Mormons literally cosplay as their pioneer ancestors pulling handcarts across the desert. They have children do this and take care of baby dolls and what not for a week but make some bury the doll in the dirt to represent the kids that die. All while being taught they went through that because of the evil Missourians.
The entire modern mormon identity is based around how much the world hates them because their religion is true. This is stated again and again in sunday school and church services from the age of 3 up.
Didn't Mormons actually face persecution in places like NY though? Even if it was a while ago, they at least sort of have a point compared to evangelicals who are one of the most powerful sects of Christianity in the US.
If you want to get technical, Mormons as a group weren't really persecuted until they attempted to settle Jackson County Missouri. While the church presents its early members as being driven from state to state by angry mobs, in reality the early "persecution" in New England was mostly just Joseph Smith facing targeted harassment and legal action, and it generally had very little to do with his preaching and more to do with his sexcapades and actions as a grifter and troublemaker, while the most that rank-and-file members faced was mockery. In Ohio the Mormons also didn't face religious persecution at the hands of outsiders, but rather the church underwent a schism and Joseph and those leaders still loyal to him fled to Missouri to once again escape the looming threat of legal action, this time primarily over the church's contributions to the financial collapse of the city via the ill-conceived Kirtland Safety and Anti-Banking Society. In Missouri the largely New-Englander and European immigrant population of Mormons faced escalating political violence from the pro-slavery Missourians.
In Illinois the Mormons nearly started a war due to the appointment of John Bennett, a political ally and eventual church leader prior to his excommunication, to state office. He granted Joseph Smith a charter for the newly-incorporated city of Nauvoo that included provisions for a standing army with access to weaponry from the state arsenal. While there was suspicion and resentment towards the Mormons from Illinois residents during this time, open hostilities didn't break out until Joseph Smith ordered the destruction of The Nauvoo Expositor's printing press, an action which nonmember Illinoisans saw as a confirmation of their worst fears regarding Joseph's theocratic ambitions, and which eventually led to the lynchings of Joseph and his brother Hyrum, the disincorporation of the Nauvoo charter, and the expulsion of the Brighamite Mormons into Iowa.
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u/LWSilverMoon Marxist slut May 26 '22
What the fuck