EP 578 - Adam Jortner, "No Place for Saints‪"‬ This Week in Mormons

Mormonism exploded across America in 1830, and America exploded right back. By 1834, the new religion had been mocked, harassed, and finally expelled from its new settlements in Missouri. Why did this religion generate such anger? And what do these early conflicts say about our struggles with religious liberty today? In No Place for Saints, the first stand-alone history of the Mormon expulsion from Jackson County and the genesis of Mormonism, Adam Jortner chronicles how Latter-day Saints emerged and spread their faith—and how anti-Mormons tried to stop them.



Early on, Jortner explains, anti-Mormonism thrived on gossip, conspiracies, and outright fables about what Mormons were up to. Anti-Mormons came to believe Mormons were a threat to democracy, and anyone who claimed revelation from God was an enemy of the people with no rights to citizenship. By 1833, Jackson County's anti-Mormons demanded all Saints leave the county. When Mormons refused—citing the First Amendment—the anti-Mormons attacked their homes, held their leaders at gunpoint, and performed one of America's most egregious acts of religious cleansing.



From the beginnings of Mormonism in the 1820s to their expansion and expulsion in 1834, Jortner discusses many of the most prominent issues and events in Mormon history. He touches on the process of revelation, the relationship between magic and LDS practice, the rise of the priesthood, the questions surrounding Mormonism and African Americans, the internal struggles for leadership of the young church, and how American law shaped this American religion. Throughout, No Place for Saints shows how Mormonism—and the violent backlash against it—fundamentally reshaped the American religious and legal landscape. Ultimately, the book is a story of Jacksonian America, of how democracy can fail religious freedom, and a case study in popular politics as America entered a great age of religion and violence.



Adam Jortner is the Goodwin-Philpott Professor of History at Auburn University. He is the author of The Gods of Prophetstown: The Battle of Tippecanoe and the Holy War for the American Frontier and the Audible lecture series Faith and the Founding Fathers.



Join Geoff Openshaw and Jared Gillins as they interview Adam about his new book and the complicated relationship between democracy and religious freedom during a singular period in American history.





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Transcript

00:00.00

Geoff Openshaw

Everyone how's it going welcome to this week and mormons appreciate you tuning in again this week please visit us over at this week at http://mormons.com and subscribe to us where we get podcasts I'm Geoff Openenshaw there he is. We're happy this week that's why I'm getting better.



00:10.87

Jared

I'm Jared gillins. Usually I wait for you to introduce me and then I'm disappointed because you forget to introduce me. So so thank you for leaving me that space.



00:19.88

Geoff Openshaw

Getting better. Our guest is not aware of this but often we have guests on and I do a full guest introduction and say oh yeah and Jared's here too and I forget so so this week excellent interview we have for you very excited about this because we love talking about early church history on this show. We've had. Interviewed many interesting people over the years who are experts in this space and so this week we're speaking with Adam J...