Chapter 13 WhenHistory Fails:MormonOriginsand HistoricalRevisionism MassimoIntrovigne FailedProphecyand ReYisionism the 50th anniversaryof the publication In 2006 severaleventscommemorated of WhenProphecyFails, whereLeonFestinger(1919-89)andhis collaborators on the basisoftheir studyof frrstinhoducedthe notionof'cognitive dissonance' a failedprophecy(Festingeret al. 1956).TheFestingerteaminflltratedthegroup ledby UFO contactee DorothyMartin (1900-92),disguisedin their book under rhepseudon;nn of 'MadameKeech',just beforeherpredictionaboutthe coming ofthe aliensandtheendofthis world aswe krow it failedto cometrue.Placedin andthoseof society a situationof 'cognitivedissonance' betweenits persuasions at large,the group did not collapse.Rather,Martin's followersresolvedtheir Festinger througha renewed effortatproselytism. situationofcognitivedissonance expect that,whena religiousprophecyfails,we shouldnot necessarily concluded the collapseof the group responsiblefor the failure.He regardedits survival activismandproselytismasmoreprobable. throughincreased eventswerecollectedin 20ll in Severalpapersofthe 2006commemorative by theAssociationfor the SociologyofReligion(Tummtmta a volumesponsored conclusionthatreligious andSwatos2011)-Most papersarguedthatFestinger's groupscansuryivethedisconfirmation hasbeengenerallyvalidated. ofa prophecy On the other hand, few subsequent studiesconfirmedthe idea that prophetic proselytism.Rather,thereare a varietyof iàilureis survivedthroughincreased perhapsmoving the date differentreactionsto failed prophecy.Reamrmation, ro a moreor lessremotefuture,is just one of them.In an importantarticleof spiritualisation 1985on the Festingercontroversy, J. GordonMelton discussed Ìs a more frequentreaction.The group 'spidtualises'the prophecyand argues Ihatin fact it did not fail. Something very importanthappened, but in an invisible spiritualrealm(Melton1985).In othercases,it is simplydeniedthattheprophecy $as really utteredas somethingcertain.The prophecyis attributedto 'popular' arguing opinionsformedoutsidethe controlof the leadership, or marginalised, rhatit wasneveran importantpartofthe doctrineofthe group. do not happenspontaneously. Of course,spiritualisationand rationalisation andrequirespeciflcagentsto promote Theyarequitecomplicated socialprocesses, them.In somecases,the group'sleadershipis the main agent.In othercases, 188 Revisionism and Díversirtcafion itl New Religious Movemenîs minorities within the group promote either spiritualisation or rationalisation. Theseproposalsmay be acceptedor resistedby the leadership,which may prefer a simple reamrmation of the prophecy.Also, shategiesof rationalisation by the leadership may be resisted by minorities who ask for the ,truth'. and for thc candid recognition that mistakeswere made by the leaders.The career of Jame: Penton, a Canadian professor of history who stafed his academic carcer as a loyal Jehovah'sWitness and ended it as a bitter and very critical ex-member is l casein point. Penton was originally sympatheticto the way the leadershipoftht Witnessesreactedto severalprophetic failures. In the end. however. he becanrt, persuadedthat the rationalisation of certain propheciesthrough marginalisation or denial amounted to a deliberate manipulation and falsification ol histon (Penton1997). Interpreîing the failed prophecy goes beyond interpreting a mere documenr The prophecy which did not come true is a complex historical event, embodied rn severalnarrativesand including a prolonged interactionbetweenthe leadership and its followerc. A failed prophecyisjust one among many ,controversialevenr. in the history ofa religious group, which canembarass the leadershipand needsro be managedthrough reaf,firmation,ratjonalisationor spirituatisation.No religiou. group with a significant history is without skeletonsin its closetsor embarrassint: events in its history And todaf with the advent of the Intemet, .whistleblowers(a special category of dissenters(Bromley 1998) who uncover embarrassrÌlg documentsand demand 'the truth' about controversiaÌevents,either as amateur.. or professionalhistorians such as penton) are able to gain a significant audience more quickly than in the past. The Church ofJesus Chdst ofLatter-day Saints(LDS), popularly known as rhc Mormon Church, is no exceptionto this rule. It has its own controyersralevenlsits own strategiesof damagecontrol and its own quite vocal whistleblowers..-\c obvious example ofa controversialevent is the Màuntain Meadows massacrcoi l l September1857, when the Mormon Utah Territorial Militia and some paiur3 Natiye_Amedcans attacked a wagon train of non-Mormon immigrants, killing about 120 of them. Various forms ofrevisionism have beenapplied io the evenrrn LDS officiaÌ sources,either alleging provocationby the immigrants or attriburin: the massacreto rogue Mormon militiamen, thus denying any ìnvolvement br rht leadership.Since the 1950s the main whistleblower about Mountain M.uúoo. has been the LDS historian Juanita p Brooks (lg9g_19g9) (see Brooks 195f-,l' whose work on the massacrehas been recently revisited and expanded b; ril. independenthistorian, Will Bagley (2002). Interestingly,the reaf&Àation or rbe traditional Mormon narrative came from three professionalhistorians rn a bo..i published by an academicpress(Walker et al. 200g). As embarrassingas the Mountain Meadows fagedy may be, there are ottrer controversial events which directly involve the three crucial elements 01 rlrc Mormon faith: its founder, its holy scripturesand its sacredrituals. We will rhr,.: tum our attentron to instanaesof revisionism surrounding three controvenit* eventsolthe Mormon origins: the role ofthe foundeq Josept Smith J.lt g0S__f:i WhenHístoru Fails: Mormon Orísins and Hístorical Revísionísm 189 .. $ theestablishmentofpolygamy; the 'coming forth' ofMormon sacredscriptures; :' rnd Mormonism's relation with Freemasonry . Polygamy: Rationalisation and Diversincation . One can easily assemblea minor library with books publishedabout the Mormon i'ractice ofpolygamy, a story that does not need to be retold here. Polygamy was : oùìcially abandonedby the LDS Church in 1890with the Monífesîo of its foúrth President,Wilford Woodruff (1807-98), although some polygamous matrnges continued to be authorised, and the practice was entirely discontinued only in the first yean of the twentieth century (Quinn 1985). Those who continued to 'fundamentalists'and advocatepolygamy then beganto be dismissedasrebellious d\communicated. Mormons, of course, did not deny that polygamy was practiseduntil 1890, riÌhough thepost-Manifestoplural maniagesofthe 1890sandearly 1900sremained Ìargelyunknown until the pioneer works in the 1980sof whistleblower historians ;irch as D. Michael Quinn, who was later excommunicated.Ol, at least, Utah \lormons never denied their polygamouspast. The so-calledMissouri Mormons, nembersofthe ReorganizedChurch ofJesus Christ ofLatter-Day Saints(RLDS), gatheredaroundthe Mormon prophet'swidow, Emma Hale Smith (180't-79), and sheand her son, JosephSmith III (1832 1912),solved îhe embarrassingissueof plygamy through denial and diversification.Emma deniedthat her husbandever .. practisedpolygamy, and attributed the invention ofplural marriage,togetherwith r tàlseclaim to the successionofthe prophet,to Smith's LDS successor,Brigham \bung ( 1801-77). The RLDS Churchwas organisedfor decadesaroundthishistoricalrevisionism, ,rhich was somewhat guaranteedby the presenceof direct descendantsof the :ounding prophet as presidentsof the Missouri group. By the 1980s, however, $e position becameuntenable.An award-winning scholarly biography ofEmma Srnith, written by Utah Mormons but very sympathetic to the prophet's widow, rroved in a definitive way that Emma knew about her husband'spolygamous nraniages(King Newell and TippettsAvery 1984).By that time, the RLDS Church counteda significant number of both professionaland skilled amateurhistorians, gatheredsince 1972in the John Whitmer Historical Society.They receivedthe new biography of Emma with enthusiasm,and prevailed upon the RLDS leadership ro abandonits traditional revisionism about Smith's involvementin polygamy. In rÈtrospect, theseeventsplayed a crucial role in the processwhich hansformedthe RLDS Churchftom a Mormon splintergroup into a liberal Protestantdenomination, * hich no longer believes in the divine origins of Smith's propheciesand of the Ilook of Mormon.It2000 the Missouri group changedits nameinto Community of Christ, and since2004 has electedpresidentswho no longer descendfiom Smith. Polygamy became t]ìe object of LDS revisionism, too. Rather than by the ouright RLDS denial, it was rationalised by marginalisation.While polygamy 190 Revisionism and Dfuet súcatíon in New ReligÌous Movemenls Figure 13.1 The Temple ofThe Community ofChrist, Independence,Misst'un - one of the 400 or more religions that trace their history back r.' JosephSmith and the Book of Mormon. was the crucial bone of contention befween Mormons and anti-Mormons !:r the nineteenth c€ntury it was seldom mentioned in subsequentLDS offici:: publications. Church authoritiesnormally reacted quit€ negatively to historìcai books, novels and movies on Mormon polygamy, dismissing it ds little more dran a histoícal curiosily. This was not always easy,since polygamy was a matter (': continuousfascinationfor writers ofpopular fiction, as confirmed by the fact thal Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) createdthe characterof Sherlock Holm.'s with a story about Mormon polygamy,l Study in Scqrlet (Doyle 1888), and rha! as late as 1930 such a prominent French novelist as GeorgesSimenon (1903-89r devoted a novel to the same subject, where he incorrectly alleged that the LDi Church still practisedpolygamy in Utah (Sim 1930). The presenceof 'fundamentalist' schismaticgroups still practising polyganrr was also a thom in the side of all LDS attempts to marginalise the historicaÌ relevanceof plural marriage. 'Fundamentalists',however, mostly lived in remorc villages or in sÍict secrecy,and were not generally well-known outside Momron circles. The Short Creek raid of 1953,a massarrest of polygamists carried out br the Arizona statepolice and National Guard with the support ofthe LDS Church. made national news,but the excitementquickly subsided. Wen History Faíls: Mormon Ofigins and Historical Revisíonism 191 The fwenty-fi61 century however, brought some more persistentproblems. Not only did accusationsof abuse of minors againstthe largest splinter group, the FundamentalistChurch of JesusChrist of Latter-day Saints, and its leader WarrenJeffs, make national headlines,but 'Mormon' polygamy appearedin the living rooms of ordinary TV viewers all around the world almost every week for six years between2006 and 2011.The critically acclaimedHBO dramaBíg Love, about a successfulbusinessmanin Sandy,Utah, who is a secret 'fundamentalist' polygamist,and his three wives, remindedaudiencesin severalcountriesthat there was indeeda connectionbetweenMormonism and polygamy.Although the series dìd make clear that 'fundamentalists'are not part ofthe mainline LDS Church, and indeed showed LDS leadersgoìng to great lengths to identi$l and punish them, vears of efforts at marginalising polygamy were put at risk of collapsing by the successof,BrgZove. To make things worse,when Big Lovewas coming to its final season,TLC starteda cdtically acclaimedTV reality show in 2010, about the life of a real polygamous 'fundamentalist' family, Sister lríves, which went into its thirdseasonin 2012. The LDS Church felt compelled to respond to Bíg Love with two official 'concem 5tatements,in 2006 and 2009, expressing over the moral standards 'the of television entertainment', denouncing illegal practice of polygamy', connecting it with 'child and wife abuse' and insisting that those practising 'are not 'Mormons'. As for history the two lengthy declarations oolygamy dcvoted exactly one line to the ìssue: 'Polygamy was officially discontinuedby The Church of JesusChdst of Latter-day Saintsin 1890' (Church ofJesus Christ .'f Latter-daySaints 2006,2009). The secondstatement,of2009, clearly illustuatesthe revisionist LDS strategy about polygamy. Its past practice is not denied, which would be obviously impossible,but marginalisedby insistingthat it isjust a footnote in the history ofa ( hurchwhich always had much more important things to do. The 2009 statement roncluded: Ifthe Churchallowedcriticsandopponents to choosethe groundon which its battlesare fought,it would risk beingdistracted from the focusard missionit hadpursuedsuccessfully for nearly 180years.Instead,the Churchitself will determineits own courceas it continuesto preachthe restoredgospelofJesus Christthroughouttheworld.(ChurchofJesusChristofLatter-daySaints2009) : \lormon Scriptures:BetweenSpiritualisationand Reaffirmation i. i;r the history of Mormonism,a crucial battle has continuouslybeen fought iì cr the Book of Mormon and other peculiarly Mormon scriptures.Are they F ì.hat they claim to be, ancientrecords'tmnslated'bythe foundingprophet?Or ; ere they merelya productof JosephSmith,as eitherconsciousdeceptionsor The Church-approved F $etÌentsofhis creativegeniusandreligiousimagination? t92 Revisionísm and Diversifcatiofi in New Religíol1s Movemenîs Encyclopedia of Mormonism claims that 'for most Latter-day Saints the priman purpose of scripture studies is not to ptove to themselvesthe truth of scdptufal records- which they aheadyaccept- but to gain wisdom and understandingabout the teachings ol these sacredwritings' (Ricks 1992: 205). In fact, the 'truth' ot these scriptues may be defined in conflicting ways, and the battle for MonÌolr scriptures becomes the battle for LDS history. Whistleblowersfrom the liberalMormon camphaverepeatedlydrawn attentior: to historical documentswhich may undermine the traditional version of hou, rhc Mormon scriptureswere 'discovered"and ,translated'by Smith. Mormons arc : history-orientedpeople, and their passionfor archivesand documentscontdbulc,j in 1985 to th€ tragedy of the Mark Hofmann murders, which resulted in \\h3l was arguably the most famous criminal court case in twentieth-centuryUtah Hofrnaln, a former LDS missionaryand a skilled forger ofhistorical documenr.. 'discovered' and sold in the 1980sdocuments,radically altering the historical \, ì!,$ of the coming forth of the Mormon scriptures.They included a letter allegedi\ \i/dtten by Smith's close associat€Martin Harris (1783-1875), claiming, within i context which owed more to iolk magic than to religion, that a white salamandcr rather than the angel of the official account,led the prophet to discover the goi,! plates which he later translated as the _B ook of Mctrmon. Hofmann's forgerieswere so good that they were authenticatedby both senior scholarc of Mormonism and FBI experts- Uìtimately, however, the seeminglr inexhaustible outpouring of previously unknown early Mormon documens a.rousedsuspicions. Meanwhile, Hofmann was promising his clients mort documentsthan he could produce in a short time. In a desperateeffofl ro ou\ time. Hoîmannwenr ftom forgingdocumentsro consrructingbombs.killing.ne ofhis client collectorsand the wife ofanother. Less skilled with bombs than Nlrh documents,he ended up severely injuring himself when an explosion destrolcd his car, leadingto his discovery trial and sentencingto life in prison. The Hofmann sagahas itselfbeen subjectto historical revisionism.After it had been reponed Dl investigativejoumalists(Lindsey 1988)and liberal Mormons (Si[itoe and Robers 1989),a lawyer working for the historical departmentofthe LDS Church offerct a revisionist view ofthe events,lrying to put the Church in the best possible liehi (Turley1992). Anotherboneofcontention hasbeentheBook ofAbraham, abook.trarslated.b) JosephSmith fiom papyri discoveredin Thebes,EgWt, by the Italian archeologisr and adventurerAntonio Lebolo (1781-1830) and sold to Smith bv the owner or an itinerant museum ofcuriosities in 1835.Although Smith's .transiation'becanrc, part ofthe Mormon canonas an autobiograpbicalrecord ofthe patriarchAbrahamat leastsome ofthe papyri - long believed to have been lost in the Great Chicagrr Fire of l87l - were re-discoveredin the archivesofthe Metropolitan Museunr in New York and donatedto the LDS Church in I96?. They inciude a Book of rhc Dead and other Egl4rtian religious documents,completely unrelated to Abraham (Peterson1994).The discoverysuggestedthat Smith,s_BooÈ ofAbraham wasnora 'translation'in the usual senseofthe word. Furthermore,the controversyover rhÉ When Histol Fails: Mormon Orígins and Hístorícal Revísionism 193 Egyptianpapyri ofthe 1980srevampeda more generaldiscussionabout Mormon scriptures,with the more liberal LDS intellectuals(who usuallypublish theirbooks with the Salt Lake City pressSignatureBooks and their articlesin the independent LDS joumals Dialogue or Sunsfone) argu.ingthat both îhe Book oÍ Mormon and, the Book of Abraham were something different from factual historical records. They noted an LDs-promoted 'Book of Mormon Archeology' had for decades failed to prove that the ancient inhabitantsofthe American continentv/ere, as the Book of Mormon claims, Jews who reachedAmerica severalcentudesbefore the birth ofJesus Christ. There have been two different LDS revisionist strategiesfor dealing with these confoversies. The first has been spiritualisation,claiming that perhaps it ìs not so important whether Smith 'translated'ancientdocumentsor simply used severalmatedals - including Lebolo's Eglptian papyri - as catalystsfacilitating his experiencesof divine revelations. Revelation 1ìom God, rather than any archeologicalor documentaryevidence,ìs the cmcial confirmation of the 'truth' of the Mormon scriptures. This position is occasionally found in publications by FARMS, the Foundation for Ancient Researchand Mormon Studies, which epitomisesthe conservativeLDS side in the battle over the Mormon scriptures. But spiritualisation is by no means the prevailing LDS view. The hierarchy, and FARMS itself, more often insists on simple reaffirmation, maintaining that there are archeologicalfindings - although in Central rather than North America suggestive of Jewish influences on early Native Americans, and that the Mehopolitan Museum papyri aro but a part of those which came into Smith's possessionin 1835,the othershaving been in fact destroyedin the Great Chicago Fire. Thosedisputing too vigorously that Smith was literally capableoftranslating ancientdocuments(including the editor and one ofthe authors of New Approaches to the Book of Mormon (Metcalfe 1993),perhapsthe most conhoversialSignature Books publication about Mormon scriptures)were excommunicatedduring the 1993-94 LDS 'purge' ofdissidents. The more orthodox LDS position, reaffrrmation,was summed up in a 2002 book about the scriptural controversiesby Terryl Givens, a Mormon academic rvho hasemergedin r€centyears as a key apologistfor the LDS Church, in a book published by Oxford University Press.Givens cdticised the 'middle ground' or 'accomodatìonist' position that he seesas typical ofboth libeml LDS intellectuals and sympatheticnon-LDS scholars(including myself: seeInhovigne 1996).Both, he claimed, do not really believe that Smith found real, tangible gold plates and rranslatedthem as the Book of Mormoz, although they regard him as a genuine religiouscreativegeniusratherthan as a fraud. But JosephSmith, Givens objected, simplydoesn'tcoopemtein sucha reconstruction. Because ofhis self-described excavationof the plates,repeatedsecretingof them ìn beanbarrels,under hearthstones, and in smocks,his displayingof them to eight conoborating witnesses, and his aanscriptionof them into hieroglyphics andtranslaîionof themintoEnglish- this continual,extensive, andprolongedengagement with a Revisionismand Díversífcation in New ReligiousMovements 194 tangible,visible,groundingartefactis not compatiblewith a theorythatmakes hirn an inspiredwriter rewordingthe stuff of his own drearnsinto a ptoduct (Givens2002:17'7-'78') worthyofthe namescripture. Reafarmation, mther than spiritualisation,appean to Givens to be the only s;r for saving Smith's statusas a true prophet. Freemasonry: Rationalisation through Denial Another instance of historical revisionism concems the relationship bet\\..:. Mormonism and Freemasonry which remains a very sensitive issue. The tìr': subjectmatterofthisrevisiortismconcemsanti-Masonism.JosephSmithgres:s in UpstateNe\MYork, in the so-calledBumed-over District, at a time ofProtest::: religious awakening. These revivals involved an element ol anti-Mason:. Journalist William Morgan (17'74 1826), whose mysterious disappearancc:: 1826 fueled rumours ofa Masonic assassination,was a former Freemasontunìrî anti-Mason living in Batavia,New York. Thanks to the sensationalrepofis oi iìrg alleged homicide, his anti-Masonic posthumousbook, Illustrations of Ma:,.t-t (Morgan 1826), becamea best seller, and went into at least 20 editions benr r',rt 1 8 2 6a n d 1 8 3 0 . Smith was familiar with Morgan's anti-Masonic classic, and îor a trnr.' *r close to the missing joumalist's circle. Morgan's widow, Lucinda Morgan llarÉi , ( 1803-?), becamea Mormon in 1834, and a plural wife of JosephSmith in i r ì! (Taysom 1993). In the Book of Moses,a part of the Pearl of Great Príce, a'.l,'l8 Mormon canonical scripture in which the story ofCain andAbel is retold: S3'.rc! reveals to Cain that his name is Mahon. and enters into a secret alliancc .r :É him: WhereforeCainwascalledMasterMahon.andhe slo fied in his wickedne\. (Moses5: 3l J.Lamech,anevil descendant ofCain, alsoenteredinto a covenant with Satanaft9rthemanngrofCain whereinhe becameMasterMahon,mastcr of that greatsecretwhich was administered ùnto Cain by Satan(ibid 5r .l9l Fromthe daysofcain, therewasa secretcombination, andtheirworkswerein the dark(ibid 5:29). Thesepassages wereeasilyreadasreferences to Freemasonry in theMorgan'qr'Master 'Master and Mahon'clearlyassonated with Mason'. The fact that these passagesof the Book of Moses implicitly crirrt:*' Freemasonrywas more or less obviousto the first readersof lhe Bo'* tj:. Tóq' : Mormon,butgîaduallydisappeared ftom tweniieth-century commentaries. the processof revisionismthroughmarginalisation is almostcomplete,and..dF : a handfulof scholarsare awÍueof theBookof Moses'anti-Masonicconte\rtf,a references, llhen Hístory Fails: Motmon Origins and Hislorical Revisionism 195 to theinfluenceon Smith Revisionismhasbeenappliedevenmoreextensively but àÌ Masonicfitual. smith'sjudgementof Freemasonfy not of anti_Masonism, in 1830to seemsto haveevolvedÎrom the publicationoî theBookof Mormor of the plansfor a templeto be built in Kirtland' Ohio' in 1833' it," could "o-pt"tion thattheoriginalritualsofFreemasonry òraduatiy,SmittrbecaÀepersuaded During Temple Solomon's rites of Jewish pr;-Chdstian U" tru""i-Uu"t to the cameto and Freemasonry lhe courseof time thesedtuals becamed€genemted in the 'spurious'Masonsof Cain'slineage,rightly denounced U" ao*irrut"d by pristine' its to Freemasonry restore now would rituals Bookof Moses.Smith's uncorruptedstahls. ritualswhichhe administered Ultimatety,Smithbelievedthattheendowment inKirtlandandlaterinNauvoo,Illinois,didincludeeverythingtheancient' :g"nuine' Ftee-uronry was all about.He also decidedthat a certainnumber lodges' Jf Mo.rnon. shoulclbe formatly and regularlyinitiated into Masonic more Frcemasons' 285 to include came Lodge Nauvoo Eventually,by 1842,the of the the source also is which (Homer 1994, 480 of thanhalf or Iilinoisi totul gave and Freemasons' Illinois alarmed This paragraph) otherinformationin this tÌremthe impressionthat the Mormonswere trying to take over Freemasonry by the StateGrand in their StaÉ.The lodgesin Nauvoowere disenfranchised who continuedto Mormonq the with fight Lodge,and therefollowecla bitter 'clandestine'.Freemasonry' 'regular' When as a regarded Masons operle what jailhouse of Carthage' in the mob a by Smith was incaÀeratedand lynched I llinois,on 27 June1844severalof themob'sleaderswere,in fact' Freemasons' was but oneamongmany which led the althoujh the questionof Freemasonry Smith,beforedying, really gavethe Whether eventsto theii tragic conclusion. would do when as Masonicsign of clistressand exclaimed, only a Freemason 'Is thereno help for the widow's son?'is-a matterof facedby a fatal thr€at, was historical dispute,while it is tlue that the lodge in Warsaw'Illinois' Carthage in the participation its for irvestigatedúy the lllinois GrandLodge 'clandestine' tragedi althoughnoneof its memberswasfinally disciplinedThe evenafter tr4o'r-onFr""m"sonry,however,continuedits activitiesin Nauvoo Only Masons Master 1,366 included it Smith'sdeath,andby the endof 1845 that declale authorities their did 1847 after the Mormons moved to Utah in endowment temple the Mormon by Masonicritualshadbeenentirelysuperseded for membersofthe or approPriate andotherrites,andwereno longernecessary LDS Church. The move to Utah and the building of Mormon temples,fint there and with subsequentlythroughoutthe world, creatednew problemsconnected cannot be and principle secret are in Fr""rnàronry. MoÀon Temple rituals like as Mormonism' such revealedto outsiders.However,a largeorganisation who, for diff€lentreasons'decide itself, hasapostateex-members Freemasonry to write exposés.When detailsof Mormonritualswerepublished'Freemasons Not only the quickly reÀgnised severalsimilaritiesto their own ceremonies. parallels' quite obvious present ,ìtuulr-bntalio specificwordingsand oathsstill 196 Revisíonísm and Díyersírtcaúon ín New Relígious Movements althoughreforms in the twentieth century ,de-Masonised'portions ofthe Mormon holiest ritual, the endowment(Buerger 1994). The rhetoric Smith used when organisingthe Mormon female Relief Society also had elementsof similarity to the so-called.adoptive'Freemasonryfor women. And the rationale for excluding African Amedcans (and ,blacks' in general) from the Mormon priesthood,a policy which remained in force until 197g, was similar to early argumentsused for excluding them from Masonic lodges(Homer 2006). This highly sensitivethemeresurfacedduring the Mormon candidateMitt Romney's presidentialcampaignof 2012. Randy Bott, a professor of religion at the LDS-owned Brigham Young University, told, the Washington post that the rationale for excluding people of African descentfrom the Mormon priesthood before 1978 was that they were believed to descendfrom Ham, a characterwhose children were cursedwith black skin after he married a direct descendantof Cain (Horowitz 2012). This 'curse ofHam,probably came to the early Mormons from Masonic folklore. The LDS Church promptly issueda statementclaiming that the views ofBott, who after the incident announcedthat he will retire from his chair with plans to serve a mission (Daily Herald 2012), ,absolutelydo not representthe teachings ard doctrine ofthe Chuch'. The statementwent on to explain that for a time in the Churchtherewas a restrictionorl the pdesthoodfor male membersofAfrican descent. lt is not knownpreciselywhy, how,or whenthis rcstrictionbeganin the Churchbut what is clearis that it endeddecades ago. Somehaveattempted to explainthereasonfor thisr€strictionbut theseattempts shouldbe viewedas speculation and opinion,not doctrine.(Churchof Jesus Christof Latter-daySaints2012) The document is in itself a nice example of revisionism. The .curse of Ham, doctrine was widely believed in the LDS Church for decades,by, among others. high-placedauthorities(Homer 2006). Early Mormon leaders liberally admitted that, with respect to their rituals. therewas a 'similarity of priesthoodin Freemasonry'. as Smith himself taughr accordingto a letter by the Mormon apostleHeberC. Kimball (lg0l 5g) (Kimball 1842,quotedin Homer 1994:68). Things changedwhen anti-Mormon Freemasons accusedthe LDS Church oî being simply a ,clandestine'form of Freemasonry. while EvangelicalChdstiansclaimed that Mormonism derived all its rituals ftom Freemasonry,which they regardedas an evil organisationd€voted to the occult. This criticism startedin the last decadesolthe nineteenthcentury but continues to this day. The Mormon reaction was just another form of revisionism, in the shape of a denial of any connection between early Mormonism and Freemasonryin publications intended for a larger audience,accompaniedby discreet counsel to Mormon academicsto avoid the issue in specialisedjournals and conferences. 'Vy'hen in 1974Reed C. Durham, îhen Director ofthe Latter-day Saintslnstitute of ,yhen Hisîory Fails: Mormon Origins and Histof ical Revisionísm t97 Religion at the University ofUtah, devotedhis presidentialaddressat the Mormon History Association's annual meeting in Nauvoo, Illinois, io the relationship b€tweenMormonism and Freemasonryhe was counsellednot to publish his text in the Association's Journql of Mormon History, Dvham'even sent a letter of apology to ev€ry personwho heardhis speech'(Homer 1994:2), althoughhis text was later distributed(\Mithouthis authodsation)in both Masonic and anti-Mormon circles. Severalscholarly studieshave beendevotedto this issuesince 1974,thanks in particularto the efforts of Michael W. Homer,a Salt Lake City attomey and chairof the Board of StateHistory of Utah StateHistorical Society,who has producedthe best heatment to date (Homer 1994) and is currently preparing a comprehensive book on the subject (Homer 2012). Clyde R. Forsberg,a professor of religious studiesat the American University ofCenhal Asia in Bishek, Kyrgystan, has also publishedon the issue(Forsberg2004).Although the publication of Homer's book may somewhat changethe picture in the future, so far the revisionist strategy of marginalising a potentially damaging historical discussionby simply avoiding it hasbeenquite successful,and the whole questionof Mormonism and Freemasonry keeps being debated mostly within the comparatively limited circle of liberal Mormons, activist anti-Mormons and scholarsof American Freemasoffy. Som€ Conclusions As part ofits ongoing effofs aimedat mainsheamingitselfasjust anotherAmerican Chrìstiandenomination,which increasedwith the Winter Olympics of2002 in Salt Lake City and the presidentialcampaignsof Mormon RepublicancandidateMitt Romney in 2008 and 2012, the LDS Church tried to give the impressionthat it is readyto confiontits history candidly and openly,including its controversialevents. This claim is not mere propaganda.Particularly during the tenure (1972-82) oî Leonard J. Arringtot (1917-99), an academichistorian, as 'Church Historian", a position which existedin the LDS Church sinceits establishmentin 1830,scholars were grantedunprecedentedaccessto Church archivesin Salt Lake Ciry The socalled 'Arrington Spring'causeda 'new Mormon history'to flourish. As the LDS sociologist Armand Mauss has noted, however, openings in the LDS Church are normally followed by times of'reÍenchment'. The Church is not preparedto lose its dìstinctiveness,and thosegoing too far in their 'new' approach to history are disciplined (Mauss 1994).When defendersofhaditional revisionist interpretationsare perceivedby public opinion to be too narrow or too aggressive, they become an embarrassmentto the Church and are subsequentlypublicly discreditedor dismissedfrom their offrces. Two incidents in 2012 epitomise the complicated process of Mormon revisionism, characterisedby repeatedpendulum swings. In June 2012 the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholanhip at the LDs-owned Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, fired Daniel Petersonfrom his position as editor ofthe Revisionism and Diversífcation íù New Relipious Movements Mormon StudiesReyien. petersonwas part ofthe team that originally established the apologist organisation FARMS. The media attuibuted th; de;ision to the Reyiew's abrasiveallacksagainstliberal Mormons, regardedas excessive by somc Church leaders.Petersonand his associatesvehemently criticised thc move as a concession the liberal camp (Fletcher Stack 2012). By 2012, however, rl -to the.middle of Romney,s presidential campaign,presenting the traditional LDS revrslomsmrn an aggressiveway was probably regardedas more damagingfor thc Mormon image than simply tolerating or ignoring liberal whistleblowers, whosc audiencewas.in any case,limited. ln summet 2012 a minor war of reviews erupted between Signature Books. which remains the main publisher of liberal Mormon criticism oithe rcvisionisl position, and the LDS Church History Departmenî, which after the .Amngton Spring' is agaìn led by Church historiani who are not scholars bur generat authorities of the Chuch with no professionaltraining as historians. In October 2012 StevenE. Snow,a memberofthe presidencyofthe LDS First euorum ofthc Seventy and an attomey with academicdegreei in law and accouiing, becam., the.new Church Historian. By means of unfavourablereviews, Signature Books and the Clìurch's History Department criticised important collecìions of.earlr Mormon documentsthey had both published.The coìtroversy qui"Hy rnou"J ro a different ground: SignatureBooks accusedthe Church of."rtri"ting o"""r. ,o certainhistorical documents,previously accessibleto scholars,in an endeavourto control how Mormon history is written and in order to impose its own revrsronrst agenda(Anderson2012). would be wrong, however,to concludethat the LDS movement towards the .It mamstream of American religion is being derailed by the Mormon hierarchy.s desire to reaffirm (albeit in a gentle way and avoiding as far as possible abrasive disputes)its traditionar revisionist stancewith ,"rp""t to the main controversrar events of its history. rn fact, historical revisionism is a feature of most relisious movementsand denominations,old and new, marginal and mainline. RationalÍsin-s controvorsiaìeventsofthe past is a necessarypart ofa processaimed at defusine controversy with other groups.Revisionism, thus, can become part of a proc.i of maìnstreaming. Referencesl Anderson,Devery S. 2012. Surrenderthe Documents!A Response to Robin Scolt Jensen.7 August. Available at: http://signaturebooks.com/201 2/0g/surrenderthe-documents/. Bagley, Will 2002. Blood of the prophets: Brígham young and the Massacre ctr Mount.tin Meaddws.Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma press. I All websitescited were accessedon 4 November 2012. Wen Hístory Fails. Mormon Origins and Hislorical Revisionism , 199 Bromley, David G. 1998.Linking social structureand the exit processin religious organizations: defectors, whistle-blowers and apostates.Journal for the Scíentúc Study of Religion,3'7(l), 145-60. Brooks, Juanita 1950. The Mountein Meadows Massqcrq Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Buerger, David John 1994. 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