One thing I noticed even at a young age was it seemed like only the LDS Church got ran out of the places. You never heard of the Methodists, Episcopalians, Catholics, and even some of those whacky holly roller evangelical church's getting ran out on a rail over and over again.

I never bought that they were so hated was due to them being the only true church, I always thought they brought it upon themselves and now it seems like the country is again, getting tired of the Mormons because they meddle in state politics.

You got that right. And I never understood JS wanting the join the Methodists after he supposedly had his vision. WHAT in the world....he was one mixed up kid, arrogant and deceitful.

Rubicon, you are looking at things from an extremely short historical view. EVERY new church, from Luther to Calvin to Fox to Anne Hutchinson got run out, if not killed. Any existing group is threatened by something new. Now, I'm not saying that the Mormons in the 1800's were perfect little angels....they were absolutely NOT and they did bring a lot of pain to themselves. But to say that no other church was run out of a place is false.

...in discussing the LDS Church in Missouri and Illinois... "Why did the early Mormons have such a difficult time getting along with their neighbors...I would suggest 'fanaticism' on the part of the early church, which had a tendency to antagonize everyone else."

A lot of "Saints" failed to live up to their financial obligations and some got right down arrogant about it feeling that it was in their god given right to screw the gentiles because god was on their side.

I've been cheated by many of God's people.

ST

Speaking of being cheated by Gods people. My dh has been a painting contractor for 25 years. About 70% of his buisness has been residentials. Almost with out exception,the only time he got screwed was if he was painting a members home. Sometime they would tell dh they wanted to "help" him paint to take some off the bill. And it was always the ones with money. They really think they deserve a big cut. Stupid,arrogant members.

Yeah. If you look at world history over several centuries you will find other groups that got ran out but I'm talking the United States in the 19th century. I can't think of any other church's that got booted from four separate states. The people of Illinois felt sorry for the Mormons due to their problems in Missouri and in a few short years, they were running the Mormons out.

There's a pattern here. There were other weird organizations at that time but they didn't seem to have the same problems at the levels the Mormons were having them.

That might work for them as long as they don't become antagonistic or destructive. Sadly, the mormons did not blend into the community at large and worse they chastised the normal town and country folk while they pulled shenanigans on them. If a tight knit group flaunts strange practices while they cheat and berate outsiders,they need to expect trouble and probably deserve it.

Mike Quinn talks a lot about this in "The Origins of Power." In Kirtland, Missouri, and Illinois, the Mormons tended to take over the local institutions and irritate the locals through bloc voting, patronizing each others' businesses, and other separatist activity. And occasionally a Mormon would comment to a local that the land was to be consecrated to the Mormons, according to JS. Finally, the church has always produced a lot of angry apostates and excommunicants, and these have tended to fire up the locals.