Episode 10
God in the Frontier (Episode 8) - Mormonism: An American Prophet, An American Empire (Part 2)
Who was Joseph Smith? How did he end up becoming the founder of an entire religion? And how does learning about Mormon history inform us about the relationship between faith and violence in all religions? In this episode we follow Joseph Smith from his origins on the outskirts of Rochester, NY and his push westward where he and his followers demonstrated a willingness to commit increasing acts of violence in the name of self-defense. Ultimately this leads to a mob murder of Smith and one of the most deadly massacres in American history - The Mountain Meadow Massacre. (Cool side note: The fictional nemesis in the Netflix series Godless, Frank Griffin, played by Jeff Dunham describes his origin as being a child survivor of the Mountain Meadow Massacre) (8/12)
