Aug 19 2010

Racism Part 3b: Religion

Mormonism is no more ‘Christian’ than Islam.

Now the things I’m going to tell you about Mormonism may seem unfair, but they are core principles of the faith and I personally don’t think they’re more ridiculous than any other religion.  I’m using Wikipedia as my source where I can because, however much you may despise the depth of its scholarship, its contentious nature means that what is presented is generally agreed on (except for temporary aberrations like Colbert’s Elephant).

First of all, Mormons worship the God of Abraham, just like Jews, Christians, and (gasp) Muslims.

Like Islam, it is a Restorationist religion which believes that priesthood authority was lost and the text of the Bible changed.  This condition of Apostacy was rectified by a special revelation to a new prophet succeeding Jesus of Nazareth.

The story of the Mormons starts about 600 BC when a man named Lehi, his family, and several others are led by God from Jerusalem shortly before the fall of that city to the Babylonians in 586 BC.  After some wandering around the Arabian Peninsula they travel by sea to a new promised land- the Americas.

There’s some serious debate among scholars of Mormonism whether the events described take place in Central or Northern America and there is also a description (the Book of Ether) of an earlier migration by a group of Jews from Babylon called the Jaredites around 2500 B.C.  “The Jaredites grew to become a civilization that exceeded two million people just prior to their destruction.  They finally destroyed themselves about the time Lehi and the other refugees from Jerusalem arrived in America.”

Lehi and his refugees soon divided into two camps, the Nephi and the Lamanites, and they were almost constantly at war.

In the 3rd Book of Nephi there is a description of a miraculous visitation by Jesus of Nazareth after his death, resurrection, and assumption where he personally communicates the ‘Good News’ of the Gospel to the Nephi and for several generations after that there is peace.

The Book of Mormon as a whole is an account of the life of Mormon, the last great warrior king of the Nephi who is said to have written most of it (some transcribed from other records), and his son Moroni who finished it and hid it after the final defeat of the Nephi around 350 AD.

The chronology of Jesus of Nazareth’s visitations to America (North or Central) is somewhat confused as he appeared not only around the generally accepted dates of his life (say 33 BC to 50 AD) but also to the Jaredites some 2500 years previous and to Lehi and his followers shortly after their arrival some 600 years before he was even born.

It’s a miracle.

There is no God but God and Mohammed is his Prophet.

Now I’ll try not to be as harsh on Joe Smith Jr. as Sam Clemens.  If a man tells me he’s hefted something, I’m willing to believe it.

However.

Accepting the story at face value, the last Nephi and Lamanite died 1000 years before Columbus sailed the ocean blue and 1300 years before Joe Jr. dug up those tablets in Palmyra, New York and translated them from ‘reformed Egyptian’ with the aid of the Ghost of Angel Moroni.

It will take someone with much tougher theological chops than I (and as you can see I have some) to explain to me the difference between that and Mohammed’s revelations in a desert cave.

When you listen to Glenn Beck, or Mitt Romney, or Harry Reid, remember that these truths are articles of faith to them that they believe as firmly as you believe in the Miracle of the Menorah, the Resurrection of Christ, that Mohammed ascended to heaven with the angel Gabriel, or that Siddhartha Gautama sat under a lotus tree.

rustymancuso581

16 comments

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  1. I expect there will be some.

    Well, you can look it up.

  2. You don’t believe that Jesus is capable of time travel?  I assure you that He can go anywhere in our 6000-year history any time He wants to!

    Now, I’m usually not too keen on toleratin’ other religions, but ya gotta admit that any religion that puts Jesus in America is gettin’ the jump on Christianity.  The vast amount of archaeological evidence for the early Mormon tribes in America speaks for itself.  But it’s the common sense of it that strikes me rather than the science (didn’t see that comin’, did ya?):

    In 421 A.D., the Nephites, descendents of the original settlers, were wiped out by the Lamanites, a dark-skinned people who supposedly were ancestors of the American Indians. This is an astonishing tale that fits in very well with the general outlook in the early 1800s on the American wilderness. As American settlers pushed west into New York State and into the Ohio River Valley, they actually did see evidence of an ancient civilization – although not one from Jerusalem. These people saw giant earthworks, massive burial mounds, and stone forts sitting above streams and rivers. These structures, now believed to have been constructed by an early American Indian people collectively called the Mound Builders, were thought to be definitive evidence of an ancient white race. The general theory of the time was that the Indians had killed off this sophisticated white race. The Book of Mormon describes this myth in great detail.

    I admit the whole “golden plates” thing is a little out there.  But the idea that dark-skinned Indians wiped out a holy race of white patriots could have played well to the Tea Partiers in Joseph Smith’s time.

    Also the idea of screwin’ multiple wives would have appealed to old white guys.

  3. Mormonism makes about as much sense as Scientology.

    (a) Joseph Smith was a carny.

    (b) L. Ron Hubbard was a science fiction writer.

    Both decided to pursue careers by inventing new religions.

    Call me a cynic.  I love the Angel Moroni, though.

    Break it down:  Moron, I

  4. …all in all, but there is this:

    LDS Church Endorses protections for LGBT individuals in Housing and Employment

    The Foundation for Reconciliation/LDSapology.org is thrilled that the LDS Church was able to find common ground with the LGBT community by officially endorsing a Salt Lake City non-discrimination ordinance today that includes basic protections in housing and employment for LGBT individuals. Peter Danzig, the Foundation’s communications director stated “this grew out of conversations the LDS Church recently began with leaders in the LGBT community. This demonstrates the power that just beginning to talk with each other can have. We have a lot of common ground.”

    “We hope this is just the first of many more such opportunities” stated the Foundation’s director Cheryl Nunn. “Just 6 days prior to their announcement today we met with a Church representative following our handcart trek and presented him with our Plea for Reconciliation Petition. This is precisely the type of action we were advocating for.”

    Janeen Thompson, a member of the Foundation’s executive committee said “This is precisely the type of dialogue and action I was hoping for from my Church. I feel like this is big step in the right direction.”

    “The Foundation has written to Church officials requesting just such a private dialogue to discuss their concerns” Stated Cheryl Lee Nunn, “This gives me hope that such conversations can and do happen.”

    The Foundation for Reconciliation is an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for reconciliation between the LDS and LGBT community. More information is available at http://www.LDSapology.org.

    For some reason they send me updates.

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