AH Challenge: Mormon Majority
- Thread starter Baskilisk
- Start date
They have an offer that you get a free extra wife if you convert. Oh and they don't ban alcohol and soda
A mormon majority in the United States would make prohibition interesting were it to still happen.
A large Mormon population would have stricter alcohol laws in place in the early decades of the twentieth century, so there may not have been complete prohibition; or, only distilled liquor/whiskey would be affected.
Though they don't believe in drinking, they do tolerate liquor among non-Mormons.
One POD would be to keep them in Nauvoo, Illinois after 1846. Start by preventing arsonists from burning down their newly completed temple. Mormons continue to settle the area and the population center we call the Quad Cities gets butterflied southward.
The civil war takes place, pretty much like OTL. But the Mormons can have a big impact afterwards. The parts of the South nearest the Mississippi River, plus all of Tennessee, lost a disproportionate part of their male popultion. The regions would attract polygamists. The Mormon church grows, integrating into a society we generally call "bible belt."
That does not create a good situation for the ex-slaves. At that time, Mormons did not believe Blacks were "chosen" people. By contrast, native Americans were considered descendants of the Israelites.
With Mormons and Klansmen putting a 1-2 punch on the ex-slaves, some might migrate west. I hear there is land to be settled over the continental divide near a large salty lake.
Germaniac
Donor
POD today. The Mormons attempt to declare independence. The United States invades, the Mormons retreat to a stronghold and nuke the surrounding areas so no one can enter. America assumes the Mormons are finally gone forever. The Mormons do not die, and in fact become mutated super humans. They conquer and enslave all of America. After a few centuries the New America has for the most part adopted the Mormon religion and their rule as overseers. That is the only possible way I see the Mormon religion becoming a majority without ASB's 
.
.Let's look at the history of Mormon theology. Prophet Joseph Smith claimed to transcribe the Book of Mormon from metal plates (golden foils) provided to him by angels. He grasped stones to give him the power to translate the writings. Of course, the plates were taken away.
Most non-Mormons simply believe Smith wrote the Book of Mormon. Suppose that there really were metal plates. The plates would be engraved with illustrations and writings made by an ancient (unknown) society. Smith could see illustrations of mammoths and other extinct creatures and concluded the writings were a scripture that depicted a different world (or lost continent?). Knowing that the content of plates of this type might eventually be discovered and made public, he delivered a Book of Mormon that gives accounts of Christ visiting other worlds. Since the "angels" who showed the plates were native Americans, Smith concluded these were chosen people.
Jump ahead to the 1850's. Suppose metal plates are found and made public. If they are real artifacts, they will be unintelligible except for illustrations. They may or may not be the same plates seen by Smith. With Joseph Smith and his stones gone, Mormons would insist these were sacred texts that would become readable when angels again empowered a prophet. [Those who doubt the existence of real artifacts can assume the new plates were carefully engraved by Mormon craftsmen.] The Mormons now have a vehicle with which to spread their faith.
Most non-Mormons simply believe Smith wrote the Book of Mormon. Suppose that there really were metal plates. The plates would be engraved with illustrations and writings made by an ancient (unknown) society. Smith could see illustrations of mammoths and other extinct creatures and concluded the writings were a scripture that depicted a different world (or lost continent?). Knowing that the content of plates of this type might eventually be discovered and made public, he delivered a Book of Mormon that gives accounts of Christ visiting other worlds. Since the "angels" who showed the plates were native Americans, Smith concluded these were chosen people.
Jump ahead to the 1850's. Suppose metal plates are found and made public. If they are real artifacts, they will be unintelligible except for illustrations. They may or may not be the same plates seen by Smith. With Joseph Smith and his stones gone, Mormons would insist these were sacred texts that would become readable when angels again empowered a prophet. [Those who doubt the existence of real artifacts can assume the new plates were carefully engraved by Mormon craftsmen.] The Mormons now have a vehicle with which to spread their faith.
Keenir
Banned
Smith or one of his early supporters manages to bring the Amish on board. (though once Smith dies, we might get LDS and LDS-Amish...then again, in OTL, didn't Smith's wife start her own church too?)
The Smith family (Joseph's son) established the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS) upon the original Mormon holy grounds in Independence, Missouri near Kansas City. The church would get the nickname "Missouri Mormon" for a time. It has since been renamed "Community of Christ."
Actually, the level of discipline and accountability with which we modern Mormons did not evolve until after the Mormons left Nauvoo. The largest group followed Brigham Young to settle Utah.
The temple getting burned down was an effect, not a cause, of the Saints leaving.
I have to think the challenge is pretty much impossible. The only way I could see this working is if Mormons never mostly become a single, very organized group but instead metastasize with radical protestants so that what we would call evangelicals or pentecostals are in this timeline pejoratively called Mormons, and there's a huge number of groups with a diverse set of beliefs that are called by that name. You'd need a couple of PODs to make that happen, and you'd probably also need a couple more PODs to make radical protestantism much more widespread, but it would be possible.
General Mung Beans
Banned
In the early twentieth century the Progressive movement fails to take hold in the United States due to heavier Socialist terrorism. Due to that the big buisnesses and monopolies dominate and the United States of America evolves into an Oligarchy much like the Iron Heel. With the Socialists and others fighting the Oligarchy Mormon terrorist groups also rise up and much of Utah with sympathetic Mormons milling around rebels flourish. Eventually Mormonism adapts to be have a revolutionary theology while the other churches dominated by the Oligarchy become mere spokesmen for them. Thus Mormonism converts millions of would-be revolutionaries. When the Revolution finally happens the Mormon Socialist leaders are the headers and helps takes over the US and it becomes a Mormon Socialist theocracy forcibly converting others.