NOM

In religion and politics people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing.
- Autobiographical dictation, 10 July 1908. Published in Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 3 (University of California Press, 2015)


The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also. I would not interfere with any one's religion, either to strengthen it or to weaken it. I am not able to believe one's religion can affect his hereafter one way or the other, no matter what that religion may be. But it may easily be a great comfort to him in this life--hence it is a valuable possession to him. 
- Mark Twain, a Biography

“The exclusive Mormon refresher...Valley Tan... is a kind
of whisky, or first cousin to it; is of Mormon invention and manufactured
only in Utah. Tradition says it is made of [imported] fire and brimstone. If I
remember rightly, no public drinking saloons were allowed in the kingdom
by Brigham Young, and no private drinking permitted among the faithful,
except they confined themselves to Valley Tan.”

2bizE wrote: ↑Fri Mar 22, 2019 11:31 am This description of the BoM by Mark Twain is fascinating. It is full of sarcasm and wit. He could see how JS conned so many people, and enjoyed watching the spectacle from the roadside.

The Mormon Bible is rather stupid and tiresome to read, but there is nothing vicious in its teachings. Its code of morals is unobjectionable--it is "smouched" from the New Testament and no credit given.