archaeology.||[[Amerindians as Lamanites/Maya and Olmec]]||
*Michael Coe, "Mormons and Archaeology: An Outside View," ''Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought'' (Winter 1973), vol. 8, p. 44.
|-
|66, 363 n. 92||LDS scholar Terryl L. Givens "admitted" that no connection has been made between the Book of Mormon and cultures or civilizations in the Western hemisphere.||[[Amerindians as Lamanites/Maya and Olmec]] ||
*Terryl L. Givens, ''By the Hand of Mormon'', p. 155.
*The author acknowledges in his endnote that Givens "however, also quoted BYU professor Daniel Peterson, who made a statement in support of the BOM's unique character." {{FR-2-1-1}}"
|-
|67, 363 n. 95-96||The limited geography theory "cannot bear rigorous scrutiny" and "does violence" to the text of the Book of Mormon.||[[Book of Mormon geography/New World/Limited Geography Theory]] ||
*Vogel and Metcalfe, ''American Apocrypha'', pp. viii-ix.
*Deanne G. Matheny, "Does the Shoe Fit? A critique of the Limited tehuantepec Geography," in ''New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology.''
|-
|67, 363 n.99||Apologists have suggested that "not a single early Mormon, including Joseph Smith, ever bothered reading the Book of Mormon 'closely enough to grasp the fact' " that the plates were not buried in the hill where the final Nephite battle occurred.|| ||
*{{JBMS-12-1-2}}, p. 10. 
|-
|70, 365 n.115||Joseph Smith said that the angel told him that ''all'' American Indians were "literal descendants of Abraham," but DNA has disproved this||[[Amerindians as Lamanites]]||
*Joseph Smith's 1835 account of the First Vision found in the ''Ohio Journal—1835-1836, Nov. 9, 1835, reprinted in Vogel, ''Early Mormon Documents'', vol. 1, p. 44.
*Joseph Smith, Mar. 1, 1842, letter to John Wentworth, ''History of the Church'', Vol. 4, p. 537.
*Meldrum, "Children of Lehi"
|-
|71, 365 n.120||Joseph Smith founded the "Restored Church" on the belief that all Native Americans were descendants of the Israelites.|| ||
*Oliver Cowdery's Speech to the Delawares. Parley P. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt.
|-
|72, 366 n.127||All modern Mormons believed that all inhabitants of the New World were descendants of the Lamanites until "science showed it to be erroneous."||[[Book of Mormon geography/Borders of the Lamanites]]||
*{{s||DC|54|8}}—"And thus you shall take your journey into the regions westward, unto the land of Missouri, unto the borders of the Lamanites"
|-
|72, 366 n.128||The "updated LDS paradigm" claims that Nephites intermarried with non-Israelite natives, thus diluting their DNA||[[Amerindians as Lamanites]]||
*Cooper Johnson, [http://www.fairlds.org/Book_of_Mormon/DNA_and_the_Book_of_Mormon.html DNA and the Book of Mormon], FAIR web site
|-
|72, 366 n.130||The LDS view has ''always'' been that Israelites were the first people to populate the Americas, since the land was "kept from the knowledge of other nations."||[[Book of Mormon anachronisms/Demographics]]||
*{{s|2|Nephi|1|6}}
*J. Reuben Clark, "Prophecies, Penalties, and Blessings," ''Improvement Era'', July 1940, vol. xliii., no. 7 quoted in Bill McKeever, "DNA and the Book of Mormon Record," Mormonism Research Ministry.
|-
|73, 367 n.131-135||Not many Christians actually believe that the world was created around 4000 B.C., or that the flood occurred around 2000 B.C. In fact, "[T]he majority of traditional Christians unddrstand that the world is older than 6000 years," therefore the claim that the DNA argument is fundamentalist "suicide bombing" is false.||[[Book of Mormon and DNA evidence#Fundamentalist "suicide bombing"|Fundamentalist "suicide bombing"]]||
*No source is provided by the author for his claim that the "majority of Christians" understand that the world is older than 6000 years.
*Daniel C. Peterson, FAIR Conference, untitled lecture, Aug. 8, 2003, author's private notes.
*David Stewart, [http://www.fairlds.org/Book_of_Mormon/DNA_and_the_Book_of_Mormon_2.html "DNA and the Book of Mormon"]
|-
|73, 367 n.136||The Lamanites were supposed to become "white" once they converted ''en masse'' to Mormonism. This was to be accomplished by having LDS men take Indian wives.||[[Native Americans to become "white and delightsome" through polygamous marriage?]]||
*W.W. Phelps, "Revelation Received West of Jackson County, Missouri, July 17, 1831," reprinted in H. Michael Marquardt, ''The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text & Commentary'', p. 375.
|-
|73, 367 n.137||The phrase "white and delightsome" was changed to "pure and delightsome" in the Book of Mormon||[[Book of Mormon textual changes/"white" changed to "pure"]]||
*{{s|2|Nephi|30|6}} (pre-1981 edition)
|-
|73, 367 n.138||LDS leaders claimed that the alteration to the Book of Mormon had nothing to do with the Indians physically turning white. LDS leaders taught that the curse would one day be removed.||[[Lamanite curse]]||
*{{s|2|Nephi|5|21}}
|-
|74||LDS apologists dismiss Church teachings in order to make Mormonism compatible with scientific findings||[[Mormonism and science]]||
*Author's opinion
|-
|75, 368 n.142||LDS apologist B.H. Roberts "reached a shocking conclusion" that that Book of Mormon wasn't authentic||[[B.H. Roberts and "Studies of the Book of Mormon"]]||
*B.H. Roberts, ''Studies of the Book of Mormon'', p. 271, 243.
|-
|76, 368 n.143||B.H. Roberts "had come to realize that the Book of Mormon was a nonhistorical document."||[[B.H. Roberts' testimony of the Book of Mormon]]||
*Wesley P. Lloyd statement at www.lds-mormon.com/bhrlettr.shtml
|-
|76||FARMS claims that Roberts was playing "devils advocate," but have never provided documentation to support this assertion. They only focus on his declarations that he made before he reached his "final conclusion."||[[B.H. Roberts' testimony of the Book of Mormon]]||
*Truman G. Madsen, "B.H. Roberts and the Book of Mormon," ''BYU Studies (Summer 1979), volume 19, pp. 427-445.
|-
|77 368 n.145-147||Thomas Stuart Ferguson lost his testimony of the Book of Mormon after failing to find archaeological evidence.|| ||
*Thomas Stuart Ferguson, ''One fold and One Shepherd''.
*Jerald and Sandra Tanner, "Ferguson's Two Faces," ''Salt Lake City Messenger'' #69, Sept. 1988, p. 3
*Ferguson letter dated Feb. 9, 1976.
*Ferguson letter dated Feb. 9, 1976.
|-
|77 369 n.150-153||LDS scholars believe that Quetzalcoatl was Jesus Christ. However, Quetzalcoatl's association with a "feathered serpent" constitutes "snake worship," and is therefore inconsistent with worship of Jesus Christ.||[[Quetzalcoatl and Jesus Christ]]||
*John L. Sorenson, "The Decline of the God Quetzalcoatl, " in ''Pressing Forward with the Book of Mormon'', p. 234.
*Joseph Allen, ''Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon''.
*Joseph Allen, [http://www.meridianmagazine.com/articles/030926white.html "The White god Quetzalcoatl,"] ''Meridian Magazine'', 2003.
*Adela Fernandez, ''Pre-Hispanic Gods of Mexico'', p. 68
*Quetzalcoatl the Myth, www.weber.ucsd.edu.
|}

===Claims made in Chapter 3: Thus Saith Joseph===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|84, 370 n.9-11||The revelations in the ''Book of Commandments'' were modified because they were "showing their age," "contained outdated information," "included erroneous statements" and "abandoned doctrines." Some of the revelations "revealed too much information about LDS beliefs."||[[Doctrine and Covenants textual changes]]||
*Karl F. Best, "Changes in the Revelations, 1833-1835," ''Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought'' (Spring 1992), vol. 25, no. 1, p. 90.
*H. Michael Marquardt, ''The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text & Commentary'', p. 17.
|-
|85, 371 n.14||Mormons view divine truth as "not absolute or fixed; it is changeable, flexible."||[[Changing doctrine]] ||
*{{CriticalWork:Ostling:Mormon America|pages=249}}
|-
|87, 370 n.23||Joseph received a "false revelation" through his seer stone to go to Toronto, Canada to sell the Book of Mormon copyright||[[Did Joseph Smith attempt to sell the Book of Mormon copyright?]]||
*David Whitmer, ''An Address to All Believers in Christ''.
|-
|87, 371 n.25||Some of the modified revelations had their meanings "reversed."||[[Doctrine and Covenants textual changes]]||
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Mormon Hierarchy|pages=5}}
|-
|89, 372 n.28||Joseph modified the revelation now found in D&C 5:4 to add additional gifts. After translating the Book of Mormon he was not supposed to become a prophet or organize a Church.||[[Doctrine and Covenants textual changes]]||
*Karl F. Best, "Changes in the Revelations, 1833-1835," ''Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Spring 1992), vol. 25, no.1, p. 98.
|-
|89, 372 n.29-30||Joseph modified what is now D&C 8:6-9 to hide Oliver Cowdery's use of a divining rod.||[[Oliver Cowdery and the "rod of nature"]] ||
*{{CriticalWork:Quinn:Magic World View|pages=206}}
*H. Michael Marquardt, ''The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text & Commentary'', pp. 14-15.
|-
|90, 372 n.34, 375 n.35||Apostle William E. McLellin left the Church because he was "shaken by the changes made in the revelations."|| ||
*"The Early History of the Saints and Their Enemies," Sept. 28, 1875, ''Salt Lake Daily Tribune'', Dec. 5, 1878 
*William McLellin, ''Saint's Herald'', vol. 17, pp. 556-557.
|-
|90||Mormons claim that Biblical writers modified revelations, but cannot provide data to support this. This is an "argument from silence."||[[Becoming Gods#Argument from silence?|Argument from silence?]] ||
*Stephen W. Gibson, ''One-Minute Answers to Anti-Mormon Question'', p. 82
|-
|94||Joseph Smith turned the "Book of Breathings" into the "Book of Abraham." Joseph claimed that the "Book of the Dead" had been written by Joseph of Egypt.||[[Book of Abraham/Papyri]] ||
*No source provided.
|-
|94-98||The restoration of the missing portions of Facsimile 1 were "terribly wrong."||[[Book of Abraham/Papyri]] ||
*{{CriticalWork:Larson:By His Own Hand|pages=}}
|-
|99||LDS apologists' main purpose is to explain away "any and all criticisms that might damage the validity of Smith's writings."||[[Apologetics]]||
*Author's opinion.
|-
|100||Documents show how the hieroglyphs from the papyri were matched to the Book of Abraham text. One or two words in Egyptian were expanded to entire paragraphs in English.||[[Kirtland Egyptian Papers]]||
*Richard L. Bushman, "Joseph Smith as Translator'', in Waterman, p. 81.
|}

===Claims made in Chapter 4: One God Versus Many Gods===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|109||Mormons embrace polytheism—the belief in a plurality of gods.||[[Polytheism]] ||
*Definition of "polytheism" taken from Vergilius Ferm, ed., ''The Encyclopedia of Religion'', p. 774.
|-
|112 n. 25-26||Mormons redefine monotheism to be the worship of one "primary or supreme god above all other gods."||[[Polytheism]]||
*The author adds the endnote: "LDS theology recognized that other supreme gods exist for other universes and world. But Mormons contend that we have nothing to do with these gods."
*John Widtsoe, ''A Rational Theology'', p. 67.
*Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 11:41.
*Joseph Smith, ''Lecture on Faith'', Lecture 2, paragraph 2.
|-
|114||Early biblical church quotes used by Mormons to support tritheism only superficially support their position. Upon closer examination, they do not provide this support.||[[Godhead and the Trinity]]||
|-
|114||Mormons worship the Godhead as "one god."||[[Godhead and the Trinity]]||
|-
|115, 379 n.47-48||The Trinity is "one of the most important doctrines of the Christian faith" and is at the "heart of the Christian conception of God."||[[Godhead and the Trinity]]||
*Wayne Grudem, ''Systematic Theology'', p. 226.
*Stanley Grenz, ''Theology for the Community of God'', p. 99.
|-
|130||The Mormon concept of the "eternality of matter" is a pagan belief.||[[Creatio ex nihilo]] ||
*Source not provided.
|-
|130||The Mormon concept of "pre-existence of spirits" is a pagan belief.|| ||
*The author claims that this is derived from "pure Greek philosophy."
|-
|130||The Mormon concept of "human deification" is a pagan belief.||[[Deification of man]] ||
*Source not provided.
|}

===Claims made in Chapter 5: Heavenly Father is a Man===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|136||Biblical verses that describe God as having body parts are "difficult to interpret and require careful study."||[[Corporeality of God]] ||
*Author's opinion.
|-
|136||Mormons do not believe that "God is not a man" in spite of Biblical verses that state such.||[[Do Mormons believe that "God is a man"|God is a man?]] ||
*{{s||Numbers|23|19}}
*{{s|1|Samuel|15|29}}
*{{s||Hosea|11|9}}
|-
|137||God is a Spirit.||[[God is a Spirit]] ||
*{{s||John|4|24}}
*{{s||Luke|24|39}}
*Gordon B. Hinckley, "The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," ''Ensign'', Oct. 5, 1986.
|-
|149||The title "Son of Man," does not mean "son of ''a'' man," contrary to what Mormons may assert.||[[Becoming Gods#"Son of Man" or "son of a man?"|"Son of Man" or "son of a man?"]] ||
*No source given.
|}

===Claims made in Chapter 6: Siblings from Eternity Past===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|154||Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother "through some kind of sexual union" clothed each of us with a spirit body.||[[Becoming Gods#Mormons believe in Celestial Sex?|Mormons believe in Celestial Sex?]] ||
*Bruce R. McConkie, ''Mormon Doctrine'', 750.
|-
|156, 394 n. 28-31||The belief in a "Heavenly Mother" is not supported by scripture and was simply added by Joseph Smith so that his views about God "would make sense."||[[Heavenly Mother]]||
*Milton R. Hunter, ''The Gospel Through the Ages'', p. 98.
*Cannon, in Daniel H. Ludlow, vol. 2, p. 961.
*Bruce R. McConkie, ''Mormon Doctrine'', p. 516.
*Gordon B. Hinckley, "Daughters of God," ''Ensign'', Nov. 1991, p. 100.
|-
|157||According to Brigham Young, our spirit body was created via a sexual union of Heavenly Father and Mother.||[[Becoming Gods#Mormons believe in Celestial Sex?|Mormons believe in Celestial Sex?]]||
*Brigham Young, ''Journal of Discourses'' 11:123
|-
|162||LDS belief in a "queen of heaven" is a pagan belief.||[[Heavenly Mother]]||
*{{s||Jeremiah|7|17-19}}
*{{s||Jeremiah|44|17-19}}
*{{s||Jeremiah|44|25-27}}
|}

===Claims made in Chapter 7: After All We Can Do===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|183||Mormons reject the "Evangelical belief" that "Christ was born of the virgin Mary, who, when the Holy Ghost came upon her, miraculously conceived the promised messiah."||[[Jesus Christ's conception]]||
*{{s||Isaiah|7|14}}
|-
|184||"Until recently, the common belief clearly implied throughout the history of Mormonism...was that Jesus' conception occurred via sexual intercourse between Heavenly Father (Elohim) and Mary."
||[[Becoming Gods#More distortion regarding Jesus Christ's conception|More distortion regarding Jesus Christ's conception]]||
*{{s||Luke|1|35}}
*{{s|1|Nephi|11|14}}
*{{s|1|Nephi|11|16-18}}
*{{s|1|Nephi|11|20}}
*{{s|1|Nephi|11|24}}
*{{s|1|Nephi|11|26-28}}
*{{s|1|Nephi|11|32-33}}
|-
|185, 405 n.41||Early LDS leaders redefined "virgin" to mean a woman who has never known a ''mortal'' man, since Heavenly Father is immortal.||[[Jesus Christ's conception]]||
*Joseph F. Smith, Charles Penrose, "Message of the First Presidency," vol. 5, p. 34. "...his unique status in the flesh as the offspring of a mortal mother and of an immortal, or resurrected and glorified, Father"
*This is the author's conclusion. The author wants to talk about a "sexual union" again, but the statement he uses in his citation in the endnotes says nothing about redefining "virgin" to mean a woman who has never known a mortal man. It is certainly true that Latter-day Saints believe Jesus Christ to be the literal son of our Heavenly Father, but the author takes liberties in drawing his conclusions about the event.
|-
|187, 406 n.54-55||Latter-day Saints reject the idea that the death of Jesus on the cross was a significant part of the atonement.||[[Atonement not carried out on the cross ]]||
*Cky Carrigan, "Did Jesus Christ Die on the Cross to Pay for Our Sins?: A Survey of Mormon Teachings on the Atonement of Christ," Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Ministries to New Religions, Biola University, Jan. 25, 2003.
|-
|201||The third and highest kingdom of glory has three levels, and only those who reach the highest level become gods.|| ||
*Bruce R. McConkie, ''Mormon Doctrine'', "Those who obtain exaltation will gain all power and thus themselves be omnipotent...Godhood is to have the character, possess the attributes, and enjoy the perfections which the Father has. It is to do what he does, have the powers resident in him, and live as he lives."
|-
|201||The three heaven doctrine has no basis in the Bible, but is only based upon a vision of Joseph Smith.|| ||
*{{s||DC|76||}}
|}

===Claims made in Chapter 8: Ye Are Gods===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|205||Many Bible verses refute the notion of deification.||[[Deification of man]]||
*{{s||Isaiah|43||10}}
*{{s|1|Timothy|2|5}}
*{{s||James|2|19}}
|-
|213||The concept of "deification" is actually derived from Greek philosophy.||[[Deification of man#The concept of deification derived from Greek philosophy?|The concept of deification derived from Greek philosophy?]]||
*
|}

===Claims made in Chapter 9: More Than One Wife===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|225||In Mormon theology, "creating" includes not only making a world, but peopling it through procreating, through sexual union with one's spouse.|| ||
*Melodie Moench Charles, "The Need for a New Mormon Heaven," ''Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought'', Fall 1988, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 77-78. The reference to "sexual union" comes from Melodie Moench Charles.
|-
|226||The statement in the 1835 D&C condeming polygamy was "perhaps in an attempt to conceal Smith's affair."||[[1835 Doctrine and Covenants denies polygamy]]||
*D&C CI:4 (1835 edition), p. 251.
|-
|233, 422 n.47||Mormons believed that plural marriage was necessary for deification in the Celestial Kingdom.||[[Polygamy a requirement for exaltation]] ||
*J.W. Musser, "The New And Everlasting Covenant Of Marriage: An Interpretation Of Celestial Marriage, Plural Marriage, Polygamy."
|-
|233, 422 n. 48-49||Brigham Young said, "The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy."||[[The only men who become gods are those that practice polygamy?]]||
*Brigham Young, ''Journal of Discourses'' 11:268-269
|-
|237||"Although wives continued to live with their husbands, they would receive conjugal visits from Smith whenever the need arose."||[[Joseph Smith and polygamy]] ||
*{{CriticalWork:Van Wagoner:Mormon Polygamy|pages=62}}
*Jedediah Grant, ''Journal of Discourses'' 2:14.
*The sources quoted in the endnotes do not say anything about "conjugal visits" to women to which Joseph was sealed who already had husbands for time.
|-
|237, 424 n. 71||Zina Huntington married Brigham Young while still married to Henry Jacobs, and Henry stood as a witness.|| ||
*{{CriticalWork:Compton:Sacred Loneliness|pages=20, 48-49}}
|-
|237, 425 n. 73-75||"Wife swapping" was "wholly acceptable."|| ||
*Jedediah M. Grant, ''Journal of Discourses'' 2:14
*Lee, ''Confessions of John D. Lee'', p. 165
*C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, ''Commentary on the Old Testament'', vol. 1, p. 73.
|-
|237||The Bible does not sanction or command polygamy. "Most Israelites were monogamous." Abraham's polygamy "portrays his acceptance of plural marriage as a mark of disobedience to, and a lack of faith in, God."||[[Polygamy not Biblical]] ||
*Author's interpretation.
|-
|239, n. 80-83||"Early Mormon leaders" believed that Jesus and his apostles were polygamists.|| ||
*Jedediah M. Grant, ''Journal of Discourses'' 1:346.
*Orson Hyde, ''Journal of Discourses'' 2:210.
*Orson Pratt, "Celestial Marriage," ''The Seer'', vol. 1, no. 11, p. 172.
|-
|240||The Book of Mormon "seems to condemn polygamy," but Latter-day Saints "deny that this is the case."||[[Book of Mormon condemns polygamy]] ||
*{{s||Jacob|1|15}}
*{{s||Jacob|2|24-27}}
*{{s||Jacob|3|5}}
*The author does not mention {{s||Jacob|2|30}}, which states "For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things" as the reason that Latter-day Saints "deny that this is the case."
|-
|241||How could Jesus have been a god before he was born, before he had a physical body?|| ||
|-
|241||How could the Holy Ghost be a god, since he does not have a physical body?|| ||
|-
|244||"...nowhere in the Old Testament is polygamy linked with any mandates to practice it."|| ||
*No source given.
|-
|245, n. 97||Plural marriages were performed after the 1890 Manifesto.||[[Polygamy after the Manifesto]]||
*1911 telegram to Reed Smoot from Joseph F. Smith, Apr. 1, 1911.
|}

===Claims made in Chapter 10: The "Christian" Question===
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="5%"|Page
!width="40%"|Claim
!width="30%"|Response
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
|-
|255, 434 n. 15||LDS leaders spent decades denouncing mainstream Christianity.||[[Did early LDS leaders denounce Christianity|Did early LDS leaders denounce Christianity?]]||
*Joseph Smith, ''EJ", vol. 1, no. 4, p. 60 
*Joseph Smith, ''History of the Church'' 5:218.
*Orson Pratt, "Baptism for the Remission of Sins," ''The Seer'', p. 255.
*Wilford Woodruff, ''Journal of Discourses'', 2:196.
*Brigham Young, ''Journal of Discourses'' 5:73.
*Heber C. Kimball, ''Journal of Discourses'' 5:89-90.
*Brigham Young, ''Journal of Discourses'' 5:229.
*John Taylor, ''Journal of Discourses'' 2:25.
*Brigham Young, ''Journal of Discourses'' 8:171.
*Brigham Young, ''Journal of Discourses'' 8:199.
*John Taylor, ''Journal of Discourses'' 13:225.
*Andrew Jenson, ''Collected Discourses'' 2:150.
*B.H. Roberts, ''The Mormon Doctrine of Diety'', p. 116.
*Bruce R. McConkie, ''Mormon Doctrine'', pp. 132, 246, 269, 314-315.
|-
|256||The Book of Mormon teaches that there are only two churches: 1) the false church of the devil and 2) the true church of the Lamb.||[[Great and abominable church]]||
*{{s|1|Nephi|13|4-9}}
*{{s|1|Nephi|13|24-29}}
*{{s|1|Nephi|14|10-13}}
*D&C 19-21
|-
|257||The "ongoing condemnation of Christianity" is "built into the very core of Mormonism as a central tenet."||[[Did early LDS leaders denounce Christianity|Did early LDS leaders denounce Christianity?]] ||
*Author's opinion
|-
|262, 440 n. 46||The "Mormon Jesus" is one of three gods overseeing this planet.||[[Polytheism]] ||
*Source not specified.
|-
|262, 440 n. 46||The "Mormon Jesus" is the literal brother of Lucifer.||[[Jesus Christ is the brother of Satan]]||
*No source specified.
|-
|262, 440 n. 46||The "Mormon Jesus" atoned only for Adam's transgression, providing us with the opportunity to obtain "eternal life" by our own efforts.|| ||
*Source not specified.
|-
|262, 440 n. 46||The "Mormon Jesus" provides no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith as a prophet of God.||[[Joseph Smith's status in LDS belief]] ||
*Source not specified.
|-
|268||The bible does not mention a ''total'' apostasy.||[[No complete apostasy?]]||
*{{s|2|Peter|2|1-2}}
*{{s||Acts|20|29-30}}
*{{s|2|Timothy|4|3-5}}
*{{s|2|Timothy|1|15}}
*{{s|2|Thessalonians|2|3}}
*{{s|2|Thessalonians|2|7}}
|-
|273||Baptism for the dead is unbiblical.||[[Baptism for the dead]]||
*No source given.
|-
|274-276||The need for the Aaronic priesthood ceased and was replaced by a new one that is held by all believers.||[[Hebrews 7 and the Aaronic Priesthood]]||
*Hebrews 7-10
|-
|276-279||The Melchizedek priesthood was never a literal order of priests. It belonged only to Melchizedek and Christ.|| ||
*{{s||Hebrews|7|24}}
*D. Guthrie and J.A. Motyer, eds., ''The Eerdman's Bible Commentary'', p. 1241.
|}

==Further reading==
{{CriticalWorks}}

{{Suggestions}}

User:Cachemagic/Sandbox/Rights

2008-12-06T23:37:07Z

Cachemagic:

User:Cachemagic

2008-12-05T16:03:58Z

Cachemagic:

My Home Page

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[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses Journal of Discources]

[http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brigham_Young Brigham Young Quotes]

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2008-12-04T16:03:29Z

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2008-12-04T16:03:04Z

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Specific works/Christopher Marc Nemelka

2008-12-03T21:58:11Z

Cachemagic: /* Endnotes */

{{question}} 
{{AuthorsDisclaimer}}
==Question==
Mr. Nemelka claims to have been commanded to translate the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon, as well as the lost 116 pages. What can you tell me about this?

==Answer==

As part of his 'prophetic call,' Nemelka produced what he claims is a translation of the lost 116 pages, or "Book of Lehi." This portion of Mormon's abridgement (from Lehi to King Benjamin, roughly) was lost by Martin Harris after the manuscript was loaned to him by Joseph Smith (See [http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/3/1#1 D&C 3], [http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/128/10#10 D&C 10]).

===History of the author===

Interested readers should consult the article below, which discusses Nemelka's history and tactics:
* Ben Fulton, "True Believer," ''Salt Lake City Weekly'' (27 December 2001) {{link|url=http://www.slweekly.com/index.cfm?do=article.details&id=1CABD745-2BF4-55D0-F1F7A0674E76FE36 on-line}}

The article makes the following claims:

====Biographical dates of interest for Christopher Nemelka====
* 1980 - Nemelka graduates from high school
* Summer 1984 - Nemelka claims that as an employee of LDS Church security, he was in the Salt Lake Temple. He reports there being called as a prophet.
* 1986 - Nemelka divorces from first wife, Paula Blades. They have two children.
* June 1991 - Ex-wife's family gets Nemelka's two children placed under care of Montana's Division of Family services; Nemelka takes one child unlawfully, and is charged with kidnapping. He eventually returns the child, who returns to his mother's custody, and charges are dropped.
* 1993 - Nemelka divorces from second wife, Jackie Stoll. He eventually finishes "the sealed portion," and markets it to some LDS fundamentalist groups. This leads to marriage with two plural wives, who also eventually leave him.
* 1996 - Vicky Prunty, one of the plural wives, cuts ties from Nemelka.
* Fall 2000 - Nemelka tells LDS member Christine Marie that he is an atheist; they later begin dating, and Nemelka announces that this was only a test. He tells Marie that he is a prophet, called to translate the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon. She eventually gives him at least $5000.
* March 2001 - After visting the home of an ex-wife, Nemelka sentenced to one year in the Salt Lake County jail for violating a restraining order.
* 20 April 2001 - Nemelka reports receiving a revelation in jail instructing him to take a plural wife
* 21 December 2001 - Interview with ''Salt Lake City Weekly'' published, in which he admits to forging the Sealed Portion, lying, and exploiting the religious hopes of others (see quotes below).
* March 2002 - scheduled release from prison for violation of restraining order.
* Mr. Nemelka was also excommunicated on an unspecified date for writing a paper about LDS temple ceremonies.

The article also provided the following quotations which it attributes directly to Nemelka:

====Quotes from Nemelka====
* "What I did do was I deceived her [Christine Marie] religiously. I played with her religious beliefs and mind, which I do not think a person should do..."
* "My whole purpose, though, was to write the sealed portion. Get the sealed portion done. Sell it to the church. My whole idea was to sell it to the LDS church. I was going to sell it to them, because all the Mormons are looking for the sealed portion to come back. I thought I had a good talent for writing. I was going to write it up and sell it to them. They could do with it what they wanted. They probably would have kept it off the market."
* "I set about in my own mischievous and arrogant way, of which I’m not proud of now, to prove that a person could actually write scripture and present it to people who were looking for certain scripture...I was playing on the belief that LDS people have that one day the gold plates would be returned and the sealed portion would be translated. Basically, I set about to write a fictitious version of the sealed portion as I thought Joseph Smith would have written it had he continued to perpetuate his translation of the gold plates. Much to the chagrin of the LDS church and others, what I wrote was indeed well versed and quite appropriate for the scripture I was trying to portray. Anybody who reads it would just be totally amazed."
* “My true intent was to somehow perpetuate a religion that would be based on true Christian principals of Christ-like love...Where I made my greatest mistake, for which I’m now extremely sorry for, is that I used deception to perpetuate what I proposed as the truth, assuming at the time that Joseph Smith had done the same thing.”
* “See, when I did that thing with the fundamentalist group, there were people who wanted to kill me. They were so mad. When I came out and told these other polygamists, fundamentalist guys, that I had really written the sealed portion, that I had done it just to show people that it could be done—they were very upset.”
* “When I deal with people, I am amazed at the ignorance and stupidity of most. People are so easily manipulated and deceived. Knowing this has made me a near master of manipulation. I try only to use this art, however, to help people. Sometimes the things I do seem terrible at the time, but usually the manipulation works to accomplish that which I intended.”
* “Yeah that’s, that’s all bull****,” Nemelka said from jail. “All the revelations are bull****, of course. I made ‘em up.” {{ref|curse1}}
* “I’m even glad you’re doing the article, in a way...I am, so that the sealed portion will never go anywhere. There’s a lot to it, a lot more than what you’ve got. In the wrong hands it could really wreak havoc on a Mormon church, which I don’t want to do.”

====Later Developments====
Since his release from prison, the ''Salt Lake City Weekly'' reports that Mr. Nemelka has resumed his prophetic claims and is again insisting that the "sealed portion" is a true prophetic translation. He insists that his confession for the newspaper interview was all a lie to deceive the judge in charge of his case:

:I knew I had to portray something to [Judge] Lindberg that would appease her personal opinion that I thought I was "above her law", and more especially, above the laws of the powerful LDS Church to which she belonged. With her legal power, she could have easily had me confined to a mental institution, if she actual thought I was serious about my calling as the revelator of the sealed portion of the plates of Mormon. I was in her grasp and I wanted out.
:The conclusion I came up with was simple: Lie to Ben Fulton and get him to write something that would impress Lindberg into thinking that I was done with The Sealed Portion and would have nothing further to do with it in the future...Everything I said to [reporter] Ben Fulton of The City Weekly was an attempted manipulation to attempt to ease the mind of Judge Denise Lindberg...{{ref|nemelkaexplain}}

In 2007, Nemelka sued the Church, Jeffrey R. Holland, M. Russell Ballard, and others for "Assault, Libel, and Slander." The suit was dismissed two days later.{{ref|lawsuit1}}

==Problems with the text itself==

In a scholarly or religious vein, Nemelka's claims about the "Book of Lehi" can also be easily checked against what is known about Joseph Smith's translation of the same material. They fail even a cursory analysis.

===Problems with Length===
There are two extant Book of Mormon manuscripts. The original, dictated by Joseph Smith to his scribes, was probably about 480 pages long; we have fragments from 236 of these pages. A copy was made of the original manuscript—the so-called "printer's manuscript"—and is completely extant save three lines on the first page. This version occupied 464 manuscript pages. Thus, the two manuscript lengths agree within 3-4%.

A computerized count of the original 1830 publication of the Book of Mormon yields 270,745 words. Thus, each original manuscript page would have held about 564 words; the printer's manuscript about 583.

Nemelka's "Book of Lehi" contains 26,709 words when the italicized chapter summaries are excluded. Dividing by 116 pages, we get 230 words per page. The "Book of Lehi" seems, therefore, to contain only about 41% (at best) of the material which one would expect.

Mr. Nemelka includes an introduction to his "translation" of the "Book of Lehi", in which he indicates that

:It depended on the particular writing style of each individual scribe, but generally, there were about 225 words per page that were translated by the prophet and written down by his scribe…{{ref|fn0}}

Unfortunately for his plan to produce the 116 pages, Nemelka has his details wrong. The paper was folded either lengthwise or widthwise before being written on. Both methods were used during the Book of Mormon translation, though widthwise was more common.

:'''Count of lengthwise pages''': Page seven of the manuscript (corresponding to {{s|1|Nephi|4|20-37}}) contains 580 words, which matches the estimate of 583 words per page nicely.

:'''Count of widthwise pages''': {{s||Alma|45|17-24}} throught to {{s||Alma|46|1-6}}, {{s||Helaman|1|5-17}}, and {{s||Alma|42|29-31}} through {{s||Alma|43|1-10}} are all extant widthwise pages from the original manuscript. Word counts in the 1830 edition give values of 523, 526, and 511 respectively, again much closer to the estimate of 583 from the actual Book of Mormon text than Nemelka's claimed 225.

This discrepancy demonstrates that Nemelka is missing at least half of the material that should be present. One might not expect his translation to match Joseph Smith's word-for-word, but the Book of Mormon text produced by Joseph is not so wordy that one could simply eliminate over half of it and retain the same meaning. Mr. Nemelka has underestimated how much material he needed to produce, and so his work is revealed for what it is—an amateurish forgery.

===Problems with Missing Material===
Hugh Nibley was the first to note that the Book of Mormon contains "colophons." As one review explained:

:A colophon--Greek for "summit, top, finishing"--is a title or header, before or after a text, that may identify an author (such as by name, parentage, origin, education, etc.), the title of text, book, or section…{{ref|fn1}}

Such colophons can be seen throughout the Book of Mormon—in the English scriptures, they are the italicized portions which precede the chapter heading at the beginning of [http://scriptures.lds.org/1_ne/1 1 Nephi], [http://scriptures.lds.org/2_ne/1 2 Nephi], [http://scriptures.lds.org/jacob/1 Jacob], [http://scriptures.lds.org/alma/1 Alma], [http://scriptures.lds.org/hel/1 Helaman], [http://scriptures.lds.org/3_ne/1 3 Nephi], [http://scriptures.lds.org/4_ne/1 4 Nephi], and [http://scriptures.lds.org/ether/1 Ether]. The Book of [http://scriptures.lds.org/mosiah/1 Mosiah] is the only large book without such an introduction. The books of Mormon and Moroni have no colophons, but they are the editors and authors throughout the abridgement, and so have already "given" their colophons initially, as well as identified themselves throughout the text. It's another subtle but authentic touch that no one of Joseph Smith's day knew anything about, or remarked upon until our century.

The lack of a colophon for Mosiah is not surprising, since the first two 'chapters' of Mosiah were part of the lost 116 pages.

Mr. Nemelka betrays himself here by being almost "too clever." He properly includes a colophon at the beginning of his Book of Lehi (imitating, perhaps, 1 Nephi's beginning). But, by the time he has reached the end of his "translation," he has forgotten (if he ever knew) that he needed a Book of Mosiah division with its own colophon.

===Contradictions with the Book of Mormon Text===
Mr. Nemelka's offering has thus already been exposed as a forgery, and we haven't even looked at the text itself. He has tripped himself up on merely technical matters—things which are not present betray him. This illustrates the challenge of creating a lengthy, believable forgery.

The Book of Lehi was Mormon's abridged account of the material contained on the small plates, i.e. 1 Nephi - Omni. Therefore, the information in the Book of Lehi should agree with what is on the small plates.

====Lineage Problems====
Nemelka makes two fatal errors in genealogy (one within the first chapter), in family lines of unquestioned importance for the Nephite record keepers:

{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
|'''Nemelka – "Book of Lehi" Claim'''||'''Book of Mormon'''
|-
|1. Lehi is descended from Ephraim, son of Joseph (1:11-12)||Lehi is a descendant of Manasseh ({{s||Alma|10|3}}).
|-
|2. "And Mosiah was a direct descendent of Zoram, the servant of Laban who delivered the brass plates unto Nephi and his brethren." (8:25).||Mosiah is a Nephi descendant, and only Nephi descendants are eligible for the kingship. ({{s||Mosiah|25|13-14}}.)
|}

Is the reader to believe that the Israelite Nephites, who put so much stock in genealogy and descent, really don't know the difference between two tribes of Israel? Would they really insist one needed to be a descendant of Nephi to rule, when Mosiah—from whom all subsequent kings and rulers derived their legitimacy, including the judges established by his grandson—wasn't even descended from Lehi, much less Nephi?

When this error was pointed out to him, Nemelka responded by claiming that the Book of Mormon produced by Joseph Smith is in error on this point, and that this is a "stumblingblock" to "fools" who would challenge the authenticity of his work. (He even concludes with the helpful admonition to "get over ''yourselves!''"){{ref|fn3}}

Unfortunately for Nemelka's scramble to save his forgery, he also has the "Book of Lehi" say this: "Behold, no revelation that cometh forth from the mouth of God by the power of His Spirit shall contradict or add to the words that Jesus spoke both to the Jews at Jerusalem, and also to the Nephites and Lamanites that were spared in the land of Bountiful." (TSP, “Book of Lehi,” 5:73)

So, Nemelka's "Book of Lehi" claims that it won't contradict anything in the Bible or Book of Mormon. But, when he ''does'' contradict the Book of Mormon a crucial point, he claims the Book of Mormon is in error. So, he doesn't contradict—but if he contradicts, it isn't a contradiction!

====How was the ship built?====
{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
|'''Nemelka – "Book of Lehi" Claim'''||'''Book of Mormon'''
|-
|1. Nephi built the ship "according to the promptings of the spirit." (6:11)||Lord ''shows'' Nephi in revelation at the mountain how to build the ship. ({{s|1|Nephi|18|1-3}})
|-
|2. Laman and Lemuel abandon plans to thwart Nephi's shipbuilding because they're so impressed by the ship's "curious" form. (6:12)||Laman and Lemuel won't even help begin the ship's construction, and consider Nephi foolish. ({{s|1|Nephi|17|17-18}}) This prevents the work from progressing at all, and they then taunt Nephi for being unable to do what he proposed. ({{s|1|Nephi|17|19}}) They only start helping when they are shocked by the power of the Lord ({{s|1|Nephi|17|54-55}}, {{s|1|Nephi|18|1}})

There is no impressive ship to motivate them until after they begin helping.
|-
|}

====The Problem of Multiple High Priests====

In the "Book of Lehi," Lehi is identified as a High Priest after the order of Aaron. He is not the only contemporaneous High Priest, either, as Nemelka mentions how there were an unspecified number of them present in Jerusalem at the time, in chapter 1, verse 15: "And many of these prophets were bound by the Jews and carried forth unto the High Priests to see what should be done with them." According to Nemelka, these High Priests were called to serve by their lineage and "also by the laying on of hands by those who were in authority." Laban, who was later slain by Nephi, is identified as the chief High Priest.

From the time of Aaron until the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, there was always only one High Priest, who held that office due only to his status as a Levite and to his descent from Aaron, the first High Priest. Lehi was a Mannasehite, as was Laban, and was thus ineligible. Tellingly, Nemelka's words "...also by the laying on of hands by those who were in authority..." make clear the source for his apparent Quorum of High Priests: his knowledge of modern-day priesthood government. Nemelka's "High Priests" are a clear anachronism.

===Conclusion===
The "Book of Lehi" is a clumsy forgery that fails even a cursory analysis.

==Endnotes==
#{{note|curse1}} ''Salt Lake City Weekly'' (27 Dec 2001) (obscenity present in original).
#{{note|nemelkaexplain}} The Sealed Portion Website, "Questions," last accessed 5 July 2005. {{link|url=http://qanda.thesealedportion.com/qna_threads//read.php?10,126 }}
#{{note|lawsuit1}} "Nemelka v. Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. et al," ''news.justia.com'' (last accessed 12 October 2008) {{link|url=http://news.justia.com/cases/featured/utah/utdce/2:2007cv00524/62419/}}
#{{note|fn0}} The Sealed Portion Website, "Questions," last accessed 5 July 2005.{{link|url=http://qanda.thesealedportion.com/qna_threads//read.php?10,126 }}
#{{note|fn1}} {{JBMS-2-2-7}}
#{{note|fn3}} The Sealed Portion Website, "Questions: Is Lehi A Descendant of Ephraim or Manasseh?," last accessed 21 October 2006. Italics in original.

==Further reading==
===FAIR wiki articles===
{{SalamanderWiki}}

===FAIR web site===
{{SalamanderFAIR}}

===External links===
* Ben Fulton, "True Believer," ''Salt Lake City Weekly'' (27 December 2001) {{link|url=http://www.slweekly.com/index.cfm?do=article.details&id=1CABD745-2BF4-55D0-F1F7A0674E76FE36 on-line}} (Hard copy also in FAIR author's possession.){{NB}}{{an|This article reports that Nemelka admitted to faking the material he produced as a "translation." Reports of his problems with the legal system, as well as biographical information, are also included.}}
{{SalamanderLinks}}

===Printed material===
{{SalamanderPrint}}

{{SpecificAuthorsAndWorks}}

Template:NoOfficial

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Cachemagic: /* The Church does not take an official position on this issue */

==The Church does not take an official position on this issue==
{{Main|Fallibility of prophets|Changing doctrine}}

This is one of many issues about which the Church has no official position. As President J. Rueben Clark taught under assignment from the First Presidency:

:''Here we must have in mind—must know—that only the President of the Church, the Presiding High Priest, is sustained as Prophet, Seer, and Revelator for the Church, and he alone has the right to receive revelations for the Church, either new or amendatory, or to give authoritative interpretations of scriptures that shall be binding on the Church....''

:''When any man, except the President of the Church, undertakes to proclaim one unsettled doctrine, as among two or more doctrines in dispute, as the settled doctrine of the Church, we may know that he is not "moved upon by the Holy Ghost," unless he is acting under the direction and by the authority of the President.''

:''Of these things we may have a confident assurance without chance for doubt or quibbling.''
:—J. Rueben Clark, Jr. "When Are the Writings or Sermons of Church Leaders Entitled to the Claim of Scripture?" Address to Seminary and Institute Teachers, BYU (7 July 1954); reproduced in ''Church News'' (31 July 1954); also reprinted in ''Dialogue'' 12/2 (Summer 1979): 68–81.]

This was recently reiterated by the First Presidency (who now approves all statements published on-line):

:''Not every statement made by a Church leader, past or present, necessarily constitutes doctrine. A single statement made by a single leader on a single occasion often represents a personal, though well-considered, opinion, but is not meant to be officially binding for the whole Church. With divine inspiration, the First Presidency...and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles...counsel together to establish doctrine that is consistently proclaimed in official Church publications. This doctrine resides in the four “standard works” of scripture (the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price), official declarations and proclamations, and the Articles of Faith. Isolated statements are often taken out of context, leaving their original meaning distorted.''
:—LDS Newsroom, "Approaching Mormon Doctrine," ''lds.org'' (4 May 2007) {{link|url=http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/approaching-mormon-doctrine}}]

(''For further discussion of this principle see:'' FAIR wiki article: [[Fallibility_of_prophets|Official Church doctrine and statements by Church leaders]].)

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Fallibility of prophets

2008-11-03T22:10:08Z

Cachemagic: /* Biblical comparison */

==Criticism==
Critics are fond of imposing their absolutist assumptions on the Church. Many critics hold inerrantist beliefs about scriptures or prophets, and assume that the LDS have similar views.

Critics therefore insist—without reason—that any statement by any LDS Church leader represents LDS doctrine, and something believed by a given member.

===Source(s) of the Criticism===
*{{CriticalWork:Tanner:Changing World|pages=437}}
* {{50Questions}}

==Response==

===Prophets in the LDS tradition are not "infallible"===
The LDS do not believe that prophets and apostles are incapable of error, despite being called of God and receiving revelation. Joseph Smith himself taught that ‘a prophet was a prophet only when he was acting as such’.{{ref|js1}} The Church has always taught that its leaders are human and subject to failings as are all mortals. Only Jesus was perfect, as explained in this statement from the First Presidency:

:The position is not assumed that the men of the New Dispensation —its prophets, apostles, presidencies, and other leaders—are without faults or infallible, rather they are treated as men of like passions with their fellow men."{{ref|clark1}}

Lu Dalton, writing in the Church's periodical for women, explained:

:We consider God, and him alone, infallible; therefore his revealed word to us cannot be doubted, though we may be in doubt some times about the knowledge which we obtain from human sources, and occasionally be obliged to admit that something which we had considered to be a fact, was really only a theory.{{ref|dalton1}}

===Standard of doctrine in the Church===
President George Q. Cannon (counselor in the First Presidency) explained that the scriptures are the only source of official doctrine, coupled with later revelation to the prophets that has been presented to the Church and sustained:

:I hold in my hand the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and also the book, The Pearl of Great Price, which books contain revelations of God. In Kirtland, the Doctrine and Covenants in its original form, as first printed, was submitted to the officers of the Church and the members of the Church to vote upon. As there have been additions made to it by the publishing of revelations which were not contained in the original edition, it has been deemed wise to submit these books with their contents to the conference, to see whether the conference will vote to accept the books and their contents as from God, and binding upon us as a people and as a Church.{{ref|cannon1}}

B.H. Roberts further explained that only those things within the Standard Works and those presented for a sustaining vote by the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles is binding upon the Church and its members:

:The Church has confined the sources of doctrine by which it is willing to be bound before the world to the things that God has revealed, and which the Church has officially accepted, and those alone. These would include the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price; these have been repeatedly accepted and endorsed by the Church in general conference assembled, and are the only sources of absolute appeal for our doctrine.{{ref|roberts1}}

Anything else is valuable and may be of use for explanation, exhortation, and instruction, but does not bear the weight of ‘scripture’ in the LDS canon. Harold B. Lee was equally explicit:

:If anyone, regardless of his position in the Church, were to advance a doctrine that is not substantiated by the standard Church works, meaning the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price, you may know that his statement is merely his private opinion. The only one authorized to bring forth any new doctrine is the President of the Church, who, when he does, will declare it as revelation from God, and it will be so accepted by the Council of the Twelve and sustained by the body of the Church. And if any man speak a doctrine which contradicts what is in the standard Church works, you may know by that same token that it is false and you are not bound to accept it as truth.{{ref|lee1}}

Elsewhere, President Lee taught the same principle:

:It is not to be thought that every word spoken by the General Authorities is inspired, or that they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost in everything they speak and write. Now you keep that in mind. I don't care what his position is, if he writes something or speaks something that goes beyond anything that you can find in the standard works, unless that one be the prophet, seer, and revelator—please note that one exception—you may immediately say, "Well, that is his own idea!" And if he says something that contradicts what is found in the standard works (I think that is why we call them "standard"—it is the standard measure of all that men teach), you may know by that same token that it is false; regardless of the position of the man who says it.{{ref|lee2}}

In ''Mormon Doctrine'', Elder Bruce R. McConkie was equally clear:

:The books, writings, explanations, expositions, views, and theories of even the wisest and greatest men, either in or out of the Church, do not rank with the standard works. Even the writings, teachings, and opinions of the prophets of God are acceptable only to the extent they are in harmony with what God has revealed and what is recorded in the standard works.{{ref|mcconkie3}}

===Prophets and new scripture===

Brigham Young made another statement which critics abuse:

:"Well, brethren and sisters, try and be Saints. I will try; I have tried many years to live according to the law which the Lord reveals unto me. I know just as well what to teach this people and just what to say to them and what to do in order to bring them into the celestial kingdom, as I know the road to my office. It is just as plain and easy. The Lord is in our midst. He teaches the people continually. I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call Scripture. Let me have the privilege of correcting a sermon, and it is as good Scripture as they deserve. The people have the oracles of God continually. In the days of Joseph, revelation was given and written, and the people were driven from city to city and place to place, until we were led into these mountains. Let this [discourse] go to the people with "Thus saith the Lord," and if they do not obey it, you will see the chastening hand of the Lord upon them. But if they are plead with, and led along like children, we may come to understand the will of the Lord and he may preserve us as we desire.{{ref|by1}}

Brigham here says that his remarks are "scripture." However, the critics rarely provide Brigham's ''own explanation'' of this comment:

:Brother Orson Hyde referred to a few who complained about not getting revelations. I will make a statement here that has been brought against me as a crime, perhaps, or as a fault in my life. Not here, I do not allude to anything of the kind in this place, but in the councils of the nations—that Brigham Young has said "when he sends forth his discourses to the world they may call them Scripture." I say now, when they are copied and approved by me they are as good Scripture as is couched in this Bible, and if you want to read revelation read the sayings of him who knows the mind of God, without any special command to one man to go here, and to another to go yonder, or to do this or that, or to go and settle here or there.{{ref|by2}}

Brigham Young made it clear that his previous statement should not mean that anything he said was scripture, but only that which he had the opportunity to correct and send to the Saints ''as'' scripture. This provides a good example of why this rule exists at all: what a prophet may intend to convey may not be what his listeners hear, or what scribes recorded. Thus, teachings must be approved by the author ''and'' submitted as binding scripture in order for them to be considered such.

===Establishing new doctrine===

:It is not sufficient to quote sayings purported to come from Joseph Smith or Brigham Young upon matters of doctrine. Our own people also need instruction and correction in respect of this. It is common to hear some of our older brethren say, ‘But I heard Brother Joseph myself say so,’ or ‘Brother Brigham preached it; I heard him.’ But that is not the question. The question is has God said it? Was the prophet speaking officially? . . . As to the printed discourses of even leading brethren, the same principle holds. They do not constitute the court of ultimate appeal on doctrine. They may be very useful in the way of elucidation and are very generally good and sound in doctrine, but they are not the ultimate sources of the doctrines of the Church, and are not binding upon the Church. The rule in that respect is—What God has spoken, and what has been accepted by the Church as the word of God, by that, and that only, are we bound in doctrine.{{ref|roberts2}}

Leaders of the Church even spoke out against those who might try to think that some other standard applied for ‘official’ Church doctrine:

:[The Seer, a magazine published by a Church leader] contain[s] doctrines which we cannot sanction, and which we have felt impressed to disown, so that the Saints who now live, and who may live hereafter, may not be misled by our silence, or be left to misinterpret it…It ought to have been known, years ago, by every person in the Church—for ample teachings have been given on the point—that no member of the Church has the right to publish any doctrines, as the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, without first submitting them for examination and approval to the First Presidency and the Twelve. There is but one man upon the earth, at one time, who holds the keys to receive commandments and revelations for the Church, and who has the authority to write doctrines by way of commandment unto the Church. And any man who so far forgets the order instituted by the Lord as to write and publish what may be termed new doctrines, without consulting with the First Presidency of the Church respecting them, places himself in a false position, and exposes himself to the power of darkness by violating his Priesthood. While upon this subject, we wish to warn all the Elders of the Church, and to have it clearly understood by the members, that, in the future, whoever publishes any new doctrines without first taking this course, will be liable to lose his Priesthood.{{ref|seer1}}

Later leaders of the Church have continued to teach this principle. Joseph Fielding Smith wrote:

:It makes no difference what is written or what anyone has said, if what has been said is in conflict with what the Lord has revealed, we can set it aside. My words, and the teachings of any other member of the Church, high or low, if they do not square with the revelations, we need not accept them. Let us have this matter clear. We have accepted the four standard works as the measuring yardsticks, or balances, by which we measure every man¹s doctrine. You cannot accept the books written by the authorities of the Church as standards of doctrine, only in so far as they accord with the revealed word in the standard works. Every man who writes is responsible, not the Church, for what he writes. If Joseph Fielding Smith writes something which is out of harmony with the revelations, then every member of the Church is duty bound to reject it. If he writes that which is in perfect harmony with the revealed word of the Lord, then it should be accepted.{{ref|jfs1}}

Elder Bruce R. McConkie, whose writings some critics attempt to elevate to "official status," despite the fact that he explicitly states that he writes only on his own behalf,{{ref|mcconkie1}} said:

:With all their inspiration and greatness, prophets are yet mortal men with imperfections common to mankind in general. They have their opinions and prejudices and are left to work out their own problems without inspiration in many instances. Joseph Smith recorded that he "visited with a brother and sister from Michigan, who thought that 'a prophet is always a prophet'; but I told them that a prophet was a prophet only when he was acting as such." (Teachings, p. 278.) Thus the opinions and views even of prophets may contain error unless those opinions and views are inspired by the Spirit. Inspired statements are scripture and should be accepted as such. (D. & C. 68:4.). 

:Since "the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets" (1 Cor. 14:32), whatever is announced by the presiding brethren as counsel for the Church will be the voice of inspiration. But the truth or error of any uninspired utterance of an individual will have to be judged by the standard works and the spirit of discernment and inspiration that is in those who actually enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost.{{ref|mcconkie2}}

===Biblical standard?===

Some critics will protest that this standard is not applied to Biblical prophets, but this comes from a superficial analysis of the Biblical record. One Bible commentator noted that the Biblical authors were not perfect, and that they made errors of expression even in the Biblical record:

:Though purified and ennobled by the influence of His Holy Spirit; men each with his own peculiarities of manner and disposition—each with his own education or want of education—each with his own way of looking at things—each influenced differently from another by the different experiences and disciplines of his life. Their inspiration did not involve a suspension of their natural faculties; it did not even make them free from earthly passion; it did not make them into machines—it left them men. Therefore we find their knowledge sometimes no higher than that of their contemporaries.{{ref|dummelow1}}

Paul’s accounts even contain a contradictory account of his vision (Compare [http://scriptures.lds.org/acts/9/7#7 Acts 9:7] & [http://scriptures.lds.org/acts/22/9#9 Acts 22:9]). Paul and Barnabas disagreed severely enough for it to disrupt their missions [http://scriptures.lds.org/acts/15/36#39 Acts 15:36–39]. Peter and Paul also criticized the other’s writing [http://scriptures.lds.org/2_pet/3/16#16 2 Peter 3:16] and behavior regarding the Church [http://scriptures.lds.org/gal/2/11#16 Galatians 2:11–16].

===Protection against error===

The Church's system of councils provides protection against the fallibility of a single man or leader. President Smith explained:

:An individual may fall by the wayside, or have views, or give counsel which falls short of what the Lord intends. But the voice of the First Presidency and the united voice of those others who hold with them the keys of the kingdom shall always guide the Saints and the world in those paths where the Lord wants them to be.{{ref|jfs2}}

Dallin H. Oaks explained how the Lord allows all His children to grow through struggling with problems:

:Revelations from God . . . are not constant. We believe in continuing revelation, not continuous revelation. We are often left to work out problems without the dictation or specific direction of the Spirit. That is part of the experience we must have in mortality. Fortunately, we are never out of our Savior's sight, and if our judgment leads us to actions beyond the limits of what is permissible and if we are listening, . . . the Lord will restrain us by the promptings of his Spirit.{{ref|oaks1}}

The Lord will not help his children avoid all stumbling and error; He will protect them from permanent harm to His work, as Boyd K. Packer taught:

:Even with the best of intentions, [Church government] does not always work the way it should. Human nature may express itself on occasion, but ''not to the permanent injury of the work''.{{ref|packer1}}

Does this mean that members must simply have "blind trust" in their leaders? Hardly, says President Lorenzo Snow:

:There may be some things that the First Presidency do; that the Apostles do, that cannot for the moment be explained; yet the spirit, the motives that inspire the action can be understood, because each member of the Church has a right to have that measure of the Spirit of God that they can judge as to those who are acting in their interests or otherwise.{{ref|snow1}}

===Biblical comparison===

To get a better idea of how prophets are limited yet still divinely called, it can be helpful to look at some examples of Bible prophets and compare them with modern prophets.

{| border="0" cellpadding="10" style=background:#eeeeee
|- style="align:center; background:#dddddd; text-align:center"
| '''Bible prophets'''
| '''Modern prophets'''
|- valign="top"
| '''Moses''' disobeyed God's instruction to speak to the rock and instead hit it. He then attributed the miracle to himself and Aaron, saying, "Must ''we'' fetch you water out of this rock?" He was chastized by the Lord afterward. ([http://scriptures.lds.org/num/20/8-12#7 Num. 20])
|
|- valign="top"
| '''Joshua''' was deceived by the inhabitants of Gibeon when they claimed to come from a far country so they could get a peace accord with Joshua. Then the Israelites found that instead of living a long distant away, that people from Gibeon lived among them. ([http://scriptures.lds.org/josh/9 Josh. 9])
| '''Gordon B. Hinckley''' was temporarily deceived by [[Mark Hofmann]], who had done so in order to obtain money. Hofmann was even responsible for the death of some people. After some investigation, he was discovered and sentenced.
|- valign="top"
| '''Gideon''' repeatedly asked the Lord for signs even though the Lord has said, "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign." ([http://scriptures.lds.org/judg/6/17,37,39#16 Judg. 7]; [http://scriptures.lds.org/matt/12/39#39 Matt. 12:39])
|
|- valign="top"
| '''Nathan''' told David that the Lord approved of his desire to build a temple, and that he should commence the project. The Lord later told Nathan that such was ''not'' His desire, and that he was to tell David that the temple would be built by another. ([http://scriptures.lds.org/2_sam/7/2-5,12-13 2 Sam. 7])
|
|- valign="top"
| '''Jonah''' felt some personal prejudices against Assyrians, to the point of expecting the Lord to give them fewer blessings than to Jews. ([http://scriptures.lds.org/Jonah/4/1 Jonah 4:1])
| '''Brigham Young''' felt some personal prejudices against blacks, to the point of expecting the Lord to give them fewer blessings than caucasians.
|- valign="top"
| '''Jesus's apostles''' may not always have been perfectly humble or modest. They once disputed over which of them would be the greatest in heaven. ([http://scriptures.lds.org/mark/9/34#33 Mark 9:34])
| '''Joseph Smith''' may not always have been perfectly humble or modest. He once said he had "more to boast of than ever any man had."{{ref|js2}}
|}
A person could spend all day looking for examples of the Lord's chosen servants making mistakes, but such an activity does nothing to edify or strengthen people. In all of these situations, a prophet's weakness or mistakes do not make him any less a prophet, called of God to do His work.

==Conclusion==
The prophets are not perfect, but they are called of God. They may speak as men, but may speak scripture as well. Every person may know for themselves whether they speak the truth through the same power that their revelation is given: the power of the Holy Ghost.

==Endnotes==
#{{note|js1}} {{HoC1|vol=5|start=265}}; See also {{TPJS1|start=278}}
#{{note|clark1}} James R. Clark, quoting B. H. Roberts, ''Messages of the First Presidency,'' edited by James R. Clark, Vol. 4, (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1970), p. xiv–xv.
#{{note|dalton1}} Lu Dalton, ''Woman's Exponent'' (Salt Lake City: 15 July 1882), p. 31.
#{{note|cannon1}} {{MS1|author=George Q. Cannon|article=Comments|vol=42|num=46|date=15 November 1880|start=724}} (10 October 1880, General Conference)
#{{note|roberts1}} Brigham H. Roberts, sermon of 10 July 1921, delivered in Salt Lake Tabernacle, printed in ''Deseret News'' (23 July 1921) sec. 4:7.
#{{note|lee1}}Harold B. Lee, ''The First Area General Conference for Germany, Austria, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium, and Spain of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, held in Munich Germany, August 24–26, 1973, with Reports and Discourses'', 69.
#{{note|lee2}} Harold B. Lee, "The Place of the Living Prophet, Seer, and Revelator," Address to Seminary and Institute of Religion Faculty, BYU, 8 July 1964.
#{{note|mcconkie3}} {{MD1|start=111}}
#{{note|by1}} {{JoD13_1|author=Brigham Young|title=Latter-Day Saint Families, etc.|date=2 January 1870|start=95|end=95}}
#{{note|by2}} {{JoD13_1|author=Brigham Young|title=Texts for Preaching Upon at Conference—Revelations, etc.|date=6 October 1870|start=264|end=264}}
#{{note|roberts2}} B.H. Roberts, ''Deseret News'' (23 July 1921) sec. 4:7.
#{{note|seer1}} Proclamation of the First Presidency and Twelve, dated 21 October 1865, re: ''The Seer''. Printed in ''Messages of the First Presidency,'' edited by James R. Clark, Vol. 2, (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965), 238–39.
#{{note|jfs1}} {{DoS|vol=3|start=203|end=204}}
#{{note|mcconkie1}} See, for example, Elder McConkie's "Preface" from the first edition of ''Mormon Doctrine'', where he writes "For the work itself, I assume sole and full responsibility." This comment is reprinted in the second edition.{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=208552}}
#{{note|mcconkie2}}{{MD1|start=608}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=210019}}
#{{note|dummelow1}} James R. Dummelow, ''A Commentary on the Holy Bible: Complete in one volume, with general articles'' (New York : Macmillan, 1984 [1904]), p. cxxxv.
#{{note|jfs2}} {{Ensign1|author=Joseph Fielding Smith|article=Eternal Keys and the Right to Preside|date=July 1972|start=88}}{{link|url=http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1972.htm/ensign%20july%201972%20.htm/eternal%20keys%20and%20the%20right%20to%20preside.htm}}
#{{note|oaks1}} {{Ensign1|author=Dallin H. Oaks|article=Teaching and Learning by the Spirit|date=March 1997|start=14}}{{link|url=http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1997.htm/ensign%20march%201997.htm/teaching%20and%20learning%20by%20the%20spirit.htm}}
#{{note|packer1}} Boyd K. Packer, "I Say unto You, Be One," in ''BYU Devotional and Fireside Speeches, 1990–1991'' (Provo, Utah: University Publications, 1991), 84.
#{{note|snow1}} {{CR1|author=Lorenzo Snow|article=A Serious ordeal, etc.|date=October 1898|start=54}}
#{{note|js2}} {{HoC | vol=6|start=408|end=409 }} This statement, when understood in its proper context, doesn't appear to be a statement of personal pride at all. Joseph Smith read to the congregation [http://scriptures.lds.org/en/2_cor/11 2 Corinthians 11] and then mimicked Paul in his "boasting." In its proper context, Joseph Smith was not acting in a proud manner at all but was using the rhetoric of Paul to defend his own authority as a prophet against those who were then proclaiming him a "fallen prophet." This statement, however, is used often in anti-Mormon literature as a criticism of the prophet and is used here only to show that even if he were in fact proud, it doesn't damage his authority as a prophet/apostles any more than it damaged Jesus' apostles' authority.

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki articles===
{{AdamWiki}}
{{BlacksPriesthoodWiki}}
{{ProphecyWiki}}
===FAIR web site===
{{AdamFAIR}}
{{ProphecyFAIR}}

===External links===
{{ProphecyLinks}}

===Printed material===
{{ProphecyPrint}}

Fallibility of prophets

2008-11-03T22:09:15Z

Cachemagic: /* Biblical comparison */

==Criticism==
Critics are fond of imposing their absolutist assumptions on the Church. Many critics hold inerrantist beliefs about scriptures or prophets, and assume that the LDS have similar views.

Critics therefore insist—without reason—that any statement by any LDS Church leader represents LDS doctrine, and something believed by a given member.

===Source(s) of the Criticism===
*{{CriticalWork:Tanner:Changing World|pages=437}}
* {{50Questions}}

==Response==

===Prophets in the LDS tradition are not "infallible"===
The LDS do not believe that prophets and apostles are incapable of error, despite being called of God and receiving revelation. Joseph Smith himself taught that ‘a prophet was a prophet only when he was acting as such’.{{ref|js1}} The Church has always taught that its leaders are human and subject to failings as are all mortals. Only Jesus was perfect, as explained in this statement from the First Presidency:

:The position is not assumed that the men of the New Dispensation —its prophets, apostles, presidencies, and other leaders—are without faults or infallible, rather they are treated as men of like passions with their fellow men."{{ref|clark1}}

Lu Dalton, writing in the Church's periodical for women, explained:

:We consider God, and him alone, infallible; therefore his revealed word to us cannot be doubted, though we may be in doubt some times about the knowledge which we obtain from human sources, and occasionally be obliged to admit that something which we had considered to be a fact, was really only a theory.{{ref|dalton1}}

===Standard of doctrine in the Church===
President George Q. Cannon (counselor in the First Presidency) explained that the scriptures are the only source of official doctrine, coupled with later revelation to the prophets that has been presented to the Church and sustained:

:I hold in my hand the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and also the book, The Pearl of Great Price, which books contain revelations of God. In Kirtland, the Doctrine and Covenants in its original form, as first printed, was submitted to the officers of the Church and the members of the Church to vote upon. As there have been additions made to it by the publishing of revelations which were not contained in the original edition, it has been deemed wise to submit these books with their contents to the conference, to see whether the conference will vote to accept the books and their contents as from God, and binding upon us as a people and as a Church.{{ref|cannon1}}

B.H. Roberts further explained that only those things within the Standard Works and those presented for a sustaining vote by the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles is binding upon the Church and its members:

:The Church has confined the sources of doctrine by which it is willing to be bound before the world to the things that God has revealed, and which the Church has officially accepted, and those alone. These would include the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price; these have been repeatedly accepted and endorsed by the Church in general conference assembled, and are the only sources of absolute appeal for our doctrine.{{ref|roberts1}}

Anything else is valuable and may be of use for explanation, exhortation, and instruction, but does not bear the weight of ‘scripture’ in the LDS canon. Harold B. Lee was equally explicit:

:If anyone, regardless of his position in the Church, were to advance a doctrine that is not substantiated by the standard Church works, meaning the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price, you may know that his statement is merely his private opinion. The only one authorized to bring forth any new doctrine is the President of the Church, who, when he does, will declare it as revelation from God, and it will be so accepted by the Council of the Twelve and sustained by the body of the Church. And if any man speak a doctrine which contradicts what is in the standard Church works, you may know by that same token that it is false and you are not bound to accept it as truth.{{ref|lee1}}

Elsewhere, President Lee taught the same principle:

:It is not to be thought that every word spoken by the General Authorities is inspired, or that they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost in everything they speak and write. Now you keep that in mind. I don't care what his position is, if he writes something or speaks something that goes beyond anything that you can find in the standard works, unless that one be the prophet, seer, and revelator—please note that one exception—you may immediately say, "Well, that is his own idea!" And if he says something that contradicts what is found in the standard works (I think that is why we call them "standard"—it is the standard measure of all that men teach), you may know by that same token that it is false; regardless of the position of the man who says it.{{ref|lee2}}

In ''Mormon Doctrine'', Elder Bruce R. McConkie was equally clear:

:The books, writings, explanations, expositions, views, and theories of even the wisest and greatest men, either in or out of the Church, do not rank with the standard works. Even the writings, teachings, and opinions of the prophets of God are acceptable only to the extent they are in harmony with what God has revealed and what is recorded in the standard works.{{ref|mcconkie3}}

===Prophets and new scripture===

Brigham Young made another statement which critics abuse:

:"Well, brethren and sisters, try and be Saints. I will try; I have tried many years to live according to the law which the Lord reveals unto me. I know just as well what to teach this people and just what to say to them and what to do in order to bring them into the celestial kingdom, as I know the road to my office. It is just as plain and easy. The Lord is in our midst. He teaches the people continually. I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call Scripture. Let me have the privilege of correcting a sermon, and it is as good Scripture as they deserve. The people have the oracles of God continually. In the days of Joseph, revelation was given and written, and the people were driven from city to city and place to place, until we were led into these mountains. Let this [discourse] go to the people with "Thus saith the Lord," and if they do not obey it, you will see the chastening hand of the Lord upon them. But if they are plead with, and led along like children, we may come to understand the will of the Lord and he may preserve us as we desire.{{ref|by1}}

Brigham here says that his remarks are "scripture." However, the critics rarely provide Brigham's ''own explanation'' of this comment:

:Brother Orson Hyde referred to a few who complained about not getting revelations. I will make a statement here that has been brought against me as a crime, perhaps, or as a fault in my life. Not here, I do not allude to anything of the kind in this place, but in the councils of the nations—that Brigham Young has said "when he sends forth his discourses to the world they may call them Scripture." I say now, when they are copied and approved by me they are as good Scripture as is couched in this Bible, and if you want to read revelation read the sayings of him who knows the mind of God, without any special command to one man to go here, and to another to go yonder, or to do this or that, or to go and settle here or there.{{ref|by2}}

Brigham Young made it clear that his previous statement should not mean that anything he said was scripture, but only that which he had the opportunity to correct and send to the Saints ''as'' scripture. This provides a good example of why this rule exists at all: what a prophet may intend to convey may not be what his listeners hear, or what scribes recorded. Thus, teachings must be approved by the author ''and'' submitted as binding scripture in order for them to be considered such.

===Establishing new doctrine===

:It is not sufficient to quote sayings purported to come from Joseph Smith or Brigham Young upon matters of doctrine. Our own people also need instruction and correction in respect of this. It is common to hear some of our older brethren say, ‘But I heard Brother Joseph myself say so,’ or ‘Brother Brigham preached it; I heard him.’ But that is not the question. The question is has God said it? Was the prophet speaking officially? . . . As to the printed discourses of even leading brethren, the same principle holds. They do not constitute the court of ultimate appeal on doctrine. They may be very useful in the way of elucidation and are very generally good and sound in doctrine, but they are not the ultimate sources of the doctrines of the Church, and are not binding upon the Church. The rule in that respect is—What God has spoken, and what has been accepted by the Church as the word of God, by that, and that only, are we bound in doctrine.{{ref|roberts2}}

Leaders of the Church even spoke out against those who might try to think that some other standard applied for ‘official’ Church doctrine:

:[The Seer, a magazine published by a Church leader] contain[s] doctrines which we cannot sanction, and which we have felt impressed to disown, so that the Saints who now live, and who may live hereafter, may not be misled by our silence, or be left to misinterpret it…It ought to have been known, years ago, by every person in the Church—for ample teachings have been given on the point—that no member of the Church has the right to publish any doctrines, as the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, without first submitting them for examination and approval to the First Presidency and the Twelve. There is but one man upon the earth, at one time, who holds the keys to receive commandments and revelations for the Church, and who has the authority to write doctrines by way of commandment unto the Church. And any man who so far forgets the order instituted by the Lord as to write and publish what may be termed new doctrines, without consulting with the First Presidency of the Church respecting them, places himself in a false position, and exposes himself to the power of darkness by violating his Priesthood. While upon this subject, we wish to warn all the Elders of the Church, and to have it clearly understood by the members, that, in the future, whoever publishes any new doctrines without first taking this course, will be liable to lose his Priesthood.{{ref|seer1}}

Later leaders of the Church have continued to teach this principle. Joseph Fielding Smith wrote:

:It makes no difference what is written or what anyone has said, if what has been said is in conflict with what the Lord has revealed, we can set it aside. My words, and the teachings of any other member of the Church, high or low, if they do not square with the revelations, we need not accept them. Let us have this matter clear. We have accepted the four standard works as the measuring yardsticks, or balances, by which we measure every man¹s doctrine. You cannot accept the books written by the authorities of the Church as standards of doctrine, only in so far as they accord with the revealed word in the standard works. Every man who writes is responsible, not the Church, for what he writes. If Joseph Fielding Smith writes something which is out of harmony with the revelations, then every member of the Church is duty bound to reject it. If he writes that which is in perfect harmony with the revealed word of the Lord, then it should be accepted.{{ref|jfs1}}

Elder Bruce R. McConkie, whose writings some critics attempt to elevate to "official status," despite the fact that he explicitly states that he writes only on his own behalf,{{ref|mcconkie1}} said:

:With all their inspiration and greatness, prophets are yet mortal men with imperfections common to mankind in general. They have their opinions and prejudices and are left to work out their own problems without inspiration in many instances. Joseph Smith recorded that he "visited with a brother and sister from Michigan, who thought that 'a prophet is always a prophet'; but I told them that a prophet was a prophet only when he was acting as such." (Teachings, p. 278.) Thus the opinions and views even of prophets may contain error unless those opinions and views are inspired by the Spirit. Inspired statements are scripture and should be accepted as such. (D. & C. 68:4.). 

:Since "the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets" (1 Cor. 14:32), whatever is announced by the presiding brethren as counsel for the Church will be the voice of inspiration. But the truth or error of any uninspired utterance of an individual will have to be judged by the standard works and the spirit of discernment and inspiration that is in those who actually enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost.{{ref|mcconkie2}}

===Biblical standard?===

Some critics will protest that this standard is not applied to Biblical prophets, but this comes from a superficial analysis of the Biblical record. One Bible commentator noted that the Biblical authors were not perfect, and that they made errors of expression even in the Biblical record:

:Though purified and ennobled by the influence of His Holy Spirit; men each with his own peculiarities of manner and disposition—each with his own education or want of education—each with his own way of looking at things—each influenced differently from another by the different experiences and disciplines of his life. Their inspiration did not involve a suspension of their natural faculties; it did not even make them free from earthly passion; it did not make them into machines—it left them men. Therefore we find their knowledge sometimes no higher than that of their contemporaries.{{ref|dummelow1}}

Paul’s accounts even contain a contradictory account of his vision (Compare [http://scriptures.lds.org/acts/9/7#7 Acts 9:7] & [http://scriptures.lds.org/acts/22/9#9 Acts 22:9]). Paul and Barnabas disagreed severely enough for it to disrupt their missions [http://scriptures.lds.org/acts/15/36#39 Acts 15:36–39]. Peter and Paul also criticized the other’s writing [http://scriptures.lds.org/2_pet/3/16#16 2 Peter 3:16] and behavior regarding the Church [http://scriptures.lds.org/gal/2/11#16 Galatians 2:11–16].

===Protection against error===

The Church's system of councils provides protection against the fallibility of a single man or leader. President Smith explained:

:An individual may fall by the wayside, or have views, or give counsel which falls short of what the Lord intends. But the voice of the First Presidency and the united voice of those others who hold with them the keys of the kingdom shall always guide the Saints and the world in those paths where the Lord wants them to be.{{ref|jfs2}}

Dallin H. Oaks explained how the Lord allows all His children to grow through struggling with problems:

:Revelations from God . . . are not constant. We believe in continuing revelation, not continuous revelation. We are often left to work out problems without the dictation or specific direction of the Spirit. That is part of the experience we must have in mortality. Fortunately, we are never out of our Savior's sight, and if our judgment leads us to actions beyond the limits of what is permissible and if we are listening, . . . the Lord will restrain us by the promptings of his Spirit.{{ref|oaks1}}

The Lord will not help his children avoid all stumbling and error; He will protect them from permanent harm to His work, as Boyd K. Packer taught:

:Even with the best of intentions, [Church government] does not always work the way it should. Human nature may express itself on occasion, but ''not to the permanent injury of the work''.{{ref|packer1}}

Does this mean that members must simply have "blind trust" in their leaders? Hardly, says President Lorenzo Snow:

:There may be some things that the First Presidency do; that the Apostles do, that cannot for the moment be explained; yet the spirit, the motives that inspire the action can be understood, because each member of the Church has a right to have that measure of the Spirit of God that they can judge as to those who are acting in their interests or otherwise.{{ref|snow1}}

===Biblical comparison===

To get a better idea of how prophets are limited yet still divinely called, it can be helpful to look at some examples of Bible prophets and compare them with modern prophets.

{| border="0" cellpadding="10" style=background:#eeeeee
|- style="align:center; background:#dddddd; text-align:center"
| '''Bible prophets'''
| '''Modern prophets'''
|- valign="top"
| '''Moses''' disobeyed God's instruction to speak to the rock and instead hit it. He then attributed the miracle to himself and Aaron, saying, "Must ''we'' fetch you water out of this rock?" He was chastized by the Lord afterward. ([http://scriptures.lds.org/num/20/8-12#7 Num. 20])
|
|- valign="top"
| '''Joshua''' was deceived by the inhabitants of Gibeon when they claimed to come from a far country so they could get a peace accord with Joshua. Then they found that instead of living a long distant away, that they lived among them. ([http://scriptures.lds.org/josh/9 Josh. 9])
| '''Gordon B. Hinckley''' was temporarily deceived by [[Mark Hofmann]], who had done so in order to obtain money. Hofmann was even responsible for the death of some people. After some investigation, he was discovered and sentenced.
|- valign="top"
| '''Gideon''' repeatedly asked the Lord for signs even though the Lord has said, "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign." ([http://scriptures.lds.org/judg/6/17,37,39#16 Judg. 7]; [http://scriptures.lds.org/matt/12/39#39 Matt. 12:39])
|
|- valign="top"
| '''Nathan''' told David that the Lord approved of his desire to build a temple, and that he should commence the project. The Lord later told Nathan that such was ''not'' His desire, and that he was to tell David that the temple would be built by another. ([http://scriptures.lds.org/2_sam/7/2-5,12-13 2 Sam. 7])
|
|- valign="top"
| '''Jonah''' felt some personal prejudices against Assyrians, to the point of expecting the Lord to give them fewer blessings than to Jews. ([http://scriptures.lds.org/Jonah/4/1 Jonah 4:1])
| '''Brigham Young''' felt some personal prejudices against blacks, to the point of expecting the Lord to give them fewer blessings than caucasians.
|- valign="top"
| '''Jesus's apostles''' may not always have been perfectly humble or modest. They once disputed over which of them would be the greatest in heaven. ([http://scriptures.lds.org/mark/9/34#33 Mark 9:34])
| '''Joseph Smith''' may not always have been perfectly humble or modest. He once said he had "more to boast of than ever any man had."{{ref|js2}}
|}
A person could spend all day looking for examples of the Lord's chosen servants making mistakes, but such an activity does nothing to edify or strengthen people. In all of these situations, a prophet's weakness or mistakes do not make him any less a prophet, called of God to do His work.

==Conclusion==
The prophets are not perfect, but they are called of God. They may speak as men, but may speak scripture as well. Every person may know for themselves whether they speak the truth through the same power that their revelation is given: the power of the Holy Ghost.

==Endnotes==
#{{note|js1}} {{HoC1|vol=5|start=265}}; See also {{TPJS1|start=278}}
#{{note|clark1}} James R. Clark, quoting B. H. Roberts, ''Messages of the First Presidency,'' edited by James R. Clark, Vol. 4, (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1970), p. xiv–xv.
#{{note|dalton1}} Lu Dalton, ''Woman's Exponent'' (Salt Lake City: 15 July 1882), p. 31.
#{{note|cannon1}} {{MS1|author=George Q. Cannon|article=Comments|vol=42|num=46|date=15 November 1880|start=724}} (10 October 1880, General Conference)
#{{note|roberts1}} Brigham H. Roberts, sermon of 10 July 1921, delivered in Salt Lake Tabernacle, printed in ''Deseret News'' (23 July 1921) sec. 4:7.
#{{note|lee1}}Harold B. Lee, ''The First Area General Conference for Germany, Austria, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium, and Spain of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, held in Munich Germany, August 24–26, 1973, with Reports and Discourses'', 69.
#{{note|lee2}} Harold B. Lee, "The Place of the Living Prophet, Seer, and Revelator," Address to Seminary and Institute of Religion Faculty, BYU, 8 July 1964.
#{{note|mcconkie3}} {{MD1|start=111}}
#{{note|by1}} {{JoD13_1|author=Brigham Young|title=Latter-Day Saint Families, etc.|date=2 January 1870|start=95|end=95}}
#{{note|by2}} {{JoD13_1|author=Brigham Young|title=Texts for Preaching Upon at Conference—Revelations, etc.|date=6 October 1870|start=264|end=264}}
#{{note|roberts2}} B.H. Roberts, ''Deseret News'' (23 July 1921) sec. 4:7.
#{{note|seer1}} Proclamation of the First Presidency and Twelve, dated 21 October 1865, re: ''The Seer''. Printed in ''Messages of the First Presidency,'' edited by James R. Clark, Vol. 2, (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965), 238–39.
#{{note|jfs1}} {{DoS|vol=3|start=203|end=204}}
#{{note|mcconkie1}} See, for example, Elder McConkie's "Preface" from the first edition of ''Mormon Doctrine'', where he writes "For the work itself, I assume sole and full responsibility." This comment is reprinted in the second edition.{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=208552}}
#{{note|mcconkie2}}{{MD1|start=608}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=210019}}
#{{note|dummelow1}} James R. Dummelow, ''A Commentary on the Holy Bible: Complete in one volume, with general articles'' (New York : Macmillan, 1984 [1904]), p. cxxxv.
#{{note|jfs2}} {{Ensign1|author=Joseph Fielding Smith|article=Eternal Keys and the Right to Preside|date=July 1972|start=88}}{{link|url=http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1972.htm/ensign%20july%201972%20.htm/eternal%20keys%20and%20the%20right%20to%20preside.htm}}
#{{note|oaks1}} {{Ensign1|author=Dallin H. Oaks|article=Teaching and Learning by the Spirit|date=March 1997|start=14}}{{link|url=http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1997.htm/ensign%20march%201997.htm/teaching%20and%20learning%20by%20the%20spirit.htm}}
#{{note|packer1}} Boyd K. Packer, "I Say unto You, Be One," in ''BYU Devotional and Fireside Speeches, 1990–1991'' (Provo, Utah: University Publications, 1991), 84.
#{{note|snow1}} {{CR1|author=Lorenzo Snow|article=A Serious ordeal, etc.|date=October 1898|start=54}}
#{{note|js2}} {{HoC | vol=6|start=408|end=409 }} This statement, when understood in its proper context, doesn't appear to be a statement of personal pride at all. Joseph Smith read to the congregation [http://scriptures.lds.org/en/2_cor/11 2 Corinthians 11] and then mimicked Paul in his "boasting." In its proper context, Joseph Smith was not acting in a proud manner at all but was using the rhetoric of Paul to defend his own authority as a prophet against those who were then proclaiming him a "fallen prophet." This statement, however, is used often in anti-Mormon literature as a criticism of the prophet and is used here only to show that even if he were in fact proud, it doesn't damage his authority as a prophet/apostles any more than it damaged Jesus' apostles' authority.

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki articles===
{{AdamWiki}}
{{BlacksPriesthoodWiki}}
{{ProphecyWiki}}
===FAIR web site===
{{AdamFAIR}}
{{ProphecyFAIR}}

===External links===
{{ProphecyLinks}}

===Printed material===
{{ProphecyPrint}}

Joseph Smith's 1826 trial

2008-11-03T00:49:21Z

Cachemagic: /* Didn't Hugh Nibley claim that a record of this trial would be "the most damning evidence in existence" against Joseph Smith? */

{{JosephSmithPortal}}

{{question}}
==Question==
Joseph Smith was brought to trial in 1826 for "glasslooking."

# What is the background to the trial?
# What was the 1826 trial of Joseph Smith?
# Why is the 1971 discovery of the Neely and De Zeng bills significant?
# Why do the critics think that this event discredits Joseph Smith?
# What does it actually tell us?
# Didn't Hugh Nibley claim that if this trial record existed that it would be "the most damning evidence in existence against Joseph Smith?"

===Source(s) of the criticism===

*{{CriticalWork:Brodie:No Man Knows|pages=30}}
*{{CriticalWork:Ostling:Mormon America|pages=25}}
*{{CriticalWork:Tanner:Changing World|pages=67-70}}

==Response==
===Background to the trial===
In the spring of 1825 Josiah Stowell visited with Joseph Smith "on account of having heard that he possessed certain keys, by which he could discern things invisible to the natural eye."{{ref|fn3}} Josiah Stowell wanted Joseph to help him in his quest to find treasure in an ancient silver mine. Joseph was reluctant, but Stowell persuaded Joseph to come by offering high wages. According to trial documents, Stowell says Joseph, using a seer stone, "Looked through stone and described Josiah Stowell's house and out houses, while at Palmyra at Sampson Stowell's correctly, that he had told about a painted tree with a man's hand painted upon it by means of said stone."{{ref|fn4}}

Joseph and his father traveled to southern New York in November of 1825. This was after the crops were harvested and Joseph had finished his visit to the Hill Cumorah that year. They participated with Stowell and the company of workers in digging for the mine for less than a month. Finally Joseph persuaded him to stop. "After laboring for the old gentleman about a month, without success, Joseph prevailed upon him to cease his operations."{{ref|fn5}}

Joseph continued to work in the area for Stowell and others. He boarded at the home of Isaac Hale and met Emma Hale, who was one "treasure" he got out of the enterprise.

===What is the 1826 trial?===

In March of the next year, Stowell's sons or nephew (depending on which account you follow) brought charges against Joseph and he was taken before Justice Neely. The supposed trial record came from Miss Pearsall. "The record of the examination was torn from Neely's docket book by his niece, Emily Persall, and taken to Utah when she went to serve as a missionary under Episcopalian bishop Daniel S. Tuttle."{{ref|fn6}} This will be identified as the Pearsall account although Neely possessed it after her death. It is interesting that the first published version of this record didn't appear until after Miss Pearsall had died.

William D. Purple took notes at the trial and tells us, "In February, 1826, the sons of Mr. Stowell, ...were greatly incensed against Smith, ...saw that the youthful seer had unlimited control over the illusions of their sire... They caused the arrest of Smith as a vagrant, without visible means of livelihood."{{ref|fn7}}

Whereas the Pearsall account says: "Warrant issued upon oath of Peter G. Bridgman, [Josiah Stowell's nephew] who informed that one Joseph Smith of Bainbridge was a disorderly person and an imposter...brought before court March 20, 1826"{{ref|fn8}}

So, we have what has been called "The 1826 Trial of Joseph Smith", even though the records show that this wasn't actually a trial. For many years LDS scholars Francis Kirkham, Hugh Nibley and others expressed serious doubts that such a trial had even taken place.

===Why are the 1971 discoveries important?===

It was easy to cast doubt on the reality of the 1826 trial until the bills from Judge Albert Neely and Constable Philip De Zeng were found in 1971. These documents were removed from their purported site of discovery by Dr. Wesley Walters, a well-known anti-Mormon author.

Walters wrote, "Because the two 1826 bills had not only suffered from dampness, but had severe water damage as well, Mr. Poffarl hand-carried the documents to the Yale University's Beinecke Library, which has one of the best document preservation centers in the country."{{ref|fn2}} The problem with this action is, once you have removed a document from a historical setting and then try to restore it to the same setting, you can't prove that you have not altered the document.

The actions of Walters and Poffarl compromised the documents. By having the documents removed and only returned under threat of a lawsuit by the County, it opened the possibility that they could be forged documents. They are generally considered to be authentic, but now there is always room for doubt

===Why do the critics use this event?===

Interestingly, critics of Joseph Smith's time ignored the 1826 trial.

#They didn't bring it up in another trial in the same area in 1830.
#It was not mentioned in any of the [[The Hurlbut affidavits|affidavits collected by Hurlbut]] in 1833, even though he was diligently looking for every piece of dirt he could find.
#Although the trial was briefly mentioned in 1831, it was not mentioned again in a published record for 46 years.

The attraction of this event for a later generation of critics, however, lies in the fact that:

* Society had changed
* [[Joseph_Smith_and_seer_stones|Seer Stones]] were no longer acceptable
* [[Joseph_Smith_and_money_digging|Treasure digging]] was considered abnormal
* Spiritual gifts were reinterpreted as manifestations of the [[Joseph_Smith_and_the_occult|occult]]

Many people of the 1800s did not see any differences between what later generations would label as "magic" and religiously-driven activities recorded in the Bible—such as Joseph's silver cup (see {{s||Genesis|44|2,5}}) in which 'he divineth' (which was also practiced by the surrounding pagans and referred to as hydromancy),{{ref|quinn1}} or the rod of Aaron and its divinely-driven power ({{s||Exodus|7|9-12}}).

The Bible records that Jacob used rods to cause Laban's cattle to produce spotted, and speckled offspring (see {{s||Genesis|30|37-39}}) — one can only imagine what the critics would say should Joseph Smith have attempted such a thing!

In Joseph Smith's own day other Christian leaders were involved in practices which today's critics would call 'occultic.' Quinn, for instance, observes that in "1825, a Massachusetts magazine noted with approval that a local clergyman used a forked divining rod.... Similarly, a Methodist minister wrote twenty-three years later that a fellow clergymen in New Jersey had used a divining rod up to the 1830s to locate buried treasure and the 'spirits [that] keep guard over buried coin'...."{{ref|quinn2}}

It is important to realize that ''every'' statement about "magic" or the "occult" by LDS authors is a negative one. Joseph and his contemporaries would likely have shocked and dismayed to be charged with practicing "magic." For them, such beliefs were simply how the world worked. Someone might make use of a compass without understanding the principles of magnetism. This mysterious, but apparently effective, device was useful even if its underlying mechanism was not understood. In a similar way, activities of the early 1800s or Biblical times which later generations would view skeptically were simply thought of as part of how the world worked.

But, it is a huge leap from this realization to charging that Joseph and his followers believed they were drawing power from anything but a divine or proper source.

===What does the 1826 trial tell us?===

====What records exist?====

We have five records of the 1826 trial. And these were published in eight documents.

1. Apr. 9, 1831 - A W. Benton in Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate 
2.Oct. 1835 - Oliver Cowdery in Latter-day Saints Messenger and Advocate 
3.1842 letter from Joel K. Noble (not published until 1977) 
4.Record torn from Judge Neely docket book by Miss Emily Pearsall (niece)
::*Feb. 1873 - Charles Marshall publishes in Frazer's Magazine (London)
::*Apr. 1873 - Frazer's article reprinted in Eclectic Magazine (N.Y.)
::*1883 - Tuttle article in New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge
::*Jan. 1886 - Christian Advocate vol. 2, no. 13 (Salt Lake City, UT)
5. May 3, 1877 - W. D. Purple Chanango Union 

It may be that Purple saw the publication in the Eclectic Magazine and that is why he published his account a few years later. There are no complete overlaps in the accounts; we will look at the similarities and differences.

Finally, we have the bills by Judge Neely and Constable Da Zeng which provide some additional useful details.

====Document provenance====
We don't have the actual record that Miss Pearsall had, but the claimed trail of events leads as follows:
#Miss Pearsall tears the record from the docket book of her uncle Judge Neely
#She takes the record with her to Utah when she went to work with Bishop Tuttle.
#Miss Pearsall dies in 1872.
#Charles Marshall copies the record and has it published in Frazer's Magazine in 1873.
#Ownership falls to Tuttle after Miss Pearsall's death
#Tuttle published in 1883 Schaff-Herzog encyclopedia.
#Tuttle gave it to the Methodists who published it in 1886
#Then the record was lost.

It will be noticed with interest, that although Bishop Tuttle and others had access to the Pearsall account for several years it was not published until after her death. That combined with the fact that the torn leaves were never allowed to be examined, would cast some doubt on the completeness or accuracy of that which was published.

====Do we have a court record?====

We know that the supposed "court record" obtained by Miss Pearsall can't be a court record at all.
#Misdemeanor trials were not recorded, only felony trials.
#No witness signatures—they were required in an official record.
#It appears to be a pretrial hearing.
#Pretrial hearings cannot deliver guilty verdicts.

====Why were the various records made?====

This is the reason that the people stated for why they were putting forth this information.
#Benton: more complete history of their founder
#Cowdery: private character of our brother
#Noble: explain the character of the Mormons
#Marshal: preserve a piece of information about the prophet
#Purple: as a precursor of the advent of the wonder of the age, Mormonism
#Tuttle: [to show] In what light he appeared to others
#Judge Neely: to collect fees

Unsurprisingly, those who provided these accounts had an agenda. We are not looking at an event through the eyes of an unbiased observer, and most of that bias is directed ''against'' Joseph Smith.

====Who brought the charges?====
If we look at the individuals bringing the charges, we have the following:
Benton (1831): The Public
Cowdery (1835): very officious person
Noble (1842): Civil authority
Marshall (1873): Peter G. Bridgman
Purple (1877): sons of Mr. Stowell
Tuttle (1883): Peter G. Bridgman
Judge Neely: The Public

Note that the agreement of Marshall and Tuttle is misleading because they are essentially quoting the same source.

Whether it was Josiah Stowell's sons or his nephew Peter G. Bridgman, it seems to be close family members. We don't know why Peter G. Bridgman brought the charges, but it could easily have been because he was worried that his uncle was accepting Joseph Smith in his religious claims. Josiah did join the church organized by Joseph Smith and stayed faithful his whole life. As for Peter Bridgman, "Within a month after the trial he was licensed as an exhorter by the Methodists and within three years had helped establish the West Bainbridge Methodist Church. Upon his death in 1872 his fellow ministers characterized him as 'an ardent Methodist and any attack upon either the doctrines or the polity of the Methodist Episcopal Church, within his field of labor, was sure to be repelled by him with a vigorous hand."{{ref|fn21}}

Is it possible that the trial of Joseph Smith was just one of his first attempts to apply a "vigorous hand?"

====What was the charge against Joseph Smith?====
The charge is listed in the various accounts as:
#Benton (1831): a disorderly person
#Cowdery (1835): a disorderly person
#Noble (1842): under the Vagrant act
#Marshall (1873): a disorderly person and an imposter
#Purple (1877): a vagrant, without visible means of livelihood
#Tuttle (1882): a disorderly person and an imposter
#Judge Neely: a misdemeanor

Hugh Nibley indicated how it would be strange that he could be charged without visible means of livelihood, since he was being employed by Stowell and others.

The portion of the statute that would seem to apply was enacted by New York in 1813.

:...all persons who not having wherewith to maintain themselves, live idle without employment, and also all persons who go about from door to door, or place themselves in the streets, highways or passages, to beg in the cities or towns where they respectively dwell, and all jugglers, and all persons pretending to have skill in physiognomy, palmistry, or like crafty science, or pretending to tell fortunes, or to discover where lost goods may be found; ... shall be deemed and adjudged disorderly persons.

What is a juggler? It used to be that a person skilled in sleight of hand was called a juggler, whereas today we would call them a "sleight of hand magician." Thus, a "juggler" was a con man; someone using his 'stage magic' talents to defraud.{{ref|quinn1}}

But what if you weren't ''pretending'' to discover lost goods? What if you actually had a gift where you "could discern things invisible to the natural eye" Could you then be judged guilty of this statute?

====How many witnesses testified?====

As far as the number of witnesses we have the following:
#Benton (1831): not mentioned
#Cowdery (1835): not mentioned
#Marshall (1873): Five quoted, charges for seven witnesses
#Tuttle (1882): Six
#Purple (1877): Four
#Constable Philip De Zeng: Twelve

What is particularly interesting here is that Tuttle and Marshall are supposedly quoting from the same document. Marshall only quotes 5 witnesses, but at the end, the charges are listed for seven witnesses. The fee was 12-1/2 cents per witness. Eighty-seven and ½ cents divided by twelve ½ cents per witness, gives us seven witnesses. By combining the Purple and Pearsall accounts we can arrive at seven witnesses, and also a motive for not including all the witnesses or letting the record be examined. It is unknown why the constable would have listed twelve witnesses, unless that is the number he summoned to the proceedings. Seven would seem to be the correct number of those that testified.

====What witness is excluded from some accounts?====

Purple does add a witness that hadn't been included by Marshall or Tuttle: Joseph Smith, Sr. Maybe they didn't want to include the testimony of Joseph's father because his testimony was more religious in nature. He spoke of Joseph's "wonderful triumphs as a seer", that "both he and his son were mortified that this wonderful power which God had so miraculously given him should be used only in search of filthy lucre," and "he trusted that the Son of Righteousness would some day illumine the heart of the boy, and enable him to see His will concerning him." It is easy to see why this testimony wouldn't be included in a record where you are trying to show that Joseph Smith was a person trying to acquire work as a money digger. Which might be the reason the Tuttle and Marshall omitted the Joseph Smith Sr. testimony.

====What verdict was brought against Joseph?====
#Benton: tried and condemned ... designedly allowed to escape
#Cowdery: honorably acquitted
#Noble: was condemned, took leg bail
#Marshall: guilty?
#Tuttle: guilty?
#Purple: discharged
#Constable De Zeng: not a trial

Noble's statement is hearsay, since there is no evidence that he actually attended this trial. Furthermore, his statement and Benton's statement can't be taken as an indication that Joseph was judged guilty. For example, in Joseph's 1830 trial he was acquitted. The court said that they "find nothing to condemn you, and therefore you are discharged." Then Mr Reid testifies, "They then proceeded to reprimand him severely, not because anything derogatory to his character in any shape had been proven against him by the host of witnesses that had testified during the trial."{{ref|fn23}}

The verdict indicated by Marshall and Tuttle is questionable. It seems to be appended as an afterthought. Throughout the document Joseph is referred to as the "prisoner", then after the last testimony, we have one sentence in which he is named a defendant, "And thereupon the Court finds the defendant guilty." Here we have suddenly a declaratory statement that is completely out of character with the rest of the Pearsall document. Also, if this were actually a trial, Joseph wouldn't have testified against himself as the first witness.

====The examination was not a trial====

Wesley P. Walters has demonstrated that this is not a trial. The Constable's charges of "19 cents attached to the mittimus marks it as the pre-trial 'commitment for want of bail' ...and not the post-trial 'warrant of commitment, on conviction, twenty-five cents."{{ref|fn24}}

In the Tanners' anti-Mormon ''Salt Lake City Messenger'', they stated, "Wesley P. Walters had convincingly demonstrated to us that we were dealing with 'an examination.' In a New Conductor Generalis, 1819, page 142, we learn that in an 'examination' the accused is not put under oath but that the witnesses are'"{{ref|fn25}}

In all cases but one the witnesses were "sworn", whereas Joseph was examined. Judge Neeley's charges actually uses that precise terminology, "in examination of above cause". Therefore, since this wasn't a trial, one cannot have a guilty verdict.

====Summary of testimony====
* '''Joseph Smith, Jr.''': In the Purple account he tells about finding his stone and he exhibits his stone. In the Pearsall record it talks about how Stowell came and got Joseph, "had been employed by said Stowel on his farm, and going to school;" He informed Stowell where to find treasures, and buried coins and that he did it for the previous three years. But Joseph did not solicit and declined having anything to do with the business.

*'''Joseph Smith Sr.''': This testimony is only in the Purple account. We discussed earlier how he felt this power showed that Joseph was a seer and that Joseph Sr. was mortified by the use of the sacred power and that he hoped that eventually it would get used correctly. Since this testimony puts Joseph in a positive light it is understandable why it wasn't included in the published versions of the Pearsall account.

*'''Josiah Stowell''': His employer's testimony in the Purple account has Josiah say that Joseph could see 50 feet below the surface, described many circumstances to confirm his words. He said, "do I believe it? No, it is not a matter of belief: I positively know it to be true."

:We go to the Pearsall record, for a slightly different account of the Josiah Stowell testimony. It tells how Joseph "looked through stone, and described Josiah Stowel's house and out-houses while at Palmyra, at Simpson Stowel's, correctly; that he had told about a painted tree with a man's hand painted upon it, by means of said stone;" Josiah tells about Joseph's being employed part time. It also contains the part that "he positively knew that the prisoner could tell, and professed the art of seeing those valuable treasures through the medium of said stone." He talked about finding something for Deacon Attelon that looked like gold ore. Josiah talked about Mr. Bacon burying some money and that Joseph described how there was a feather buried with the money. They found the feather but the money was gone. Josiah said that he "had been in company with prisoner digging for gold, and had the most implicit faith in prisoner's skill."

*'''Horace Stowell''': This testimony is only found in the Neely record. It is a short testimony that describes where a chest of dollars was buried in Winchester County and that Joseph marked the size of the chest with leaves on the ground.

*'''Arad Stowell''': This witness went to see Joseph and wanted Joseph to display his skill. He laid out a book on a cloth. While holding a white stone to a candle, he read the book. Arad said that he was disappointed and went away because to him it was obviously a deception, but he doesn't tell us why he thought it was a deception. It would have been nice if he had told us why he thought that. Was it just that he had his mind made up before he went to see Joseph?

There are only three testimonies that are duplicated in both the Purple and Pearsall accounts. They are Joseph Smith, Josiah Stowel and Jonathan Thompson. In the Purple account Thompson said that he could not remember finding anything of value. He stated that Joseph claimed there was a treasure protected by sacrifice and that they had to be armed by fasting and prayer. They struck the treasure with a shovel. One man placed his hand on the treasure, but it gradually sunk out of reach. Joseph believed there was a lack of faith or devotion that caused the failure. They talked about getting the blood from a lamb and sprinkling it around.

Interestingly, the same witness in the Pearsall record says that Joseph indicated where the treasure was. He looked in the hat and told them how it was situated. An Indian had been killed and buried with the treasure. So this detail matches with the Purple account. The treasure kept settling away. Then Joseph talked about salt that could be found in Bainbridge and described money that Thompson had lost 16 years ago. Joseph described the man that had taken it and what happened to the money. There is nothing mentioned about sacrificing sheep or not having sufficient faith and so forth. The Pearsall record is supposedly a more complete written record, but it doesn't have the bleeding sheep, or fasting and prayer that characterizes the Purple account.

===Didn't Hugh Nibley claim that a record of this trial would be "the most damning evidence in existence" against Joseph Smith?===

Hugh Nibley had serious doubts as to whether or not Joseph Smith was actually brought to trial in 1826, and he felt that the only real trial was in 1830. For the most part, Nibley felt that the "court record" didn't seem to be correct. The following quote is taken from Nibley's book "The Myth Makers:"

:"if this court record is authentic it is the most damning evidence in existence against Joseph Smith."

Since Wesley Walters has found some bills related to the trial, the
critics now claim that the case is proven and that Nibley has proven
their case for them. Nothing is further from the truth. First of all
you need to look at the whole quote. Nibley was chastising Tuttle for
not actually using the trial record that he had. He was questioning
why he would do that if it was so important.

:"You knew its immense value as a weapon against Joseph Smith if its authenticity could be established. And the only way to establish authenticity was to get hold of the record book from which the pages had been purportedly torn. After all, you had only Miss Pearsall's word for it that the book ever existed. Why didn't you immediately send he back to find the book or make every effort to get hold of I? Why didn't you "unearth" it, as they later said you did? . . . The authenticity of the record still rests entirely on the confidential testimony of Miss Pearsall to the Bishop. And who was Miss Pearsall? A zealous old maid, apparently: "a woman helper in our mission," who lived right in the Tuttle home and would do anything to assist her superior. The picture I get is that of a gossipy old housekeeper. If this court record is authentic, it is the most damning evidence in existence against Joseph Smith. Why, then, [speaking to Tuttle] was it not republished in your article in the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge after 1891? . . . in 1906 Bishop Tuttle published his Reminiscences of a Missionary Bishop in which he blasts the Mormons as hotly as ever. . . yet in the final summary of his life's experiences he never mentions the story of the court record - his one claim to immortal fame and the gratitude of the human race if it were true!" (Nibley "The Myth Makers", 246)

The Pearsall account, which has never been produced, claims that the defendant was found guilty. The real point at issue is not whether or not there was a trial, but whether or not a record existed proving Joseph guilty of deceit. A document proving such guilt has not been found.

==Conclusion==

A review of all the relevant documents demonstrates that:

#The court hearing of 1826 was not a trial, it was an examination
#The hearing was likely initiated from religious concerns; i.e. people objected to Joseph's religious claims.
#There were seven witnesses.
#The witnesses' testimonies have not all been transmitted faithfully.
#Most witnesses testified that Joseph did possess a gift of sight

It was likely that the court hearing was initiated not so much from a concern about Joseph being a money digger, as concern that Joseph was having an influence on Josiah Stowell. Josiah Stowell was one of the first believers in Joseph Smith. His nephew was probably very concerned about that and was anxious to disrupt their relationship if possible. He did not succeed. The court hearing failed in its purpose, and was only resurrected decades later to accuse Joseph Smith of different crimes to a different people and culture.

Understanding the context of the case removes any threat it may have posed to Joseph's prophetic integrity.

==Endnotes==

#{{note|fn3}}{{Biosketch1|start=103}}
#{{note|fn4}}Dan Vogel, ''Early Mormon Documents Volume 4'', (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002), 252–253.
#{{note|fn5}}{{Biosketch1|start=103}}
#{{note|fn6}}H. Michael Marquardt and Wesley P. Walters, ''Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record'' (Salt Lake City: Smith Research Associates, 1994), 227.
#{{note|fn7}}{{NewWitnessForChrist1 | vol=1|start=479}}
#{{note|fn8}}Dan Vogel, ''Early Mormon Documents Volume 4'', (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002), 248–249.
#{{note|fn2}}Wesley P. Walters, "Joseph Smith's Bainbridge, N.Y. Court Trials," ''The Westminster Theological Journal'' 36:2 (1974), 153.
#{{note|quinn1}} D. Michael Quinn, ''Early Mormonism and the Magic World View'' (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1987), 30.
#{{note|quinn2}} Quinn, 5
#{{note|fn21}}Wesley P. Walters, "Joseph Smith's Bainbridge, N.Y. Court Trials," ''The Westminster Theological Journal'' 36:2 (1974), 141–142.
#{{note|quinn1}} Note too D. Michael Quinn's efforts to distort the clear meaning of this statute as discussed in {{FR-12-2-15}}. See also ''FAIRWiki'' link [[Quote_mining%2C_selective_quotation%2C_and_distortion2#Early_Mormonism_and_the_Magic_World_View|here]].
#{{note|fn23}}{{CHC1|vol=1|start=211}}
#{{note|fn24}}Wesley P. Walters, "Joseph Smith's Bainbridge, N.Y. Court Trials," ''The Westminster Theological Journal'' 36:2 (1974), 140, note 36.
#{{note|fn25}}Gerald and Sandra Tanner, ''Salt Lake City Messenger'' 68 (July 1988): 9.

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki articles===
{{MagicWiki}}

===FAIR web site===
{{MagicFAIR}}

===Videos===
{{Video:Bentley:2006:Legal Trials of the Prophet}}

===External links===
*{{BYUS1|author=Marvin S. Hill|article=Joseph Smith and the 1826 Trial: New Evidence and New Difficulties|date=1972|vol=12|num=2|start=223}} {{pdflink|url=http://byustudies.byu.edu/Products/MoreInfoPage/MoreInfo.aspx?prodid=1493&type=7}}
*{{BYUS1|author=Gordon A. Madsen|article=Joseph Smith's 1826 Trial: The Legal Setting|date=1990|vol=30|num=2|start=91}} {{pdflink|url=http://byustudies.byu.edu/Products/MoreInfoPage/MoreInfo.aspx?prodid=811&type=7}}
{{MagicLinks}}

===Printed material===
{{MagicPrint}}
[[de:Joseph_Smiths_Verfahren_von_1826]]

Joseph Smith's 1826 trial

2008-11-03T00:46:07Z

Cachemagic: /* Didn't Hugh Nibley claim that a record of this trial would be "the most damning evidence in existence" against Joseph Smith? */

{{JosephSmithPortal}}

{{question}}
==Question==
Joseph Smith was brought to trial in 1826 for "glasslooking."

# What is the background to the trial?
# What was the 1826 trial of Joseph Smith?
# Why is the 1971 discovery of the Neely and De Zeng bills significant?
# Why do the critics think that this event discredits Joseph Smith?
# What does it actually tell us?
# Didn't Hugh Nibley claim that if this trial record existed that it would be "the most damning evidence in existence against Joseph Smith?"

===Source(s) of the criticism===

*{{CriticalWork:Brodie:No Man Knows|pages=30}}
*{{CriticalWork:Ostling:Mormon America|pages=25}}
*{{CriticalWork:Tanner:Changing World|pages=67-70}}

==Response==
===Background to the trial===
In the spring of 1825 Josiah Stowell visited with Joseph Smith "on account of having heard that he possessed certain keys, by which he could discern things invisible to the natural eye."{{ref|fn3}} Josiah Stowell wanted Joseph to help him in his quest to find treasure in an ancient silver mine. Joseph was reluctant, but Stowell persuaded Joseph to come by offering high wages. According to trial documents, Stowell says Joseph, using a seer stone, "Looked through stone and described Josiah Stowell's house and out houses, while at Palmyra at Sampson Stowell's correctly, that he had told about a painted tree with a man's hand painted upon it by means of said stone."{{ref|fn4}}

Joseph and his father traveled to southern New York in November of 1825. This was after the crops were harvested and Joseph had finished his visit to the Hill Cumorah that year. They participated with Stowell and the company of workers in digging for the mine for less than a month. Finally Joseph persuaded him to stop. "After laboring for the old gentleman about a month, without success, Joseph prevailed upon him to cease his operations."{{ref|fn5}}

Joseph continued to work in the area for Stowell and others. He boarded at the home of Isaac Hale and met Emma Hale, who was one "treasure" he got out of the enterprise.

===What is the 1826 trial?===

In March of the next year, Stowell's sons or nephew (depending on which account you follow) brought charges against Joseph and he was taken before Justice Neely. The supposed trial record came from Miss Pearsall. "The record of the examination was torn from Neely's docket book by his niece, Emily Persall, and taken to Utah when she went to serve as a missionary under Episcopalian bishop Daniel S. Tuttle."{{ref|fn6}} This will be identified as the Pearsall account although Neely possessed it after her death. It is interesting that the first published version of this record didn't appear until after Miss Pearsall had died.

William D. Purple took notes at the trial and tells us, "In February, 1826, the sons of Mr. Stowell, ...were greatly incensed against Smith, ...saw that the youthful seer had unlimited control over the illusions of their sire... They caused the arrest of Smith as a vagrant, without visible means of livelihood."{{ref|fn7}}

Whereas the Pearsall account says: "Warrant issued upon oath of Peter G. Bridgman, [Josiah Stowell's nephew] who informed that one Joseph Smith of Bainbridge was a disorderly person and an imposter...brought before court March 20, 1826"{{ref|fn8}}

So, we have what has been called "The 1826 Trial of Joseph Smith", even though the records show that this wasn't actually a trial. For many years LDS scholars Francis Kirkham, Hugh Nibley and others expressed serious doubts that such a trial had even taken place.

===Why are the 1971 discoveries important?===

It was easy to cast doubt on the reality of the 1826 trial until the bills from Judge Albert Neely and Constable Philip De Zeng were found in 1971. These documents were removed from their purported site of discovery by Dr. Wesley Walters, a well-known anti-Mormon author.

Walters wrote, "Because the two 1826 bills had not only suffered from dampness, but had severe water damage as well, Mr. Poffarl hand-carried the documents to the Yale University's Beinecke Library, which has one of the best document preservation centers in the country."{{ref|fn2}} The problem with this action is, once you have removed a document from a historical setting and then try to restore it to the same setting, you can't prove that you have not altered the document.

The actions of Walters and Poffarl compromised the documents. By having the documents removed and only returned under threat of a lawsuit by the County, it opened the possibility that they could be forged documents. They are generally considered to be authentic, but now there is always room for doubt

===Why do the critics use this event?===

Interestingly, critics of Joseph Smith's time ignored the 1826 trial.

#They didn't bring it up in another trial in the same area in 1830.
#It was not mentioned in any of the [[The Hurlbut affidavits|affidavits collected by Hurlbut]] in 1833, even though he was diligently looking for every piece of dirt he could find.
#Although the trial was briefly mentioned in 1831, it was not mentioned again in a published record for 46 years.

The attraction of this event for a later generation of critics, however, lies in the fact that:

* Society had changed
* [[Joseph_Smith_and_seer_stones|Seer Stones]] were no longer acceptable
* [[Joseph_Smith_and_money_digging|Treasure digging]] was considered abnormal
* Spiritual gifts were reinterpreted as manifestations of the [[Joseph_Smith_and_the_occult|occult]]

Many people of the 1800s did not see any differences between what later generations would label as "magic" and religiously-driven activities recorded in the Bible—such as Joseph's silver cup (see {{s||Genesis|44|2,5}}) in which 'he divineth' (which was also practiced by the surrounding pagans and referred to as hydromancy),{{ref|quinn1}} or the rod of Aaron and its divinely-driven power ({{s||Exodus|7|9-12}}).

The Bible records that Jacob used rods to cause Laban's cattle to produce spotted, and speckled offspring (see {{s||Genesis|30|37-39}}) — one can only imagine what the critics would say should Joseph Smith have attempted such a thing!

In Joseph Smith's own day other Christian leaders were involved in practices which today's critics would call 'occultic.' Quinn, for instance, observes that in "1825, a Massachusetts magazine noted with approval that a local clergyman used a forked divining rod.... Similarly, a Methodist minister wrote twenty-three years later that a fellow clergymen in New Jersey had used a divining rod up to the 1830s to locate buried treasure and the 'spirits [that] keep guard over buried coin'...."{{ref|quinn2}}

It is important to realize that ''every'' statement about "magic" or the "occult" by LDS authors is a negative one. Joseph and his contemporaries would likely have shocked and dismayed to be charged with practicing "magic." For them, such beliefs were simply how the world worked. Someone might make use of a compass without understanding the principles of magnetism. This mysterious, but apparently effective, device was useful even if its underlying mechanism was not understood. In a similar way, activities of the early 1800s or Biblical times which later generations would view skeptically were simply thought of as part of how the world worked.

But, it is a huge leap from this realization to charging that Joseph and his followers believed they were drawing power from anything but a divine or proper source.

===What does the 1826 trial tell us?===

====What records exist?====

We have five records of the 1826 trial. And these were published in eight documents.

1. Apr. 9, 1831 - A W. Benton in Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate 
2.Oct. 1835 - Oliver Cowdery in Latter-day Saints Messenger and Advocate 
3.1842 letter from Joel K. Noble (not published until 1977) 
4.Record torn from Judge Neely docket book by Miss Emily Pearsall (niece)
::*Feb. 1873 - Charles Marshall publishes in Frazer's Magazine (London)
::*Apr. 1873 - Frazer's article reprinted in Eclectic Magazine (N.Y.)
::*1883 - Tuttle article in New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge
::*Jan. 1886 - Christian Advocate vol. 2, no. 13 (Salt Lake City, UT)
5. May 3, 1877 - W. D. Purple Chanango Union 

It may be that Purple saw the publication in the Eclectic Magazine and that is why he published his account a few years later. There are no complete overlaps in the accounts; we will look at the similarities and differences.

Finally, we have the bills by Judge Neely and Constable Da Zeng which provide some additional useful details.

====Document provenance====
We don't have the actual record that Miss Pearsall had, but the claimed trail of events leads as follows:
#Miss Pearsall tears the record from the docket book of her uncle Judge Neely
#She takes the record with her to Utah when she went to work with Bishop Tuttle.
#Miss Pearsall dies in 1872.
#Charles Marshall copies the record and has it published in Frazer's Magazine in 1873.
#Ownership falls to Tuttle after Miss Pearsall's death
#Tuttle published in 1883 Schaff-Herzog encyclopedia.
#Tuttle gave it to the Methodists who published it in 1886
#Then the record was lost.

It will be noticed with interest, that although Bishop Tuttle and others had access to the Pearsall account for several years it was not published until after her death. That combined with the fact that the torn leaves were never allowed to be examined, would cast some doubt on the completeness or accuracy of that which was published.

====Do we have a court record?====

We know that the supposed "court record" obtained by Miss Pearsall can't be a court record at all.
#Misdemeanor trials were not recorded, only felony trials.
#No witness signatures—they were required in an official record.
#It appears to be a pretrial hearing.
#Pretrial hearings cannot deliver guilty verdicts.

====Why were the various records made?====

This is the reason that the people stated for why they were putting forth this information.
#Benton: more complete history of their founder
#Cowdery: private character of our brother
#Noble: explain the character of the Mormons
#Marshal: preserve a piece of information about the prophet
#Purple: as a precursor of the advent of the wonder of the age, Mormonism
#Tuttle: [to show] In what light he appeared to others
#Judge Neely: to collect fees

Unsurprisingly, those who provided these accounts had an agenda. We are not looking at an event through the eyes of an unbiased observer, and most of that bias is directed ''against'' Joseph Smith.

====Who brought the charges?====
If we look at the individuals bringing the charges, we have the following:
Benton (1831): The Public
Cowdery (1835): very officious person
Noble (1842): Civil authority
Marshall (1873): Peter G. Bridgman
Purple (1877): sons of Mr. Stowell
Tuttle (1883): Peter G. Bridgman
Judge Neely: The Public

Note that the agreement of Marshall and Tuttle is misleading because they are essentially quoting the same source.

Whether it was Josiah Stowell's sons or his nephew Peter G. Bridgman, it seems to be close family members. We don't know why Peter G. Bridgman brought the charges, but it could easily have been because he was worried that his uncle was accepting Joseph Smith in his religious claims. Josiah did join the church organized by Joseph Smith and stayed faithful his whole life. As for Peter Bridgman, "Within a month after the trial he was licensed as an exhorter by the Methodists and within three years had helped establish the West Bainbridge Methodist Church. Upon his death in 1872 his fellow ministers characterized him as 'an ardent Methodist and any attack upon either the doctrines or the polity of the Methodist Episcopal Church, within his field of labor, was sure to be repelled by him with a vigorous hand."{{ref|fn21}}

Is it possible that the trial of Joseph Smith was just one of his first attempts to apply a "vigorous hand?"

====What was the charge against Joseph Smith?====
The charge is listed in the various accounts as:
#Benton (1831): a disorderly person
#Cowdery (1835): a disorderly person
#Noble (1842): under the Vagrant act
#Marshall (1873): a disorderly person and an imposter
#Purple (1877): a vagrant, without visible means of livelihood
#Tuttle (1882): a disorderly person and an imposter
#Judge Neely: a misdemeanor

Hugh Nibley indicated how it would be strange that he could be charged without visible means of livelihood, since he was being employed by Stowell and others.

The portion of the statute that would seem to apply was enacted by New York in 1813.

:...all persons who not having wherewith to maintain themselves, live idle without employment, and also all persons who go about from door to door, or place themselves in the streets, highways or passages, to beg in the cities or towns where they respectively dwell, and all jugglers, and all persons pretending to have skill in physiognomy, palmistry, or like crafty science, or pretending to tell fortunes, or to discover where lost goods may be found; ... shall be deemed and adjudged disorderly persons.

What is a juggler? It used to be that a person skilled in sleight of hand was called a juggler, whereas today we would call them a "sleight of hand magician." Thus, a "juggler" was a con man; someone using his 'stage magic' talents to defraud.{{ref|quinn1}}

But what if you weren't ''pretending'' to discover lost goods? What if you actually had a gift where you "could discern things invisible to the natural eye" Could you then be judged guilty of this statute?

====How many witnesses testified?====

As far as the number of witnesses we have the following:
#Benton (1831): not mentioned
#Cowdery (1835): not mentioned
#Marshall (1873): Five quoted, charges for seven witnesses
#Tuttle (1882): Six
#Purple (1877): Four
#Constable Philip De Zeng: Twelve

What is particularly interesting here is that Tuttle and Marshall are supposedly quoting from the same document. Marshall only quotes 5 witnesses, but at the end, the charges are listed for seven witnesses. The fee was 12-1/2 cents per witness. Eighty-seven and ½ cents divided by twelve ½ cents per witness, gives us seven witnesses. By combining the Purple and Pearsall accounts we can arrive at seven witnesses, and also a motive for not including all the witnesses or letting the record be examined. It is unknown why the constable would have listed twelve witnesses, unless that is the number he summoned to the proceedings. Seven would seem to be the correct number of those that testified.

====What witness is excluded from some accounts?====

Purple does add a witness that hadn't been included by Marshall or Tuttle: Joseph Smith, Sr. Maybe they didn't want to include the testimony of Joseph's father because his testimony was more religious in nature. He spoke of Joseph's "wonderful triumphs as a seer", that "both he and his son were mortified that this wonderful power which God had so miraculously given him should be used only in search of filthy lucre," and "he trusted that the Son of Righteousness would some day illumine the heart of the boy, and enable him to see His will concerning him." It is easy to see why this testimony wouldn't be included in a record where you are trying to show that Joseph Smith was a person trying to acquire work as a money digger. Which might be the reason the Tuttle and Marshall omitted the Joseph Smith Sr. testimony.

====What verdict was brought against Joseph?====
#Benton: tried and condemned ... designedly allowed to escape
#Cowdery: honorably acquitted
#Noble: was condemned, took leg bail
#Marshall: guilty?
#Tuttle: guilty?
#Purple: discharged
#Constable De Zeng: not a trial

Noble's statement is hearsay, since there is no evidence that he actually attended this trial. Furthermore, his statement and Benton's statement can't be taken as an indication that Joseph was judged guilty. For example, in Joseph's 1830 trial he was acquitted. The court said that they "find nothing to condemn you, and therefore you are discharged." Then Mr Reid testifies, "They then proceeded to reprimand him severely, not because anything derogatory to his character in any shape had been proven against him by the host of witnesses that had testified during the trial."{{ref|fn23}}

The verdict indicated by Marshall and Tuttle is questionable. It seems to be appended as an afterthought. Throughout the document Joseph is referred to as the "prisoner", then after the last testimony, we have one sentence in which he is named a defendant, "And thereupon the Court finds the defendant guilty." Here we have suddenly a declaratory statement that is completely out of character with the rest of the Pearsall document. Also, if this were actually a trial, Joseph wouldn't have testified against himself as the first witness.

====The examination was not a trial====

Wesley P. Walters has demonstrated that this is not a trial. The Constable's charges of "19 cents attached to the mittimus marks it as the pre-trial 'commitment for want of bail' ...and not the post-trial 'warrant of commitment, on conviction, twenty-five cents."{{ref|fn24}}

In the Tanners' anti-Mormon ''Salt Lake City Messenger'', they stated, "Wesley P. Walters had convincingly demonstrated to us that we were dealing with 'an examination.' In a New Conductor Generalis, 1819, page 142, we learn that in an 'examination' the accused is not put under oath but that the witnesses are'"{{ref|fn25}}

In all cases but one the witnesses were "sworn", whereas Joseph was examined. Judge Neeley's charges actually uses that precise terminology, "in examination of above cause". Therefore, since this wasn't a trial, one cannot have a guilty verdict.

====Summary of testimony====
* '''Joseph Smith, Jr.''': In the Purple account he tells about finding his stone and he exhibits his stone. In the Pearsall record it talks about how Stowell came and got Joseph, "had been employed by said Stowel on his farm, and going to school;" He informed Stowell where to find treasures, and buried coins and that he did it for the previous three years. But Joseph did not solicit and declined having anything to do with the business.

*'''Joseph Smith Sr.''': This testimony is only in the Purple account. We discussed earlier how he felt this power showed that Joseph was a seer and that Joseph Sr. was mortified by the use of the sacred power and that he hoped that eventually it would get used correctly. Since this testimony puts Joseph in a positive light it is understandable why it wasn't included in the published versions of the Pearsall account.

*'''Josiah Stowell''': His employer's testimony in the Purple account has Josiah say that Joseph could see 50 feet below the surface, described many circumstances to confirm his words. He said, "do I believe it? No, it is not a matter of belief: I positively know it to be true."

:We go to the Pearsall record, for a slightly different account of the Josiah Stowell testimony. It tells how Joseph "looked through stone, and described Josiah Stowel's house and out-houses while at Palmyra, at Simpson Stowel's, correctly; that he had told about a painted tree with a man's hand painted upon it, by means of said stone;" Josiah tells about Joseph's being employed part time. It also contains the part that "he positively knew that the prisoner could tell, and professed the art of seeing those valuable treasures through the medium of said stone." He talked about finding something for Deacon Attelon that looked like gold ore. Josiah talked about Mr. Bacon burying some money and that Joseph described how there was a feather buried with the money. They found the feather but the money was gone. Josiah said that he "had been in company with prisoner digging for gold, and had the most implicit faith in prisoner's skill."

*'''Horace Stowell''': This testimony is only found in the Neely record. It is a short testimony that describes where a chest of dollars was buried in Winchester County and that Joseph marked the size of the chest with leaves on the ground.

*'''Arad Stowell''': This witness went to see Joseph and wanted Joseph to display his skill. He laid out a book on a cloth. While holding a white stone to a candle, he read the book. Arad said that he was disappointed and went away because to him it was obviously a deception, but he doesn't tell us why he thought it was a deception. It would have been nice if he had told us why he thought that. Was it just that he had his mind made up before he went to see Joseph?

There are only three testimonies that are duplicated in both the Purple and Pearsall accounts. They are Joseph Smith, Josiah Stowel and Jonathan Thompson. In the Purple account Thompson said that he could not remember finding anything of value. He stated that Joseph claimed there was a treasure protected by sacrifice and that they had to be armed by fasting and prayer. They struck the treasure with a shovel. One man placed his hand on the treasure, but it gradually sunk out of reach. Joseph believed there was a lack of faith or devotion that caused the failure. They talked about getting the blood from a lamb and sprinkling it around.

Interestingly, the same witness in the Pearsall record says that Joseph indicated where the treasure was. He looked in the hat and told them how it was situated. An Indian had been killed and buried with the treasure. So this detail matches with the Purple account. The treasure kept settling away. Then Joseph talked about salt that could be found in Bainbridge and described money that Thompson had lost 16 years ago. Joseph described the man that had taken it and what happened to the money. There is nothing mentioned about sacrificing sheep or not having sufficient faith and so forth. The Pearsall record is supposedly a more complete written record, but it doesn't have the bleeding sheep, or fasting and prayer that characterizes the Purple account.

===Didn't Hugh Nibley claim that a record of this trial would be "the most damning evidence in existence" against Joseph Smith?===

Hugh Nibley had serious doubts as to whether or not Joseph Smith was actually brought to trial in 1826, and he felt that the only real trial was in 1830. For the most part, Nibley felt that the "court record" didn't seem to be correct. The following quote is taken from Nibley's book "The Myth Makers:"

:"if this court record is authentic it is the most damning evidence in existence against Joseph Smith."

Since Wesley Walters has found some bills related to the trial, the
critics now claim that the case is proven and that Nibley has proven
their case for them. Nothing is further from the truth. First of all
you need to look at the whole quote. Nibley was chastising Tuttle for
not actually using the trial record that he had. He was questioning
why he would do that if it was so important.

"You knew its immense value as a weapon against Joseph Smith if its
authenticity could be established. And the only way to establish
authenticity was to get hold of the record book from which the pages
had been purportedly torn. After all, you had only Miss Pearsall's
word for it that the book ever existed. Why didn't you immediately
send he back to find the book or make every effort to get hold of I?
Why didn't you "unearth" it, as they later said you did? . . . The
authenticity of the record still rests entirely on the confidential
testimony of Miss Pearsall to the Bishop. And who was Miss Pearsall? A
zealous old maid, apparently: "a woman helper in our mission," who
lived right in the Tuttle home and would do anything to assist her
superior. The picture I get is that of a gossipy old housekeeper. If
this court record is authentic, it is the most damning evidence in
existence against Joseph Smith. Why, then, [speaking to Tuttle] was
it not republished in your article in the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia
of Religious Knowledge after 1891? . . . in 1906 Bishop Tuttle
published his Reminiscences of a Missionary Bishop in which he blasts
the Mormons as hotly as ever. . . yet in the final summary of his
life's experiences he never mentions the story of the court record -
his one claim to immortal fame and the gratitude of the human race if
it were true!" (Nibley "The Myth Makers", 246)

The Pearsall account, which has never been produced, claims that the defendant was found guilty. The real point at issue is not whether or not there was a trial, but whether or not a record existed proving Joseph guilty of deceit. A document proving such guilt has not been found.

==Conclusion==

A review of all the relevant documents demonstrates that:

#The court hearing of 1826 was not a trial, it was an examination
#The hearing was likely initiated from religious concerns; i.e. people objected to Joseph's religious claims.
#There were seven witnesses.
#The witnesses' testimonies have not all been transmitted faithfully.
#Most witnesses testified that Joseph did possess a gift of sight

It was likely that the court hearing was initiated not so much from a concern about Joseph being a money digger, as concern that Joseph was having an influence on Josiah Stowell. Josiah Stowell was one of the first believers in Joseph Smith. His nephew was probably very concerned about that and was anxious to disrupt their relationship if possible. He did not succeed. The court hearing failed in its purpose, and was only resurrected decades later to accuse Joseph Smith of different crimes to a different people and culture.

Understanding the context of the case removes any threat it may have posed to Joseph's prophetic integrity.

==Endnotes==

#{{note|fn3}}{{Biosketch1|start=103}}
#{{note|fn4}}Dan Vogel, ''Early Mormon Documents Volume 4'', (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002), 252–253.
#{{note|fn5}}{{Biosketch1|start=103}}
#{{note|fn6}}H. Michael Marquardt and Wesley P. Walters, ''Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record'' (Salt Lake City: Smith Research Associates, 1994), 227.
#{{note|fn7}}{{NewWitnessForChrist1 | vol=1|start=479}}
#{{note|fn8}}Dan Vogel, ''Early Mormon Documents Volume 4'', (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002), 248–249.
#{{note|fn2}}Wesley P. Walters, "Joseph Smith's Bainbridge, N.Y. Court Trials," ''The Westminster Theological Journal'' 36:2 (1974), 153.
#{{note|quinn1}} D. Michael Quinn, ''Early Mormonism and the Magic World View'' (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1987), 30.
#{{note|quinn2}} Quinn, 5
#{{note|fn21}}Wesley P. Walters, "Joseph Smith's Bainbridge, N.Y. Court Trials," ''The Westminster Theological Journal'' 36:2 (1974), 141–142.
#{{note|quinn1}} Note too D. Michael Quinn's efforts to distort the clear meaning of this statute as discussed in {{FR-12-2-15}}. See also ''FAIRWiki'' link [[Quote_mining%2C_selective_quotation%2C_and_distortion2#Early_Mormonism_and_the_Magic_World_View|here]].
#{{note|fn23}}{{CHC1|vol=1|start=211}}
#{{note|fn24}}Wesley P. Walters, "Joseph Smith's Bainbridge, N.Y. Court Trials," ''The Westminster Theological Journal'' 36:2 (1974), 140, note 36.
#{{note|fn25}}Gerald and Sandra Tanner, ''Salt Lake City Messenger'' 68 (July 1988): 9.

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki articles===
{{MagicWiki}}

===FAIR web site===
{{MagicFAIR}}

===Videos===
{{Video:Bentley:2006:Legal Trials of the Prophet}}

===External links===
*{{BYUS1|author=Marvin S. Hill|article=Joseph Smith and the 1826 Trial: New Evidence and New Difficulties|date=1972|vol=12|num=2|start=223}} {{pdflink|url=http://byustudies.byu.edu/Products/MoreInfoPage/MoreInfo.aspx?prodid=1493&type=7}}
*{{BYUS1|author=Gordon A. Madsen|article=Joseph Smith's 1826 Trial: The Legal Setting|date=1990|vol=30|num=2|start=91}} {{pdflink|url=http://byustudies.byu.edu/Products/MoreInfoPage/MoreInfo.aspx?prodid=811&type=7}}
{{MagicLinks}}

===Printed material===
{{MagicPrint}}
[[de:Joseph_Smiths_Verfahren_von_1826]]

Book of Mormon/Geography/Statements/Nineteenth century/Joseph Smith's lifetime 1829-1840

2008-09-10T13:15:39Z

Cachemagic: /* 1950s */

{{GeographyPortal}}
{{draft}}
==Criticism==
*Critics sometimes claim that the Church has officially endorsed a "hemispheric" geography of the Book of Mormon.
*Critics insist that leaders of the Church long ago made one view of Book of Mormon geography "official."
*Critics claim that Church members are encouraged by their leaders ''not'' to try and determine where the Book of Mormon occurred.
*Joseph Smith associated the Mayan city of Palenque with Book of Mormon civilizations.

===Source(s) of the criticism===
*{{MeldrumDVD1}}
*{{AntiBook:Southerton:Losing|pages=43, 168}}

==Response==

This page collects a variety of writings by Church leaders and members throughout its history, illustrating that debate and discussion about Book of Mormon geography has been very free, precisely because there was no revealed or "authoritative" geography.

===Nineteenth Century: Statements during Joseph Smith's lifetime===

====November 1830: Account of LDS missionary preaching====
:This new Revelation [the Book of Mormon], they say is especially designed for the benefit, or rather for the christianizing [''sic''] of the Aborigines of America; who, as they affirm, are a part of the tribe of Manasseh, and whose ancestors landed on the coast of Chili [''sic''] 600 years before the coming of Christ, and from them descended all the Indians of America. (A.S., “The Golden Bible, or, Campbellism Improved,” ''Observer and Telegraph. Religious, Political, and Literary'', Hudson, Ohio (18 November 1830): 3.

====Feb 1833: (''Evening and Morning Star'') Ruins in Central America "good testimony in favor of the Book of Mormon"====
In an article titled “Discovery of Ancient Ruins in Central America,” there is a reprint of a story describing Guatemalan ruins. The editor of the paper, W. W. Phelps, said of the ruins that

:We are glad to see the proof begin to come, of the original or ancient inhabitants of this continent. It is good testimony in favor of the book of Mormon, and the book of Mormon is good testimony that such things as cities and civilization, ‘prior to the fourteenth century,’ existed in America. ([W. W. Phelps], ''The Evening and Morning Star'' (Independence, Missouri) 1/9 (February, 1833).

====2 Feb 1833: American Revivalist====
:The Book of Mormon is a record of the forefathers of our western tribes of Indians… By it, we learn that our western tribes of Indians, are descendants from that Joseph that was sold into Egypt, and that the land of America is a promised land unto them. ( Joseph Smith, “Mormonism,” The ''American Revivalist and Rochester Observer'' 7/6 (February 2, 1833). Only the last two paragraphs of Joseph’s letter to the newspaper were printed. The entire letter appeared eleven years later in the November 15, 1844 issue of the ''Times and Seasons''.)

====3 June 1834: (Zion's Camp) The story of Zelph====

''See FAIRwiki main article:'' [[Zelph]]

====4 June 1834: (Zion's Camp) Joseph Smith believes that Illinois is the "plains of the Nephites"====
The following is taken from a letter written by Joseph Smith to his wife Emma during the trek known as "Zion's Camp".

:The whole of our journey, in the midst of so large a company of social honest and sincere men, wandering over the plains of the Nephites, recounting occasionally the history of the Book of Mormon, roving over the mounds of that once beloved people of the Lord, picking up their skulls & their bones, as a proof of its divine authenticity, and gazing upon a country the fertility, the splendour and the goodness so indescribable, all serves to pass away time unnoticed.{{ref|smith1}}

====13 Sept 1841: Wilford Woodruff cites the city of Copan as "proof of the Book of Mormon"====

Wilford Woodruff on John L. Stephens, ''Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan'':

:I felt truly interested in this work for it brought to light a flood of testimony in proof of the book of mormon in the discovery & survey of the city Copan in Central America… ({{WWJ1|vol=2|start=126|date=13 Sept 1841}}. Underlining in original.)

====1 March 1842: Wentworth letter====

:I was also informed concerning the aboriginal inhabitants of this country, and shown who they were, and from whence they came; a brief sketch of their origin, progress, civilization, laws, governments, of their righteousness and iniquity, and the blessings of God being finally withdrawn from them as a people was made known unto me: I was also told where there was deposited some plates on which were engraven an abridgement [abridgment] of the records of the ancient prophets that had existed on this continent....

:The principal nation of the second race fell in battle towards the close of the fourth century. The remnant are the Indians that now inhabit this country. This book also tells us that our Saviour [Savior] made his appearance upon this continent after his resurrection, that he planted the gospel here in all its fulness [fullness], and richness, and power, and blessing; that they had apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers and evangelists; the same order, the same priesthood, the same ordinances, gifts, powers, and blessing, as was enjoyed on the eastern continent, that the people were cut off in consequence of their transgressions…(Joseph Smith, “Church History,” ''Times and Seasons'' 3:9 (March 1, 1842): 707. See also {{HC|vol=4|start=535|end=541}}.

====March 1842====

Parley P. Pratt in England wrote of “ruins in Central America” providing Book of Mormon evidence in the ''Millennial Star''. ({{MS1|author=Parley P. Pratt|article=Ruins in Central America|vol=2|num=11|date=March 1842|start=165}}

====15 July 1842: Joseph Smith states that ruins of Guatemala unfold the history of Book of Mormon====
NOTE: Page 862 of this issue of the ''Times and Seasons'' states: "The Times and Seasons, Is edited, printed and published about the first and fifteenth of every month, on the corner of Water and Bain Streets, Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, by JOSEPH SMITH"

:Stephens and Catherwood's researches in Central America abundantly testify of this thing. The stupendous ruins, the elegant sculpture, and the magnificence of the ruins of Guatamala [Guatemala], and other cities, corroborate this statement, and show that a great and mighty people-men of great minds, clear intellect, bright genius, and comprehensive designs inhabited this continent. Their ruins speak of their greatness; the Book of Mormen [Mormon} unfolds their history.-ED.{{ref|ts.15July}}

This statement was signed "ED," which attributes it directly to Joseph Smith.

====15 Sept. 1842: Speculation that Palenque is a Nephite city====
NOTE: Page 926 of this issue of the ''Times and Seasons'' states: "The Times and Seasons, Is edited, printed and published about the first fifteenth of every month, on the corner of Water and Bain Streets, Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, by JOSEPH SMITH."

Although Joseph Smith is listed as the editor at this time, opinions vary on whether it may have actually been either John Taylor or Wilford Woodruff who wrote this unsigned article.{{ref|godfrey1}}{{ref|clark1}} John Taylor later became the editor of ''Times and Seasons''. Regardless of whether is was Joseph Smith, Wilford Woodruff, or John Taylor who wrote this article, its publication occurred prior to the death of Joseph Smith. The subject being discussed is a very popular book by John L. Stephens, ''Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan'', which Joseph Smith read and enjoyed:

:Mr Stephens' great developments of antiquities are made bare to the eyes of all the people by reading the history of the Nephites in the Book of Mormon. ''They lived about the narrow neck of land, which now embraces Central America, with all the cities that can be found.'' Read the destruction of cities at the crucifixion of Christ...Let us turn our subject, however, to the Book of Mormon, where ''these wonderful ruins of Palenque are among the mighty works of the Nephites'':—and the mystery is solved...Mr. Stephens' great developments of antiquities are made bare to the eyes of all the people by reading the history of the Nephites in the Book of Mormon. They lived about the narrow neck of land, which now embraces Central America, with all the cities that can be found. Read the destruction of cities at the crucifixion of Christ, pages 459-60. Who could have dreamed that twelve years would have developed such incontrovertible testimony to the Book of Mormon?{{ref|ts1}} {{ea}}

====1 Oct. 1842: Zarahemla "stood upon this land" of Central America====
NOTE: Page 942 of this issue of the ''Times and Seasons'' states: "The Times and Seasons, Is edited, printed and published about the first fifteenth of every month, on the corner of Water and Bain Streets, Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, by JOSEPH SMITH."

:[W]e have found another important fact relating to the truth of the Book of Mormon. ''Central America, or Guatimala [Guatemala], is situated north of the Isthmus of Darien and once embraced several hundred miles of territory from north to south.-The city of Zarahemla, burnt at the crucifixion of the Savior, and rebuilt afterwards, stood upon this land'' as will be seen from the following words in the book of Alma...It is certainly a good thing for the excellency and veracity, of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon, that the ruins of Zarahemla have been found where the Nephites left them: and that a large stone with engravings upon it as Mosiah said; and a 'large round stone, with the sides sculptured in hieroglyphics,' as Mr. Stephens has published, is also among the left remembrances of the, (to him,) lost and unknown. We are not going to declare positively that the ruins of Quirigua are those of Zarahemla, but when the land and the stones, and the books tell the story so plain, we are of opinion, that it would require more proof than the Jews could bring to prove the disciples stole the body of Jesus from the tomb, to prove that the ruins of the city in question, are not one of those referred to in the Book of Mormon...''It will not be a bad plan to compare Mr. Stephens' ruined cities with those in the Book of Mormon'': light cleaves to light, and facts are supported by facts.{{ref|ts2}} {{ea}}

====27 August 1843====

Wilford Woodruff wrote of Orson Pratt speaking about the Stephens volume:

:[Orson Pratt] spoke in an edifying manner concerning the Book of Mormon its history what it was &c. That it was a History of nearly one half of the globe & the people that inhabited it, that it gave a history of all those cities that have been of late discovered by Catherwood & Stephens, that it named those cities. {{WWJ1|vol=2|start=282|date=27 August 1843}})

====1 October 1843====

Unsigned editorial in the ''Times and Seasons'' (John Taylor was editor):

:We have lately perused with great interest, Stephen's works on Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan.

:Mr. Stephens published about two years ago, a very interesting work entitled 'Incidents of travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan,' in which he details very many interesting circumstances; discovered the ruins of magnificent cities, and form hieroglyphical representations, sculpture and rich specimens of architecture, proved one important fact, which had been disputed by many of our sages; that America had once been peopled by a highly polished, civilized and scientific race, with whom the present aborigines could not compare.

:This work has been read with great interest throughout this continent, and tens of thousands of copies have been sent to, and sold in Europe, where it has been investigated with the greatest scrutiny and interest. It has already passed through twelve editions; it is published in two volumes, 8 vo.

:Since the publication of this work, Mr. Stephens has again visited Central America, in company with Mr. Catherwood, and other scientific gentlemen, for the purpose of making further explorations among those already interesting ruins. They took with them the Daguerreotype, and other apparatus, for the purpose of giving views and drawings of those mysterious relics of antiquity. His late travels and discoveries, have also been published in two volumes of the same size, entitled 'Incidents of travel in Central America.'

:It is a work of great interest, written with precision and accuracy. The plates are elegantly executed, and its history unfolds the ruins of grandeur, civilization and intelligence. It is published by Harper & Brothers, N. Y.

:This is a work that ought to be in the hands of every Latter Day Saint; corroborating, as it does the history of the Book of Mormon. There is no stronger circumstantial evidence of the authenticity of the latter book, can be given, than that contained in Mr. Stephens' works.

:Mr. Stephens gives an account of ancient cities he has visited, where once dwelt the powerful, the wise, the scientific, and to use his own words; 'architecture, sculpture and painting, all the arts which embellished life had flourished in this overgrown city; orators, warriors, and statesmen, beauty, ambition, and glory, had lived and passed away, and none knew that such things had been, or could tell of their past existence.' In the last clause, Mr. Catherwood is mistaken. It has fallen to his lot to explore the ruins of this once mighty people, but the 'Book of Mormon' unfolds their history; and published as it was, years before these discoveries were made, and giving as it does, accounts of a people, and of cities that bear a striking resemblance to those mentioned by Mr. Stephens, both in regard to magnificence and location, it affords the most indubitable testimony of the historical truth of that book, which has been treated so lightly by the literati and would be philosophers of the present age.

:For the information of our friends who do not possess this work, we may at a convenient time collect and compare many of the important items in this work, and in the Book of Mormon, and publish them. To give some idea of the nature of the last work, we publish the following from the preface:

:"In his 'Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan,' the author intimates his intention to make a thorough exploration of the ruins of the latter country. That intention has been carried into effect, and the following pages are the result. They describe, as the author has reason to believe, the most extensive journeying ever made by a stranger in that peninsula, and contain the account of visits to forty four ruined cities or palaces, in which the remains or vestiges of ancient population, were found. The existence of most of these ruins was entirely unknown to the residents of the capital -- but few had ever been visited by white inhabitants -- they were desolate and overgrown with trees. For a brief space, the stillness that reigned about them was broken and they were again left to solitude and silence. Time and the elements are hastening them to utter destruction. In a few generations, great edifices, their facades covered with sculptured ornaments, already croaking and yawning, must fall, and become mere shapeless mounds. It has been the fortune of the author to step between them and the destruction to which they are destined, and it is his hope to snatch from oblivion these perishing, but still gigantic memorials of a mysterious people." ({{TS|author=John Taylor[?]|article=Stephen's[sic] Works on Central America|vol=4|num=22|date=1 October 1843|start=346|end=347}})
[[http://www.example.com link title]]

===Nineteenth century: Statements after Joseph Smith's death===
====1 April 1845: Cities in Central America are "exactly where the Book of Mormon left them"====
NOTE: Page 863 of this issue of the ''Times and Seasons'' states: "The Times and Seasons, Is Printed and Published about the first and fifteenth of every month, on the corner of Water and Bain Streets, Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, by JOHN TAYLOR, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR."

:For this reason we copy the foregoing eulogy on General Joseph Smith, one of the greatest men that ever lived on the earth; emphatically proved so, by being inspired by God to bring forth the Book of Mormon, which gives the true history of the natives of this continent; their ancient glory and cities:-''which cities have been discovered by Mr. Stevens [Stephens] in Central America'', exactly were the Book of Mormon left them.{{ref|ts3}} {{ea}}

Thus, Joseph Smith and other leaders were quite willing to modify their ideas about Book of Mormon geography: this indicates that they had no revealed geography to which they felt bound.

'''Lucy Mack Smith'''

[Later recording of an early remembrance]
:From this time forth, Joseph continued to receive instructions from the Lord, and we continued to get the children together every evening, for the purpose of listening while he gave us a relation of the same…
: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.(Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, edited by Preston Nibley, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1956), 82-83. )

===1850s===
===1860s===
===1870s===
===1880s===
===1890s===

'''George Q. Cannon''' (First Presidency)

:There is a tendency, strongly manifested . . . among some of the brethren, to study the geography of the Book of Mormon. . . . We are greatly pleased to notice the . . . interest taken by the Saints in this holy book. . . . But valuable as is the Book of Mormon both in doctrine and history, yet it is possible to put this sacred volume to uses for which it was never intended, uses which are detrimental rather than advantageous to the cause of truth, and consequently to the work of the Lord. . . .

:The brethren who lecture on the lands of the Nephites or the geography of the Book of Mormon are not united in their conclusions. No two of them, so far as we have learned, are agreed on all points, and in many cases the variations amount to tens of thousands of miles. These differences of views lead to discussion, contention and perplexity; and we believe more confusion is caused by these divergences than good is done by the truths elicited.

:How is it that there is such a variety of ideas of this subject? Simply because the Book of Mormon is not a geographical primer. It was not written to teach geographical truths. What is told us of the situation of the various lands or cities of the ancient Jaredites, Nephites and Lamanites is usually simply an incidental remark connected with the doctrinal or historical portions of the work and almost invariably only extends to a statement of the relative position of some land or city to contiguous or surrounding places and nowhere gives us the exact situation or boundaries so that it can be definitely located without fear of error...

:The First Presidency has often been asked to prepare some suggestive map illustrative of Nephite geography, but have never consented to do so. Nor are we acquainted with any of the Twelve Apostles who would undertake such a task. The reason is, that without further information they are not prepared even to suggest [a map]. The word of the Lord or the translation of other ancient records is required to clear up many points now so obscure....

:For these reasons we have strong objections to the introduction of maps and their circulation among our people which profess to give the location of the Nephite cities and settlements. As we have said, they have a tendency to mislead, instead of enlighten, and they give rise to discussions which will lead to division of sentiment and be very unprofitable. We see no necessity for maps of this character, because, at least, much would be left to the imagination of those who prepare them; and we hope that there will be no attempt made to introduce them or give them general circulation. Of course, there can be no harm result from the study of the geography of this continent at the time it was settled by the Nephites, drawing all the information possible from the record which has been translated for our benefit. But beyond this we do not think it necessary, at the present time, to go, because it is plain to be seen, we think, that evils may result therefrom.{{ref|cannon1}}

===Twentieth Century===

===1900s===

'''Brigham H. (BH) Roberts''' (Seventy)

:And let me here say a word in relation to new discoveries in our knowledge of the Book of Mormon, and for matter of that in relation to all subjects connected with the work of the Lord in the earth. We need not follow our researches in any spirit of fear and trembling. We desire only to ascertain the truth; nothing but the truth will endure; and the ascertainment of the truth and the proclamation of the truth in any given case, or upon any subject, will do no harm to the work of the Lord which is itself truth. Nor need we be surprised if now and then we find our predecessors, many of whom bear honored names and deserve our respect and gratitude for what they achieved in making clear the truth, as they conceived it to be—we need not be surprised if we sometimes find them mistaken in their conceptions and deductions; just as the generations who succeed us in unfolding in a larger way some of the yet unlearned truths of the Gospel, will find that we have had some misconceptions and made some wrong deductions in our day and time...{{ref|roberts1}}

===1910s===

'''Joseph F. Smith''' (President)

:...declined to officially approve of [any Book of Mormon map], saying that the Lord had not yet revealed it.{{ref|jfs1}}

===1920s===

'''Anthony W. Ivins''' (First Presidency)

:We must be careful in the conclusions that we reach. The Book of Mormon teaches the history of three distinct peoples, or two peoples and three different colonies of people, who came from the old world to this continent. It does not tell us that there was no one here before them. It does not tell us that people did not come after. And so if discoveries are made which suggest differences in race origins, it can very easily be accounted for, and reasonably, for we do believe that other people came to this continent...There is a great deal of talk about the geography of the Book of Mormon. Where was the land of Zarahemla? Where was the City of Zarahemla? and other geographic matters. It does not make any difference to us. There has never been anything yet set forth that definitely settles that question. So the Church says we are just waiting until we discover the truth. All kinds of theories have been advanced. I have talked with at least half a dozen men that have found the very place where the City of Zarahemla stood, and notwithstanding the fact that they profess to be Book of Mormon students, they vary a thousand miles apart in the places they have located. We do not offer any definite solution. As you study the Book of Mormon keep these things in mind and do not make definite statements concerning things that have not been proven in advance to be true.{{ref|ivins1}}

===1930s===

'''LDS Department of Education''' Study Manual (1938)

:Indian ancestry, at least in part, is attributed by the Nephite record to the Lamanites. However, the Book of Mormon deals only with the history and expansion of three small colonies which came to America and it does not deny or disprove the possibility of other immigrations, which probably would be unknown to its writers. Jewish origin may represent only a part of the total ancestry of the American Indian today.{{ref|manual1938}}

===1940s===

'''LDS Department of Education''' Study Manual (1940)

:There is a tendency to use the Book of Mormon as a complete history of all pre-Columbian peoples. The book does not claim to be such an history, and we distort its spiritual message when we use it for such a purpose. The book does not give an history of all peoples who came to America before Columbus. There may have been other people who came here, by other routes and means, of which we have no written record. If historians wish to discuss information which the Book of Mormon does not contain but which is related to it, then we should grant them that freedom. We should avoid the claim that we are familiar with all the peoples who have lived on American soil when we discuss the Book of Mormon. . . There is safety in using the book in the spirit in which it was written. Our use of poorly constructed inferences may draw us far away from the truth. In our approach to the study of the Book of Mormon let us guard against drawing historical conclusions which the book does not warrant.{{ref|manual1940}}

===1950s===

'''Lowell T. Bennion''': (Sunday School)

:“The Book of Mormon itself does not purport to be a history of all pre-Columbian peoples in the Western Hemisphere. It simply tells briefly the story of these three peoples who came to this Continent. Its story ends in 421 A.D. What may have happened elsewhere on the American Continent before, during, or after the Nephite record was written (600 B.C. - 421 A.D.), we have no way of knowing.” - Lowell L. Bennion, ''An Introduction to the Gospel: For the Sunday Schools of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'' (The Deseret Sunday School Union Board, 1955), 113.

'''Harold B. Lee''' (apostle, later President)

:...from the writings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and of other inspired men, it seems all are in agreement that the followers of Lehi came to the western shores of South America....I believe we are (today) not far from the palce where the history of the people of Lhei commenced in western America. (Harold B. Lee, Quarterly Historical REport for the Andes Mission, 11 November 1959. Cited in Sorenson, ''Sourcebook'', 390.

'''Mark E. Peterson''' (Council of the Twelve)

:…we all have our free agency. God doesn’t rob anyone of that. And sometimes even a General Authority has used his agency in a wrong direction…Now, a General Authority might speculate, I suppose. We have had speculation, for instance, on the part of some with respect to Book of Mormon geography, and it is plain, unadulterated speculation and not doctrine. And if a General Authority has speculated on Book of Mormon geography he did not represent the view of the Church while doing so.{{ref|peterson1}}

'''Dallin H. Oaks''' (Council of the Twelve)

:Here [BYU, 1950s] I was introduced to the idea that the Book of Mormon is not a history of all of the people who have lived on the continents of North and South America in all ages of the earth. Up to that time, I had assumed that it was. If that were the claim of the Book of Mormon, any piece of historical, archaeological, or linguistic evidence to the contrary would weigh in against the Book of Mormon, and those who rely exclusively on scholarship would have a promising position to argue.

:In contrast, if the Book of Mormon only purports to be an account of a few peoples who inhabited a portion of the Americas during a few millennia in the past, the burden of argument changes drastically. It is no longer a question of all versus none; it is a question of some versus none. In other words, in the circumstance I describe, the opponents of historicity [i.e. those who argue that the Book of Mormon is not a literally true record, as it claims] must prove that the Book of Mormon has no historical validity for any peoples who lived in the Americas in a particular time frame, a notoriously difficult exercise. You do not prevail on that proposition by proving that a particular Eskimo culture represents migrations from Asia. The opponents of the historicity of the Book of Mormon must prove that the people whose religious life it records did not live anywhere in the Americas.{{ref|oaks1}}

'''John A. Widtsoe''' (Council of the Twelve)

: As far as can be learned, the Prophet Joseph Smith, translator of the book, did not say where, on the American continent, Book of Mormon activities occurred. Perhaps he did not know…. [The 1842 Times and Seasons article] seems to place many book of Mormon activities in that region. The interesting fact in this connection is that the Prophet Joseph Smith at this time was editor of the Times and Seasons, and had announced his full editorial responsibility for the paper. This seems to give the subjoined article an authority it might not otherwise possess….

:They who work on the geography of the Book of Mormon have little else than the preceding approaches with which to work, viz [that is]: that Nephites found their way into what is now the state of Illinois; that the plates of the Book of Mormon were found in a hill in northwestern New York State; that a statement exists of doubtful authenticity that Lehi and his party landed on the shore of the land now known as Chile; and that under the Prophet's editorship Central America was denominated the region of Book of Mormon activities.

:Out of diligent, prayerful study, we may be led to a better understanding of times and places in the history of the people who move across the pages of the divinely given Book of Mormon.{{ref|widtsoe1}}

:…out of the studies of faithful Latter-day Saints may yet come a unity of opinion concerning Book of Mormon geography.{{ref|widtsoe2}}

===1960s===

'''March 1964''': {{JBMS-4-1-30}}

'''Harold B. Lee''' (President) in 1966:

:Some say the Hill Cumorah was in southern Mexico (and someone pushed it down still farther) and not in western New York. Well, if the Lord wanted us to know where it was, or where Zarahemla was, he’d have given us latitude and longitude, don’t you think? And why bother our heads trying to discover with archaelogical certainty the geographical locations of the cities of the Book of Mormon like Zarahemla?{{ref|lee1}}

'''BYU Master's Thesis''' for an August 1968 Speech and Dramatic Arts department uses Mesoamerica as presumptive culture source for costumes destined for a Book of Mormon re-enactments.

:Amanda J. Brown, "A Design Study in Costume for Projected Dramatic Productions Prescribing a Book of Mormon Setting Identified Herein as Late Preclassic Mesoamerican Culture," Master's Thesis, Department of Speech and Dramatic Arts (August 1968). {{link|url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/MTAF&CISOPTR=13750&filename=13751.pdf}}

'''Paul R. Cheesman,''' in a November 1968 article for ''The Instructor'' magazine:

:There are those who believe that there are two Hill Cumorahs. Their theory is that the hill on which Mormon fought the last battle with the Lamanites is not the same hill in which Joseph Smith found the gold plates. Advocates of this theory establish their analysis primarily from the internal evidences of the Book of Mormon. Others conclude that there is only one Hill Cumorah, and that the place where Joseph Smith and Moroni met was the same place Mormon and Moroni visited in the fifith century. There is no official Church view.{{ref|cheesman1}}

===1970s===
===1980s===

John Sorenson wrote, in a two-part article published in the ''Ensign'':

:As early as the turn of the century, a few Saints began to look more carefully at what the Book of Mormon itself said on this matter. They found statements there indicating that the scene for Jaredite and Nephite history was likely more limited than they had previously supposed. Then, in 1939, the Washburns published a detailed analysis of the geography in the Book of Mormon based strictly on its own statements and demonstrating the consistency of those statements. Since the publication of their work, ''An Approach to the Study of Book of Mormon Geography'', analysts of the scripture have found still more data ''in the Book of Mormon’s own statements'' suggesting that the immediate land covered by the book’s events was probably only hundreds rather than thousands of miles long and wide.{{ref|sorenson1}}

Following the above, publication of {{Aas1|start=1}}

'''Elder Neal A. Maxwell''':
:Individuals and settings of obscurity are not unusual to the Lord's purposes. Meridian–day Christianity was initiated on a very small geographical scale and with comparatively few people. The larger, busy world paid little heed to it. Likewise with the Book of Mormon peoples. Whether located in Meso–America or elsewhere, they were one people among many peoples on this planet and perhaps even on the western hemisphere.{{ref|maxwell1}}
----
* {{FR-1-1-7}}
* {{FR-1-1-8}}
* {{FR-1-1-14}}
* {{FR-1-1-9}}

===1990s===
'''Selected publications from this decade:'''
----
* {{JBMS-1-1-2}}
* {{JBMS-2-1-11}}
* {{FR-2-1-25}}
* {{FR-6-1-10}}
* {{FR-9-1-15}}

'''F. Michael Watson''', Secretary to the First Presidency (1990) sends letter identifying New York as Cumorah site. [[Book_of_Mormon_geography:Statements:First Presidency Letter|Click for full text.]]

'''''Encyclopedia of Mormonism''''': (1992)

:The Church has not taken an official position with regard to location of geographical places [of the Book of Mormon].{{ref|eom1}}

'''F. Michael Watson''', Secretary to the First Presidency (1993) sends revised letter, correcting his statement of the 1990 letter. [[Book_of_Mormon_geography:Statements:First Presidency Letter|Click for full text.]]

===Twenty-First Century===
===Questions===
*[[/First Presidency Letter|Did the First Presidency identify the New York "Hill Cumorah" as the site of the Nephite final battles?]]

===2000s===

'''Selected publications from this decade:'''
----
* {{MormonsMap1|start=1}}
*{{rediscovering|author=John W. Welch|article=A Day and a Half's Journey for a Nephite|start=187|end=189}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=296846}}
* {{JBMS-9-2-7}}
* {{JBMS-12-1-5}}
* {{FR-11-1-4}}
* {{FR-12-1-5}}
* {{FR-13-2-4}}
* {{FR-14-1-3}}
* {{FR-15-1-5}}
* {{FR-15-2-7}}
* {{FR-16-2-2}}
* {{FR-16-2-12}} ['''Many of the quotes on this wiki page are from this article.''']

==Endnotes==


#{{note|smith1}}{{PWJSOrig1| start=}}
#{{note|ts.15July}} {{TS1|author=Joseph Smith (editor)|article=American Antiquities|vol=3|num=18|date=15 July 1842|start=860}}
#{{note|godfrey1}}{{JBMS-8-2-9}}  Godfrey believes that the author was either John Taylor or Wilford Woodruff.
#{{note|clark1}}{{JBMS-14-2-8}}  Clark believes that the author was Joseph Smith.
#{{note|ts1}} {{TS1|author=John Taylor (editor)|article=Extract from Stephens' 'Incidents of Travel in Central America'|vol=3|num=22|date=15 September 1842|start=915}}
#{{note|ts2}} {{TS1|author=John Taylor (editor)|article=Zarahemla|vol=3|num=23|date=1 October 1842|start=927}}
#{{note|ts3}} {{TS1|author=John Taylor (editor)|article=The Mormon Prophet|vol=6|num=6|date=1 April 1845|start=855}}





#{{note|cannon1}} {{JInstructor|author=George Q. Cannon|article=Editorial Thoughts: The Book of Mormon Geography|vol=25|num=1|date=1 January 1890)|start=18|end=19}}

#{{note|roberts1}} {{NewWitnessesForGod | article=NAME|vol=2|start=503 | end=504}}

#{{note|jfs1}} {{Instructor1|author=George D. Pyper|article=The Book of Mormon Geography|num=73|date=April 1938|start=160}} Event discussed occurred in about 1918; see {{MormonsMap1|start=7}}

#{{note|ivins1}} {{CR1|author=Anthony W. Ivins|date=April 1929|start=16}}

#{{note|manual1938}} William E. Berrett, Milton R. Hunter, Roy A. Welker, and H. Alvah Fitzgerald, ''A Guide to the Study of the Book of Mormon'' (Salt Lake City: LDS Department of Education, 1938), 47–48.

#{{note|manual1940}} Roy A. West, An Introduction to the Book of Mormon: A Religious-Literary Study (Salt Lake City: LDS Department of Education, 1940), 11.

#{{note|peterson1}}Mark E. Petersen, “Revelation,” address to religious educators, 24 August 1954; cited in ''Charge to Religious Educators'', 2nd ed., (Salt Lake City: Church Educational System and the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints, 1982), 136–137; cited in Dennis B. Horne (ed.), ''Determining Doctrine: A Reference Guide for Evaluation Doctrinal Truth'' (Roy, Utah: Eborn Books, 2005), 315.
#{{note|oaks1}} Dallin H. Oaks, "Historicity of the Book of Mormon," Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies Annual Dinner Provo, Utah, 29 October 1993; cited in Dallin H. Oaks, "The Historicity of the Book of Mormon," (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1994): 2–3.
#{{note|widtsoe1}} {{IE1|author=John A. Widtsoe|article=Evidences and Reconciliations: Is Book of Mormon Geography Known?|vol=53|date=July 1950|start=547}}
#{{note|widtsoe2}} John A. Widtsoe, foreword to Thomas Stuart Ferguson's ''Cumorah—Where?'' (Oakland: Published by the author, 1947), cited by {{MormonsMap|start=7|end=8}}

#{{note|lee1}} Harold B. Lee, “Loyalty,” address to religious educators, 8 July 1966; in ''Charge to Religious Educators'', 2nd ed. (Salt Lake City: Church Educational System and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1982), 65; cited in Dennis B. Horne (ed.), ''Determining Doctrine: A Reference Guide for Evaluation Doctrinal Truth'' (Roy, Utah: Eborn Books, 2005), 172–173.
#{{note|cheesman1}} Paul R. Cheesman, "Archaeology and the Book of Mormon," ''The Instructor,'' Vol. 103, No. 11 (November 1968): 429.


#{{note|sorenson1}} {{Ensign1|author=John L. Sorenson|article=Digging into the Book of Mormon: Our Changing Understanding of Ancient America and Its Scripture, Part 1|date=September 1984|start=27}}{{link|url=http://library.lds.org/library/lpext.dll/ArchMagazines/Ensign/1984.htm/ensign%20september%201984%20.htm/digging%20into%20the%20book%20of%20mormon%20our%20changing%20understanding%20of%20ancient%20america%20and%20its%20scripture.htm?fn=document-frame.htm&f=templates&2.0}} For second part of the article, see {{link|url=http://library.lds.org/library/lpext.dll/ArchMagazines/Ensign/1984.htm/ensign%20october%201984%20.htm/digging%20into%20the%20book%20of%20mormon%20our%20changing%20understanding%20of%20ancient%20america%20and%20its%20scripture%20part%202%20.htm?fn=document-frame.htm&f=templates&2.0}}
#{{note|maxwell1}}Neal A. Maxwell, ''But For A Small Moment'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Desert Book, 1986), 18.

#{{note|eom1}}{{EoM1|author=John E. Clark|article=Book of Mormon Geography|vol=1|start=178}}




==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki articles===
{{BoMGeographyWiki}}

===FAIR web site===
{{BoMGeographyFAIR}}

Heartland Model of Book of Mormon geography

2008-09-04T16:48:33Z

Cachemagic: /* FAIR Reviews */

{{BoMGeoTableStart}}
{{BoMGeo:Meldrum 2003 RAW}}
|}

This geography is based on a DVD presentation (which is in turn based on fireside presentations) produced by Rodney (Rod) Meldrum: Rodney Meldrum, ''DNA Evidence for Book of Mormon Geography: New scientific support for the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon; Correlation and Verification through DNA, Prophetic, Scriptural, Historical, Climatological, Archaeological, Social, and Cultural Evidence'' (Rodney Meldrum, 2008), DVD.

==FAIR Reviews==

FAIR has a review of some of the contents and tactics used by this presentation:

* Full Review [http://www.fairlds.org/DNA_Evidence_for_Book_of_Mormon_Geography/ html/]
* Introduction: Misguided Zeal and Defense of the Church
** Full version [http://www.fairlds.org/Book_of_Mormon/MisguidedF.html html] [http://www.fairlds.org/Book_of_Mormon/MisguidedF.pdf pdf]
** Executive summary: [http://www.fairlds.org/Book_of_Mormon/MisguidedS.html html] [http://www.fairlds.org/Book_of_Mormon/MisguidedS.pdf pdf]

==Blog posts==
* FAIR Blog: Allen Wyatt, "A Faulty Apologetic for the Book of Mormon" (3 July 2008) {{fairlink|url=http://www.fairblog.org/2008/07/03/a-faulty-apologetic-for-the-book-of-mormon/}}
* FAIR Blog: Gregory L. Smith, "Advice from a Nobel Prize Winner" (6 July 2008){{fairlink|url=http://www.fairblog.org/2008/07/06/advice-from-a-nobel-prize-winner/}}
* Mormonanity: Jeff Lindsay, "Misguided Zeal: DNA Evidence for Book of Mormon Geography," (4 July 2008) {{link|url=http://mormanity.blogspot.com/2008/07/misguided-zeal-dna-evidence-for-book-of.html}}

==Other resources==
* Rod Meldrum homepage {{link|url=http://www.bookofmormonevidence.org/}}