Anti-Mormonism In America

Anti-Mormonism in America is a unique case of religious intolerance. The Mormons were discriminated almost only because of their religion and beliefs. In the early 1800s, most of the intolerance against the Mormons was violent. Although these violent actions were commonly inspired by the media. The attackers justified themselves by portraying Mormons as a threat to society and their leader as too powerful. The Mormons evaded conflict at first by moving west, but as tensions grew, they fought back harder and harder. Amongst their fellow Americans, they were functioning members of society and culturally identical. But even when the Mormons seemed to fit in so well, they were pushed away (Cater, para. 6). Mormonism started within the States in
Contrary to their hopes of having a peaceful life after making the move, Ohioans almost immediately showed the same hostility as the New Yorkers. The community at large did not like to see this new group’s leader having such an enormous reign of power. In an effort to expel the Mormons from their land, locals beat and tarred and feathered Smith and his partner. In the coming years Smith would make pilgrimages further west in an attempt to avoid conflict with locals while seeking a place for his people to truly call home. He called this mystical place the “City of Zion”. Smith was assaulted again in Independence, Missouri, where locals also burned homes belonging to the Mormons (Corrigan 74). In 1834, E.D. Howe published a book directly against Mormonism. His book made claims that Smith created the Book of Mormon by plagiarizing stories from a fictional novel. Howe goes on to describe that Smith’s driving motive for creating such works is to trick his followers into handing over their property to him (Corrigan 74). Corrigan points out that multiple anti-Mormon works soon followed in Howe’s
Unlike other cases, the Mormons weren’t discriminated because of race or color, but almost only because of their religion and beliefs. A majority of the intolerance incidents against Mormonism were violent, however many of these violent actions were fueled by the media. The assailants felt justified because they saw Mormonism as a threat to their community. At first, Mormons chose to run away from conflict, then fought back with violence as tensions rose. Within their society, they were a culturally normal and integrated people, and yet they were rejected (Cater, para.