Debunking Mormon Myths

There is a lot of misinformation about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often called the LDS or Mormon Church. Here we will address eight myths about the Mormon Church:

Are Mormons Racist? 

In the past, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has enacted racist policies. From the later part of the 1800s to 1978 Blacks in Mormonism were not allowed to receive the priesthood or attend the temple. This policy was termed “the priesthood ban.” It began because of some statements made by President Brigham Young to the Utah State Legislature in 1852. 

From that time until 1978, many church leaders tried to understand and justify this policy. However, in an essay addressing the priesthood ban, the Church says “Today, the Church disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse, or that it reflects unrighteous actions in a premortal life; that mixed-race marriages are a sin; or that blacks or people of any other race or ethnicity are inferior in any way to anyone else. Church leaders today unequivocally condemn all racism, past and present, in any form.” Additionally, Quentin L. Cook, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, said “Brigham Young also said things about race that fall short of our standards today.” 

Spencer W. Kimball, prophet and president of the church, presented Official Declaration 2 to the church, which ended the priesthood ban in 1978. Today, members and leaders of the church alike work to make sure that racism is absent from the Church and its members’ conduct. To this end, leaders of the church work with organizations and groups, including the NAACP, that try to uplift people of all races and backgrounds.

Do Mormons Practice Polygamy? 

Today, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do not practice polygamy. However, Mormons practiced polygamy from the mid-1800s until 1890. Joseph Smith introduced polygamy to a small group of leaders of the church in Nauvoo, Illinois. According to the historical record, Smith received a commandment from God to practice polygamy. Mormon practitioners of polygamy suffered years of opposition from the US government. On October 6, 1890, Wilford Woodruff, presented Official Declaration 1, which declared the end of the practice of polygamy.  

Many people think that Mormons still practice polygamy because when Official Declaration 1 was issued, there were groups of people who did not accept it. These groups have continued to practice polygamy and are often referred to as Fundamentalists. These groups have no affiliation with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Do Mormons Wear Magic Underwear? 

Many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wear an undergarment, which is referred to colloquially as temple garments, the garment, or garments. Only members of the church who have made covenants with God in the temple wear garments. Those who make these covenants and wear the garment are promised spiritual protection.

Anecdotally, some Mormons have shared stories where they believe their garments have also protected them from physical harm. For example, Bill Marriott, a member of the church and hotel chain owner, told a story on CBS about his belief that his garments protected him from being burned in a fire.

Because of the spiritual protection promised to those who wear garments, and the anecdotal stories of physical protection, there are often misconceptions about the purpose and power of garments. Some people misunderstand this protection and interpret Mormon belief to mean that garments have literal magical powers and then call them flippant names such “Mormon magic underwear.” Others might not misunderstand, but deliberately mock or make light of Mormon beliefs by referring to garments as magical. It’s important to remember that Mormons do not believe their garments have magical powers. They are a sacred reminder of their covenants and if they wearer keeps their covenants, they can offer spiritual protection.

Is Mormonism a cult? 

The term “cult” is subjective. In the modern sense, the term cult conjures up images of mass suicides and dictatorial leaders. However, when people refer to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they are using the term cult with a specific Protestant perspective. Walter R. Martin, a defrocked minister, wrote a book in 1965 called The Kingdom of the Cults where he identified “Mormonism” as a cult. He explained that a cult is a group of people organized around a specific person–or a specific person’s misinterpretation of the Bible.

Others might consider The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a cult because they question, are Mormons Christian? Various Christian denominations consider Mormonism a non-Christian cult because of doctrinal differences. For example, Mormons believe in additional scriptures beyond the Bible, such as the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. Additionally, Mormons do not believe in the definition of the Trinity written in the Nicene Creed. There are, of course, doctrinal differences between all Christian denominations, but for some, the differences between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their church are insurmountable. 

It should be noted that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, believe in Jesus Christ and that he the Savior of the World. They consider themselves Christians and do not think their religion is a cult, or cult-like in any way. Ultimately, whether or not Mormonism is considered a cult is a matter of personal opinion and perspective. 

Did Joseph Smith practice magic?

Some people think that Joseph Smith practiced magic because he used seer stones. So, what are seer stones, are they magical, and how did Joseph Smith use them? Seer stones were objects that people typically used to find lost or missing objects. This was a European folk tradition that came to the Americas by European settlers. The use of seer stones or peep stones, as they were often called, is what scholars refer to as folk magic. In upstate New York, where Joseph Smith lived, seer stones were a part of the Christian culture.  

Joseph Smith reportedly found at least two seer stones but may have had as many as five. There are two significant accounts of Joseph Smith using seer stones. The first account comes from when he was hired by Josiah Stowell to find treasure on the Stowell property. The treasure was never found. The other account comes from his translation of the Book of Mormon. At least three people record seeing Joseph Smith use a seer stone to help him translate the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith’s seer stone use is a confirmation for some that he was influenced by the occult, while believers see this as evidence of Joseph Smith’s divine gift as a seer.

The term seer is a biblical term, often used interchangeably with the term prophet. A seer is someone who sees visions or receives revelations from God. They are individuals who have a spiritual gift that allows them to perceive and communicate divine messages.

Some well-known biblical seers include:

• Samuel: Often referred to as a seer (1 Samuel 9:9).
• Gad: A prophet and seer for King David (1 Samuel 22:5).
• Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel: These major prophets had powerful visions and prophecies.
• Daniel: Known for his prophetic dreams and interpretations.

Are Mormons stockpiling money for the second coming of Jesus?

David Nielsen is a former employee of Ensign Peak Advisors, the investment arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Nielsen filed a whistleblower complaint with the IRS about Mormon Church finances. He claimed that the church had been illegally conducting its finances by investing its excess funds in various ways. He also claimed that a member of church leadership came to visit Ensign Peak Advisors and said the only reason for stockpiling such large amounts of money was for the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus will come again and they also believe in looking to the future with faith. Helping church members to prepare spiritually for the second coming of Jesus Christ is one of the most important endeavors of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So, while the church does prepare for the future financially, it is not necessarily focused on preparing financially for the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Was Joseph Smith a pedophile?

Joseph Smith’s youngest wives were Helen Mar Kimball and Nancy Maria Winchester. There is scant documentary evidence for Joseph Smith and Nancy Maria Winchester’s plural marriage, but there are enough records to suggest that she did marry Joseph Smith, likely when she was fourteen or fifteen years old.

There is an abundance of evidence for Joseph Smith’s plural marriage to Helen Mar Kimball, including documentation she penned herself. Helen was born to Vilate Kimball and Heber C. Kimball, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. At the age of fourteen, she was sealed to Joseph Smith in a plural marriage. Although being married at fourteen gives us great pause, it was legal in Illinois at the time. Additionally, both Helen and her father considered her marriage to Joseph Smith an eternity-only sealing. This meant that Helen and Joseph Smith did not have a sexual relationship.

After Joseph Smith’s death, Helen married Horace Whitney. She became a strong advocate for plural marriage, writing pamphlets in defense of the practice. She also wrote articles for various publications in Utah, the Deseret News and the Woman’s Exponent.

Are there any explanations for the questions posed by the CES Letter?

The CES Letter is a document written by Jeremy Runnells, a former member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It outlines a series of questions and concerns Runnells had about the Church’s history, doctrine, and practices. He was asked by his grandfather to present his concerns with the church to a Church Education System (CES) director. Runnells sent his concerns to the CES director and never received a reply.

First, it is important to understand a few things about the nature of the CES Letter. Runnells crowd-sourced the information he wrote in the CES Letter from an ex-Mormon Reddit group. This may account for some of the repetition or inconsistency in its arguments. It is also important to note that the primary rhetorical strategy in the CES Letter is to inundate the reader with so much information that it feels like the evidence for an argument is overwhelming. Finally, when engaging in any type of scholarly analysis there are rarely absolute answers. However, Runnells presents his arguments and analyses as if they are the only possible explanations–this is bad scholarly research and disingenuous to the reader.

With all of this information in mind, the answer to the question “Are there any explanations for the questions posed by the CES Letter,” is yes. However, they are rarely simple answers but require researching source information, timelines, and assumptions. Here is one example, of this from the first argument in the CES Letter.

• What are 1769 King James Version edition errors doing in the Book of Mormon? A purported ancient text? Errors which are unique to the 1769 edition that Joseph Smith owned?
  • The first edition of the CES Letter linked to a website as evidence for this point. This website has since changed the word “errors” to “variations.” The word “variations” correctly characterizes differences in the biblical translation process. In fact, there are hundreds of versions of the Bible. One of the reasons for this is that translation is a matter of interpretation. Interpretation becomes even more difficult when a translator is dealing with words that have multiple meanings, symbolism, and other nuances that often don’t translate into other languages.
  • There is a link in this section that leads to a chart listing the translation “errors” that exist in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. However, the chart lists 2 Nephi 13:12-13 and the quotes are actually from ten verses above in 2 Nephi 13:2-3.
  • In any translation process, the text is filtered through the translator. Since Joseph Smith was familiar with the King James Version of the Bible, it is logical that any Bible verses that were quoted in the Book of Mormon would have the language that Smith was familiar with–the language of the King James Version of the Bible. 

The unspoken conclusion of this argument in the CES Letter is that Joseph Smith was the author, not the translator of the Book of Mormon. For this assumption to be true, Smith would have had to use his own copy of the Bible to insert KJV verses in the text of the Book of Mormon or have memorized whole chapters of the Bible to insert into the Book of Mormon manuscript. Neither of these can be true. First, every account of the translation of the Book of Mormon says that Smith never read from any other book or manuscript to dictate the text of the Book of Mormon. He dictated the text directly from his translation tools, which included the Nephite interpreters (often called the Urim and Thummim), and a seer stone, which he placed in a hat to block out the ambient light. If Smith was the author of the Book of Mormon, he would have had to have an incredible memory to dictate entire chapters of the Bible which appear in multiple parts of the Book of Mormon. This would have been a feat for Smith, whose wife once stated that her husband “could neither write nor dictate a coherent and well-worded letter; let alone dictat[e] a book like the Book of Mormon.”

About Mormonism Explained

Mormonism Explained is a resource that was designed to provide objective and factual information about Mormonism, its history, doctrines, and policies. Our team of researchers consults experts and primary sources to present factual information on a variety of topics relevant to the Mormon Church.

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