Submitted by Tracy Hall Jr, Apr 27, 2007 11:59

"But the disdain of its 19th-century founder, Joseph Smith, for church-state separation . . . "

If Bernhard indeed got this impression from "The Mormons," then this "documentary" is distorting history.

Could this possibly be the same Joseph Smith who wrote, two years prior to his murder, tthe following?

"11 We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

12 We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law."

(From his 13 "Articles of Faith," which are still observed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).

Smith espoused this view of religious freedom and the role of the state notwithstanding having endured official state persecution of his religion. Just four years before he wrote these words, Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs had issued Executive Order 44 (October 27, 1838), ordering that " . . . the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace . . . ." The order was fully executed, with eager assistance from vigilante militias that could have been the model for today's Sudanese Janjaweed.

No wonder that the Mormon refugees sought and obtained a charter from Illinois granting them a militia for their own defense! But when Illinois indicted Smith for treason for the destruction of the violence-inciting "Nauvoo Expositor," the Nauvoo Legion surrendered its arms to the state. Joseph Smith was murdered by a mob while in the "protective custody" of Illinois governor Thomas Ford.

No wonder the Saints were ready to burn their cities and flee again into the desert when the largest contingent of the United States Army ever assembled marched against them in 1857. This time it was not a single state that had declared war on the Mormons, but the United States of America. So much for "disdain for church-state separation."

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.