What does that say about America?

have a lot of similarities, and they do have big differences from people not prone to adulation.

But there are/can be also big differences between the kinds of people who emotionally elevate to cult-leader status such varied figures as Joseph Smith, MLK, Charles Manson, and recently Trump and Sanders.

Btw, we have many religious Democrats, here, including no doubt Mormons.

Really? While he may have been voraciously revered, the difference between him and your 1st, 2nd and 4th, (and to a lesser degree, Sanders) is that the cult of personality was based on being right!

Smith, Manson, "it", have no such basis and are merely personalities selling snake oil.

Last edited Tue Jan 9, 2018, 07:33 PM - Edit history (1)

That's the point. The OP found commonalities between the followers of Trump and Joseph Smith.

People with cultish dispositions are drawn to both secular and religious leaders, and every political election brings those searching for a political Great Leader out.

People might remember some of the extremist behaviors of a certain type of Hillary supporters in 2008, or perhaps wandered over to JPR in 2016 and listened to the little Sanders cult that gathered there to exult about how sweet and dear he was, or even might consider the nascent cult mentality that gathered around an imagined crucified Franken in December. Of course some of those last just found in the situation an opportunity to attack Democratic senators, but a few were really starting to get into the Great Leader thing.

I get your point, but it seems to binary for me!
Cheers!

We can agree to disagree.

and it only takes a few minutes to get through . . .

I haven't paid attention to South Park since a couple years after it came out.
Watched a few ep's with my niece last week - and now I see this.
I really didn't realize what these guys were up to.

There is a whole generation raised on this...I hope that means GOP = RIP

found it to be hilarious.

In the full version, the song starts out very light hearted, with the Dum-dum-dum-dum refrain done in a sing-song pattern. As the story progresses, and becomes increasingly stupid, the refrain moves from light and airy, sing-song to dark, forbidding, indeed dirge like, until the final refrains gets the point across with a hammer: DUMB-DUMB-DUMB-DUMB-DUMB-DUMB-DUMB!

I also have a new found respect for South Park.

Id like to read them too

Want some recommendations?

Www.cesletter.com
http://www.mormonthink.com

If your into podcast check out Mormon stories. http://www.mormonstories.org/

very much, love to listen to Podcast on my daily jogs

appreciate it

No Man Knows My History by Fawn Brodie was the first and Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet by Don Vogel. Both leave it up to the reader to come to the unmistakable conclusion that he was a fraud, but possibly a "pious fraud". Who Really Wrote The Book of Mormon? By Wayne Cowdrey et al argues convincingly that the BOM was plagiarized from an unpublished manuscript written by Solomon Spaulding just a few years before it's own publication.

It’s fantastic for members too as it was written by a leader (faithful leader at that).

a good choice. People say it's very readable, which at over 600 pages it'd need to be.

As a cynic, though, I'm drawn to it by this evaluation: "No Man Knows my History is balanced with a slant toward criticism, while Rough Stone Rolling is balanced with a slant toward faith." I can provide an abundance of skepticism when it comes to religious phenomena, it's better understanding of people of faith and those phenomena that I need. A bunch of new religions sprang up in that era, and examining one with a strong emphasis on historic context should be enlightening in general.

As for 744+ page, JS: Making of a Prophet, with its big focus on the details of the Book of Mormon, not in this lifetime.

The Golden Plates of Mormon?

The parallels are many...and perverse