Joseph Smith, Jr.

From RationalWiki

Joseph Smith, Jr. was an American who claimed to have met with an angel who helped him find and translate the account of Jesus's time in North America. He also claimed that, once upon a time, all of the Native Americans were white.

His neighbors didn't really consider him a prophet, and so he had to keep moving, until he was finally martyred in Missouri. Most Americans still see him as a fraud, but his modern-day followers, known as Mormons, still regard him highly.

The book he purportedly found and "translated" from alleged golden plates was the Book of Mormon. No evidence of the "golden plates" exists as Smith claims they were taken back into heaven after he did his translation. He also made an alleged "translation" of an Egyptian scroll he bought, which became the "Book of Abraham". The Book of Abraham is the source of the Mormon belief that God lives near the star Kolob with his multiple wives. Unlike the alleged "golden plates", this scroll really does exist. Scholars who have examined it concluded it to be common Egyptian writings with no relation whatsoever to the text Smith claimed he translated as the "Book of Abraham". Nonetheless, the Mormon church still accepts the "Book of Abraham" as scripture as it is part of the Pearl of Great Price, one of their four standard works of scripture (along with the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine & Covenants). The Doctrine & Covenants is a collection of supplemental prophecies and instructions for the church, mostly by Joseph Smith claiming he received them from God. The Doctrine & Covenants includes a prophecy that the one true church would locate in Independence, Missouri and build its main temple there and that present-day Independence was the site of the Garden of Eden. Funny thing, there is no mention of Salt Lake City in that prophecy. One of his last projects before being killed was his attempt at a wholesale revision of the King James Version of the Bible, with Smith making revisions as inspired by God making up those revisions himself.

Also, just before his death, he was preparing to run for President of the United States as an independent candidate.

All in all, a fraud who started his own made-up religion. There is a very long tradition of this, it seems, so Joseph Smith Jr. is in good company.