Why 'they worship Joseph Smith' is false

Don't use

The LDS answer holds up. Do not lead with this one.

The claim to stop making

That Mormons worship Joseph Smith. Usually with the hymn as evidence — Hymn 27, Praise to the Man.

Why it is wrong

Latter-day Saints worship God the Father and Jesus Christ. The church denies worshipping Smith, plainly and often.

Members hear the charge as an obvious misreading of their own lives. The hymn honours a founder.

Its language is extravagant — "mingling with Gods" — but it is not worship.

What it costs you

Open with this and you are wrong in your first sentence. It is corrected in ten seconds.

And it marks you as someone who has never actually sat with a Latter-day Saint.

What is true and useful instead

Everything distinctive here rests on one man's claims. Joseph Fielding Smith wrote it himself: "Mormonism, as it is called, must stand or fall on the story of Joseph Smith." That is Doctrines of Salvation 1:188.

Their own leader opened that door.

How strong is this argument?

Do not use it as stated. Use what is behind it.

The test is whether Joseph told the truth, and the church agrees that is the test.

What to say

"I know you worship Christ. But every distinctive doctrine rests on Joseph.

Can we test that?"

The 1835 hymnal; 'Praise to the Man' entered later collections as a hymn about Smith

The death masks of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, cast in 1844 — relics, but not objects of worship

The Christus statue in the North Visitors' Center on Temple Square, Salt Lake City

How they answer this — at its strongest

They worship the Father and the Son; the hymn honours a founder, and is not worship.

That is false as stated. Latter-day Saints worship God the Father and Jesus Christ. They do not worship Smith.

The church explicitly denies worshipping him, and members experience the accusation as an obvious misrepresentation of their own lives.

'Praise to the Man' is veneration of a founder. Its language is admittedly extravagant, 'mingling with Gods'. But it is not liturgical worship.

The verdict

Do not use this one: you would be wrong in your very first sentence.

Opening with 'you worship Joseph Smith' is factually wrong, corrected in ten seconds, and it marks you as someone who has never sat with a Latter-day Saint.

Here is what is true and useful instead. Everything distinctive in Mormonism rests on Smith's claims. Joseph Fielding Smith wrote that 'Mormonism, as it is called, must stand or fall on the story of Joseph Smith'. That is Doctrines of Salvation 1:188.

Say that. The test is whether Joseph told the truth, and the church agrees that is the test. It is a door the member's own leaders opened.

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