I TOLD them to keep that RELIGIOUS talk in CHURCH; but NOOOOoooo!
Exactly. In the last year of his life, Joseph Smith declared himself a candidate for president of the U.S. He was also acting mayor of Nauvoo, ordering a mob to destroy/censor a printing press that critiqued him.
And Brigham Young was territorial governor at the time he sent his leaders down to Southern Utah to become hostile vs. those people coming into Utah Territory. 'Twasn't very long after that that the Mormons massacred 140 innocent children & their parents in the southern part of the territory. And, of course, even though dozens & dozens & dozens & dozens of Mormons took part in the massacre, and hundreds more knew about it and covered it up to various extents, only one Mormon was ever prosecuted for it.
And then there was Mormon democrat B.H. Roberts. He was a Mormon general authority and elected to Congress in 1898. But he riled up 7 million+ people in the U.S. who signed 28 banners to NOT seat him in Congress...because he had taken a third simultaneous wife after the Mormons slowed down on polygamy with a "proceed with caution" edict from its "prophet" (1890).
So, we actually agree Delph!
But for some reason, your people went to treat B.H. Roberts as one of its best-ever Mormon theologians; and it went on to name its most prominent university after Brigham Young; and it doesn't remember Smith as the multiple criminal he was -- including smuggling weapons into jail...so I guess the rest of your people don't share your feeling there!
I TOLD them to keep that RELIGIOUS talk in CHURCH; but NOOOOoooo!