Jana Riess

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

When the Latter-day Saints arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, they had reason to hope they'd escaped conflict with the American government forever. At the time, Mexico owned the territory that eventually became known as Utah, and that government was more than willing to leave the Mormons alone. However, only months later, Mexico lost its war with the United States and had to hand over all its lands in the West, including Utah. The Mormons found themselves right back in the thick of controversy. Today, people often think of Mormons as flag-waving, staunch Republican supporters of the U.S. government. (The extensive presence of Mormons in military leadership, the CIA, and the FBI demonstrates pretty clearly that the U.S. has no lingering concerns about Mormon patriotism.) But in the nineteenth century, people saw Mormons as fugitives from the long arm of the law. Their stubborn practice of polygamy, as well as their determination to merge church and state in the Rocky Mountains, made the Mormons Public Enemy No. 1. The Utah War and the Mormon Reformation Utah became a U.S. territory in 1850 with Brigham Young as its governor. Before long, the federal government expressed grave concern about the "Mormon problem." Two basic issues were at stake: The Mormons acknowledged in 1852 that they practiced polygamy, or plural marriage. This topic had long been grist for the rumor mill, but the Latter-day Saints had always publicly denied it. After they let the cat out of the bag, the nation cried foul. The 1856 Republican National Convention denounced polygamy as one of the "twin relics of barbarism" that afflicted the national conscience (the other was slavery). U.S. government officials worried that the Mormons were trying to establish a theocracy, or a merging of religion and government. As a natural outgrowth of its role in promoting and coordinating economic development in Utah, the Church owned prominent businesses and held a stake in many of the industrial enterprises of the region: mines, sugar refineries, textile mills, and the like. It virtually controlled local politics and the judicial bench. Anticipating war The tensions between Mormons and the government erupted in 1857-58. When the federal government sent troops to Utah because Brigham Young wouldn't surrender his title as governor to a non-Mormon federal appointee, the so-called Utah War got underway. War is actually a bloodier name than the event deserves, because no one was killed — in fact, no one even fired any shots — during the smoldering conflict. But the fact that the government was willing to send the largest peacetime army in the nation's history all the way out to Utah shows how concerned it was about the Mormon question. To the Mormons, the government's interference appeared to be a rehashing of the same old story that had always ended so badly for the Latter-day Saints in Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri. They saw it as the first strike in renewed persecutions and government attempts to force them to give up their beliefs and way of life. The lingering image of the Utah War isn't bloodshed but Brigham Young's attempt to prevent it. Rather than risk the lives of any Latter-day Saints when the army arrived, Brigham evacuated 30,000 people from Salt Lake City so that the soldiers arrived to a ghost town. With military combat avoided, the people of Salt Lake returned peacefully to their homes. Reacting with a reformation In 1856, when the Mormons realized that the government was sending an army that could destroy them, no one could've predicted the peaceful and uneventful outcome of the controversy. Some Mormons saw the intrusion as a sign of the End Times and believed that they were about to see the obliteration of their beloved Salt Lake City. With this fear in mind, they entered into a brief period of their history (1856–57) known as the Mormon Reformation. To prepare themselves spiritually for the end, they prayed more fervently, met more frequently, and performed round-the-clock ordinances in the Endowment House (the building that substituted for a temple while the temple was under construction). They also made a dizzying number of plural marriages, with some men marrying several women on the same day. The Mormon Reformation was a time of deep, and even bizarre, fervor in Latter-day Saint history and played an important part in understanding the religion's greatest tragedy: the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The Mountain Meadows Massacre Although the 1850s Utah War was bloodless, Mormon history in the 1850s wasn't. The government may not have traded bullets with the Mormons, but many of the Latter-day Saints suspected that civilians in emigrant trains crossing the Utah Territory were in league with the invading army. For this and other complex reasons, a group of Mormons made a large-scale attack on an emigrant train in September 1857. Interestingly enough, the worst of the bloodshed happened on September 11, a day that almost 150 years later similarly became associated with the violence that can stem from religious fanaticism. The massacre occurred about 200 miles south of Salt Lake City, when a group of men, women, and children passed through southern Utah on their way to settle in California. Some accounts claim that Native Americans initiated the attack and that the Mormons joined in later; others claim that the Mormons planned and executed the whole affair. The latter explanation seems more credible to most historians. At the end of the day, more than 120 men, women, and older children were dead. Young children, the oldest of whom was 6, were left alive, and many were temporarily adopted into the families of local Latter-day Saints before being returned to their homes in Missouri and Arkansas. Questioning the motive Why would this group of Mormons, who'd been on the receiving end of violence and persecution themselves, carry out such an unforgivable atrocity? Historians have identified several possible motives for the attack. Some or all of these reasons may help to explain it, though nothing can excuse it. No one will ever know for certain exactly what happened and why, even though a new book on the massacre shows up nearly every year, it seems. The Mormons, who were expecting an army of 2,500 soldiers to attack them any day, were swept up in a feverish, warlike mentality and believed they stood alone against the world. The emigrant party arrived in Utah at a very bad time. The emigrant group was from Missouri and northern Arkansas, and historical evidence suggests that they may have taunted the Mormons with boasts of being the wildcats who drove Mormons from Missouri 20 years earlier. The massacre may have been a misguided attempt at Mormon justice for past wrongs, especially the much smaller massacre at Haun's Mill, where some Mormon children died. One popular history suggests that the Mormons may have committed the massacre because the people of southern Utah were poor and coveted the emigrant party's wealth and livestock. (This theory doesn't satisfactorily explain, though, why the attack happened to this particular party at this particular time, when other emigrants passed through the region without incident.) Reacting to the event We'll probably never know the reason, or reasons, for the attack. The questions remain: How much did Brigham Young know, and when did he know it? Did he order the assault, or did the southern Mormons take matters into their own hands? Apparently, when Brigham found out what the southern settlers planned, he immediately sent a messenger ordering them to allow the emigrants to safely pass through. However, they acted before they received his message. Unfortunately, the Church — caught up with the impending Utah War and anxious not to give the federal government any reason to attack — chose to cover up the evidence of the massacre for years, blaming local Native Americans even when Mormon involvement was obvious. Gradually, the Church claimed at least some responsibility, but only one man, a local Mormon leader named John D. Lee, was ever tried and executed for the crime. In 1999, the Mountain Meadows Association, made up of the descendants of the known victims and criminals of the attack, reburied the remains of some of the victims, which were disturbed during construction of a memorial. In his dedicatory remarks, LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley promised the descendants that the Church would always treat the two and a half acres as hallowed ground, "a sacred monument to honor all those who fell."

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

The following equation best sums up how Mormons understand the universe and the purpose of life: As humans are, God used to be; as God is, humans may become. One main key to getting the gist of Mormonism is the belief that a person's existence doesn't begin with birth on this earth. Rather, Mormons believe that all people lived as spirits before coming here. For Mormons, this belief helps explain a whole lot about the conditions and purposes of this earthly life, which they view as God's test of his children. In addition, Mormons hold some unusual views about the afterlife, particularly regarding what human beings can become. Life before mortal life If life doesn't start with conception and birth, when does it start? For Mormons, it never really started, because each person has an eternal essence that has always existed. However, Mormons believe that God created spiritual bodies to house each person's eternal essence, so he's the spiritual father of humankind. All human spirits were born before the earth was created. Sitting at the knee of God and his wife, many spirit children expressed a desire to grow up and become like their Heavenly Parents. So God set up the plan of salvation, which involved creating an earth where his children could gain physical bodies and go through a challenging test of faith and obedience. Those who pass the test with flying colors get the chance to eventually start an eternal family like God's. In premortality, as Mormons call this stage, two of the oldest spirit siblings made a big impression. The first spirit, named Jehovah, volunteered to help everyone overcome the sin and death they'd unavoidably encounter during the earthly test, and this brother was eventually born on earth as Jesus Christ. Mormons believe he's their Savior and strive to be like him. The other spirit, named Lucifer, rebelled against God's plan of salvation, convincing a bunch of siblings to follow him and start a war. God banished Lucifer and his followers to the earth without bodies, and Mormons believe that these spirits are still trying to win humans to their side and thwart God's plan. Life on earth Good news: In the Mormon view, everyone who's born on this earth chose to follow God's plan of salvation and come here. Even those who give in to evil during earthly life will still receive an eternal reward for making the correct choice during premortality. Mormons don't believe that humans are born carrying the stain of Adam's original sin, as Catholics and some Protestants do. But they do believe that each individual's circumstances in this life are at least partly influenced by what that person did in premortality. One difficult aspect of this mortal test is that humans can't remember what happened in premortality, so they must rediscover their divine origins through faith. However, God sent Jesus Christ not only to overcome sin and death but also to establish the gospel, which serves as a road map back to God. Two kinds of messengers help people understand and follow this gospel: prophets and the Holy Ghost, a spiritual being who speaks directly to the human spirit. By listening to these guides, people can figure out the puzzle of life. Unfortunately, the devil strives to fill the world with distractions and counterfeits. Another hard aspect of the earthly test is that God generally won't interfere with people's freedom to act, even when they do terrible things to each other or fail miserably. In addition, God allows accidents, natural disasters, illnesses, and other difficulties to challenge his children and prompt them to seek him out. For Mormons, it helps to remember that these temporary trials represent a mere blink of the eye on an eternal scale, and they exercise faith that God will comfort and protect those who ask for his help to endure suffering. During mortality, Mormons believe that everyone needs to participate in certain rituals in order to live with God in the afterlife and become like him. Someone holding God's priesthood authority, which Mormons believe currently comes only through the LDS Church, must perform these rituals. If a person dies without receiving these ordinances, Mormons perform the rituals in temples on behalf of the deceased person, whose spirit then decides whether or not to accept. These ordinances are Baptism Confirmation, which includes receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost Priesthood ordination Washing and anointing Endowment Sealing, including celestial marriage for those wedded on earth Life after mortal life Mormons believe that when humans die, they slough off their physical bodies and return to the spiritual state. Some go to spirit paradise, and some go to spirit prison. Mormons believe that the spirits in paradise visit the spirits in prison and teach them the gospel, and some choose to accept it and cross over into paradise. Whether they're in paradise or prison, the stopover in the spirit world is only temporary, because God has greater things in store. Eventually, after God's spirit children have experienced their earthly tests and paid for their sins either by receiving the Savior's Atonement or suffering themselves, he'll resurrect everyone with perfect physical bodies that will last forever. Then he'll sort people into three heavenly kingdoms: Telestial kingdom: Those who live in sin, die without repenting, and never accept the Savior's Atonement go here, after suffering for their own sins in spirit prison. Terrestrial kingdom: Those who live good lives but don't embrace the full gospel will inherit this kingdom. Jesus pays for their sins. (Both the telestial kingdom and the terrestrial kingdom are glorious paradises, not hell or places of torture.) Celestial kingdom: This highest kingdom is reserved for those who live the full gospel and receive the proper ordinances. This kingdom is where God lives and where his children can become like him.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Many non-Mormons know very little about what their Mormon friends believe about Christ, the afterlife, or the plan of salvation. But they almost always know about the Mormon health code! Maybe they had neighbors who didn't drink beer at the block's annual Super Bowl party or worked with a woman who refused the coffee served at Friday morning department meetings. The Mormon commitment to good health usually makes an impression. Like many aspects of the LDS religion, the duty to maintain good health has its roots in revelation, in this case a section of the Doctrine and Covenants that Mormons call the Word of Wisdom. The legend surrounding its origin is that Joseph Smith and other early LDS leaders used to chew tobacco during Church meetings, spitting juices on the floor. Joseph's wife, Emma Hale Smith, was disgusted by this act, and her complaints led the Prophet to ask God whether tobacco use was really appropriate for Latter-day Saints. The Lord's response, contained in D&C section 89, covered far more than just tobacco; it also restricted the consumption of wine, liquor, meat, and hot drinks (today interpreted to mean tea and coffee of any temperature). Although many Mormons understand this scripture as suggesting that all caffeine is bad and should be avoided, this idea isn't official Church doctrine; the Church allows members to decide that issue for themselves, and some members choose to drink cola. Some people wonder whether Mormons get kicked out of the Church for kicking back a few. The answer is no: Basic Church membership isn't contingent upon keeping the Word of Wisdom. However, members with Word of Wisdom problems can't hold priesthood callings or get a temple recommend. So although nobody gets excommunicated for smoking a cigarette or being spotted in Starbuck's, the full blessings of Church membership, including temple attendance, are reserved for those who walk the straight and narrow path. Interpreting the Word of Wisdom For most of the nineteenth century, Latter-day Saints interpreted the Word of Wisdom a little more loosely than they did in the 1830s or do today. Moderation, rather than entire abstinence, was the key: Coffee, tea, and alcohol were among the list of provisions that the Church recommended for the westward trek in 1846. Church leaders used wine for the sacrament at Sunday meetings and at the dedication celebrations for the temples in Kirtland, Ohio, and Nauvoo, Illinois. Brigham Young chewed tobacco for most of his adult life. (He acquired this nasty habit before he converted to Mormonism, and he struggled valiantly to give it up, managing to quit for a nine-year period between 1848 and 1857.) Young encouraged some early Latter-day Saints to begin vineyards in Utah, sending one group of Swiss immigrants to southern Utah to start the Dixie Wine Mission. Their vineyards were very successful, and they sold wine all over the Western United States in the late nineteenth century. Young had no tolerance for drunkenness, vulgar behavior, or the domestic violence that sometimes resulted from alcohol abuse, but he and other Latter-day Saints in the late nineteenth century did permit a small intake of wine or Danish beer. So why are Mormons today teetotalers, when their pioneer ancestors weren't? The fact that early Latter-day Saints regarded the Word of Wisdom differently than Mormons do today isn't evidence of hypocrisy but of historical change. Here are some reasons: It allied Mormons with the temperance movement. In the early twentieth century, American culture began examining food and health issues more strictly, with alcohol being a particular concern. The LDS Church was in favor of the temperance measures of the day and began substituting water for wine in sacrament meetings in July 1906. Fifteen years later, the Church made strict adherence to the Word of Wisdom a requirement for temple admittance, with no exceptions. It helps build a Mormon identity today. After the Latter-day Saints gave up the practice of plural marriage, strict compliance in living the Word of Wisdom became another way of signifying Mormon identity. Today, keeping the Word of Wisdom helps bond the Mormon community as well as strengthen individual Latter-day Saints. It saves Mormons from modern addictions that are potentially very serious.This reason could be the most compelling one of all for today's zero-tolerance policy. Nowadays, addictive substances are more widely available than ever before, and a Mormon has to learn to say no to the small things so that she's in the habit of saying no when someone offers her a drug that could ruin (or take) her life. By the way, the Word of Wisdom contains an explicit mention that Mormons should eat meat sparingly and in times of cold or famine, if at all. Also, Joseph Smith taught that animals have spirits. But most U.S. Mormons are unabashed carnivores, and the Church has never taken an official position on vegetarianism. Lorenzo Snow, the Church's president in the early 20th century, emphasized his wish that all Latter-day Saints would stop eating meat, but Joseph F. Smith, the prophet who followed him, didn't stress this counsel. The last word on the Word of Wisdom Here's a quick rundown of what's kosher for Mormons and what's not, food-wise: Definitely okay: Hot apple cider and hot cocoa. Caffeine-free soft drinks. Chocolate (which entertainer Marie Osmond has labeled "Mormon medication"). Moderate quantities of meat. Postum (which is fine from the perspective of Mormon orthodoxy, though maybe not from the standpoint of good taste). A diet rich in grains and vegetables. Probably okay: Herbal tea (according to the Word of Wisdom, herbs are "to be used with prudence and thanksgiving"). Cooking with wine, because the alcoholic content burns off during cooking. Some very conservative Mormons, however, won't use so much as a teaspoon of vanilla extract in a batch of chocolate-chip cookies. Possibly okay: Nonalcoholic beer and sparkling cider rather than champagne. However, some Mormons think they should avoid even looking like they're drinking forbidden substances, because drinking them may confuse people. Probably not okay, but no one knows for sure: Decaffeinated coffee. A June 1988 article in the official Church magazine never said that decaf is forbidden, but it did take pains to point out that decaf drinkers suffer elevated risk for ulcers and other gastrointestinal difficulties. However, bishops and stake presidents aren't supposed to deny a member a temple recommend for drinking decaf, and Apostle John Widtsoe advised members that consumption of decaffeinated drinks isn'tagainst the Word of Wisdom. Definitely not okay: Alcohol, including wine and beer. Black tea, green tea,and othercaffeinated teas. Coffee and recipes that use it (which may even include desserts like tiramisu, though the authors hope not). Iced coffee and iced caffeinated tea. Illegal drugs, recreational drugs, and illicit prescription medications. Tobacco. The subject of endless debate: Caffeinated soft drinks.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Outsiders sometimes ask Mormons — often in jest, occasionally in concern — whether they practice polygamy. (The Mormon response is usually to roll the eyes and recite for the thousandth time that the Latter-day Saints haven't practiced polygamy for over a century and that anyone who practices it today is excommunicated, yada yada yada.) Who practiced polygamy, and why? Modern folks aren't the only ones who feel uncomfortable about the idea of polygamy. When Joseph Smith first explained the doctrine of plural marriage to Brigham Young in the early 1840s, Brigham felt repulsed by it. Like Brigham, most of the early Latter-day Saints didn't instantly warm to the idea, but they gradually came to understand it as God's will. Finding out who was involved Although in recent years the Church has downplayed the importance of plural marriage to nineteenth century Saints in order to keep the current stance clear, history shows that polygamy was an extremely important aspect of Mormonism in the nineteenth century. Rates of polygamous marriages varied at different points throughout the second half of the nineteenth century in Mormon settlements. The 1850s saw many plural marriages, but the rate seems to have declined afterward due to government persecution and changing social standards. The numbers also varied based on geography; some towns embraced polygamy more than others. Hearing the defense Why did the Latter-day Saints practice polygamy, especially when this deviation from what was considered "normal" or moral behavior so angered America's citizens and government? Here are some possible reasons, both theological and social: God told us to do it. Period. Most Mormons believe that although they may not understand why, the Lord chose to institute plural marriage for a brief period in the nineteenth century as the Church was becoming established. The nineteenth century Latter-day Saints felt that they were practicing plural marriage in strict obedience to God's will and that the practice was divinely inspired. In fact, Mormonism still acknowledges polygamy as a divine principle that may apply in heaven, though it's no longer in practice on the earth. It was part of the "restitution of all things." Mormons saw their practice of polygamy as similar to that of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They believe that their latter-day church includes, as predicted in the Bible, the "restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:21). That includes Old Testament polygamy. It brought the Latter-day Saints together. Polygamy made the Mormons more cohesive as a people and gave them a distinct identity. Some plural wives were family members even before marriage (two sisters marrying the same man, for example), and the bonds of marriage expanded family networks. Also, the increased persecution caused by polygamy helped the Mormons bond together even more closely as a people. It raised up a mighty generation. Many Mormons believe that one of the reasons the Lord may have sanctioned polygamy for a time was that it allowed the struggling Latter-day Saints to raise up a "righteous seed" of second- and third-generation Mormons to build the kingdom. Because of polygamy, Mormon families in the nineteenth century were able to obey the Lord's commandment to "be fruitful and multiply," sometimes having two or three times as many children as they may have had with only one child bearer. What's more, polygamy attached women and children to men who had made a strong commitment to the Church, because those men were the most likely to enter into plural marriage. Busting a few myths about nineteenth century polygamy Several enduring myths are still bandied about as people try to explain polygamy (or explain it away): "Mormons practiced polygamy because women on the frontier far outnumbered men, and plural marriage gave every woman a chance to have a husband." In actuality, men sometimes outnumbered women, especially in the early years of Mormon settlement. Some towns had three times as many unmarried men as women. In this marriage market of swinging Mormon singles, women had the pick of the litter. "Polygamy took care of older women and spinsters so they had a chance to get married." The truth is that most plural wives were younger than the first wife, so they weren't exactly spinsters rescued by polygamy. This idea was especially true in the 1850s, though as the decades passed, convincing young women to enter into plural marriage got tougher. "Polygamous men lived in harems and had about 20 wives each." Although a few prominent Church leaders like Brigham Young did have wives numbering into the double digits, this situation was far from the norm. Most men who entered into polygamy took only one or two additional wives. If the family could afford it, each wife had her own home or apartment. "Polygamy was all about sex." Not really. In fact, some of the plural marriages contracted in Utah were for eternity only, meaning that the wife would be on the man's rolls in heaven, but they would have no earthly rolls in the hay. In eternity-only marriages, conjugal relations weren't permitted, and the wife usually supported herself. In marriages for both time and eternity, the couple enjoyed conjugal relations, but the husband was bound to support his wives and any children they had. "Only the poorest of the poor practiced polygamy." Statistics show that most of the men who practiced polygamy in Utah were among the wealthier members of Mormon society. Supporting multiple households required a certain amount of cold, hard cash, so Church leaders were more likely to approve the marriages of men who could support additional wives. (Plural wives, though, often came from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and plural marriage to a well-established man helped them move up the social ladder.) Government pressure to end polygamy After the Mormons' announcement of plural marriage in 1852 kindled the nation's anger, the U.S. government engaged in a vigorous tug of war with the Mormons in Salt Lake City. For nearly 40 years, the government applied as much political and social pressure as possible to get the Mormons to abandon the hated practice. Congress created antipolygamy legislation that gradually tightened the noose around the Church. Here's a thumbnail sketch: In 1862, Congress passed the Morrill Antibigamy Act, which made practicing polygamy a felony. However, this law was full of loopholes (not the least of which was that bigamy means only two wives!) and didn't hold any weight in the Mormon-dominated Utah courts. In 1874, the government resolved that judicial loophole with the Poland Act. This law stated that all polygamy cases would be tried in federal courts with federally appointed judges. This way, Mormon judges or juries couldn't just dismiss the cases. In 1882, the Edmunds Act made unlawful cohabitation a crime, and anyone who broke the law could be imprisoned for six months. Unlawful cohabitation was a much easier judicial standard to prove than bigamy or polygamy, because prosecutors didn't have to provide evidence of a marriage. In 1887, Congress passed the Edmunds-Tucker Act in a final attempt to drive the nail in the coffin of polygamy. This act accomplished three things: • It disfranchised (took the vote away from) all the women of Utah and polygamous men. • It froze all the Church's assets in excess of $50,000, basically bankrupting the Church and crippling its missionary efforts. • It declared all children of plural marriages to be illegitimate in the eyes of the government. When the Supreme Court declared that this law was constitutional, the Mormons knew that continuing plural marriage could result in the government closing down their temples and threatening the very survival of the Church. Faced with this terrible situation, President Wilford Woodruff issued a document (now known as the Woodruff Manifesto) in 1890 ending the practice of plural marriage. Although the manifesto is included in every Mormon's collection of scriptures as part of the Doctrine and Covenants (D&C), they refer to it as an official declaration rather than a revelation, and God isn't mentioned in it at all.