Salt Lake City – In his essay, “The Prophet Puzzle Revisited,” author and historian Dan Vogel calls Joseph Smith, the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, complex and gifted.
He also says Smith was a “pious fraud,” who knowingly duped followers into believing that God and angels spoke to him in visions, directing the formation of the church in 1830.
Mormons revere Smith as a true prophet, who through revelation restored God’s true church to the earth. His life and work promise to be a central theme of the church’s 175th semiannual conference here this weekend.
The two-day event will draw more than 100,000 to Salt Lake City, while millions more will observe the proceedings in more than 130 countries and 80 languages via television, satellite and radio broadcasts. The conference comes shortly before the 200th anniversary of Smith’s birth on Dec. 23.
“I have no judgment as a historian upon what (Smith) did, Vogel says. What I like to talk about is what he thought he was doing,” Vogel said in a telephone interview from his home in Westerville, Ohio. “And he thought he was doing a good work.”
That work included writing the Book of Mormon, the faith’s foundational text. Woven into its stories of battles between good and evil is the message that the Saints – as Mormons are often called here – should obey God’s commandments and believe in Jesus Christ.
“Even if (the Book of Mormon) is not history, for Joseph Smith it’s still inspired because it does those two things,” said Vogel, a sixth-generation Mormon who left the church about 30 years ago.
Whether prophet or fraud, that so many still focus on Smith’s words and work is proof of the effect he has had on American religion.
When Smith was shot and killed – believers say martyred – in June 1844, the church had about 26,000 members. Today, there are more than 12 million Mormons around the world.
“He’s significant because of the current believers,” Vogel said, adding that many 19th century sects split from mainline Protestantism only to fail. “If they didn’t believe in him, he’d be irrelevant.”
Mike Ash, a self-described believing Latter-day Saint who studies Mormon history, writes for FAIR, the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, which defends Mormon theology.
He believes Smith endures because the church’s core values and principles are grounded in truth.
“I’ve conversed with nonmembers and ex-members who still think that the (Mormon) church has good values,” said Ash. “There’s appreciation for that even if you don’t accept Joseph Smith or Mormon theology.”
But some critics dispute the idea that Smith’s teachings have endured.
In the 14 years that Smith headed the church, its practices and philosophies changed frequently. And subsequent leaders, from Brigham Young to current President Gordon B. Hinckley have continued to shift the institution, said Sandra Tanner, a former Mormon who with her husband, Jerald, owns the Utah Lighthouse Ministry bookstore in Salt Lake City.
“I see them trying to downplay his teaching,” said Tanner, whose own study and writings seek to debunk Mormon myths.
As evidence, Tanner cites a list of steps the church has taken away from Smith – changes to sacred temple practices, the ordination of black men as priests and the disavowal of plural marriage.
