Joseph Smith-Prophet of the Restoration

[huckelberry]

from Merriam Webster
Definition of martyrdom

1 : the suffering of death on account of adherence to a cause and especially to one's religious faith … defended moral truth even to the point of enduring martyrdom …— Andrew Sullivan
.......
Though some images of martyr include passive acceptance I think that is a subset of martyrs that Joseph Smith does not quit fit. To tell the truth I am not big on holding the matter of the gun against him. I think Martyr is largely a matter of how a person is viewed by his community. So to Mormon believers Joseph Smith is a martyr. Ok.

Well some classes such as sunday school classes may have rather sanitized versions of the related events.'

[Kishkumen]

Thank you for that fascinating historical rumination, Gabriel. It is very persuasive. I have long believed that Joseph Smith's assassination was all but inevitable given the way he operated in the late Nauvoo period. It was the height of hubris for him to destroy a printing press, whatever anyone may say about the legality of the deed or the threat that the Expositor posed. Yes, the Expositor posed a threat because it was, in a very sensationalist fashion, letting the cats out of the bag, so to speak. It was designed to incite others against Smith and his followers, and as such it did represent a real threat. So, you see, Smith cooked his own goose. He could not expect to engage in very extraordinary behavior, concentrate so much power in his own hands, and wield such power in a seemingly reckless way without suffering the consequences.

To me the real question is not whether Joseph Smith deserved to die. It is whether he did not, to a certain extent, bring it upon himself by doing what he did. That does not justify the murder of Joseph Smith in any way, but it does make his assassination much less mysterious and much less of a martyrdom. And, let's face it, a lot of people who viewed Joseph as a martyr later on had no idea about the full range of his activities.