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The great characteristic of this Church, my brethren and sisters, which distinguishes it from all other organizations upon the face of the earth, is union. It is this that has marked us as a peculiar people from the commencement. George Q Cannon, general conference April 1895
In this respect I think we are a peculiar people, different from every other people upon the face of the earth. George Q Cannon, general conference April 9 1899
The Latter-day Saints are expected to be a peculiar people. Francis M Lyman, general conference October 1892
The Latter-day Saints are looked upon as a peculiar people, and they are the most peculiar people to be found upon the face of the earth. Ben E Rich, general conference address 7th April 1901
I am sure most will at least agree that we are a peculiar people ... Yes, we doubtless are in many ways a peculiar people, a different people. Hugh B Brown, general conference address April 1969
Our position is not like that of other organizations or churches: we are a peculiar people. Bruce R McConkie, General Conference address April 1964
God bless us, my brethren and sisters, that we may continue a peculiar people. Ezra Taft Benson, general conference address October 1955
Americans are well aware that there has been a revolution. In morals. In manners. In speech. In crime rates. In riots. In violence. In drugs. In sex. In pornography. In politics. In movies. In education. In music.
What most of us failed to realize at the moment was how important the music revolution would become. It turned out to be the catalyst for all the rest. It became the prod to promote drugs, the advertiser of sex in the hedonism manner, the mind-conditioner for four-letter gutter speech, and eventually the blatant propaganda funnel for political subversion. It also became the seductive Jezebel for a modern philosophy of no God, of Man as merely a graduate beast of the jungle, of Jesus Christ as a phoney actor – a superstar, of peace and prosperity being possible only under communism, of America as the enemy of the world, of Russia as the hope of the world. W Cleon Skousen, preface E Lynn Balmforth ‘Rock ‘N’ Reality: Mirrors of Rock Music – Its Relationship to Sex, Drugs, Family & Religion’
We’ve combined youth, music, sex, drugs, and rebellion with treason! ibid.
I believe that there is not a freer, more independent nor a more intelligent people to be found anywhere in the world, who are more independent in choosing the course which they pursue, in the work that they perform and in everything that they have to do with, than the Latter-day Saints. There is not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in good standing, anywhere in all the world today that is not such by reason of his independence of character, by reason of his intelligence, wisdom. Joseph Fielding Smith, Teachings of Presidents of the Church 32: Liberty through Obedience, From the Life of Joseph Fielding Smith p283
Mormons ... are, notwithstanding our weaknesses, the best people in the world. I do not say this boastingly, for I believe that this truth is evident to all who are willing to observe for themselves. We are morally clean, in every way equal, and in many ways superior to any other people. Joseph Fielding Smith, tenth president, ‘Doctrines of Salvation vol 1 p236’
Now, we are told in scriptures that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God in the flesh. Well, now for the benefit of the older ones, how are children begotten? I answer just as Jesus Christ was begotten of his father ... Jesus is the only person who had our Heavenly Father as the father of his body. Joseph Fielding Smith, Family Home Evening Manual 1972 @ p125
We will never get a man into space. This earth is man’s sphere and it was never intended that he should get away from it. The moon is a superior planet to the earth and it was never intended that man should go there. You can write it down in your books that this will never happen. Joseph Fielding Smith, Honolulu stake conference 14th May 1961
The inhabitants of the moon are more of a uniform size than the inhabitants of the earth, being six feet in height. They dress very much like the Quaker style and are quite general in style or fashion of dress. They live to be very old; coming generally near a thousand years. This is the description of them as given by Joseph the Seer. Oliver B Huntington journal vol 2 p166
Joseph Smith said that there are men living on the moon who dress like Quakers and live to be nearly 1000 years old. Since he was wrong about the moon, is it safe to trust him regarding the way to Heaven? The Young Woman’s Journal 3:263-264; viz also Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? p4
Some groups like the Mormons were considered too outrageous and cult-like to find acceptance. America’s Book of Secrets s2e6: Deadly Cults, History 2013
Senator Dubois: Have you received any revelations from God, which has been submitted by you and the apostles to the body of the church in their semi-annual conference, which revelation has been sustained by that conference, through the upholding of their hands?
Joseph F Smith: No, sir; none whatsoever ... I have never pretended to nor do I profess to have received revelations. Reed Smoot Hearings US Senate 1904
The Mormons: Joseph Smith. Not too impressed. C’mon, we’re goin’ to Utah! Who said so? Joe Smith. George Carlin, Brain Droppings audio
To be a Mormon is to believe some really crazy stuff ... You kind of have to up the ante ... The idea that Christianity is American I think is an amazing entitlement. Bill Maher, Religulous
Religion, cult, there’s no real definition of which is which. It’s more like ‘if the shoe fits’. I personally define a ‘cult’ as any religion with fewer followers than Snooki has on Twitter. Also, Mormonism is secretive, and that’s another trait I associate with cults. Catholics own their crazy. It’s right on the table. Mormons are more like Fight Club. Bill Maher
The Mormons believe in magic underpants – I’m not making that up. Bill Maher, interview Sex, Drugs & Religion 2010
He [Joseph Smith] was a conman. ibid.
I believe — that the Lord God created the universe.
I believe — that He sent His only Son to die for my sins.
And I believe — that ancient Jews built boats and sailed to America.
I am a Mormon
And a Mormon just believes. The Book of Mormon Musical: I Believe
The Mormon Church is, at its heart, sick and dysfunctional, manipulatively using phobias and fantasies to pursue power and to effectuate ‘unrighteous dominion’ over the lives and resources of both individuals and governments. There are nice and sincere (albeit gullible) people within the ranks of Mormon believers but the institution of the Mormon Church itself is rotten to the core. Steve Benson, board post 13th June 2012, ‘Why the Mormon Church is an Institution in a State of Moral Decay and General Decline’
To understand why I jumped from the Mormon wagon train requires an understanding of what Mormons are and how they think. While Mormons have some quaint, quirky and fanatical ideas, they really aren’t much different from millions of poor, guilt-ridden souls who, throughout the march of human history, have hitched their hopes to mass movements of one sort or another. Eric Hoffer, in his brilliant treatise The True Believer explains the attraction of joining a cause: ‘A rising mass movement attracts and holds a following by the refuge it offers from the anxieties, barrenness and meaninglessness of an individual existence. It cures the poignantly frustrated by freeing them from their ineffectual selves – and it does this by enfolding and absorbing them into a closely knit and exultant corporate whole’. Of all the cults and philosophies that competed in the Graeco-Roman world, Christianity alone developed from its inception a compact organization.