REL 2121 Final Study Guide Fall 2012 Latter day Saints started by joseph smith n 1820 s Mormons are only one group of the LDS considers itself the restoration of the church of Jesus Christ most members belong to the LDS Church with their predominant theology being Mormonism over 14 million members However it is a collection of independent church groups that all trace their origins the Christian primitivism and joseph smith Mormonism religious tradition of the LDS movement and was established by Joseph smith in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism Mormons distinguished themselves from Protestantism and followed the book of Mormon bible to them went through a lot of discrimination over time due to beliefs like polygamy etc After smith was killed Brigham young took over and immigrated to the Utah Territory to get away from discrimination in the US Has become more and more mainstream to this day but is still discriminated against Joseph Smith 1805 1844 an American religious leader and leader of the LDS movement he also published the book of Mormon and attracted thousands of followers which would later be Mormons LDS He lived in the burned over district during the 2nd great awakening and has visions of an angel which led him to find golden plates inscribed with the history of ancient American civilizations He translated and published this as the book of Mormon He taught and acted in polygamy also which became a part of Mormonism beliefs The Frontier American frontier is compromised by the geography history folklore and cultural expansion as American colonists moved westward away from the original colonies and toward California old west wild west Treaty of Ft Laramie treaty signed between the US gov and Sioux tribes in 1868 Granted land to the Sioux Black Hills Led to a civilizing program which pushed the tribes into farming Americanized Gold rush later found in the Black Hills due to money American Gov ignored the treaty Ghost Dance Native American religious movement huge impact on their history Wovoka was founder prophet vision of Jesus as a Native American Ghost dance resurrection of NA dead buffalo returned removal of whites NA had to live righteously and stop fighting Americans Eventually ghost dance led to the arrest of sitting bull and Wounded knee Wounded Knee II during civil rights movement in 1973 American indian movement AIM NA occupy wounded knee site and battle US forces Brings media attention to broken treaty b w Sioux and US Sioux would then sue the US which the SC ruled a compensation of 1billion dollars to Sioux they still refuse payment to this day The Black Hills Located in South Dakota gold was found there so many Americans went their and disregarded the treaty with the Sioux led to future problems like wounded knee etc Today it is Mt Rushmore and also Crazy Horse will take over 100 yrs to build Pastafarianism led by prophet Bobby Henderson worship a flying spaghetti monster lol key text gospel of flying spaghetti monster Beliefs all powerful all knowing creating everything FSM invented science to test faith of humans chose people are pirates works miracles with noodly appendage Intelligent Design 1987 cant teach creation science was put forward in 1990 Basically natural science is too complex and there must be an intelligent designer not a creator god Unconstitutional to teach in public schools 2005 of pandas people the peyote case native Americans were using drug peyote for spiritual purposes and fired from work because they were on drugs Native Americans sued US government but the SC trumped the free exercise of religious practices of the Native Americans They weren t allowed to use the drug for their practices even though US law came into play after Indians even used the peyote religion drug law RFRA religious freedom restoration act 1993 aimed at preventing laws that burden a persons free exercise of their religion It is still applied to the federal government but congress still has authority to make exceptions in certain federal laws Reynolds v US 1878 Supreme Court ruled that religious duty was not a suitable defense for criminal acts Reynolds was a part of the LDS and was charged for bigamy two wives he was found guilty US Gov says religion is about thought not action Restorations movements American restoration movement founded by Thomas and alexander Campbell and their follower s campbellites was a Christian movement that began in the American frontier during the 2nd great awakening in which the group sought to restore the unification of all Christians into one single body Not protestants but Christians The Book of Mormon sacred text of the LDS movement it was published by joseph smith in 1830 and became basically the bible to Mormonism It is said that smith had a vision of an angel which led him to find engraved golden plates with what looked like hieroglyphs on it The angel named moroni helped him translate it and became the foundation to the LDS and Mormonism Mormon Theology Practice Movement to restore Christian church uniquely American new Garden of Eden in Jackson county Missouri Americans are the new Israelites with America being the new Israel God and jesus have physical bodies 3 separate beings acting as one plural marriages polygamy continual revelation continues after new testament Anti Mormonism extreme resistance from Protestants they consider Mormonism a cult Focused on polygamy and church state separation Anti Mormonism is still strong today but is becoming more and more mainstream due to their success peacefulness and Romney Progressivism Liberal protestants the social gospel progressives advocated political economic reform child labor hours worked etc most progressives are liberal protestant evangelicals Liberal Protestantism Unique in 4 ways Shift authority from bible to individual humans are good there is progress Millennial post is that people are good and society will progress Ecumenical tolerance as a part of religion Unitarianism Universalism American Unitarian Association 1825 1st liberal protestant institution Unitarianism understanding of god as one person reject the trinity Jesus was his son but not a god himself Universalism beliefs concerning the cause nature and purpose of universe especially the creation by a god Prominent figures William Ellery Channing god is benevolent not wrathful salvation relies on free while Christianity good behavior He founds Unitarianism 1819 builds on liberal protestant ideas Horace