This is an archived copy of a post written by Conflict Of Justice (conflictofjustice.com). Used with permission: Conflict Of Justice may not agree with any alterations made.
CES Letter uses this anti-Mormon graphic to illustrate Joseph Smith’s polygamy. It’s rife with deception and skewed facts. It incorrectly generalizes sealings for either time or eternity as “marriages.” It incorrectly accuses some women of having “living concurrent husbands.” The fact is, sealing for eternity only was totally different than earthly marriage. It accuses Fanny Alger of being Joseph Smith’s live-in “housekeeper,” even though CES Letter earlier (incorrectly) accused her of being his foster daughter. The graphic throws in multiple deceptions to make the “wives” seem young.
CES Letter Logical Fallacies
| Falsehood | Fanny Alger was 19, not 16, the earliest date she could have been sealed to Joseph Smith. It is not correct to call this polyandry or polygamy, as Joseph Smith did not have sex with women who were married. The “new and everlasting covenant,” or eternal sealing was different than civil marriage and did not involve physical relations. Sillouttes of young-looking girls with modern-day haircuts are used in the place of adult women, sometimes quite old, from the 1800’s. |
| Anachronism | In the 1800’s, there were no age limits of 18 years for marriage, even if the sealings had involved physical relations. |
| Shifting Goalposts | CES Letter accused Fanny Alger of being Joseph Smith’s foster daughter, but now they admit she was just a live-in housekeeper for a short while. |
| Repetition | Many of the polygamy arguments in this graphic are repeated in CES Letter many times. They repeat the same phony claims over and over. Repeating them over and over doesn’t make them true! Lots of redundancy. “Under Age 18,” “child brides,” and “Underage.” “Polyandrous,” “Polyandry,” and “Concurrent Husbands.” |
| Complex Question | The graph moves things around and uses all kinds of flashy colors to create unnecessary complexity. This deceptively implies a weird tangled web of relationships. |
| Argument From Ignorance | The significant difference between Joseph Smith’s sealings and normal “marriage” is totally ignored. The fact is, Joseph Smith likely had no sexual relationship with any of his plural “wives.” The graphic uses a possibly fake quote: “In the rise of poligamy i was warned in a dream Amy [Emma] Smith was going to poison me.” Anti-Mormons source this to Desdemona Fullmer’s Autobiography, but I have been unable to find this source or verify that it exists. This snippet of quote shows up in various forms with several variation across anti-Mormon sources. But I think it is pretty safe to say she didn’t use a lower-case “i” to refer to herself. The graphic probably alters the quote to make her language sound more like that of a youngster. |
| Ad Hominem | It blames Joseph Smith for the FLDS, who are known today to take child brides. The graphic is titled “many wives” to poison the well in this discussion. |