'J' is for Joseph Smith - by Bob McCue



Artist's renditon...



Possible photograph > you decide...

Joseph Smith Jr., Mormonism's founding prophet, was born at Sharon, Vermont of hard-scrabble farm stock on December 23, 1805. His recent 200th year birthday celebration coupled with Mitt Romney's bid for the US presidency accounts for Mormonism's recent publicity. Most of this shows Mormons at their clean-cut best, and Mormons generally deserve their hardworking, pleasant image. However, the story of Joseph Smith and how Mormonism came to be illustrates the often tenuous connection between appearance and reality, and the "butterfly effect" - the way in which seemingly insignificant events within complex systems (such as human social systems) can have monumental consequences.

Smith and his family moved from Vermont to upstate New York. In the early 1800s, this frontier area was awash in religious fervor in what has been labeled by historians as the "Second Great Awakening". Joseph Smith was one of many during this period who claimed that God appeared to him. Smith said that God also commanded him not to join any church because they were all "abominations", and that God later sent John the Baptist as well as Peter, James and John to give Smith the exclusive authority to establish, and lead, God's Kingdom on Earth.

Smith claimed that God regularly sent angels to visit and instruct him in divine affairs. One of these angels, Moroni, had been a prophet of God on the American continent around 400 C.E. Smith said that Moroni visited him on many occasions, and eventually gave him a set of thin sheets of gold on which a sacred book was written in "reformed Egyptian", a now unknown language. This book, which came to be known as the Book of Mormon, is believed by orthodox Mormons to be a real history recorded by prophets who had direct communication with God. It purports to recount the relationship between God, His prophets and an Israelite people who came from Jerusalem to live in the Americas in roughly 600 B.C.E. and are the ancestors of the Amerindians. This story was consistent with an idea that was widespread during the 18th and 19th centuries - that the Amerindians were somehow descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel, or otherwise connected to the Hebrew people.

The production of the Book of Mormon was taken by some as proof of Smith's divine calling. Largely as a result of this book's publication, on April 6, 1830 a church that is now called "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (the Mormon Church) was established. Add to this basic plot lots of sex, violence, deception, a run for the U.S. Presidency, a claim that Smith was the "King of the Earth", several mass migrations and millions of clean living people who today revere Smith as second in importance to only Jesus Christ, and we have quite a story.

The Book of Mormon is a particularly important piece in the Mormon puzzle, as well as a fascinating social artifact. Mormons believe that the teachings the Book of Mormon contains are God's most reliable word to us, and that we should use that book to guide our lives more than any other. And most importantly, Mormons believe that since Joseph Smith created the Book of Mormon, its literal truthfulness is proof that all of Smith's other important teachings are also true.

As time passes science continues to produce evidence relevant to world the Book of Mormon says existed between 600 B.C.E. and 400 C.E. in the Americas. This evidence contradicts the Book of Mormon in much the way in which science produced a flood of evidence in support of Galileo and contrary to Catholic dogma.

For example, recent DNA research related to the ancestry of the Amerindians indicates that it is extremely improbable that they descended from Israelite stock. Rather, this research confirms what scientists have thought for some time - that the Amerindians descend from Asians who migrated to North America over 10,000 years ago. Even minute traces of Israelite DNA would be detectable in the modern Amerindian gene pool, and none have been found. Some leading Mormon scientists admit that there is no scientific evidence to support the Mormon dogma that Amerindians descended from the Israelites, while there is much evidence against this theory.

DNA evidence is only one among thousands of evidentiary strokes against the Book of Mormon. Continued belief in the literal historicity of that book is now nearly as indefensible as belief in a roughly 6,000 year old Earth. It is interesting to observe Young Earth Creationists roll their eyes with regard to the "naïve" Mormon beliefs about the Book of Mormon, while Mormons do the same with regard to Young Earth Creationist foundational beliefs. Social proof and other cognitive biases provide the best explanation for the tenacity of unjustifiable beliefs of this kind.

Many naturalistic theories exist regarding how the Book of Mormon came to be. The evidence now favours the idea that this book is primarily the creation of Sidney Rigdon. He was a Campbellite preacher with a well-known agenda for the reform of Christianity who was involved in a power struggle within the "Restorationist" movement that eventually gave rise to the Churches of Christ, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses and other religious groups. Evidence based on recent historical research, as well as the use of cutting edge "wordprint" computer programs (programs that look for the use of linguistic patterns that are as individually characteristic as fingerprints), point to Rigdon as the Book of Mormons' most probable author, as well helping to identify various sources that Rigdon probably plagiarized to make the book's creation easier. Courtesy of this research and the Internet, Mormons are now faced with a crisis similar to that with which the Seventh Day Adventists recently had to deal when incontrovertible evidence came to light respecting Ellen White's plagiarism while writing a number of her purported divine revelations. She was their founding prophet.

It appears that Rigdon recruited Smith since he needed someone to act as the Book of Mormon's creator - a prophet cut from the same powerful, rough cloth as many Biblical figures. Smith's proven skills as a great story teller with a powerful, charismatic presence qualified him for this task. The book itself was intended by Rigdon and Smith to be classic pseudepigrapha - pretend scripture designed to persuade more effectively than would the real author's words. There is nothing new in this. Significant parts of the Old and New Testaments, for example, are believed by scholars to have come into being in this fashion.

Rigdon, as is the case with most pseudepigraphists, seems to have justified deceiving the public with regard to the Book of Mormon's origins on the basis that his lie was "noble" in the sense that it brought people to the true (according to Rigdon) belief in Christ. The Book of Mormon itself, in various ways, condones this ends justifies the means philosophy.

Rigdon appeared at Smith's side soon after the Book of Mormon was published, and immediately began to play the role of Smith's key advisor, administrator, theologian and spokesman. Mormonism's initial ideological foundation was ideally suited to Rigdon's program of Christian reform, likely because Rigdon created it for that purpose.

However, Smith proved a better student and far bigger fish than Rigdon had estimated. Within a short time, he took over from Rigdon and expelled him from Mormonism. Rigdon returned on a basis that left Smith clearly in charge. And from there, Smith guided Mormonism haphazardly along various radical ideological and social axes that took it far from what Rigdon had intended, as set out in the Book of Mormon.

The best way to understand much of Smith's behavior is by thinking in crisis management terms. He struggled to control his followers, including ambitious people like Rigdon. The tougher the spot Smith was in, the more likely it was that he would pull some amazing, divine story out of his hat. On various occasions, he used this kind of misdirection trick to head off challenges to his leadership.

For example, when some Egyptian mummies happened to come through town as part of a traveling exhibition during a challenge to Smith's leadership, he purported to receive a revelation from God that papyri housed with the mummies were the writings of Abraham. He then persuaded some Mormons to purchase the mummies and papyri for him, and set about translating in the same fashion as he had said he translated the Book of Mormon. The resulting documents became known as the Book of Abraham, and are still officially accepted by Mormons as God's literal word. However, when scholars developed the ability to read Egyptian it was soon determined that these papyri were ordinary Egyptian burial texts that had no rationally discernable connection to Abraham. The Mormon response - that the papyri caused Smith to receive a revelation from God that had nothing to do with the texts in front of him. While this may be so (as it also may be that alien abductions regularly occur; that the Earth is 6,000 years old, or that God is an omniscient pink unicorn who hides behind the moon), it is without doubt far from what the Mormons at the time Smith "translated" the papyri understood him to mean when he told them amazing stories, based on his translation, that confirmed that the Mormons had God's exclusive mandate as His chosen people, Smith's had God's exclusive mandate as God's prophet, etc.

Though the scholarly analysis of Smith's so-called translation of the Books of Abraham and Moses has been available since the 1970s, the Internet is just now putting it into the hands of many Mormons, and rocking their faith at the foundation. That is, if Smith was so certain about his translation, and wrong, what else did he seem certain about and get wrong as well?

In any event, it appears more and more probable as time passes that the Book of Mormon is not real history. This makes it likely to be mythology in the classic sense - one of the sacred stories that are used by a people to explain the world in which they live, to provide meaning to individual life, and to act as social glue. Joseph Campbell, the legendary comparative mythologist, said that to perform this function a mythology must answer the most important individual and collective questions the members of a social group have, such as why do we exist?; why do we suffer?; and what happens after death?. And, the mythology must be believable in light of all of the other ideas that the group accepts as "true". Campbell also said, with tongue only partly in cheek, that mythology is "other people's religion".

The Book of Mormon does not fare well as mythology in today's world of rapidly shrinking intellectual and information borders. Mormon leaders have held expectations unrealistically high by trying to sell the book as literal history. When it fails this test for the reasons set out above, the book becomes unbelievable and hence dysfunctional as mythology. And worse, many of the ideas the Book of Mormon contains belie its 19th century origins. They are overly authoritarian, monistic, utopian, misogynist, racist, sexist, and flawed in countless other respects. It is hence a good thing that the Book of Mormon is not credible. Believing it, even metaphorically, would likely do more harm than good.

The Book of Mormon is, as Mormons will still tell you, the acid test for both Joseph Smith and Mormonism itself. However, there is a simpler way to deal with Smith, which was alluded to above. That is, ask one simple question: Was Joseph Smith trustworthy? That is, should we believe what Smith tells us in the absence of solid, third party corroboration? Or better yet, would a non-Mormon who knew about Smith's history trust him with a significant amount of money or something of similar importance?

Smith was a charismatic con man before he became a religious leader. Among other things, he claimed to see buried treasure by looking into a small brown stone. He put on such a good show in this regard that people paid him to find the treasure that he saw on their property. Some of these eventually became unhappy enough with Smith in this regard to take him to court where he was charged with fraud. This seemed to cool his enthusiasm for treasure seeking. He even promised his father-in-law that he would go straight. And then he claimed to find the golden plates that became the Book of Mormon, and began his religious career under Rigdon's tutelage.

Smith's stature as prophet - the alpha male within his little community - helped him to seduce many women. What he eventually called polygamous marriages were often little more than clandestine sexual affairs. Several of Smith's over thirty "wives" were young girls; others were already married and remained so while secretly seeing Smith. In a few cases, Smith sent husbands out of town on Mormon business before telling their wives that God wished them to become part of what amounted to a secret harem. Rumors of adultery and polygamy swirled around Smith as he allowed other Mormon leaders to join him in this secret practice. Meanwhile, for over a decade, Smith and the others denied their involvement with polygamy, or "spiritual wifery" as it was then often called.

Smith's classic and predictable alpha male sexual behavior, plus the requirement for justification within a particular religious framework, thus gave rise to the institution of Mormon polygamy. This formed Mormonism's backbone for nearly a century; brought my family into existence (my great-great-grandparents were polygamists) and continues to warp lives today within the Fundamentalist Mormon community.

While Smith sometimes admitted error, he excused his most serious deceptions on the basis that God told him to lie. This continued his ends justify the means behavior. "The people are not ready to accept polygamy, so they must not be told about it ...". And in his purported revelations from God, Smith said that God also deceives us when this is for our good.

Disillusioned Mormons left Smith in droves as reality collided with his grandiose claims. However, his emphasis on secrecy hid his deceptions until many were too entrenched to easily leave. And as great salesmen tend to do, he continued to attract new followers even as many others were heading out the back door. Then as Mormonism began to stumble over the public disclosure of polygamy and other excesses that are largely attributable directly to Joseph Smith, he was murdered.

After Smith's death his followers splintered as Mormon leaders fought to be his successor. Brigham Young led the largest group to the Utah desert where they grew into mainstream Mormonism in a harsh environment where the Mormon hallmarks of good neighbourliness and hard work were essential to survival. For Mormon leaders like Young, a mythologized Smith was as useful as Smith's real history was troubling. Again, there is nothing unusual in this. Similar phenomena are visible in virtually every culture. In particular, the lore surrounding figures like Buddha, Mohammed and Christ show the same pattern as that related to Smith. We seem to need heroes, and create them out of whatever material we have at hand.

So inconvenient facts were suppressed so that Smith's deceptions were not widely understood even within the scholarly community until long after Mormonism reached critical mass as an American subculture. Once this happened, historical scandal would have no more than a marginal effect.

Ironically, it was likely Smith's murder and the removal of the bulk of the Mormon group to the Utah desert that saved Mormonism from oblivion. In Utah under the bunker mentality produced by the persecution brought down on Mormon heads largely by Smith's erratic behavior, Mormonism attracted large numbers of converts from Europe with the promise of abundant land and a chance to participate in the American dream. While in near isolation for half a century, Mormonism developed the social critical mass scholars now point toward as an essential condition for long lived social groups.

Mormonism's momentum today is due in part to over a century of tithing (orthodox Mormons donate over 10% of the annual income to the Mormon Church) that has made it a financial juggernaut that would rank well up the Fortune 500 were it a business corporation. This enables Mormons to purchase first class public relations expertise, as well as other forms of social status in American terms. Madison Avenue supercharges Mormon myth-making.

Even great advertising, however, cannot resolve the painful tension between the stories that underpin Mormon life and historical reality now available at a few mouse-clicks. Mormon leaders emphasize that Mormons should avoid information that questions their faith and rely instead on the warm feelings felt while worshipping that confirm Mormon beliefs. The certainty that such feelings are God's voice and hence the most trustworthy evidence of reality leaves Mormons susceptible to many kinds of emotional manipulation and is likely responsible in part for Utah's high rate of anti-depressant consumption, personal bankruptcy, suicide and other dysfunctional social behaviors.

Mormonism's highest leaders today are accomplished, sincere men. Gordon Hinckley, Mormonism's prophet, is particularly impressive in this regard. However, they seem to suffer from Joseph Smith's principal flaw - they systematically deceive when telling Mormonism's story and use belief based on false premises to extract enormous amounts of time and money from their followers. This is a modern version of Plato's "noble lie" - the lie told by wise leaders to get followers to do what the leaders believe is best - to follow those who are self-appointed as God's chosen leaders.

Joseph Smith's shadow still falls heavily on Mormonism. And while his followers are noted for their sincerity, strong moral and family values, community spirit, and other good things, their word about Mormonism's reality is like Smith's - unreliable.

Based on what we see now, it is tempting to predict that Mormonism will become less reliant on Joseph Smith and more reliant on another murky historical figure, Jesus Christ. The historical trail is colder there, and most religions learned long ago not to make claims that pit them against science. This is a contest religion almost always loses.

So, we might say, look for Mormons to gradually accept that the Book of Mormon is mythology; to forget about its troubling aspects (have you read the Old Testament lately?); to focus on the stories it tells that support what Mormon society wishes to become; and to otherwise continue to re-create its mythological foundation. Most religious traditions, including Mormonism, have lots of material to work with in this regard. And many others (including some lesser known branches of Mormonism, the Seventh Day-Adventists, some Mennonites and other more traditional Protestants) have already gone down this road. So, this is Mormonism's most probable path.

However, complex adaptive systems theory tells us to expect novel properties to continue to emerge from social systems as long as they have access to the resources required to continue to grow. Mormonism's history illustrates this principle beautifully. And now, as Mormonism reacts to a flood of newly available information about its origins, we should expect to encounter more unpredictable twists in the road. No one can tell where this will lead.

But here's hoping that in any event most Mormons will continue to become less dogmatic and more independent minded, while not losing their neighborliness. A big part the motivation for this change is the consequence of getting to know more about the reality of Joseph Smith, and accepting his unreliability, and by extension, the unreliability of all Mormon leaders who came after him. This hard truth has pushed many a Mormon into the painful birth canal through which we come to a more reality based, and hence mature, spiritual point of view.