It is common and unsurprising for anti-Mormons to attack the character of the Prophet Joseph Smith. By doing so they can elicit fury from among their co-believers and engender confusion and hatred among the ignorant. A common tactic I have encountered recently is the argument that even if Joseph Smith wasn’t a pedophile (an accusation I have disproven elsewhere and a link to which will be in this article) they nevertheless argue that because some of his plural marriages were to people significantly younger than him those marriages were necessarily abusive by default because of the differing levels of maturity and therefore power and equality present in the relationship. In this article I dismantle this argument and evaluate its accusations and assumptions in the light of what we know of the culture and history of the era that the Prophet Joseph Smith lived in. Ultimately, I demonstrate that for multiple reasons this argument is incorrect and nothing but a fallacious act of presentism that has little to do with Joseph Smith or the times he lived in.
Tag: marriage
Review- Robert Heinlein’s “Job: A Comedy of Justice”
In this first entry in my irregular book review series, I sit down to review Robert A. Heinlein’s “Job: A Comedy of Justice.” Heinlein is considered one of the greatest science-fiction writers in history whose influence can be felt all across the spectrum of Western culture, including in art, television, books, and literature. His writings explore ideas of individualism, society, community, faith, religion, sex, and human rights.
In “Job: A Comedy of Justice,” Heinlein adapts the classic biblical poem of Job into a modern tale set in the late 90s where a man and woman are being hurled through parallel universes at random as reality begins to collapse in the face of the oncoming End of Days and Final Judgment. In my review I cover the story of the book itself, examine the ideas of liberty and human rights that story espouses, study Heinlein’s prose, and evaluate how Heinlein’s need to proselytize for his own radical religious and sexual ideals affects the character and storytelling.
This book has Heinlein at his best and his worst and I explore it all.
How Mormonism Can Change The World
What would a society where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was one of the major influences on everything look like? How would it function? What would it mean for rich people? For poor people? For property owners? For homeless people? For politicians? For the public? What would it look like in terms of sex, marriage, and children? What would its economy look like? If we could carry out a generations long experiment with the effects of Mormonism on a nation, what would be the end results and how would they stack up against other places with such a heavy Latter-day Saint influence? Our critics would have us believe that it would be a dystopian nightmare. Are they right? What proof otherwise do we have? Well, as it turns out, quite a lot.
Was Joseph Smith A Pedophile?
Anti-Mormons like to hurl the accusation that Joseph Smith was a pedophile at members as a way to attack their faith. The facts of history say otherwise though.