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The Secret Facebook War for Mormon Hearts and Minds

thedailybeast.com

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Re: The Secret Facebook War for Mormon Hearts and Minds

#11

Post by richeyrw »

stevenwoo wrote: post #9
richeyrw wrote: post #2

I'm an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and I've tried to be as educated as possible about the controversial/anti-mormon stuff (for example I've read the CES letter). But this is the first time I've come across this claim: "During that time [when plural marriage was part of the doctrine] some male followers of the Latter Day Saint movement took dozens of wives each, disproportionately…

The founder Joseph Smith had 14, 16, 17 year old brides. If it was allowed for Joseph Smith why should anyone else be different?

I'm not saying it didn't happen. It's clear it happened, a lot. I'm taking issue with the idea that the wives were "disproportionally" 14-16.

Re: The Secret Facebook War for Mormon Hearts and Minds

#13

Post by slavik81 »

richeyrw wrote: post #4
andrewl wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never been involved with the LDS church, but you could find a lot of interesting information at the Ex Mormon section of Reddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/exmormon/top/ And the wiki that goes along with it: https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/wiki/index

There's no dearth of places to find ex-mormon/anti-mormon info. I'm looking for documentation of that specific claim. I did follow the links, but I didn't see anything promising.

> There's no dearth of places to find ex-mormon/anti-mormon info.

Off-topic, but I visited Salt Lake City last year and I was surprised by a bookstore that had both a Mormon section and an Anti-Mormon section. I'd never seen an Anti-Mormon section in a bookstore before, and I certainly didn't expect to see it in SLC of all places. But in retrospect, it kind of makes sense that people would have stronger opinions about Mormonism—good or bad—in places where its influence is greater.

Re: The Secret Facebook War for Mormon Hearts and Minds

#15

Post by kbutler »

stevenwoo wrote: post #9
richeyrw wrote: post #2

I'm an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and I've tried to be as educated as possible about the controversial/anti-mormon stuff (for example I've read the CES letter). But this is the first time I've come across this claim: "During that time [when plural marriage was part of the doctrine] some male followers of the Latter Day Saint movement took dozens of wives each, disproportionately…

The founder Joseph Smith had 14, 16, 17 year old brides. If it was allowed for Joseph Smith why should anyone else be different?

No reason at all. It was generally allowed in the U.S. Age of consent was typically 10 years old until 1885 https://discover-the-truth.com/2013/09/09/age-of-consent-in-...

"After 1885, age of consent laws changed around the country, reaching 16 in New York in 1889 and 18 in 1895. Prior to these changes the age of consent in most places in the United States was 10 or 12 years."

There's a very strong trend to criticize historical figures for not conforming to modern standards, but it's not usually very useful in understanding their character.

Re: The Secret Facebook War for Mormon Hearts and Minds

#16

Post by [deleted] »

richeyrw wrote: post #10
sago wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The original demographic research: https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/artic... And a review of its more recent book-length expansion: https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/artic...

I did a search for the number 14 and 16 without seeing anything that matched the claim. The closest I saw was "These men averaged thirty-six years of age (range: 24-60) and had been married an average of ten years (1-32 years) before marrying a second wife of a mean twenty-five years of age (14-39 years). At that time, their legal wives averaged thirty-two years of age (22-56)."

[deleted]

Re: The Secret Facebook War for Mormon Hearts and Minds

#17

Post by twblalock »

kbutler wrote: post #15
stevenwoo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The founder Joseph Smith had 14, 16, 17 year old brides. If it was allowed for Joseph Smith why should anyone else be different?

No reason at all. It was generally allowed in the U.S. Age of consent was typically 10 years old until 1885 https://discover-the-truth.com/2013/09/09/age-of-consent-in-... "After 1885, age of consent laws changed around the country, reaching 16 in New York in 1889 and 18 in 1895. Prior to these changes the age of consent in most places in the United States was 10 or 12 years." There's a very strong trend to criticize…

> There's a very strong trend to criticize historical figures for not conforming to modern standards, but it's not usually very useful in understanding their character.

Smith was considered an outlier by his contemporaries. This is not simply a case of applying modern standards to a 19th-century person. People alive at the time considered his marriages abnormal.

Re: The Secret Facebook War for Mormon Hearts and Minds

#18

Post by jackcosgrove »

kbutler wrote: post #15
stevenwoo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The founder Joseph Smith had 14, 16, 17 year old brides. If it was allowed for Joseph Smith why should anyone else be different?

No reason at all. It was generally allowed in the U.S. Age of consent was typically 10 years old until 1885 https://discover-the-truth.com/2013/09/09/age-of-consent-in-... "After 1885, age of consent laws changed around the country, reaching 16 in New York in 1889 and 18 in 1895. Prior to these changes the age of consent in most places in the United States was 10 or 12 years." There's a very strong trend to criticize…

What we would consider child marriage was normal then, but polygamy was not. Polygamy was one of the charges leveled against Mormons during their various persecutions in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois.

Re: The Secret Facebook War for Mormon Hearts and Minds

#19

Post by [deleted] »

kbutler wrote: post #15
stevenwoo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The founder Joseph Smith had 14, 16, 17 year old brides. If it was allowed for Joseph Smith why should anyone else be different?

No reason at all. It was generally allowed in the U.S. Age of consent was typically 10 years old until 1885 https://discover-the-truth.com/2013/09/09/age-of-consent-in-... "After 1885, age of consent laws changed around the country, reaching 16 in New York in 1889 and 18 in 1895. Prior to these changes the age of consent in most places in the United States was 10 or 12 years." There's a very strong trend to criticize…

[deleted]

Re: The Secret Facebook War for Mormon Hearts and Minds

#20

Post by VoidSetAndMatch »

“Ex-Mormons responded in droves to dump their contact lists of current Mormons. By the end of the first day his ad target list had grown from 30 to 397”

So now people get doxxed by friends and family. Imagine someone pretending to do this to influence someone in one direction, but then using it for any other reason. Who can say none of their friends would be tricked?

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