The Argument from Silence, Part 9: Mormonism’s Missing Golden Plates
I began this series with a Bayesian interpretation of arguments from silence and then proceeded to use that interpretation to evaluate various arguments from silence about Jesus and God. In this post, I want to assess an argument from silence against a central claim of Mormonism, namely, that the Book of Mormon is the English translation of golden plates … The Argument from Silence, Part 9: Mormonism’s Missing Golden Plates
Brigham Young: Racist Prophet of the Mormons – Part 3
In January of 1852, Brigham Young encouraged the Utah territorial legislature to pass a law that prohibitted sex between white people and black people, and publically declared that black people (or people with a black grandparent or great grandparent) “Cannot hold the priesthood”: ======================================= Mormon Anti-Miscegenation in Utah Law Brigham Young addressed the Utah territorial … Brigham Young: Racist Prophet of the Mormons – Part 3
Brigham Young: Racist Prophet of the Mormons – Part 2
It is not clear why Brigham Young followed the racist pro-slavery views of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery from 1836 instead of the more liberal-minded abolitionist views of Joseph Smith from 1842 to 1844. However, confronting the reality of mixed-race marriages and sex between black men and white women appears to have pushed Young further … Brigham Young: Racist Prophet of the Mormons – Part 2
Brigham Young: Racist Prophet of the Mormons – Part 1
Brigham Young was a racist white man who initiated racial discrimination into the official policies and practices of the Mormon church (more specifically: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the largest denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement). One key racist policy of the Mormons was to exclude blacks from “the priesthood”. In … Brigham Young: Racist Prophet of the Mormons – Part 1