"The Myth of Persecution" by Candida Moss is about how stories of systemic persecution and martyrdom of early Christians were mostly fabrications.

http://www.salon.com/2013/02/24/the_myth_of_persecution_early_christians_werent_persecuted/

I think we can see how this applies to early Mormonism. Young JS was harassed by everyone for claiming to see God and Jesus, right? He was tarred and feathered for his beliefs, right? He and his brother were murdered for their beliefs, right? Untold numbers of Saints were killed by evil mobs and driven from place to place, right? Mormons were to be shot on sight, right? None of these stories are exaggerations and none have been reworked to serve religious and political purposes, right? And even today, Mormons are persecuted and harassed by an evil world, right?

If mormons would go about their business and let everyone else do the same, there would be no hard feelings and no so-called persecution.

My theory is he was "run out of town" because he kept revealing masonic secrets, claiming them as his own, and twisting them for his own purposes.

The masons were a secret society sworn to well, secrecy. Not hard to imagine masons getting royally pi$$ed at JS for revealing things that were sacred/secret to them...much like mormons who wail about people revealing temple secrets today.

Outcast Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My theory is he was "run out of town" because he
> kept revealing masonic secrets, claiming them as
> his own, and twisting them for his own purposes.
>
>
> The masons were a secret society sworn to well,
> secrecy. Not hard to imagine masons getting
> royally pi$$ed at JS for revealing things that
> were sacred/secret to them...much like mormons who
> wail about people revealing temple secrets today.

It is possible that Joe Smith made some Masonic enemies
at Palmyra, but I doubt very much that he and his
followers were forced to move to Ohio because of that.

Joe's older brother, Hyrum, was accepted into the local
lodge, just when the anti-Masonic fervor was first rising,
and he stayed a member when other western New York
Masons were leaving "the Craft" in droves. So, the key
Mormon family seems to have been pro-Masonic, even though
many of the we converts were anti-Masonic. This seems
like a strange contradiction -- but there may have been
a method employed in the seeming Smith family madness.
The Smiths may have had plans to co-opt Freemasons, in
a scheme promoting the "restoration" of the one true
Masonry. If so, that didn't work out for them.

In Kirtland the Mormons sought out Jacksonian masons
and became their political allies. Any secret plans
to incorporate a Masonic reformation into Mormonism
had to be put on hold.

So, no, I don't think that Joe and Hyrum were betraying
Masonic secrets in Palmyra, and that the New York
Masons ran the first Mormons out of the state. If
anything like that ever happened, it came in the form
of a small Masonic contribution to the POLITICAL
anti-LDS sentiments that developed in Hancock County,
Illinois in 1842-44.

UD

Darn it, Stray Mutt--you beat me to it. I saw a similar article today and thought about how much it seemed to mirror the church's quest for having a persecution story...that it was something that unified/crystallized the Christian faithful and gave them a mythology to look back on with pride:

the Christian faithful, persecuted for standing up for what they believe in, to the point of martyrdom.

And, in many respects, this is the thing that makes mormondom REAL for a lot of other people--my ancestors (or someone's ancestors) suffered for this thing--there must be something to it. They suffered for it--I must honor their sacrifice. They suffered and died for it--it must be true.

A lot of the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves (our own mythologies) are the things that help us understand who we (think we) are, and help us to keep going in difficult times--I can look back to stories of my ancestors to find the strength I need to continue. If my ancestors were persecuted and suffered, I can keep going for their sake. Why would I want to dishonor my great-great-grandfather's sacrifice of leaving his family (and being disowned by them) by abandoning the "faith of my fathers"?

Ugh. So annoying.

At least according to this author: http://www.amazon.com/1838-Mormon-War-Missouri/dp/0826207294

Hahn's Mill was probably the worst the Mormons suffered, but it was preceded by many provocations instigated by the Mormons who were pretty bad neighbors (not that it justifies the killing).

In terms of body count, if you factor in the Mountain Meadows Massacre not to mention similar early Utah acts, I'd say the Mormons have more blood on their hands than their alleged "persecutors".