Many formerly faithful Mormons leave the church because it no longer makes them happy, or they discover it is not true, or both. They often face a spiritual crisis affecting their jobs, their relationships, their ethics, and their mental health. Sometimes they become confused and lose faith in their own ability to sort out what …
Speaker: Kathleen Kimball Melonakos
How Counterfeiting, Anti-Masonic Sentiment, and the Second Great Awakening Affected Joseph Smith’s Religion
Evidence suggests that the Joseph Smith family was involved in counterfeiting long before the Book of Mormon emerged. Therefore, what was Joseph Smith’s relationship to the Christian society around him? Since the Christian Second Awakening and the Anti-Masonic movement were both in full swing, what might be Joseph’s reasons for creating the Christian/Masonic syncretism that …