Mormonism: An American Fraud

THE METHODOLOGY OF MANIPULATION: STATISTICS IN PLAY

2012-01-16T18:29:00.000-08:00

Two widely reported statistical analyses regarding Mormons in America have recently been published: the Trinity College Survey, released in December, 2011 and the Pew Report, January, 2012. Incredibly, it seems that media coverage has focused more on the later report than the former. This is especially the case in Utah and most certainly true of LDS owned Deseret News. This blog is an analysis of the methodology behind the conclusions reached in both studies.

Trinity is a well-respected private college located in Hartford Connecticut; with the exception of Yale, it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state. Despite its Episcopal roots, years ago Trinity made it a policy not to impose any religious standards on its students. Today the liberal arts college is widely known for the diversity of its student body. Two Trinity sociology professors are the principal investigators of the report. Additionally, Rick Philips and Ryan T. Cragun (non-LDS), both affiliated with the Mormon Social Science Association, contributed to the report.

The Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of the Pew Charitable Trusts, which despite its title is actually a single entity created by an ultra-conservative family, the Pews. At one time the John Birch Society was a beneficiary of this organization. Per the IRS code, attaining non-profit status in 2004 allows the Trusts to devote a non-substantial part of its resources to lobbying the pubic sector.

The pool of respondents from each group, and therefore each reports' data differ widely. Trinity's potential respondents were any adults in the continental United States; Pew's respondents were adults who had been previously identified as active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Thus, the conclusions reached by the two studies are not comparable. However, the respective methodologies used to gather the collected data deserve close scrutiny. Importantly, the combined American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) studies constitute the most comprehensive and objective statistical research of the numbers of Mormons in America available to social scientists. In contrast, the Pew study data drew from slightly more than a thousand acknowledged Mormons.

Trinity's report was based on two waves of data collected by ARIS, one in 1990 and the other in 2008. In both waves, respondents were obtained through randomized digit dialed telephone numbers. Pollsters from both waves asked respondents the open-ended question: "What is your religion, if any?" The 1998 survey polled 113,723 Americans and received 1,742 'LDS' or Mormon responses. In 2008 the poll reached 54,461 Americans, 783 of whom self-identified as Mormon. Though a Salt Lake Tribune report (updated Dec. 15, 2011) entitled “Gender Gap Widening among Mormons in Utah, but why?” claims that the Trinity study authors admitted to a margin of error of 4-5%, the Trinity College website estimates a statistical margin of error for the combined studies at less than 0.5%.

The Pew Study lists Luis Lugo, a University of Chicago PhD in political science as director, Cary Funk as researcher and Conrad Hackett as demographer. Additionally, two-thirds of Pew's 'panel of expert advisers' are LDS-affiliated, if not practicing Mormons: Mathew Bowman professor of religion at Hampden-Sydney College, Marie Cornwall, BYU sociology professor, Allison Pond of the Deseret News and Teryl Givens, professor of literature/religion at the University of Richmond. It is the Pew study which has a 95% confidence level, i. e., a 4-5% margin of error.

The Pew survey began armed with the landline and cell phone numbers of 91,590 ostensible Mormons—excluding former Mormons. Those whom Pew pollsters contacted were asked a series of questions about Mormonism. While almost half of these (45,710) were non-working numbers: faxes, business/government offices or otherwise "ineligible respondents," another 44,706 were: always busy, had no answer, engaged call-blocking/screening, categorized as "no screener completed," and two contacts had language/competency barriers. That left the Pew people with just 1174 total respondents. Of that number, 155 refused to speak with the pollsters, broke-off the conversation, were never available, or failed to return a message left by Pew. Thus, the total number of interviews upon which the Pew data based its conclusions is just 1019 members of the LDS Church (Pew Report pps. 81-84); 697 interviews were considered a fresh sample, and 322 were recontacts from a prior sample. Additionally the data was admittedly skewed geographically to query more frequently from areas deemed to have more LDS residents per capita. However, there is no readily apparent source for these 91,590 numbers—only that they came from a “national sample.” Were they part of LDS Church records? If not, where did they originate? If so, given the abysmal response rate, these records seem to be extremely dated.

What were the results of Pew's study? With the caveat that more than half of respondents reside in the Mountain-west and a third in Utah, Pew's study concludes that Mormons were generally happy with their lives/communities, and had families where the husband supported a stay-at-home wife/mother. Two-thirds believe Mormons are not accepted in mainstream society, but also believe that they are becoming more accepted. Most are Republican and are unhappy with the federal government. Mormons were divided on whether the U.S. was ready for a Mormon president, men feeling more positive than the women surveyed. 88% of Pew respondents were Caucasian. All stressed the importance of family. Almost all described living a devout lifestyle and characterized their theology as Christian. The amount of formal education and religious orthodoxy showed a positive correlation. (Note: Utah has several so-called universities, most with LDS institutes of higher learning attached, as well as LDS-owned Brigham Young University. However, historically at least, Utah high school graduates are more likely to enroll in a local/Utah university than be accepted or even seek acceptance out of state. Yet it is only the University of Utah that has any world standing, according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities).

More than 90% of Pew respondents accept the Book of Mormon as the literal word of God, written by ancient American prophets and Joseph Smith as a prophet. But even in this study, 23% of the one-thousand plus queried could not say that they believed “whole-heartedly” in all the teachings of the LDS Church. [Emphasis added] Other conclusions addressed LDS income levels, both inside and outside Utah vis a vis the remainder of the U.S.

ARIS/Trinity was able to reach a much broader database than Pew by a huge factor. As such, the margin of error is much less than in the Pew Study. At the beginning of 1990 the LDS Church claimed 1.3 million Utah Mormons or 77.2% of the people in the state of Utah. At the end of 2008 official LDS numbers posted 1.8 million members in Utah or 68% of Utah's population. During this 18 year time period the church also claims to have increased its numbers from 4,175,000 to 5,974,041 and likewise its percentage of the U.S. Population from 1.7% to 2%.

Trinity's statistics tell a much different story. According to the Trinity Study, the U.S. Mormons in 1990 numbered 2,487,000 and 3,158,000 in 2008, making the percentage of adult LDS a constant at just 1.4% of the population. Children were not queried; however, the authors explain that this would not significantly alter their findings because “...research shows that Mormon birthrates are declining...” Trinity also reports that the discrepancy can be accounted for by “...large numbers of ex-Mormons who continue to be counted by the organization.” According to this report, though Mormonism appears to attract a large number of converts, it also has nearly as large a number of apostates (just as many 'out-switchers' as 'in-switchers') and thus the over-all per capita number of LDS is not gaining, but is “treading water.” Additionally, LDS “market share” in Utah fell from 69% in 1990 to 57% in 2008.

Other interesting conclusions drawn by ARIS/Trinity are that Utah Mormons are the only U. S. religious group that maintain a majority of the population in any state. Apostasy rates are rising among young men in Utah, leading to a gender imbalance with women outnumbering men 3 to 2. Utah Mormons have a statistically larger household than Mormons elsewhere by .5 persons and Mormons are twice as likely to be Republicans as are other Americans. Like the Pew study, this study also confirmed a rising income rate among Utah Mormons.

These studies raise questions for me. Does the LDS Church count baptisms for the dead in their annual statistics of new converts? If one looks at the LDS website the number of baptism per year (excluding children born of record) are counted given. Could this number which is added to the number of children born into LDS families include those who Mormons have baptized posthumously. Over the past decade there have been articles of LDS missionaries visiting graveyards, for example, East Granby Center Cemetery in Connecticut, to record data from tombstones. For years it has been well-known that Church representatives have researched obituaries, real estate, tax and other public records to forward on to the Church genealogy department. A Holocaust victims group’s disapproval of Mormons baptizing Jews was well-publicized. More recently, an April 5, 2008 letter from the Vatican Congregation for Clergy, asks episcopal conferences to direct all bishops to keep the LDS from microfilming and digitizing information contained in parish registers “...so as not to cooperate with the erroneous practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

Could this be the true source of Mormonism's “growing numbers and the reason for the discrepancy between the Trinity/ARIS numbers and those claimed in annual general conferences by the LDS Church?” This is pure speculation on my part, but it would be interesting to know the answers to whether baptisms for the dead are included in the LDS annual statistical increase of new convert baptisms, which historically have not included children of record born in that year.

The Trinity survey claims that social scientists are more apt to rely on self-reported numbers than other ways of verifying numbers which could be affected by public relations interests. One thing is clear: Mormons are told and taught that they are more numerous and widespread than good research reveals. Trinity further posits: “Organizations, however, sometimes have an incentive for overstating their membership.” Could it be that the LDS Church has such an incentive?

Opinion is Constitutionally Protected Speech

2012-01-09T20:28:00.000-08:00

January 8, 2012, Deseret News writer, Joe Walker listed the top ten anti-Mormon statements of 2011, as claimed by a new internet group sponsored by FAIR, an LDS apologetic organization based at Mormon-owned Brigham Young University. (To read the article follow the link here.) Walker is critical of those public figures who are critical of Mormonism. What Walker doesn’t realize, and perhaps never learned, is that expressing one's opinion is constitutionally protected under the First Amendment. Sadly, this is something that those who are raised in the Mormon culture do not appreciate. The very essence of our country's incredible freedom is based upon freedom of speech. With narrow exceptions, such as shouting 'fire' in a crowded theater, “fighting words,” as defined under case law or defamatory statements, American citizens are free to express their opinions. None of the statements cited are outside First Amendment protection.

This is the problem with growing up a Utah Mormon. By attempting to control what Mormons read, view or otherwise learn, the LDS Church has heavily censored thoughts and the ability to reason. When an authoritarian government—whether religious or secular—acts in this manner—restricting access or promoting mind-control tactics—those subject to this tyranny suffer serious intellectual impediment. Only in a community of freely circulating ideas can one truly choose what makes sense, sounds credible and even "feels right." This is the beauty of our country.

Certainly Mormons take no pause in criticizing Catholicism and historically, even Christianity, or other such religious organizations who have many fervent believers. In history, despots Mao Tse-tung and Stalin are criticized; so is the political philosophy of communism, but that doesn’t translate into an attack on those subjected to the political philosophy. Comparing opinion statements regarding the belief system called Mormonism, doesn’t necessarily involve a criticism of the average Mormon. On the other hand, criticism of those who have chosen to step beyond Mormonism's strictures is leveled vehemently by those who remain. From the pulpit LDS leaders have even engaged in name-calling of those who have chosen to leave Mormonism behind; they are "junk yard dogs," or snakes. These are kindergarten ad hominem attacks which only reveal the ignorance of the speakers.

Our nation will always be at least a moderately pluralistic society; with regard to life philosophy or religious belief systems the only desirable limit is where those statements threaten the safety of individuals or claim as facts, things that are not. Attorney Richard Packham's version of Mark Twain's quotation comes to mind: "one man's sacred cow is another man's hamburger." And that, my friends, is just how it is—thanks to our founding fathers.

December, 2011—Mormons in the News

2011-12-20T21:30:00.000-08:00

December has been filled with lots of Mormon news: the Trinity College survey on Mormons in America was published, showing that LDS numbers are historically over-reported by the Church, that from 1990-2008 there was just as many leaving as joining, and that young men are apostatizing in droves, the LA Times December 4^th report on Mitt Romney’s behemoth Bain (bath!) Capital bankrupting of struggling businesses with ensuing job losses and now the SEC’s $200M affinity fraud charges filed against an LDS bishop and his son in Utah federal court. For several days Utah’s Wasatch Front (along with Cache valley in the north) ranked collectively as the five counties with the worst air quality in the entire nation.

As I read these articles and noted the LDS Christmas schedule of activities, including a Christmas program at the huge LDS conference center, this year featuring actress Jane Seymour, I also read other news items from across the country about secret Santas paying off the layaway charges of struggling Americans at Wal-Mart, K-mart and Target. In states as diverse as Oregon, Florida, Nebraska and Indiana, in the true spirit of the season, those who have been blessed are helping fellow Americans with their Christmas purchases. I was struck by the contrast between the news-making Mormons and their environment and the news of average Americans during this holiday season.

Saturday, I worked late. As I left the downtown high-rise, it was so dark the smog could almost be mistaken for a crisp nighttime fog. The sidewalks and crosswalks were filled with crowds of LDS walking quickly toward temple square, or perhaps the conference center. Despite the lack of snow, the downtown Christmas lights set a pretty backdrop for a horse-drawn carriage and its cargo. The Season had arrived in Salt Lake.

When I was young, Utah Mormon Christmas celebrations were minimal; at most a few carols were sung on Christmas day—if it was on a Sunday. Since those days in the 60s and 70s, the Church has upped its pageantry and now annual productions featuring the story of Jesus Christ’s birth and a special Christmas message from the LDS first presidency can be seen and heard. This move toward the celebration of a general Christianity (tithing settlement excluded) lasts only through the holiday season and is resurrected on Easter Sunday. Though I’m certain some would rather forget him, the remainder of the year Joseph Smith cannot be ignored.

The Mormon Christmas product is a good one. Here’s hoping that someday the LDS Church will evolve to a place without Smith and his schemes, but then, what would be the point?

Like the LDS Church, Romney Can’t Fake Integrity

2011-11-26T13:59:00.000-08:00

Those smiling, seemingly happy faces advertising Mormon diversity have been around New York City and other venues for about five months now, not quite long enough to give birth to a Republican presidential nominee. But, just like the Mormon Church, Romney can’t fake integrity. His New Hampshire advertisement, see here, with the egregiously out-of-context partial statement from President Obama, followed unapologetically by his campaign’s hearty endorsement of the ad, puts any question about Romney’s integrity to rest.

JFK defended his religion. This round, Romney seems to stay away from any specific defense, claiming that Mormonism’s golden plates are no different than Moses’ burning bush. At other times he will throw up the shield of the constitution and its prohibition against a religions test for public office. But as some have pointed out (and as Romney has also claimed) evaluating the morals and character that a particular candidate has attained—whether developed through religious training or otherwise, that exercise of voter judgment is not prohibited.

In ethics, integrity is honesty and truthfulness. But one can’t instill integrity in either Mitt or Mormonism by saying it is so. Romney pleads to be judged by the morals and values that all believers in God claim, not just his specific religion. Problem is that both the history and theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is based on an intricately layered stack of half-truths and U-turns. From the Book of Mormon scriptures, created through Smith’s gross plagiarization of biblical and other sources, to the LDS doctrines of monogamy vs. polygamy and discrimination based on skin color, both Smith and the leaders of his religious legacy continue to dupe the gullible as they misrepresent or even retract and reverse inconvenient truths.

Romney has served as an LDS bishop and then a stake president in Belmont, Massachusetts. In 2007, FOX News propounded 21 questions about Mormonism which were answered by one specifically speaking for the Church.[1] As others have noted, the Church failed the test, by falsely answering several of the questions. For example, in response to question ten: “Does the Mormon Church believe its followers will become gods and goddesses after death?” the Church said only that followers strive to attain attributes like God and Jesus. However, as late as 1997 the doctrine was suggested as a study question in a church manual. Question eleven in that survey asked: “Does the Mormon Church believe that women can only gain access to heaven with a special pass or codeword?” This question was also answered incorrectly. Mormons of both genders perform pantomimes, chants and special handshakes in LDS temples, but an LDS woman is given a secret name known only by her husband (she doesn’t know his). Even according to current LDS temple practice and procedure, in the resurrection a man calling out his wife’s secret name is her only hope of exaltation.

Mormon propaganda would have us believe that the church is growing at a spectacular rate, worldwide. The facts are that since Mormonism’s true history has been widely revealed, baptisms have declined precipitously, mission districts are consolidating, especially in highly literate countries and life-long Mormons are formally resigning at the rate of hundreds of thousands per year.

What are a Mormon’s morals? There appears to be two general sets: one for the average Mormon—this type is preached from the pulpit—and one for LDS leaders. For the leaders, “Lying for the Lord,” has been a practice since Joseph Smith and his colleagues founded the religion.[2] In 1826, a year before the plates were retrieved, Smith was charged with pretending to find buried treasure by looking in a peep-stone, but he fled the jurisdiction and later prevailed by raising the statute of limitations as a defense to the charges. The peep-stone method is the real way the Book of Mormon came to be.

Some estimate that a majority of dedicated Mormons still know little about the true historical source of Mormonism. This might be hard to believe, but not when LDS leaders demand members’ time, money and focus to the point that reading anything that questions the religion is labeled negative and when LDS leaders Packer and Oaks admonish their membership that some things that are true are not very useful.

With the New Hampshire campaign advertisement, Romney has endorsed his own demise. Latter-day Saint values are his—double talk and deception. Mitt’s ad content was not a mistake, an opinion or an overestimation of his ability or effectiveness as a leader. With this ad Romney proves that he is a deceiver. By his own admission, his actions are intentional. Worse yet, it appears that he believes there is nothing wrong with that deception. Mormonism and Romney—it is no longer a connection one can ignore.

[1] http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,317272,00.html

[2] Ken Clark (LDS Church Educational System Coordinator for 27 years) “Lying for the Lord,” speech given at the 2008 Ex-Mormon Foundation Conference, 2008. http://www.Mormonthink.com/lying.htm

Religious Bigotry

2011-11-14T09:21:00.000-08:00

Since the beginning Mormons, who have generally been viewed unfavorably by any press but their own, have cried religious bigotry to those who take issue with their religion. I say that it is time for bigotry to be redefined. Discrimination is a term that has come to have a pejorative meaning. This is understandable when applied to prejudice against those who cannot help their status because it is a function of birth or misfortune: race, gender, or disability. These conditions are not a choice; becoming or staying a Mormon is. However, one who discriminates (and I use this in the pure sense of the word) should be allowed to question and even reject an entire belief system when that system encompasses prejudicial discrimination against protected classes.

The Caucasian male, the archetype of LDS rulers, rejects the dark-skinned and female as equals. It's difficult to maintain a credible claim of religious bigotry when Mormonism's theology encompasses both gender and racial prejudice. To reject a belief system which, in and of itself embraces gender and racial bigotry, is not religious bigotry, it is common sense egalitarianism. Unfortunately, only the most enlightened of our species appears to have any interest in this way of thinking.

So to the Mormon claim of religious intolerance I say yes—I am intolerant of your historic and current discrimination against blacks, Native Americans and women. And I am even more intolerant of your attempts to cover-up and now claim that these sorts of bigoted views ever existed in your theology.

As for Mitt Romney—while it is clear that there can be no religious test for public office, it is also clear that one can examine a candidate’s integrity. And here is the bite, Mitt, if you associate and stand by Mormonism you are a dupe, because intelligent people know that the religion is a fraud. Conversely, if you know what we all know (and I suspect that you do) then you are a deceiver, because you continue to belong to, and have previously led, a group of religionists whose changing theology is based in lies and deception under the euphemism of continuing revelation. No person of integrity, knowing the true foundation of this cult, and the extraordinary ignorance it breeds in its members, can or should continue on in association with it. To do so is duplicitous to the core and certainly not a character trait that I want in my commander in chief.

A WOMAN'S WORTH

2011-09-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, at BYU education week, women were packed in the Wilkinson Center auditorium to listen to Professor Susan Easton Black speak about LDS women. I cannot find a print copy of her speech, but Sarah Gambles reported for the BYU Daily Universe on August 18, 2011.[1] I had to read the article about Professor Black’s talk more than once. As reported:

She said “[W]omen stand out in history for three reasons: 1) being the mother of a famous person, 2) being the wife of an important person and 3) race.”

Apparently the professor went on to give examples of her premise, naming Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph Smith’s mother who staunchly defending her son and his religion. She then named Emma Smith (no mention of her maiden name—Hale) Joseph’s first wife. Black noted that Joseph called her “smart.” Her reputation was as a literate woman and that she even led parades in Nauvoo. She also noted that Emma was also the only woman to have a section in the Doctrine and Covenants specifically for her. D&C §132 reads that she [Emma] shall “be destroyed,” if she will not accept “celestial marriage.”

Then, incredibly, under the vague category of “race,” Sarah Manning, a black woman who lived with the Smiths, is mentioned. Though this part was not addressed by Professor Black, after a lifetime of service in the Smith household, Manning was sealed to Joseph Smith in the LDS Temple in 1894 by proxy as his servant for eternity!
The absolute misogyny inherent in this message is enough to make any enlightened person ill. These examples validate women based only on their gender or race, whether as mother, wife or black servant. Any importance in their lives has been solely derivative; it is only due to their relationship to the founding prophet of Mormonism.

What a transparent slap in the face to the hundreds of thousands of LDS women, especially the polygamist wives of the 19^th century. No mention is made of the outspoken Ann Eliza Webb Young, who, with her attorneys helped to establish divorce rights for these abused women, and who testified in the U.S Congress against the horrendous nature of Mormon polygamy. Fanny Stenhouse’s autobiography Tell it All, reveals that she was more intelligent and a better writer than any of the male Mormon leaders of her time. Nothing is said of Eliza Snow’s poems or songs, of Mormon Emeline Blanche Woodward Well’s feminist arguments in favor of a woman's individuality instead of being relegated to the status of a pet or a toy for men. And nothing, of course, about contemporary LDS women writers and scholars, most of whom have been excommunicated for their insights and exposure of this patriarchal nonsense.

I have never heard a more demeaning speech given by a woman concerning her own gender. The young LDS women in the audience must be so disheartened, for according to this speech, they have no true role model. None of these women were appreciated for any individual effort, their remembrance in Mormon history is a matter of happenstance, who they knew, married, or birthed. What a travesty!

[1] http://universe.byu.edu/index.php/2011/08/18/latter-day-saint-women-can-make-a-difference/

Warren Jeffs v. Joseph Smith. Thank God for our Modern Legal System!

2011-08-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

Warren Jeffs was recently convicted under Texas law of sexual assault against two children, girls ages 15 and 12. The age of consent is 17 in Texas where the perpetrator is three or more years older than the victim. In Jeff’s case both victims were considered children under Texas law.[1] Jeffs’ actions were not much different than those of Joseph Smith.

By claiming that the act was ordained of God, in the nineteenth century Joseph Smith was able to induce several young women between the ages of 14 and 17 to have sexual relations with him. Smith’s actions were subsequently condoned by the Mormon religious doctrine of polygamy.

Today, our judicial system protects young people who are too naive to understand the full implications of a sexual relationship with a much older person. These victims are still children and are emotionally vulnerable. They need protection from predators who take advantage of this weakness. Our justice system has (thankfully) evolved to criminalize these sexual crimes against the young and innocent.

When Mormonism’s founding prophet, Joseph Smith was beguiling young women, there was no such system of justice. Instead there were circuit riders, self-appointed judges who would listen to a case for a fee. The criminal justice system had not yet evolved to the point of established local district attorneys or county prosecutors who would prosecute criminals on behalf of the state or the combined interests of the people. In 1843, Smith was mayor of Nauvoo and the prophet of the LDS Church; he was subject to no criminal laws governing statutory rape or sexual assault.

Had Smith committed his crimes today, the local authorities would have had plenty of evidence to investigate him for sexual assault against Sarah Ann Whitney, Fanny Alger, Flora Ann Woodworth, Helen Mar Kimball (whose own father, Heber C. Kimball, offered her up to his buddy as a sacrificial lamb), Nancy Winchester, Lucy Walker and Sara Lawrence.[2] All these young women ranged in age from 14-17 at the time.

The age of consent in all of the United States is age 15 or older. In most states it ranges from 16-18. Here is the current penal code for the State of Illinois, which is where Joseph Smith would be prosecuted if he were to be arrested today.

Sec. 12-13. Criminal Sexual Assault

(a) The accused commits criminal sexual assault if he or she… (4) commits an act of sexual penetration with a victim who was at least 13 years of age but under 18 years of age when the act was committed and the accused was 17 years of age or over and held a position of trust, authority or supervision in relation to the victim. (b) Sentence.
(1) Criminal sexual assault is a Class 1 felony. ..[Emphasis added]

The difference between Jeffs and Smith is not one that pertains to the individual. The only important distinction between these two “prophets of God” is the era in which they lived and committed their crimes. In the nineteenth century our legal system had not yet evolved to address sexual crimes against children. But today things have changed thanks to Texas and the jury that applied its laws, convicting Jeffs as the predator he is.

[1] Texas Penal Code §22.011. SEXUAL ASSAULT.

[2] See Richard, S. Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy: A History, 2^nd Ed. (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989) and Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: the Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997). http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/

Reality Polygamists File in Federal Court

2011-07-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

Reality rock star polygamist, Kody Brown and his four wives recently filed a lawsuit in Utah’s federal court. The suit challenges Utah’s anti-bigamy penal statute and requests that the court declare it unconstitutional. Their attorney, Jonathan Turly, Professor of constitutional law at George Washington University, is not seeking to legitimize polygamous marriages, but to avoid polygamy’s characterization as criminal conduct—smart move. Some would say this is a distinction without a difference; I see it differently.

The first hurdle the Browns will have to overcome is standing, the family has moved to Nevada and thus its members are no longer residents of Utah. Under the rules of civil procedure one needs to have a recognizable interest in a case before courts will address a complaint. Brown and his wives cannot challenge the constitutionality of Utah’s bigamy statute unless they can demonstrate that their family is in imminent danger of harm by that law. Therefore, unless Utah prosecutors still intend to prosecute the Browns, the family could lack standing.

Assuming the Browns overcome the standing issue, the disposition of this case could affect our constitutionally guaranteed right of privacy, a penumbral right (one that is not expressed verbatim but is found in the interstices of the U.S. Constitution—usually interpreted as being part of ‘liberty.’) This right has been recognized since the early twentieth century and was the basis for the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision allowing a woman’s right to abortion.

Nevertheless, Utah law has one interesting fact: in addition to its statute criminalizing bigamy, the Utah Constitution adopted in 1896, states:

ARTICLE III, Section 1: [Religious Toleration – Polygamy Forbidden].

“The following ordinance shall be irrevocable without the consent of the United States and the people of this State: First:--Perfect toleration of religious sentiment is guaranteed. No inhabitant of this State shall ever be molested in person or property on account of his or her mode of religious worship; but polygamous or plural marriages are forever prohibited.”

[Emphasis added]

This provision was adopted, no doubt in part due to the continued prosecution of polygamy in the late nineteenth century and to give the nation assurances that Utah would not continue the practice. Ordinarily, in order to amend the constitution, the Utah voting public would have to pass a proposition with a 2/3 majority allowing polygamy. On the other hand, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) could tell Utah that its laws (both constitutional and statutory) are unconstitutional under the Federal Constitution and then Utah’s laws could be changed by judicial activism.

In Reynolds v. United States, 1878, 98 U.S. 145,[i] SCOTUS reviewed the conviction of a Utah Territory resident, George Reynolds, for violation of the federal law against bigamy. Reynolds claimed the trial court erred because it failed to give his requested instruction that if the jury found Reynolds became a bigamist as a result of sincerely held religious beliefs, then he should be found not guilty. The Utah trial court wisely refused such an instruction, and also added that the anti-bigamy law was enacted for the protection of innocent women and children. In upholding the trial court’s denial of Reynolds’ proposed instruction and confirming the bigamy law as constitutional and not violative of the right to religious expression, SCOTUS acknowledged that in general, an individual’s beliefs are to be protected pursuant to the freedom of expression clause. However, when those beliefs become actions which adversely affect a secularly recognizable interest of the state, regulation was permissible and did not violate constitutional standards. Quoting Thomas Jefferson, the Court pointed out that in every educated western civilization, monogamy was recognized as the societal norm and that polygamous relationships are hurtful to women and children, “…it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order.”[ii]

The Utah Supreme Court has dealt with the polygamy issue in two relatively recent cases, State v. Green, 2004 UT 76 and State v. Holm, 2006 UT 31. In both of these decisions the Utah Supreme Court upheld Utah’s bigamy statute as being non-violative of both federal and state constitutions under Reynolds and its progeny.

However, in Lawrence v. Texas 539 U.S. 558 (2003) a 6-3 decision which struck down a Texas sodomy law, SCOTUS emphatically held that the law violated the plaintiff’s right to privacy under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Should the Browns' case reach SCOTUS, the case could become a states’ rights fight to determine morality, something that only a minority of the justices in the Lawrence opinion felt the states should retain.

The composition of the justices serving on SCOTUS has changed since the Lawrence decision. However, with regard to constitutional leanings concerning the right of privacy, perhaps not much has changed. Chief Justice Roberts has replaced Rehnquist for the conservative and both Justices Sotamayor and Kagan would likely follow the majority, if not retired Justice O’Connor’s concurrence. There is even a possibility of a more liberal opinion, building upon the precedent set in Lawrence. Although Justices Scalia and Thomas, who dissented in the Lawrence opinion, are still with us and would probably be joined by Chief Justice Roberts, that still leaves at least 5 if not 6 justices likely to side with the Browns.

If that were the case, Utah’s parochial laws regarding sexuality and even its constitutional ban of polygamy (no doubt a reactionary provision due to the intense prosecution of Utah Mormon polygamists in the early 1890s) would be jeopardized. Interesting issue. I’m hoping that the Browns don’t get kicked with a motion to dismiss by the Utah Attorney General for lack of standing. Utah County prosecutors had commenced an investigation before the Browns moved to Nevada in January, but no charges were ever filed. If the Browns’ complaint remains viable and SCOTUS grants certiorari, the high court could decide to protect the Browns’ expanded notion of an individual’s federal constitutional right to privacy, effectively overruling Utah's laws.

[i] http://supreme.justia.com/us/98/145/case.html.

[ii] Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, adopted January 16, 1786 (Original preamble in draft version) 1 Jeff. Works, 45.

The Testimony Glove—a Despicable New Brain Washing Technique?

2011-07-12T12:56:00.000-07:00

Lets all wear a white glove, just like Michael Jackson did!

http://deseretbook.com/Testimony-Glove-Only-Kristen-M-Oaks/i/5048530

“Unfortunately large numbers of people all over the world have been specifically taught in childhood not to think, because thinking would lead to questioning the certainties of the elders, and this has not been allowed in most cultures.” --- Brock Chisholm

Oh that propaganda never stops and it starts at age four! This is a feeble attempt to equate Joseph Smith, an acknowledged Lothario, with the Creator of the Universe and Jesus Christ, who if not the Son of God was certainly a stellar example of sacrifice and love of humanity. And then, to add the hollow edifices of Mormonism and the current elderly leader, a man who, but for claiming his post in the ranks for decades proves that he is nothing more than a blind follower with stamina. And for the little girls—nobody to emulate, no notice is taken.

Since obviously a book is not enough, how much more effective is the glove as a means of instilling rote verbiage in the minds of naturally inquisitive children in order to keep these young peoples’ minds focused on Mormonism’s party line and away from the natural questioning of a healthy youth. This obvious brainwashing ply should be abhorrent to even the most devout of Mormons.

This new Mormon tool enables the use of a longstanding principle of re-education: repetition. By repeating the same language or mantra over and over until it is known by heart, ignoring the cognition which should accompany such a declaration of certitude, “I know that this is the one and only true church,” etc., one is more nearly able to ensure adherence to the true-believers’ cult-like fanaticism. It has always been, in my opinion, especially mendacious to uses such a ply on the young.

When young minds are naturally inquisitive and curious, shutting them down and locking the door with meaningless absolutisms is a crime against nature, and should be one against the law of the land. The standard Mormon testimony uttered in drone-like manner by young children and usually accompanied by promptings and/or rewards from parents in order to ingrain the Religion’s credo can only be characterized as a despicable form of child abuse.

As a proponent of real education for these children, I believe that in the public schools, in either 4^th or 5^th grade, children should be instructed in a survey of world religion and philosophy, including secular humanism. Then, in junior high or middle school, an in-depth study of the many ways of viewing the world and one’s relationship to it, should be taught by qualified teachers of philosophy, epistemology and sociology. This instruction is every bit as important as mathematics and science. This instruction might just counter the one-sided fanaticism inculcated in Mormon households throughout Utah. In the meantime, here is the real meaning of the testimony glove.

Freedom to Speak your Mind: Stripping the Shackles of Censorship

2011-07-04T15:58:00.000-07:00

“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”—George Washington (1732-1799) First President of the USA.

Critics of the U.S. are everywhere. But today July 4, 2011, I am not one of them. Today I am grateful for my constitutionally-guaranteed freedom of speech. This 1^st Amendment right was originally limited to the federal government, but then in 1925, the U.S. Supreme Court wisely held that the due process guarantees of the 14^th Amendment made the 1^st Amendment applicable to state and even local governments.

I never appreciated this right until I had to use it to speak the Truth. Growing up in Utah, a Mormon theocratic state, I had never realized that the television programming, radio stations, newspapers and even what was in the school libraries and most of the book stores was censored according to LDS standards. But now the Internet has made the test for local or community standards obsolete in most cases. There are limited exceptions: for example in Davis and other conservative Utah counties, covers are used in certain grocery stores that display magazines depicting (what would be considered tasteful and not at all pornographic in most educated areas) photographs of women in bikinis or with cleavage. Thus, the local or community standard for censoring what a very conservative community might consider obscene is on its way to becoming moot; with the World Wide Web, comes a world wide-community. And so finally, Utah is losing its hold on its long-standing ability to censor.

Of course the Mormon Church guarantees no such 1^st Amendment rights to its adherents. The LDS Church is a gerontocracy, led by a cadre of 105 old men. These men are self-appointed prophets, seers, apostles, seventies, ad nauseum. These men claim to speak for God. These men claim that any who do not follow them will suffer. These men are a most arrogant and deceitful group, for they do not listen to their followers—they order them. They deceive them. And then, after having lived a life dedicated to their teachings, when their followers are so malleable and dependent on their leaders that they are ready to believe anything, they tell them the only way to heaven is through the LDS Temple gates, which pathway comes only at a heavy toll—ten percent of one’s income. These men boldly admit that “everything may be sacrificed” to maintain the integrity of the essential facts which form the basis of LDS beliefs.[1]

Where do these men get such power to censor, proscribe and lead? They claim it is directly from the Lord. However, history tells us that these men get their power from a claimed restoration of priesthood authority to Joseph Smith in the 1830s, when the evidence shows that such events never occurred!

Even Mormon academic apologist and professor at Columbia, author of Rough Stone Rolling, Richard L. Bushman, has admitted the fact that Smith mentioned nothing of John the Baptist or a reception of the holy priesthood until years after the events were supposed to have occurred. Bushman writes that: “The late appearance of these accounts raises the possibility of later fabrication.”[2] In a court of law, this lack of a contemporaneous record of an event, that is the absence of evidence, can be used as evidence that the event never occurred.

But because Mormons have been told not to read anything not endorsed or approved by their leaders, many will not even peek at another point of view. So my voice, along with the voices of the other authors, non-Mormons and former Mormons who have become disenchanted and discouraged with the true facts that have been discovered and yet continue to be covered-up by the LDS leadership, write about these things, until finally there will so much information proving that Mormonism is a fraud, that there will be no need for a trial.

The court of public opinion will have before it such a long list of damaging, undisputed facts, that a summary judgment will be granted by Mormons as well as non-Mormons and the result of such a verdict will be that the LDS Church will lose any reputation it had ever painstakingly built as an institution for the good of its members and mankind as a whole. However, its reputation as a business capable of maximizing profit from the tithes received by its investors might well remain as a matter of history; for at that, it has shown incredible skill.

And so, I am thankful that I will not be shot or killed or tortured for what I say. What I say may not be pleasant, or even popular, but neither have the messages of any of those who have tested their 1^st Amendment rights. None have been in conformity with the mainstream of public opinion.

Justice Louis Brandeis, in his opinion in Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357, 375 (1927) said in part: “…the freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think,” [is] “indispensable,” and that “the greatest menace to freedom is an inert people.” Like many of my colleagues who are engaged in the quest to expose the evils of Mormonism, I have risen out of decades of Mormon mind-controlled inertia to speak. And having spoken, and seen that some, if not many will respond to the Truth, I will not be silenced.

Thank you, my country of birth, the United States of America for my freedom to speak.

[1] “My duty as a member of the Council of the Twelve is to protect what is most unique about the LDS church, namely the authority of priesthood, testimony regarding the restoration of the gospel, and the divine mission of the Savior. Everything may be sacrificed in order to maintain the integrity of those essential facts. Thus, if Mormon Enigma reveals information that is detrimental to the reputation of Joseph Smith, then it is necessary to try to limit its influence and that of its authors.” [Emphasis Added] Statement by Dallin H. Oaks to the female author, Linda King Newell, who along with Valeen Tippetts Avery, wrote Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith, 2^nd Ed. , 1994 (Urbana: Univ. of Ill. Press/Doubleday) as noted in, Robert D. Anderson, Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith, 1999 (Salt Lake City: Signature Books) xiii, n. 28.

[2] Richard Lyman, Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, 2007 (New York: Vintage Books) 75.

Propaganda

2011-06-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

“Propaganda brought us into power. Propaganda enabled us to remain in power. Propaganda will enable us to conquer the world.”

—Adolf Hitler

Early yesterday I posted a blog critical of the “I am Mormon” advertisement blitz throughout New York City. Last evening the LDS-owned Desert News posted a piece by Joe Walker addressing the same topic: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700147893/LDS-advertising-campaign-elicits-significant-increase-in-website-visitors.html The article implies that an increase in website traffic to www.mormon.org means that the ad campaign has been received favorably by its target audience. As usual, the Deseret News is acting as the propaganda arm of the LDS Church, spinning random, scattered facts and feeding misinformation to the locals.

In recent years, the Mormon Utah paper’s outright attempts at censorship have been outrageous. In 2010, a piece in their ‘Church section,’ (no specific author was credited) advised LDS Church members to refrain from searching outside sources for their Sunday school lesson materials. “Use proper sources,” depicted a mother-daughter scene where mother is struggling to prepare a Church lesson, books strewn across her table.[1] Daughter asks her mother why she doesn’t just teach from the LDS Church manual. "Why," she asks, "are you trying to boil down information? An inspired Church-writing committee has already done that for you." Mom, apparently a little dense in this scenario, looks confused. Daughter goes on to explain that all she needs to teach is in the approved manual which has been ‘correlated’ by the Brethren “…to ensure purity of doctrine, simplicity of materials, and control by the priesthood.” Mother’s concern disappears from her brow. She is relieved that the work has been done for her and she closes her books, shuts down her internet browser and returns from her brief, thinking escape, to the land of the unquestioning.[2]

This newspaper has been the media organ for the mainstream Mormon Church in the State of Utah for more than a century and a half. In the early Twentieth Century, one-time U.S. senator Frank Jenne Cannon, son of late 19^th century LDS leader George Q., acknowledged its perverse power when he wrote that [the Deseret Evening News is] “…one of the most dishonest, unjust and mendacious organs that ever poisoned the public mind.”[3] Additionally, the authors of The Mormon Corporate Empire noted: “The Deseret News is not held in high esteem by its counterparts.” During the investigation for their book, they “…encountered some very unflattering descriptions of it by other newspaper publishers in Utah and surrounding states.” [4]

Almost a century ago, the father of public relations, Edward Bernays, put it aptly when he wrote: “If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without them knowing it.”[5] Mormonism, from its very inception, is a good example of propaganda in practice. As economist Frank Knight acknowledged, a theocracy is more effective than a purely secular autocracy because in the former style of government, “the victims may not feel coerced at all.” [6] Propaganda is alive and well in Utah.

[1] “Use Proper Sources,” Deseret News, January 9, 2010 http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/58411/Use-proper-sources.html

[2] Ibid.

[3] Cannon, Frank Jenne & O’Higgins, Harvey J. (1911) Under the Prophet in Utah, the National Menace of a Political Priestcraft. (Reprint, Lexington: Forgotten Books, 2008) 201.

[4] John Heinerman and Anson Shupe, The Mormon Corporate Empire (Boston: Beacon Press, 1985) 264, n. 33.

[5] Edward L. Bernays, Propaganda (New York: Horace Liveright Publishing House, 1928) 71.

[6] Frank H. Knight, “Professor Heimann on Religion and Economics,” Journal of Political Economy 56 (December 1948) 485.

"...I am Mormon."

2011-06-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

Oh those “I am Mormon” ads, have you seen the latest? Created to bolster Mormonism’s image after the Church was criticized for its openly anti-gay marriage stance, these corny plugs originally aired in nineteen television markets outside the Mormon Corridor. Then, within days of the Tony Awards, LDS PR determined how best to spin the “The Book of Mormon's” success and parked "I am Mormon" advertisements near the Musical’s debut venue, the Eugene O'Neill Theater.

Big bucks have been spent in Times Square: electronic billboards, taxi tops and NY subways—telling the world that Mormonism produces normal, happy people. Trouble is Mormon leaders, if you have to advertise your religion, we know you are losing customers.

I think LDS leaders are wasting their members’ hard-earned tithing on this transparent marketing effort. Arguably, the net effect is hurting, not helping the country's opinion of Mormons and their religion. What do you think?