Missouri remains land of religious promise for Mormons

[rug]

By Tim Townsend| Religion News Service, Updated: Thursday, September 20, 4:51 PM

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — In 1831, Mormon founder Joseph Smith declared that the righteous would gather in Independence, Mo., to greet the Second Coming of Jesus Christ — just one of the prophecies that estranged his faith from traditional Christianity.

Thousands of converted Mormons moved from Ohio and upstate New York to claim their New Jerusalem. Disputes with Missourians led to a bloody Mormon War that ended only when the state’s governor issued an “extermination order” to expel Smith’s followers.

Today, few places are better to contemplate the evolving — but still uncertain — relationship between Mormonism and the country where it was founded.

On the one hand, Missouri symbolizes how far Mormons have come. At least 66,000 Mormons now live in the state, more than triple the number of just three decades ago. Most recently, the LDS church has built a temple in Kansas City, Mo., near the epicenter of the Mormon War.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/missouri-remains-land-of-religious-promise-for-mormons/2012/09/20/d40cbbd4-0348-11e2-9132-f2750cd65f97_story.html

[HoneychildMooseMoss]

1. I had always associated Independence with Harry Truman

I never thought it had a Mormon connection.

[rug]

2. I was startled to associate it with New York.

[HoneychildMooseMoss]

3. There is also a Nauvoo, Illinois connection

I stumbled upon it by accident as I was traveling the Great River Road. Apparently, that's where Joseph Smith met his demise.

[rug]

4. Yeah, most left but some stayed with his descendants and formed a Reorganized LDS Church.

[gordianot]

5. My Grandmother remembered stories from her Grandfather.

I have never read an account that equals the horrors she told. Neither side was innocent.

[rug]

6. Wow, passed down five generations.

You were lucky to haveheard them, horror or no.

[gordianot]

10. I will go ahead and tell it.

I have also told this to several Mormons they had no record of the incident. A barge of sick Mormons men, women, children was floated down the Missouri had typhoid. Local militia informal I am sure, burned the barge including those still alive. I am a descendant of one of the torch bearers. Her Grandfather was a slave owner actually armed his slaves to defend against Mormon bands (very much against Missouri law) after they were lynched. Grandma thought some of the slaves were enlisted in torching the barge She also said he told this story frequently to his Grandchildren was in his 90's at the time about 1900.

I always took this story with skepticism but have been told that it is possible. She also told the story that slaves were not in favor of being freed. I found this hard to believe. Since then I have read accounts of former slaves that sound similar. It seems it depends on who did the interview with variation of stories from the same source. I tend to believe what she told me. To the day she died she had a strong dislike of Mormons. She never actually knew or as far as I know met a Mormon. When a Mormon church went up in a neighboring town she was indignant for her it was a scandal.

I told the stories to my children so it is passed to another generation of Missourians. I strongly dislike Mitt Romney not because he is a Mormon that attitude has passed. I generally find him creepy it is good to know more than a few Mormons feel the same.

[rug]

11. Amazing.

Thanks for telling it.

Missouri Executive Order 44, the Mormon Extermination Order, was the product of that time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Executive_Order_44

[EvolveOrConvolve]

7. The whole Missouri=Garden of Eden thing in Mormonism

was something I questioned often as a Mormon kid. If the Bible is true, how the hell can the Garden of Eden be in Missouri? And if the Garden of Eden is in Missouri, how the hell can the Bible be true? http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/gardenofeden.htm

I was a questioning little prick that grew up into a larger questioning prick.

[rug]

8. You didn't factor in continental drift.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

9. If the earth is only 6,000 years old, and the continents were in their present position

6,000 years ago, how could continental drift factor in? That's just silly with your science and stuff.

[dimbear]

12. Hawaii also has a remarkable Mormon history, but not such a cheerful one. I have

previously mentioned Iosepa here, but it's useful to consider the history of Lana'i:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_M._Gibson

which, in a nutshell, involves a Mormon missionary swindling away the greater part of the island.