"Godmakers" & Public Schools

8/6/2019 "Godmakers" & Public Schools

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"GODMAKERS" and the Public Schools

Lee Nelson

"Godmakers" and the Public'editorial in

CENTRAL UTAH JOURNAL

issue No. 10

5th February, 1984

When Religious PersecutionBecomes a

Constitutionally-ProtectedFreedom

. . . We received a letter from the Ku Klux Klan commander in

Santaquin saying that it is not hate, but love (of the white race) that best describes the goals of his organization. Likewise the Ex-

Mormons for Jesus say it is love for the Mormons, not hate,

that drives them in their efforts to destroy the Mormon

Church. I suppose Adolph Hitler believed it was not hate for the

Jews, but rather love for Germany, that motivated him to ship

Jewish Germans off to Auschwitz and Dachau.

And Hitler did not ship trainloads of Jews off to Dachau the first

week in office. The persecution and eventual annihilation of

millions of Jews was preceded by years of careful anti-Jewish

propaganda similar to the anti-Mormon propaganda presented in

the movie "The Godmakers." Before the German people would

allow the annihilation of millions of Jews, they had to be


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convinced that Judaism was a sinister force, an evil that society

must be rid of. Germans were given convincing arguments about

how Jewish businessmen were responsible for unemployment,

food shortages, and runaway inflation. Hitler would have been

delighted to have a film like "The Godmakers" that focused onJudaism instead of Mormonism.

There are those who say nothing like what happened in Germany

could ever happen in America. But Mormons know differently. In

1838 the governor of Missouri issued an official order for the

extermination of all Mormons who refused to leave the state.

When public sentiment is inflamed against a people or a religion,

constitutional protection crumbles. The film "The Godmakers" isintended to inflame public sentiment against the Mormons.

There are those who say the film "Godmakers" is not religious

persecution but merely a presentation of facts designed to open the

eyes of those who have been deceived by The Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I have seen the movie "Godmakers" and taken careful notes. Thefilm could best be described as a skilful presentation of truth, half-

truth and innuendo to depict the Mormon Church as a sinister

Satan cult bent on destroying families, distorting the Bible and

suppressing blacks and women while encouraging sexual excess on

the part of its leaders.

The problem Mormons are having with this film is that it distorts

and caricaturizes sacred doctrine.

It is no wonder that a Protestant minister in Phoenix called the film

religious pornography after seeing it. LDS Church leaders in Salt

Lake City call it a vicious attack on the Church . .


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"Godmakers" has the usual amount of mudslinging one might

expect in a production of that sort, calling the LDS Church a sect

that is into the occult and Satanism. The movie claims that in

Chinese the word "Mormon" means "Gates of Hell." . . . [Of course, itDOES not!]

And of course the film wouldn't be complete without the claim that

the Mormon Church is not a Christian Church . . . The interesting

thing is that the people who produced and show this film call

themselves Christians.

NB: Lee Nelson is not a Latter-day Saint

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"Godmakers" & Public Schools