Wilford Woodruff Quotes

Federal officials and commissioners issued laws, directives and orders that were very unpopular with the Mormons who were in the overwhelming majority of the Utah territory. The Mormon “government” was a type of theocracy but a very popular one. The Mormons tried to test the constitutionality and legality of the Federal laws and orders before they would obey. The government position was that they should obey and then could test the laws in the courts. The Mormons eventually lost in the courts anyway, but the principle of obedience to law until it can be tested and reversed has generally been the rule of U. S. Law. However, civil disobedience in which many religions have engaged in our history argues the obverse. Eventually Taylor had to go “underground” and rule the church from exile in which state he died.

Congress had passed the Edmunds Act prohibiting plural marriage. Taylor, who himself had 7 wives and 35 children, went “underground” and secretly operated the church from exile.

This passage from Mormon scripture justifies self defense and certain righteous war. It is also used by some Christians to argue that Mormons are not Christians because they do not accept Christ’s directive to “turn the other cheek”.

Note that Mormon doctrine requires that peace be offered 3 times before even a righteous war is begun. Under this doctrine, preemptive war would not be permissible, but diplomacy must be tried first and that by offering genuine peace. It is hard to apply this doctrine to the War on Terror, where there is no “other side” to negotiate with and the dispute is existential for democracy and freedom. The parenthetical references are to Mormon Scripture.

The use of “despotic” did not imply cruelty or even poor management of the society. The term was used to indicate that Brigham Young, the then Mormon Leader, had the powers and authority of a dictator. At the time most Americans in the East knew little about the Mormons. Ludlow was one of the early observers of Mormon society in Utah who wrote about the Mormons in popular—albeit intellectual—magazines. Ludlow regarded Mormonism as it was then practiced as incompatible with, and dangerous for, America, not because of the plural marriage, but the conflicts with the concepts of democracy and self-government. The authority that Brigham Young and the church then exercised over civil life was what distressed him and many other Americans.

The consequence was just the opposite. The Mormons have thrived in America despite vicious Anti-Mormon violence and discrimination.

Observation after visiting the Mormons in Utah.

The King assumed the role of head of the Church of England.

Many of the founding fathers were aware of such views in England as the same issues were being debated in America in the debates on Ratification of the Constitution and the required inclusion of the Bill or Rights—specifically the First Amendment.

Five years earlier, Young had all but given up on the idea of converting Native Americans—see {619863} and {619863}. Young was very ambivalent about the Indians, at some points wanting to convert them and on others to have them removed from the area to make way for Mormon growth and development--{619865}. At this time, the Mormons and the Federal Government were at loggerheads regarding the requirement for enforcing Federal law in all territories including Utah. Young and others hoped to enlist Indian warriors in any potential battles with the army.

This is a remarkable quotation. Because of the issue of plural marriage, many Americans regarded the early Mormons as having no respect for the country or its laws. However, as this quotation shows, the Mormon leader, prophet and founder specifically commanded his people to not only support the United States law but specifically mentions The Constitution. He told his followers that God approves of the United States constitution and states that it is in a sense universal, belonging to all mankind. There is no other religious founder who so thoroughly validated a national constitution and system in the history of the world. Yet he was assassinated and after his death, the United States Government was almost in a full scale war with the Mormons. There is still a vestige of anti-Mormonism in the United States among some Christian Fundamentalists. Yet the Mormon church has been a thoroughly American church, historically, conceptually, and philosophically It has even shared some of the American historical errors such as its sexism and discriminatory rules and view of Blacks. The latter has been remedied {625268} as the rest of America has changed, and the discriminatory role of women is very traditional and is shared with most other Christian fundamentalists and orthodox Jews.

Note that this point of view is somewhat anti-scientific. However, Mormonism is not monolithic. See {625544} .

This command of the Ancient Prophet Moroni has been interpreted to refer to Facism, organized crime, and Communism at various times. Ezra Taft Benson, the Mormon Secretary of Agriculture in the Eisenhower Administration and later to be President of the Mormon Church, in 1960 claimed that this passage was a warning about International Communism.