In modern America there exists a delicate balance between church and state. We have a constitution that protects us from interference from churches in government affairs, and vice versa. However the constitution is very brief and somewhat vague on the subject. This creates many problems, with different people interpreting what the original intent was or what the current interpretation should be. But today, for the most part, we are able to keep it within the courts and the legal system, and we are able to discuss issues of church and state in a non-violent, somewhat civilized way. This was not the case for much of the early history of the country. From burning witches, to being blatantly biased against "papists", this country has it's shady past with religion (or at least the minority or fringe religions).
[...] The veracity of these claims is impossible to determine, because 3 of the 11 saw the tablets in a mystical vision, and the other 8 were family members of Smith's and one of the other original Mormon families. (Linn, Book Chapters 5 through Despite these seemingly suspicious circumstances, Smith and his new form of Christianity attracted a large number of followers. He moved to Ohio, and founded a community in Kirtland. Smith encountered difficulties here, as Mormons would almost everywhere they settled. [...]
[...] On November 1st General Lucas gave the Mormons the terms that were required in order to satisfy the governor's order. These included the surrender of their leaders for trail and punishment, appropriating their property to the state as repayment for damages and the giving up of their arms. They were also encouraged to leave Missouri under protection of the Missouri militia, but were permitted to stay “until further orders were received by the commander-in-chief” (Linn 208). He also suggested that the leaders, including Smith, give themselves up as hostages. [...]
[...] First, it is odd that the Mormon Church attracted such a devoted and committed following, especially over such a short amount of time, and under such circumstances as Joseph Smith presented (that is; he found a book that no one else could see, and said that the lost tribe of Israel had come to the Americas). But what this series of events illustrates is the precedence that the Church took over the state. The government of the state and the federal government were essentially ignored by the Mormons, who armed themselves and formed militias, which sent Missouri into a state of near civil war. [...]
[...] Problems worsened during 1838 with Mormon refugees from Kirtland, Ohio, swelling the ranks of the Missouri Mormons. Non-Mormons, fearing increased Mormon power, reacted with hostility, leading the Mormon leader Sidney Rigdon to call for- in a July 4 sermon, no less- war of extermination' against Missourians. (Kerstetter 38) Things came to a head in August of 1838, when a group of Mormons who were trying to vote in Gallatin in Daviess county were confronted by a Missourian mob that did not want the Mormons to vote, fearing that Mormon control of the county would mean the end of life as they knew it. [...]
[...] Never before in the short history of the U.S. had there been an order calling for the extermination of a group identified by their religion. J.B. Turner, a historian who was no fan of the Mormons, and actually said, “Mormonism is a monstrous also puts best how unfair the Mormons plight in Missouri was (Arrington 57). Who began the quarrel? Was it the Mormons? Is it not notorious, on the contrary, that they were hunted, like wild beasts, from county to county, before they made any desperate resistance? [...]
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