
The Secret Facebook War for Mormon Hearts and Minds - coloneltcb
https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-secret-facebook-war-for-mormon-hearts-and-minds?via=twitter_page
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matt_smith123
> About 1,000 people who saw the Facebook ad clicked on it and were taken to a
> page deep within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ website
> that expounded on the “revelation on plural marriage,” the order from God
> that was used to sanction polygamy for decades.

Worth pointing out that they did not link to "anti mormon" literature, but the
church's own website about polygamy.

Probably this article:

[https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-
and-n...](https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-
nauvoo?lang=eng)

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VoidSetAndMatch
“Ex-Mormons responded in droves to dump their contact lists of current
Mormons. By the end of the first day his ad target list had grown from 30 to
397”

So now people get doxxed by friends and family. Imagine someone pretending to
do this to influence someone in one direction, but then using it for any other
reason. Who can say none of their friends would be tricked?

~~~
User23
In my observation, ex-Mormons are particularly vindictive, even by normal
Christian atheist standards.

~~~
justtopost
Similar to how current Mormons are?

~~~
User23
Maybe? It might also depend on whether or not they are from Utah/Southern
Idaho, because the California mormons I know are pretty laid back. In any
event defining one's identity in terms of a negation observably warps one's
outlook, and I've never seen it be positive.

Mormons obviously believe some pretty strange things, but they also tend to
live pretty admirable lives, with a strong focus on community, family,
charitable giving, and more.

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richeyrw
I'm an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and
I've tried to be as educated as possible about the controversial/anti-mormon
stuff (for example I've read the CES letter). But this is the first time I've
come across this claim:

"During that time [when plural marriage was part of the doctrine] some male
followers of the Latter Day Saint movement took dozens of wives each,
disproportionately favoring girls between 14 and 16 years old."

There's no reference, does anyone have a source for that?

~~~
stevenwoo
The founder Joseph Smith had 14, 16, 17 year old brides. If it was allowed for
Joseph Smith why should anyone else be different?

~~~
kbutler
No reason at all. It was generally allowed in the U.S. Age of consent was
typically 10 years old until 1885 [https://discover-the-
truth.com/2013/09/09/age-of-consent-in-...](https://discover-the-
truth.com/2013/09/09/age-of-consent-in-european-american-history/)

"After 1885, age of consent laws changed around the country, reaching 16 in
New York in 1889 and 18 in 1895. Prior to these changes the age of consent in
most places in the United States was 10 or 12 years."

There's a very strong trend to criticize historical figures for not conforming
to modern standards, but it's not usually very useful in understanding their
character.

~~~
xnyan
This is a common rationalization taught to educated true-believing mormons.
While it is true that the age of consent was lower than today, according to
the contemporary census (1890s is what I have records for, Smith's
relationships were 1830s-40s) age of marriage was about the same it is now
([http://i.imgur.com/HnQjG67.png](http://i.imgur.com/HnQjG67.png)).

Whats more, looking at comparable relationships contemporary or even before
Smith's time, let's say Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson (15 and 45
respectively) in the late 18th century and you can clearly find plenty of
condemnation of the age disparity between the two.

I'm sure there were others who were fine with men like Jefferson and Smith
preying on teenagers, but it does not mean it was considered ok then.

~~~
kbutler
1890s/1900 was actually a local maximum in women's marriage age that would not
be equalled until about 1980.
[http://users.hist.umn.edu/~ruggles/Articles/Fitch_and_Ruggle...](http://users.hist.umn.edu/~ruggles/Articles/Fitch_and_Ruggles.pdf)
shows 10% of native-born, white US women were married by age 17 in 1850 (first
year of data), and that 10% threshold rose rapidly through the latter half of
the century, so it may have been more common to have very young brides earlier
in the century. Though at 10% even in 1850, it was not unusual. Add
confounding factors like immigration and poverty, and young brides may have
been even more common (and vulnerable to be protected or taken advantage of
depending on your perspective)

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oska
Interesting read but I'd have to say that the ExMormon subreddit mods made the
right decision to ban this guy. Using under-handed and manipulative means to
'rescue' people from a religion or cult is not good.

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ridgeguy
A perspective on how it was to be a Mormon wife (specifically, one of Brigham
Young's wives) is available in a book "Wife no. 19" by Ann Eliza Young, self-
described as "Brigham Young's apostate wife". Published in 1876, readable at
[1].

It's been the focal point of quite a few spirited discussions between the
Mormon members of my family and (non-Mormon) me.

[1]
[https://archive.org/details/wifenoorstoryofl00youniala/page/...](https://archive.org/details/wifenoorstoryofl00youniala/page/n4)

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awakeasleep
Doesn't seem much different than how christian groups will advertise
"pregnancy options counseling"

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duxup
It is an interesting thing where neighbors could Target neighbors, spouses
even, from behind social media?

