Philo Sofee wrote:It really was fun and delicious and delightful having company today. We asked all kinds of questions, had some good laughs, learned some things (actually had them reinforced) and so on. One fact Marquardt made perfectly clear is that Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and John Taylor all went against the Constitution and had themselves all anointed as literal kings. Prophet was a high office above the regular Joes and Annabelles who were to follow their lead, and they were to arm themselves with weapons to kill anyone who opposed them. They called this "shod with the Gospel of peace." Being so armed with the Gospel, their intent was to wipe out the gentiles and rule the rest of the world in a theocracy. That is what brought the wrath of freedom loving people upon them, not persecution for helpless, toothless revelations. The minutes of the Council of 50 prove without doubt the nefarious plans, intents, and hearts of early Mormon Leadership. There was nothing peaceful, loving, or joyous about it. Amazing stuff actually.
Brilliant and dead on. Smith was embarked on a profoundly antiAmerican venture: rejecting the Constitution although trying to hide behind it, installing himself as King, creating his own armies, etc. Brigham Young often spoke sneeringly of "the Americans" as if he wasn't one...and in my book, he wasn't.
They were militant theocrats. How do militant theocrats fit in with America? They don't. The founders were very mindful of the "wars of religion" in their recent past when writing the Establishment Clause.