Free Republic

They are more than the people who go door-to-door asking to talk about religion. They are not the polygamists pictured in reality TV shows. That’s what the University’s student branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wanted students to know at their Meet the Mormons event at the Institute of Religion on Wednesday. Set up like a small career fair with colorful posters, the hosts of Meet the Mormons aimed to provide an open forum to religious and non-religious students alike. “A lot of people are curious about Mormons, but reluctant to actually talk to them because...

Until the past thirty-five years the very idea of Mormon history was viewed as something of a joke by most professional historians. Despite the massive outpouring of dissertations and books devoted to studying Mormon history, virtually none were known or treated seriously outside the ranks of a handful of western history buffs, social historians, and other enthusiasts with highly specialized interests. Brigham Young University dissertations were seen as providing the classic stereotype of the genre. No matter what the topic, each dissertation seemed to begin with Joseph Smith's first vision and end with a reaffirmation of the author's faith in...

Introduction If Mormonism itself is not the "one true religion" as it claims to be, then that claim, of course is not true, and is a lie. If Joseph Smith did not really see angels, and if he did not really translate the Book of Mormon with divine help, then those claims are lies.But the purpose of this article is not to deal with those broad issues, since the amount of evidence that would be required to demonstrate the falsity of those claims (and the other broad claims of Mormonism) is more than can be dealt with in a small space. Rather,...