Tag Archives | Mormons

Mormon Founder Joseph Smith Had Up to 40 Wives

By majestic on November 11, 2014 in News 0

Rhoda Richards Smith Young, one of Joseph Smith’s wives

The Mormons may try to downplay bigamy as a part of their “religion,” but founder Joseph Smith had up to 40 wives reports the New York Times:

Mormon leaders have acknowledged for the first time that the church’s founder and prophet, Joseph Smith, portrayed in church materials as a loyal partner to his loving spouse Emma, took as many as 40 wives, some already married and one only 14 years old.

The church’s disclosures, in a series of essays online, are part of an effort to be transparent about its history at a time when church members are increasingly encountering disturbing claims about the faith on the Internet. Many Mormons, especially those with polygamous ancestors, say they were well aware that Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, practiced polygamy when he led the flock in Salt Lake City. But they did not know the full truth about Smith.

… Read the rest

The Mormon Church Is Building a Family Tree of the Entire Human Race

By majestic on October 15, 2014 in News 0

Before you decide that this is completely insane, consider that the Mormon Church already has 32 times the amount of information stored at the Library of Congress. The New Republic excerpts Christine Kenneally’s new book, The Invisible History of the Human Race: How DNA and History Shape Our Identities and Our Futures:

Mormons think as hard as, probably harder than, anyone else in the world about what it means to keep facts alive, or at least to keep them accessible to the living, and the phenomenon they have built out of granite, microfilm, machines, and software is as mind-bogglingly ambitious for our century as the flying buttresses and gargoyles of Notre Dame were in the twelfth century.

The Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Photo: Cookiecaper (CC)

Even as a large branch of American genealogy sheared off at the turn of the twentieth century into a mad eugenic scheme to reshape the human race, the Mormons got on with their mission to gather and share records.

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Ordain Women leader Excommunicated By Mormon Church

By Matt Staggs on June 28, 2014 in News 2

Book O fMormon Apparently, the Mormons, like many Judeo-Christian-derived faiths, believe that the penis is God’s antenna: If you don’t have one, you won’t be able to tune in to the latest updates from the Lord’s all-talk radio station in the sky.

Not being especially religious myself, it’s hard for me to understand how upsetting it might be to be tossed out of your church, but were I this woman, I’d wear an excommunication from the Mormons like a badge of honor.

The Mormon church has ex-communicated the founder of a prominent women’s group for “conduct contrary” to its laws and order, according to an email cited Monday by the woman involved.

Kate Kelly, a founder of Ordain Women, said in a blog that she had been informed of her ouster after an all-male panel held a disciplinary trial over her case on Sunday.

The panel convicted her of the charge of apostasy, she said, and has decided to excommunicate her, the most serious punishment that can be levied by a church court.

… Read the rest

Meeting The Latter Day Saints On Acid

By majestic on February 6, 2014 in News 8

Have you ever been lured into a Mormon temple by those nice clean cut young men who accost you on the sidewalk outside the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints”? Bet you didn’t decide to do so while on acid, but that’s just what Troy Farah did, recounting his tale for Vice:

No religion is complete without a little mystery—Catholicism with its Immaculate Conception, Scientology with its OT Levels, Buddhism with its Nirvana. It goes without saying that the Latter-day Saints have their share of enigmatic rituals. Some Christian fundamentalists are quick to point out the esoteric beliefs of the LDS church, including the ideas that Mormons become gods of their own planets when they reach one of three heavens, that Jesus vacationed in the Americas, and that they once sort of had a thing against black people.

The Mormon obsession with building gigantic temples around the globe also raises some eyebrows in non-believers, owing to the secrecy of whatever goes on inside.

… Read the rest

British Judge Orders Mormon Leader to Prove Faith

By Matt Staggs on February 5, 2014 in News 12

PIC: Brian Tibbetts (CC)

This is probably nothing more than a stunt, but at least it’s an amusing one…

Via Raw Story:

A disgruntled former Mormon has convinced an English court to file two summonses to appear against Thomas S. Monson, the current president of the Mormon Church.

Tom Phillips based his complaint on the Fraud Act of 2006, a British law that outlaws making a profit off of false representations. According to Phillips, this is precisely what the Mormon Church does — it uses statements it knows to be factually untrue in order to secure tithes from members of the Church.

The facts in question, court records show, are tenets of the Mormon faith, including that Joseph Smith translated The Book of Mormon from ancient gold plates, that Native Americans are descendants of a family of Israelites, and that death didn’t exist on this planet until 6,000 years ago.

“These are not statements of mere ‘beliefs’ or opinions or theories,” Phillips wrote.

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The Psychic Mormon Dream Mine In The Mountains Of Utah

By JacobSloan on May 25, 2013 in News 11

Via Utah.gov, the bizarre story behind the “Dream Mine” built by a nineteenth-century Mormon bishop-prophet famed for his dreams that predicted the future:

The so-called Dream Mine is located east of Salem in Utah County.

In August 1894, John H. Koyle experienced a dream in which he was visited by a figure from another world. The visitor carried him to a high mountain east of Koyle’s house and into the mountain, showing him the various strata and explaining the meaning of the minerals. The visitor showed Koyle an ancient “Nephite” mine with large rooms of mined-out ore bodies. The rooms contained treasure and artifacts of an extinct civilization.

Koyle was instructed that he was to open a mine and extract gold for the welfare of “his” people. The riches would be found and released to him and his followers during a time of world crisis. The wealth would be spread to others through Koyle and the people organized around the mine.

… Read the rest

Rewriting the Books of Mormon to Allow Black People

By majestic on March 18, 2013 in News 15

Modern Mormons are only slightly embarrassed about their founder Joseph Smith’s belief in polygamy, but they are definitely freaked out by the very public ban on Black people in their “church.” What do to? Rewrite their “scriptures” of course! NPR reports:

…The two biggest additions to the new edition of Mormon scripture can be found in the book of Doctrine and Covenants, says Givens, a professor of literature and religion at the University of Richmond, and they deal specifically with the church’s original ban on black priesthood ordination and polygamy.

Givens says Joseph Smith himself ordained black members of the church to the priesthood. But after Smith’s death, beginning in the late 1840s, Brigham Young apparently charted a new direction in terms, and began what became known as “the ban,” under which people of African-American ancestry were not permitted to hold the priesthood or to participate in temple ordinances.

“That was a policy that remained in place until 1978.

… Read the rest

Conservative Mormon Senator Busted for DUI

By Matt Staggs on December 25, 2012 in News 3

Conservative Republican Senator Michael Crapo (R-ID) was arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning after failing a roadside sobriety test. Crapo, a Mormon, has stated publicly that he abstains from alcohol.

A mea culpa has already been issued:

I am deeply sorry for the actions that resulted in this circumstance. I made a mistake for which I apologize to my family, my Idaho constituents and any others who have put their trust in me. I accept total responsibility and will deal with whatever penalty comes my way in this matter. I will also undertake measures to ensure that this circumstance is never repeated.

Who the hell says “I am deeply sorry for the actions that resulted in this circumstance” anyway? A guy who probably isn’t going to have a political career for much longer, that’s who. Crapo, indeed.

Keep reading.

… Read the rest

Canadian Polygamist Cult Lives In Former Ski Resort Compound

By JacobSloan on November 19, 2012 in News 5

Canada’s CTV News on a bizarre breakaway sect of Mormonism tucked away in a remote Ontario valley, ruled by a violent, domineering man dubbed the “Prophet” who inherited control of the sex cult from his father:

Carol Christie was 18 when she says her mother, an unstable religious fanatic, drugged and manipulated her into “marrying” Stan King, a charismatic preacher more than twice her age. In the early seventies Stan established his own fundamentalist Mormon sect. His followers called him The Prophet.

Carol moved into King’s farmhouse, and joined his legal wife, and two other “church wives” — one of whom was only 14. According to Carol, Stan had a fondness for group sex. And as time passed, she says King bedded three more “wives” ranging in age from 10 to 17.

In 1977, the church started a printing company in Mississauga, Ont. Within five years, King and his followers bought a 200-acre property, a bankrupt ski resort, simply rechristened “The Property.” They planned to build a temple there, high on a hill.

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