The business of tear-jerking: How hero-worshipping makes Joseph Smith a lie

Photographs courtesy of Deseret Book

This week, Brother Michael Pratt will be sentenced for molesting his LDS seminary student.

You may not remember Mr. Pratt. He was a bigger fuss last summer when he was arrested on multiple counts of rape. It only made such a splash in Utah Valley because many of his former high school students, from Orem to American Fork, are now back from missions, married or diligently living the single Mormon life with the spiritual education he inspired them with.

It was more than shattering for most of these former students – some even went so far as to claim the girl had come up with evil lies to wound his reputation.

It’s not implausible most of these same faithful Mormons would have the same reaction over certain revelations about Joseph Smith.

The Joseph Smith as U.S. history knows him, anyway: a revolutionary, and a threat to democracy. A treasonous treasure seeker, a self-professed prophet since before he could even court girls and either a very brilliant or very dangerous political leader.

Certainly there are church historians who address the various contexts and nuances of Joseph Smith’s behaviors and teachings – how, in other words, he may have been a man of God but also clearly very much a man of the unique cultural, political and spiritual climates of his time.

One source to learn about this is “The Joseph Smith Papers,” a project that entails the first complete and unabridged publication of every word the man wrote and a companion KJZZ TV documentary series. The church historians treat with frankness aspects of Joseph Smith’s history most Mormons either don’t want to hear, or have heard and consider either ignorant slander or lies of the most satanic sort.

For example, Joseph Smith’s family had a history (even dating all the way to the Salem witch trials) in dabbling in all sorts of different magic spiritualism in nineteenth century America. Joseph Smith himself played with enchanted amulets and rocks, strange symbols and supernatural rituals long before the publication of the Book of Mormon.

In addition, it might surprise Mormons to know that the First Vision, the story so prized by the church that its very image is iconic of Mormonism itself (it’s even been stained into glass windows cathedral-style), was not always scriptural canon, partly because there are four or five different versions of it. The part of Joseph Smith’s history that might be most interesting is his martyrdom. It’s a fascinating story, really. You’ve got some political intrigue, unholy matrimony (or matrimonies), a rebel newspaper, a secret “temple couples” club, a great escape and an army mobilized against Illinois. It’s got the makings of Hollywood Western all over it.

Except Hollywoodizing is precisely what Mormons have done to Joseph Smith’s story. In Temple Square, visitors from all over the world come to find out more about the church.

What they find is not a historically candid cinematic portrayal, but a very sanitized and sentimental idealization of Joseph Smith that’s specifically tailored to produce tears and Hallmark heartwarming. This, unfortunately, often get mistaken for a spiritual experience.

In the death scene, music swells, the frame rate slows and with sunlight in his eyes, Joseph Smith is literally lifted into the clouds – a man effectively mythologized and marketed by cinematic trickery, bland paintings and a hymn that co-opts Scottish traditional music.

Like with Mr. Pratt, hero worship is easy consumption in religion. But what a much more complex man Joseph Smith was than a blonde and blue innocent slain by “the wicked.”

The current image that prevails local culture about him is quickly becoming outmoded. It’d be a tragedy if Mormonism spiritually collapsed simply because history wants to be honest about its founder.

As Alex Caldiero, a UVU artist-in-residence, says of Joseph Smith in the documentary The Sonosopher, “He was a prophet and a charlatan…[a] coyote figure…that told the greatest truths in the greatest lies…What a sweetheart.”

10 Responses to The business of tear-jerking: How hero-worshipping makes Joseph Smith a lie

Michael Mars Reply

August 30, 2010 at 4:56 pm

“A treasonous treasure seeker, a self-professed prophet since before he could even court girls and either a very brilliant or very dangerous political leader.”

This is a great article. Now, let’s get some tar and feathers and do this thing right!
Austin Blake Reply

August 30, 2010 at 10:57 pm

This is the most blatant rebel-rousing article I’ve read in a long time. There is no substance to it. It merely attacks an entire religion with cheap shock and awe wording. Tying Joseph Smith to a child molester? Really? Are you trying to alienate half of your readers?
I have no problem with differing opinions…it’s the nature of journalism and op-ed pieces. But this is just a poorly focused piece with a distasteful center.

I would expect more out of The UVU Review even if it is an opinion piece.
Oliver Reply

September 1, 2010 at 12:01 am

This is a great article. The writer is not attacking anyone, but rather stating a truth. Many Mormons are quick to find the faults of other religions but never look at their own ideology, much of which consists of propaganda and elaborated stories. As far as the child molesting goes, any person with religious affiliation may become corrupt. It happens commonly in Utah with Bishops, Seminary Teachers and Ward Members; This is not beyond the norm.
I’m glad to finally hear someone speak out for their own opinions and not be afraid to be attacked instantly by the Utah community. We need more writing like this.
Josh N Reply

September 1, 2010 at 4:55 pm

I appreciate how this article re-tells history in “human size”. I think we set ourselves up for a lot of hurt and ignorance when we build our society and stories on inflated heroes and history. I don’t see a comparison between the prophet of the LDS church and a seminary teacher who molested his student. What I see is a revealing of a very bad habit; our tendency to “pretend away” the dangerous things people do/could do simply because those same individuals appear wholesome on the outside. We continually, at a cost to ourselves, dismiss rape and sexual assault because we can’t or we don’t want to believe that people we know and trust could be capable of such a terrible thing. We routinely give our support to leaders who don’t have our best interest in mind simply because their story, as told to us through a filter of flowers and sunshine, sounds ideal and pure. Not to say that…
Kimberly Palmer Reply

September 1, 2010 at 5:51 pm

Protesters claiming that Joseph Smith is a liar show up at LDS conferences, pageants, and funerals and now I have to read it in the school newspaper? Freedom of religion should include the right to not feel like my belief system is being attacked. You wouldn’t get away with writing an article comparable to this about any other religion, can you imagine the backlash you would receive for an Anti-Jewish article? Mormons should receive the same courtesy. Let us have our religion and find another hobby.
Jacob Reply

September 1, 2010 at 6:23 pm

I would be curious about what the sources are particularly the black magic stuff
Prove the point, truthfully, or let us see just how bad you really are at journalism, after all anything can be made to look bad if it is put out of context, especially if the facts are made up to begin with.
Georgia Pyne Reply

September 4, 2010 at 1:02 pm

Kimberly, read your comment carefully and you will see that you have just made a terrible claim, namely that freedom of religion means no one should ever criticize a religion. For the record this article did not criticize the Mormon faith, but even if it did, that is a good thing. Should the Catholic faith get a free pass on the Inquisition because it is a religion? Should Satanists not be criticized just because they are a religion? Think harder about what you have said.
Georgia Pyne Reply

September 4, 2010 at 1:06 pm

I think the people criticizing this article need to read it more carefully. Is it not about attacking a particular religion, but rather attacking the idea of unthoughtful hero worship. Everything stated about Joseph smith in this article is true, and can easily be verified by reading any number of good biographies on him available in any local bookstore. I personally learned about most of the stuff in this article in Sunday School in a BYU student ward. Not only is this good journalism, but good writing and good history.
Amos Oveson Reply

September 14, 2010 at 2:26 pm

Congratulations on being a treasure seeking columnist, and self-prophessed prophet expert all before you could get a promotion better than the UVU Review. The writer of this column is either a very brilliant one or a very dangerous one. I would argue the latter.
Ken Wade Reply

September 18, 2010 at 9:58 am

There is no doubt that Joseph was brilliant. Few men in history have been able to seduce so many women, including teenagers and other men’s wives, with such ethereal skill and love as Joseph. Eternal life and salvation are strong aphrodisiacs–even stronger than money, power and a nice car.