E51: Joseph Smith, Outlaw Prophet

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:12)
It's no secret that Joseph Smith has a sort of dodgy past when it comes to legal issues.
No, I'm not gonna say dodgy in a British accent again, you're welcome. Now, if you were raised a devout Mormon like me, you would have been taught some of the dodgy stuff, but the way it was framed made it seem like sometimes the prophet had to break the law, or even sometimes the law was just wrong, and breaking it was a sign of civil disobedience. All bright and shiny in that Henry David Thoreau kind of way, of course.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (0:38)
Actually, I was taught that too. So I've been doing these Mormon history rants on TikTok lately because I have no self-control. And sometimes someone will be like, Brigham Young was really good at outsmarting the government.
And I say to them, so you mean he's really good at breaking the law? That's what you're trying to say. It's like Mormons take this special pride when our prophets break the law. We are so proud of it.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:03)
It's weird. We normalize stuff that outsiders look at and think, that's not something to, you know, that's not a badge of honor, but it's just part of our history and we really kind of like it.
And that framing has caused Mormons a lot of problems down the road. When you start out with the premise that breaking the law is okay, as long as your spiritual leaders are doing it, it opens an entire can of worms and not the good trolley kind either.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:32)
Hi, this is Lindsay Hansen Park.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:34)
And this is Bryan Buchanan.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:36)
Bringing you the story of Mormonism from the shadow of the everlasting hills straight out of Zion, this isn't your grandpa's Mormon history.

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:03)
This is the tale of Mormon saints and sinners from our roots until present day.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:08)
Gird your loins, lock your hearts, and pay your tithing, because we're bringing you the story of Mormonism in all its paradisiacal glory.

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:17)
It's the Sunstone History Podcast.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:40)
Whenever news agencies interview me about the context of Mormon fundamentalism, this question comes up. So why are so many so-called prophets breaking the law if you have these Mormon articles of faith that talk about, I don't know, sustaining the law?
And I always have to tell them that there's this funky tension between God's laws and man's laws.

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:01)
I feel like that's kind of a long story, maybe. We've talked about this before, but in Mormonism's own scripture, the Book of Mormon, there's the story where Nephi cuts off the head of the bad wicked Laban. Sure, he brutally murders and decapitates this guy, but sometimes a little bloodshed is required for the good of God.
Yeah, it's not really good precedent when your verse starts. Better that one man should perish, dot, dot, dot. Whatever's after the dots doesn't really matter.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:27)
Oh man, I've said it before and I'll say it again, that one scripture story has done so much more damage toward violent, zealotry and Mormonism than any other scripture. I've heard it used to justify all kinds of things.

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:38)
Excuse me, the one mighty and strong?

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:41)
I know, Mormon men really wanna be mighty and strong, no matter what. Off the top of my head, I'll just name a few of the people that I can think of that have used this to do terrible things. John D. Lee, for example, of Mountain Meadows Massacre fame, Bill Hickman and all of his murders, Porter Rockwell and all of his murders, the Nauvo Legion and all of their nonsense, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Josea Stout, Jedediah Grant, and so forth and so with. Then you've got the Lafferty brothers, Ervel LeBaron, Samuel Schaeffer and the Knights of the Crystal Blade, John Singer, Adam Swapp, Warren Jeffs, Lyle Javs, Samuel Bateman and on and on and on.

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:38)
Mormonism's relationship to the law has always been a little, let's say, squishy. Thanks to Joseph Smith's own complicated relationship to the laws of the land, generations that followed him have had to decide how they were gonna interpret the morality of upholding and sustaining the law.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (4:53)
Today, and with the help of Idaho Potato Cloudhopper brother John Dinger, we're going to cover all the legal issues of Joseph Smith Jr. All of them? Are we gonna cover all of them?

**Bryan Buchanan** (5:04)
Hey.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (5:04)
Most of them.

**Bryan Buchanan** (5:05)