(Wikimedia Commons)
Baylor history professor Tom Kidd critiques a claim recently made by Glenn Beck — a claim that presumably reflects Beck’s Mormon faith (although Professor Kidd neither mentions that fact nor alludes to Mormonism at all):
However — whatever Brother Beck may or may not hold, precisely — Professor Kidd’s discussion of Benjamin Franklin’s attitude toward the Constitution conforms quite nicely (in at least this Mormon’s judgment) to what Latter-day Saint leaders have actually taught about the American national charter. Certainly it fits the understanding that I’ve always had of what it means to say that the Constitution is “inspired.” I’ve never believed, and have never heard any significant Church leader or teacher claim, that the Constitution was given by revelation in the manner of, say, a section of the Doctrine and Covenants or in the way that, according to the Bible, Moses received revelation on Sinai.
For an important 1989 film about the Constitutional Convention that was produced by Brigham Young University and that, presumably, reflects a Latter-day Saint understanding of both the document and the event — and that is altogether lacking in theophanies — see here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_More_Perfect_Union_(film)
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