Criticism of Mormonism/Books

Contents


Analysis of books critical of Mormonism


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A

Response to claims made in American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, a work by author Sally Denton


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Response to claims made in An Insider's View of Mormon Origins by Grant Palmer

Summary: In Insider's View of Mormon Origins was developed during a period of time that its author worked as a teacher in the Church Educational System (CES), and was published after the author's retirement from Church employment. The book attempts to explain many otherwise clearly described events of the restoration by reinterpreting them as spiritual rather than physical events.


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Response to claims made in "Answering Mormon Scholars" (Vol. 1) by Jerald and Sandra Tanner


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Response to claims made in "Answering Mormon Scholars" (Vol. 2) by Jerald and Sandra Tanner


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Response to claims made in "Archaeology and the Book of Mormon" by Jerald and Sandra Tanner


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B

Response to claims made in Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism by Richard Abanes

Summary: This book could best be described as an Evangelical apologetic work against Mormonism. The book spends much time refuting LDS interpretation of scriptural passages in the Bible, often claiming that Mormons have misinterpreted the scriptures and that they require "deeper study." In fact, it is claimed that LDS scholars have only a superficial knowledge of the scriptures, at one time stating that "[p]roperly interpreting them is not as simple as reading today's newspaper"


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Response to claims made in "Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows" by Will Bagley


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Response to claims made in "Book of Abraham Apologetics: A Review and Critique" by Dan Vogel


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Response to claims made in "By His Own Hand upon Papyrus: A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri" by Charles Larson


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C

Response to claims made in Covering Up the Black Hole in the Book of Mormon by Jerald and Sandra Tanner


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D

Response to claims made in Decker's Complete Handbook on Mormonism by Ed Decker


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Response to claims made in Deconstructing Mormonism by Thomas Riskas

Summary: Ex-Mormons online were initially quite excited to read this book when it first appeared, but it appears that few were able to actually understand what it was saying. As the author noted in an online ex-Mormon forum in May 2013, "The paradigm application of such deconstruction applied interpersonally (and "intra"-personally) is some version of the "Instructive Deconstructive Conversation" found in Chapter 1. And the metaphor I like to use for such deconstruction, when applied to Mormon and other theistic beliefs, is the taking apart of an "object of great price" piece by piece, as also presented in Ch. 1." [1] In summary, the author believes that he has, once and for all, "deconstructed Mormonism," and that one has to dedicate serious effort to reading his book in order to understand how that has been accomplished. Online discussion about the book in the ex-Mormon fora appear to have died out near the end of 2013, with the author periodically reappearing in an attempt to spur further discussion.


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Response to claims made in Do Christians Believe in Three Gods by RBC Ministries

Summary: This article is in response to a pamphlet that attempts to explain LDS beliefs to non-LDS readers. Unfortunately, the pamphlet sometimes misrepresents LDS beliefs and uses standard anti-Mormon arguments to make its point.



E

Response to claims made in Early Mormonism and the Magic World View by D. Michael Quinn


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I

Review of claims made in In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith




Response to claims made in Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism by Richard Abanes

Summary: This book could best be described as an Evangelical apologetic work against Mormonism. The book spends much time refuting LDS interpretation of scriptural passages in the Bible, often claiming that Mormons have misinterpreted the scriptures and that they require "deeper study." In fact, it is claimed that LDS scholars have only a superficial knowledge of the scriptures, at one time stating that "[p]roperly interpreting them is not as simple as reading today's newspaper"


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L

Response to claims made in "Letters to a Mormon Elder" by James White


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Response to claims made in "Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church" by Simon G. Southerton


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M

Response to claims made in "Mormonism 101" by Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson


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Response to claims made in Mormonism: Shadow or Reality by Jerald and Sandra Tanner


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Response to claims made in Mormonism Unmasked by R. Philip Roberts


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Response to claims made in Mormonism Unvailed by Eber D. Howe


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Response to Mormon America: The Power and the Promise, a work by Richard N. Ostling and Joan K. Ostling


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N

Response to claims made in Nauvoo Polygamy: "... but we called it celestial marriage" by George D. Smith


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Response to claims made in No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith by Fawn Brodie

Summary: Louis Midgley: "Though Fawn McKay Brodie forged a reputation as a controversial psychohistorian, it is her 1945 biography of Joseph Smith for which she has always been known among Latter-day Saints. She thought of herself, and has been portrayed by cultural Mormons, as an "objective" historian who had taken the measure of "the Mormon prophet." Her death on 10 January 1981 was followed by tributes in which she was depicted as a heroic figure who had courageously liberated herself from bondage to the mind-numbing religious orthodoxy of her parochial childhood and who had thereby set in place among Latter-day Saints what one of her admirers called "a new climate of liberation." Fawn McKay Brodie: A Biographer's Life—the latest and most comprehensive of these tributes to Brodie—constitutes a substantial addition to the tiny academic specialty that might be called 'Brodie studies'."[2]


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O

Response to claims made in One Nation Under Gods by Richard Abanes

Summary: In early 2002 a new book entitled One Nation under Gods (ONUG) appeared on bookshelves, promising to tell the "real" history of the Mormon Church. The author attempts to pull disparate sources together to paint a picture that, when compared to objective reality, more closely resembles a Picasso than a Rembrandt—skewed and distorted—obscuring and maligning the actual doctrines and beliefs as understood and practiced by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than 150 years. FairMormon's original review of One Nation Under Gods was of the original 2002 hardback edition. The author has responded that there were editorial problems with this edition. We acknowledge that corrections were made in the paperback edition released in 2003 in response to some of the original reviews. Consequently, all previous FairMormon reviews have been edited for accuracy and tone, and the paperback edition of this work has been evaluated on its own merits. (It should be noted that the corrected paperback edition bears no markings indicating that it is a second edition or an updated edition; it simply appears as a paperback edition of the original.) This is an index of claims made in this work with links to corresponding responses. An effort has been made to provide the author's original sources where possible. In the subarticles linked below the hardback edition is represented by "HB" and the paperback edition by "PB."


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P

Response to claims made in Passing the Heavenly Gift by Denver C. Snuffer

Summary: This account of Church history contains numerous inaccuracies, distortions, and misrepresentations of the data.


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S

Response to claims made in Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example by D. Michael Quinn


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Studies of the Book of Mormon by B.H. Roberts

Summary: The content of this book is not written by a critic, but its purpose and audience are often misrepresented by critics in an effort to make it appear that Roberts lost his testimony of the Book of Mormon.


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T

Response to the "Book of Lehi" by Christopher Marc Nemelka




Response to claims made in The Changing World of Mormonism by Jerald and Sandra Tanner


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Response to claims made in The Counterfeit Gospel of Mormonism by Normal L. Geisler


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Response to claims made in The God Makers: A Shocking Exposé of What the Mormon Church REALLY Believes by Ed Decker and Dave Hunt


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Response to claims made in The Mysteries of Godliness by David John Buerger


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Notes on The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri: A Complete Edition


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Response to claims made in The Kingdom of the Cults (Revised) by Walter Martin, Hank Hanegraaf




Response to claims made in The Lion of the Lord by Stanley P. Hirshon




Response to claims made in The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power by D. Michael Quinn


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Response to claims made in The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn


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U

Works critical of the Church of Jesus Christ

Learn more about reponses to: Under the Banner of Heaven and Jon Krakauer
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Criticism of Mormonism/Books

Prologue

Response to claim: It is claimed that the Church purchased more than four hundred Hofmann forgeries and then "squirreled" them "away in a vault to keep them from the public eye"

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

It is claimed that the Church purchased more than four hundred Hofmann forgeries and then "squirreled" them "away in a vault to keep them from the public eye."

FAIR's Response


Notes

  1. ↑ Thomas Riskas, posted in Recovery from Mormonism (May 31, 2013).
  2. ↑ Louis Midgley, "The Legend and Legacy of Fawn Brodie," FARMS Review of Books 13:1 (2001).

Chapter 1

Response to claim: 3 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "presents itself as the world's only true religion"

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

It is claimed that the Church "presents itself as the world's only true religion."

Author's sources:
  1. Richard N. and Joan K. Ostling, Mormon America: The Power and the Promise, (New York:HarperCollins Publishers, 2000), . ( Index of claims )

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: 5 - Latter-day Saints consider themselves to be God's "favored children"

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

The author claims that Latter-day Saints (sometimes called "Mormons") consider themselves to be God's "favored children." The book then quotes the phrase: "a peculiar treasure unto me above all people."

Author's sources:
  1. Richard N. and Joan K. Ostling, Mormon America: The Power and the Promise, (New York:HarperCollins Publishers, 2000), . ( Index of claims )

FAIR's Response

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

  • As noted in the chapter introduction from the LDS edition of the King James Bible: "The Lord covenants to make Israel a peculiar treasure, a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." It is unclear why the author uses this scripture to support his claim that Latter-day Saints consider themselves to be God's "favored children."

Response to claim: 5 - Church leaders have "worked very hard to persuade both the modern church membership and the American public that polygamy was a quaint, long-abandoned idiosyncrasy"

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

 Author's quote: Church leadership has worked very hard to persuade both the modern church membership and the American public that polygamy was a quaint, long-abandoned idiosyncrasy practiced by a mere handful of nineteenth-century Mormons.

Author's sources:
  1. Richard N. and Joan K. Ostling, Mormon America: The Power and the Promise, (New York:HarperCollins Publishers, 2000), . ( Index of claims )

FAIR's Response

Fact checking results: This claim is false

The following is from the introduction to the official Priesthood and Relief Society lesson manual for 2008-2009, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith:

This book deals with teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith that have application to our day...This book also does not discuss plural marriage. The doctrines and principles relating to plural marriage were revealed to Joseph Smith as early as 1831. The Prophet taught the doctrine of plural marriage, and a number of such marriages were performed during his lifetime. Over the next several decades, under the direction of the Church Presidents who succeeded Joseph Smith, a significant number of Church members entered into plural marriages. In 1890, President Wilford Woodruff issued the Manifesto, which discontinued plural marriage in the Church (see Official Declaration 1). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints no longer practices plural marriage. (emphasis added)

Response to claim: 5 - Religious literature does not mention Joseph Smith's marriage to "at least thirty-three women, and probably as many as forty-eight"

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

Religious literature does not mention Joseph's marriage to "at least thirty-three women, and probably as many as forty-eight."

Author's sources:
  1. Richard N. and Joan K. Ostling, Mormon America: The Power and the Promise, (New York:HarperCollins Publishers, 2000), . ( Index of claims )

FAIR's Response

Fact checking results: This claim is false

The details of Joseph's polygamy are not generally taught in LDS Sunday School classes, but some "religious literature" does mention Joseph's plural marriages.[1]

Response to claim: 5-6 - Joseph Smith's youngest wife was "just fourteen years old when Joseph explained to her that God had commanded that she marry him or face eternal damnation"

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

The author claims that LDS literature does not mention that Joseph's youngest wife was "just fourteen years old when Joseph explained to her that God had commanded that she marry him or face eternal damnation."

Author's sources:
  1. Richard N. and Joan K. Ostling, Mormon America: The Power and the Promise, (New York:HarperCollins Publishers, 2000), . ( Index of claims )

FAIR's Response

  • Helen Mar Kimball's story is here told only with reference to a second-hand, dubious, hostile anti-Mormon version instead of Helen's numerous first-hand accounts.

Response to claim: 6 - Joseph Smith is claimed to have taught that "a man needed at least three wives to attain the 'fullness of exaltation' in the afterlife"

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

Joseph Smith is claimed to have taught that "a man needed at least three wives to attain the 'fullness of exaltation' in the afterlife." The author provides the following quote to support this claim:

"all those who have this law revealed unto them must obey the same...and if ye abide not that covenant, then are yet damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory."

Author's sources:
  1. D&C 132

FAIR's Response

3 Therefore, prepare thy heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about to give unto you; for all those who have this law revealed unto them must obey the same. 4 For behold, I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory.

Response to claim: 6n - "Mormons esteem three books of scripture above all others"

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

 Author's quote: Latter-day Saints esteem three books of scripture above all others

Author's sources: #Richard N. and Joan K. Ostling, Mormon America: The Power and the Promise, (New York:HarperCollins Publishers, 2000), . ( Index of claims )

FAIR's Response

Fact checking results: This claim is false

Members of the Church use four books of scripture: the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.This type of error demonstrates how poor Krakauer's grounding in LDS thought and history is.


Response to claim: 7 - Polygamy continued to be practiced after the Manifesto was issued

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

Polygamy continued to be practiced after the Manifesto was issued.

Author's sources:
  1. Richard N. and Joan K. Ostling, Mormon America: The Power and the Promise, (New York:HarperCollins Publishers, 2000), . ( Index of claims )

FAIR's Response

Fact checking results: This claim is based upon correct information - The author is providing knowledge concerning some particular fact, subject, or event

  1. REDIRECT Plural marriage practiced after the First Manifesto


Notes

  1. ↑ For example, the practice of plural marriage is detailed in canonized scripture (D&C 132) which every member is encouraged to study. The study manual for Sunday School lessons based on this scripture reads, in part, "The Prophet Joseph Smith and those closest to him, including Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, were challenged by this command, but they obeyed it." [Lesson 31: “Sealed … for Time and for All Eternity”, Doctrine and Covenants and Church History Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, 176 (emphasis added). off-site] CES manuals for college/university students also discuss Joseph and plural marriage; see, for example, "Chapter 20: Doctrinal Developments at Nauvoo," Church History in the Fulness of Times Institute Student Manual: Religion 341 through 343, 2nd edition, (Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 1989-2003).(off-site.

Chapter 4

Response to claim: 45: Latter-day Saints are raised to "obey figures of Mormon authority unquestioningly"

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

The author claims that Latter-day Saints are raised to "obey figures of Mormon authority unquestioningly, and to believe that LDS doctrine is the law of God."

FAIR's Response

Obey Brigham unquestioningly?

The Church of Jesus Christ and independent thought

Summary: It is claimed that the Church teaches that we should not exercise independent thought. "When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done."


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Response to claim: 45 - A fourteen-year-old Latter-day Saint girl was forced to wear robes by her kidnapper that "resembled the sacred robes she had donned with her family when they entered the Mormon temple"

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

The author claims that a fourteen-year-old Latter-day Saint girl was forced to wear robes by her kidnapper that "resembled the sacred robes she had donned with her family when they entered the Mormon temple."

FAIR's Response

Fact checking results: This claim is false

A fourteen-year-old LDS girl's experience with the temple would have only involved performing baptisms for the dead, and would not have required the wearing of any "sacred robes."


Response to claim: 45 - The "words of Joseph Smith" are taught as having been "handed down by God Himself"

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

The author claims that the "words of Joseph Smith" are taught as having been "handed down by God Himself."

FAIR's Response

That depends upon which of Joseph's words are being referred to.


Notes


Chapter 6

Response to claim: 69 - The author claims that Native Americans are, according to the Book of Mormon, descended from the lost tribes of Israel

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

Native Americans are, according to the Book of Mormon, descended from the lost tribes of Israel.

FAIR's Response

Fact checking results: This claim is false

Book of Mormon peoples are distinct from the lost ten tribes (2 Nephi 29꞉13, 3 Nephi 17꞉4). The author again betrays his superficial grasp of LDS thought and theology.


Notes


Chapter 17

Response to claim: 194 - The author claims that there is evidence which suggest that Samuel H. Smith was poisoned by Hosea Stout

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

 Author's quote: ...[there is] compelling circumstantial evidence [which] suggests that [Samuel H. Smith] succumbed from poison administered by Hosea Stout....

Author's sources:
  1. D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power (Signature Books, 1994), {{{pages}}}. [ATTENTION!]

FAIR's Response


Notes


Chapter 18

Response to claim: 221 - The author claims that William Aden was killed on 10 September 1857 in relation to the Mountain Meadows Massacre

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

William Aden was killed on 10 September 1857.

FAIR's Response

Fact checking results: This claim is false

Aden was killed 2-3 days before the massacre.[1]


Response to claim: 221n - The author claims that Brigham Young's letter instructing the Latter-day Saints to leave the immigrants alone didn't appear until decades later and that there is question about its provenance and authenticity

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

Brigham Young's letter instructing the Latter-day Saints to leave the immigrants alone didn't appear until decades later; there is question about its provenance and authenticity.

FAIR's Response

Fact checking results: This claim is false


Notes

  1. ↑ Craig L. Foster, "Doing Violence to Journalistic Integrity (Review of: "Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of a Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer)," FARMS Review 16/1 (2004): 149–174. off-site

Reviews of this work

"The Justin Wise Dialogues" by Ron Hellings

Summary: Ron Hellings provides an imagined dialogue which highlights some of the many problems with this anti-Mormon work.



Craig L. Foster, "Doing Violence to Journalistic Integrity"

Craig L. Foster,  The FARMS Review, (2004)
The noted author Paul Fussell once commented, "If I didn't have writing, I'd be running down the street hurling grenades in people's faces."1 Perhaps the same could be said about Jon Krakauer. Both he and his works are complex, introspective, and, without doubt, "in your face" and controversial. Krakauer is fascinated by people who are on the edge physically and emotionally, those who push the limits to the extreme. His writing reflects this fascination as he tries to define for his reading audience what it is like to go to extremes. Krakauer has succeeded where many others have failed because he is, without argument, a gifted writer. His text flows seamlessly, creating a literary picture that touches a reader to the very core.


Krakauer has used his writing talents to look at the fringes of the Latter-day Saint community in his book Under the Banner of Heaven, in which he examines the double murders committed in 1984 by the ex-Mormon brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty and explores the fundamentalist communities of Colorado City-Hildale on the Utah-Arizona border and Bountiful in British Columbia.2 His accounts of murder and seduction are mixed with events and teachings in Latter-day Saint history in an attempt to portray these fringe elements as murderous and libidinous offspring of a religion steeped in its own history of violence and quirkiness.

Click here to view the complete article

Paul McNabb, editor's introduction to Richard E. Turley, "Faulty History: A Review of Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith"

Paul McNabb, editor's introduction to Richard E. Turley,  FAIR Papers
In July 2003, popular author Jon Krakauer released a book arguing that religious faith in general, and the faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in particular, often motivates violence in its believers. Since its organization in 1830, The Church of Jesus Christ has been the subject of many lurid and sensational publications, each purporting to reveal the true and sordid fact of the lives of Latter-day Saint leaders and members. Despite the claims of objectivity and historical accuracy, such publications consistently display the same pattern: an agenda-driven effort selectively drawing on rumor and half-truths, clothed in the trappings of historical scholarship.


Unfortunately for those wanting to know more about Latter-day Saint history or the possible relationship between religious belief and violence, Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith suffers from these same fatal flaws.

Click here to view the complete article

Allen Wyatt, ""The Krakauer Journal""

Allen Wyatt,  FAIR Papers
I read Under the Banner of Heaven in July 2003, shortly after it first came out. In the course of my reading, I kept notes on assertions made by the author and my reactions to those assertions. This article is a recounting of my notes. Taken in total, they can serve as a snapshot of one person’s view of the book.


Those familiar with LDS history will recognize the outrageousness of many of the assertions, and the biased language used by the author to frame religious belief–particularly the religious belief practiced by faithful LDS–in an egregiously unflattering manner.

Click here to view the complete article

BYU Studies, "Jon Krakauer. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (review)"

Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp,  BYU Studies 43/4 (2004)

Click here to view the complete article

The FAIR Blog responds to these questions

Stephen Smoot,"Learning About the Founding of Mormonism from Jon Krakauer (And Other Fallacies)", FAIR Blog, (July 30, 2012)


Jon Krakauer has penned a popular, yet highly questionable book on Mormonism. The punchline to Krakauer’s book is something along the lines of: “Mormonism, an inherently violent faith, is a shining example of how religious fundamentalism is dangerous, and will lead to killing people.”


There are so many problems with Krakauer’s book that to enumerate them here would take some considerable time.

Click here to view the complete article

A review of claims made in "Understanding Mormon Disbelief" by the Open Stories Foundation




V

Response to claims made in Visions of Glory by John Pontius

Summary: This work, which purports to give an account of near death experiences (NDE) and visions of the last days contains some true principles, but violates Church doctrine in both content and approach. It also contains some ideas that contradict LDS doctrine on key points.


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W

Response to claims made in Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? The Spalding Enigma by Wayne Cowdery, Howard Davis, and Donald Scales

Summary: This book attempted to revive the moribund Spalding manuscript theory for the Book of Mormon. Cowdery et al. claimed to have discovered Spalding's handwriting in the Book of Mormon original manuscript. In addition to the insurmountable historical problems with the Spalding theory, the supposed "Spalding" handwriting has likewise been found in documents produced in June 1831--fifteen years after Spalding's death.


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Notes

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