{"id":26631,"date":"2015-09-24T07:51:40","date_gmt":"2015-09-24T13:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=26631"},"modified":"2015-09-24T07:51:40","modified_gmt":"2015-09-24T13:51:40","slug":"did-sidney-rigdon-write-the-book-of-mormon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/09\/did-sidney-rigdon-write-the-book-of-mormon.html","title":{"rendered":"“Did Sidney Rigdon write the Book of Mormon?”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
My personal favorite conspiracy theory as regards the authorship of the Book of Mormon, though, was proposed in correspondence to me several years ago. The originator of the theory claimed that the Book was actually written not by Joseph Smith nor any of his identified contemporaries, but by a group whose motivations were completely secret, whose date and location and number were utterly unknown, and who had left no historical traces whatever behind them. He couldn\u2019t identify them, either, whether individually or as a group. So I\u2019ve come to label them the \u201cIlluminati.\u201d
(Wikimedia CC; click to enlarge.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Almost since the beginning, Sidney Rigdon has been a principal suspect among those who don\u2019t want to believe Joseph Smith\u2019s account of the Restoration. \u00a0He consistently declined the honor:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.deseretnews.com\/article\/865637440\/Did-Sidney-Rigdon-write-the-Book-of-Mormon.html<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Nauvoo, Illinois<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Almost since the beginning, Sidney Rigdon has been a principal suspect among those who don\u2019t want to believe Joseph Smith\u2019s account of the Restoration. \u00a0He consistently declined the honor: \u00a0 http:\/\/www.deseretnews.com\/article\/865637440\/Did-Sidney-Rigdon-write-the-Book-of-Mormon.html \u00a0 Posted from Nauvoo, Illinois \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n"Did Sidney Rigdon write the Book of Mormon?"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Almost since the beginning, Sidney Rigdon has been a principal suspect among those who don't want to believe Joseph Smith's account of the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/09\/did-sidney-rigdon-write-the-book-of-mormon.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Did Sidney Rigdon write the Book of Mormon?"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    Almost since the beginning, Sidney Rigdon has been a principal suspect among those who don't want to believe Joseph Smith's account of the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/09\/did-sidney-rigdon-write-the-book-of-mormon.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-09-24T13:51:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2015\/09\/716px-De_la_serie_Illuminati-300x250.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/09\/did-sidney-rigdon-write-the-book-of-mormon.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/09\/did-sidney-rigdon-write-the-book-of-mormon.html\",\"name\":\"\\\"Did Sidney Rigdon write the Book of Mormon?\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-09-24T13:51:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-09-24T13:51:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    Almost since the beginning, Sidney Rigdon has been a principal suspect among those who don't want to believe Joseph Smith's account of the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/09\/did-sidney-rigdon-write-the-book-of-mormon.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/09\/did-sidney-rigdon-write-the-book-of-mormon.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/09\/did-sidney-rigdon-write-the-book-of-mormon.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“Did Sidney Rigdon write the Book of Mormon?”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Did Sidney Rigdon write the Book of Mormon?\"","description":"    Almost since the beginning, Sidney Rigdon has been a principal suspect among those who don't want to believe Joseph Smith's account of the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/09\/did-sidney-rigdon-write-the-book-of-mormon.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Did Sidney Rigdon write the Book of Mormon?\"","og_description":"    Almost since the beginning, Sidney Rigdon has been a principal suspect among those who don't want to believe Joseph Smith's account of the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/09\/did-sidney-rigdon-write-the-book-of-mormon.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2015-09-24T13:51:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2015\/09\/716px-De_la_serie_Illuminati-300x250.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/09\/did-sidney-rigdon-write-the-book-of-mormon.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/09\/did-sidney-rigdon-write-the-book-of-mormon.html","name":"\"Did Sidney Rigdon write the Book of Mormon?\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-09-24T13:51:40+00:00","dateModified":"2015-09-24T13:51:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    Almost since the beginning, Sidney Rigdon has been a principal suspect among those who don't want to believe Joseph Smith's account of the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/09\/did-sidney-rigdon-write-the-book-of-mormon.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/09\/did-sidney-rigdon-write-the-book-of-mormon.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/09\/did-sidney-rigdon-write-the-book-of-mormon.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“Did Sidney Rigdon write the Book of Mormon?”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26631\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}