The Latter-day Liberator

Tag: William Lloyd Garrison

When You Should Overthrow The Government

Posted on by William H. Douglas

What is the purpose of government? What separates a just government from an unjust government?

What is the difference between a good government and a bad one?
What ideas should a good government be based upon? How can you tell when a government has gone bad?

When should you be loyal to a government? How long does it command your loyalties?

When should you resist it? When should you rebel against it?
When should you tear it down entirely?

This article answers all these questions and more.

This is how we resurrect a free society.

What To The Latter-day Saint is the Fourth of July?

Posted on by William H. Douglas

I find nothing to celebrate on the Fourth of July. It, like all nationalist holidays, is nothing more than the largest, loudest, and obnoxious propaganda program that has ever existed. Through all the parades, fireworks, and barbeques, people rarely ask what exactly are they so effulgently praising and whether or not the should be doing it. As a result, they reaffirm their loyalty to and love for one of the most violent, bloody, and dangerous regimes in the world, one responsible for murdering over 6 million civilians in the last 20 years. The great William Lloyd Garrison called such devotion, “the latest and the most terrible form of idolatry,” and he was correct. As this article explains, it is in direct opposition to the commandments of God and the direction of His prophets.

What About The Ages Differences Between Joseph Smith And His Wives?

Posted on by William H. Douglas

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.

Great Profiles in Courage: William Lloyd Garrison in Baltimore Jail

Posted on by William H. Douglas

History is full of examples of great men and women defying society and state to stand for what is right, good, and true against the injustices, corruption, greed, and violence of the world. This is the first in what will be an irregular series designed to help highlight some of these important, powerful, but sometimes unknown stands, the heroes and heroines who took them, and the lessons we can learn to apply in for our lives today.

This first article highlights the experience of one of our heroes, William Lloyd Garrison. He was one of the loudest, clearest, and most powerful voices for the immediate ending of slavery and his newspaper, The Liberator, was the beating heart of the abolitionist movement. But in 1830, when he was imprisoned for libel because he dared to tell the truth about a local merchant’s participation in the slave trade, he wasn’t influential or well-known. So when faced with a court case against a much wealthier corrupt opponent he did what many other poor people did – he went to jail. Rather than back down, recant the truth, and abandon the cause of justice. Garrison chose to go to prison. This is the story of Garrison’s defiance of the law and social custom, his persecution for it, and the lessons we can learn to apply in our own lives as we seek authenticity, justice, and holiness.

The Trump Riots And The American State

Posted on by William H. Douglas

On January 6, 2021 a group of thousands of Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in order to disrupt the Senate’s official confirmation of Joe Biden as the next President of the United States of America. These events have set off a firestorm of protests and denunciations across the planet, with many people expressing open dismay that “such an attack on democracy” could happen in America. Here I explore how these reactions prove that those who talk about democracy the most often understand it the least, as a group of the demos – the common people – assaulting the halls of power in order to prevent what they saw as corrupt political actions is the most democratic that has happened in America in the last fifty years. I further explore how the celebration by many on the political Left of the shooting of one of the protestors shows what their true political motives are, and they aren’t to end police brutality. Finally, I look at what the problems are which have given rise to this political divisiveness and what the real solutions are to it, both from a secular perspective and from a fuller religious perspective.

The U.S. Constitution: A Covenant With Death, An Agreement With Hell

Posted on by William H. Douglas

In American Latter-day Saint circles there is much idolatry over the issue of the U.S. Constitution. Most of it has to do with a particularly willful misunderstanding of most statements on the Constitution found in the scriptures, the purpose of government, the rights of the people in the face of oppressive government laws, and the supremacy of God’s law to man’s in all cases. American Latter-day Saints also tend to idolize the American Founding Fathers. Much is made of the Lord’s statement, “by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose,” that is for writing the Constitution. (see D&C 101:80) It is without a doubt that they were intelligent men. The writings of Thomas Jefferson are still worth studying even today. But that doesn’t justify us in not creating something better now than they could envision then; that doesn’t justify us calcifying out social, spiritual, political, and economic development because they could not imagine the next step in liberty and individual freedom. It does not justify us in idolizing the Constitution (or your respective national charter), ignoring the many ways it has been wrong, corrupt, and evil form the very start, and choosing it over that which is better now.

Why Latter-day Saints Shouldn’t Vote

Posted on by William H. Douglas

This past week I have been laying out both the ethical and practical arguments against voting. In a political system dominated by State power and control voting to use violence in order to force others to live how you think they should is evil and those in power are going to justify doing whatever they want whether the people support it or not so voting is meaningless. Here though I dig into the deeper, theological reasons against voting in a statist political system. The scriptures teach us that the power of the governments of the world come from Satan, not God. Likewise, the State sets itself into opposition to God by teaching men and women under its influence to defy and break the commandments of God in order to serve and follow it. Giving such a perverse and corrupt system even the appearance of your consent to it through voting, thereby legitimizing it in all its violence, oppression, and theft, should be something all people of all persuasions would avoid to do, especially the Saints of God who have consecrated themselves and all they have to God alone. The State is infernalistic and idolatrous and we should have no part in empowering it or promoting it.

A Christian’s Duty to Society

Posted on by William H. Douglas

The fallen society we find ourselves living in is rife with corruption, violence, brutality, and evil. As followers of Jesus Christ, what exactly is our role in trying to change this, how do we do it, and just how dedicated should we be to that cause? Here I address these questions about the greatest source of violence, brutality, and corruption in the world today.

The Modern Moloch, Part 1: Patriotism, Nationalism, Idolatry, and Human Sacrifice

Posted on by William H. Douglas

For all of human history there has been a struggle between the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of the world, expressed in many dualities. Here, taking an image from a modern Apostle, we explore how the system of government used throughout most of the world is comparable in its means and ends to the worship of the ancient Canaanite idol Moloch and what that means for how we, as Saints, should react to those in power. If we are to be Saints and dedicate ourselves to God and the Lamb through sacred temple covenants we have to be able to recognize the lies the government tells and the idolatry that lays at the heart of the way it manipulates and coerces us into obeying it in defiance of the commandments of God. This article is the first of a series with the goal of doing exactly that by investigating and revealing the true idolatrous nature of the governments and kingdoms of this world.

The Best Version of the “Battle Hymn of The Republic”

Posted on by William H. Douglas

In many churches in America, you’ll find the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” -a song that glorifies war and nationalism- sung as part of worshipping the Prince of Peace. It is incongruous with the purpose of Christian worship at best and blasphemous at worst. Yet many love it because it is such a stirring and triumphant sounding song. Luckily, there is a better option which both maintains the tune and brings the song’s message more in line with Gospel truths.