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Deconstructing Mormonism: An Analysis and Assessment of the Mormon Faith Paperback – May 15, 2011

by Thomas Riskas (Author), Frank M. Zindler (Editor)

3.6 18 ratings

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Deconstructing Mormonism is not just another "anti-Mormon" attack on the church, its leaders, or its origins and history. And it's not just another religious criticism of Mormonism, or yet one more story of a disgruntled ex-believer. This book is the first and only substantial atheistic and psycho-social analysis and assessment of Mormonism to date. It reveals that with Mormonism, what is represented by Missionaries and members of the faith is not what exists beneath the surface. Like all other theistic faiths, Mormonism is not only a demonstrably irrational belief system at its core, but represents the worst in all theistic faiths as an authoritarian and 'revelation'-based system of mind-control. With Mormonism what you see is definitely not what you get.

While the argued conclusions reached and personal criticisms made in this work will likely be troubling to honest readers of any faith (particularly parents raising their children in their faith), they will hopefully be therapeutic and liberating as well, leading them - whether defensive and resistant or not - slowly but surely back to their natural atheism, and to the path of mental health and intellectual integrity inherent in a naturalistic world-view without superstitious and supernatural foundations.

Written with the insight, knowledge, and passion that only a once fully converted and deeply committed believer could have, Deconstructing Mormonism is truly a groundbreaking work that not only provides the first serious atheological analysis and psychosocial assessment of the Mormon faith, but extends its critical reach - through both its methodolgy and conclusions - to the core metaphysical beliefs and authoritarian, moralistic practices of Judaism, Christianity and Islam as well. A "must read" for Mormon and all other theistic believers, nonbelievers, investigators, and apologists alike.

Print length

558 pages
Language

English
Publisher

American Atheist Press
Publication date

May 15, 2011
Dimensions

6.75 x 1.05 x 9.75 inches
ISBN-10

1578840074
ISBN-13

978-1578840076
See all details

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Since its inception in 1830, Mormonism has continued to gain prominence on the world stage as a unique form of Christianity embedded in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Mormonism not only holds that the Mormon Church was literally "restored" to the earth by `God' through direct revelation to its founder Joseph Smith, making it therefore the "only true" church of Jesus Christ, but regards itself as a "rational" theology, and a way of life that is beneficial to the social and psychological well-being and welfare of its adherents and society at large.

Deconstructing Mormonism explores these claims in depth. In the end three unavoidable conclusions are reached. First, Mormon theological truth-claims are ultimately false or incoherent, and therefore unjustifiable and unwarranted as truth-claims. Once deconstructed such truth-claims are found to be factually vacuous. At bottom, there is simply nothing to believe, leaving Mormons, like all theistic believers, with merely subjective, non self-justifying interpretations of brain-induced phenomena, and an irrational belief in their beliefs derived by self-deception. Second, the status of Mormon truth-claims, including their believed origin, makes Mormonism, like all other theistic faiths, an irrational belief system, and its adherents likewise irrational in holding such beliefs and asserting them as Truth. And finally, that at its darkest and most fundamental core, the Mormon faith, as an authoritarian and `revelation'-based social system, represents the worst in all theistic faiths, and is potentially, if not actually, one of the most personally and socially damaging, dangerous and destructive theistic religions of all. While the argued conclusions reached and personal criticisms made in this work will likely be troubling to honest readers of any faith (particularly parents raising their children in their faith), they will hopefully be therapeutic and liberating as well, leading them - defensive and resistant or not - slowly but surely back to their natural atheism, and to the path of mental health and intellectual integrity.

About the Author

Thomas Riskas was a devout member of the Mormon faith, serving for over 20 years in various teaching, missionary, and leadership roles as an ordained Elder, Seventy, and High Priest in the Melchizedek priesthood; experiences that provided him, along with his own personal studies and experiences in the faith, with the needed grounding in Mormon history, doctrine, religious practice, and culture to author this book.

Ever since his formal resignation from the church, he has considered himself a naturalist and secular humanist, entirely without belief in any gods or the supernatural. His personal passions are the study and therapeutic practice of philosophy and psychoanalysis in both his personal life and professional work as a lecturer, writer, and organizational psychologist and consultant.

About the Author

Thomas Riskas was a devout member of the Mormon faith, serving as a member of The Seventy and High Priesthood. After 20 years of devotion, he left the church in 2002. He had been a Mormon since his conversion at age 24. He served as a member in good standing in many teaching, missionary, and leadership roles. These experiences provide him with the needed grounding in Mormon history, doctrine, religious practice, and culture.

Ever since his formal resignation from the church, he has considered himself a naturalist and secular humanist, entirely without belief in any gods or the supernatural. His personal passions are the study and therapeutic practice of philosophy and psychoanalysis in both his personal life and professional work as a lecturer, writer, and organizational psychologist and consultant.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ American Atheist Press (May 15, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 558 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1578840074
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1578840076
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 1.05 x 9.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,097,349 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,366 in Atheism (Books)
- #4,662 in Mormonism

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3.6 18 ratings

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L. Morgan

An amazing book!

Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2013

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I have read dozens of books on various aspects of Mormon doctrine and history, but this is the first I have encountered that takes on a such a masterful 'deconstructing' of Mormon theology.

First the bad: It takes a certain determination to read and absorb the deep and complex arguments and information that Riskas presents. The task is made more difficult by Riskas' sometimes overly complex sentence structure in his writing. It is not unusual to find sentences of 50, 60 or 70 words, or more, in length. Through multiple asides, interjections, and parenthetical comments a sentence from Riskas tries to cover every conceivable possibility in how a sentence might be interpreted to the point of distraction. On numerous occasions I would read a ponderous sentence, then look at it again, and notice how it might have been simplified to half its length without losing, actually enhancing, understandability. Or perhaps I'm just jealous that I cannot write to the depth of understanding that Riskas displays.

The Good: It is difficult to conceive how an objective individual, after reading this book with sincere objectivity, can come away from the experience with any shred of a Mormon 'testimony' remaining. Riskas assaults the psyche with such a wall of evidence, such an obvious clarity of reasoning, such self-evidence of logic, that he literally sweeps pathetic Mormon apologetics out the door. A detailed examination of DNA, archeological artifacts or similar evidences is not found here. Instead Riskas takes the reader's mind down a pathway of understanding from which he will emerge a changed person. Start the New Year off right: read this book and have your mind blown!

10 people found this helpful

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Kevin M. Christensen

Positivism is a Box with Instructions for Exit Written on the Outside

Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2017

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went to the trouble of reading Deconstructing Mormonism and writing a lengthy review for the Interpreter. Yes, it is the one linked at FAIR as well. I did so primarily out of concern and respect for Kerry. He knows I wrote the review, but to date, he has not commented on it. I found that the book I read did not live up to his Amazon review. Nor can I or would I characterize Mormonism as he as does, that "We as Mormons are simply never taught HOW to think, we are only taught WHAT to, and we in our simple minded non-thinking, non-critical, naive as sheep way, have simply believed in WHAT we have been told. And everything we read is geared to simply reinforcing what we have been told." For the record, several years before Riskas showed up, I encouraged Kerry to read Ian Barbour's Myths, Models, and Paradigms: A Comparative Study of Science and Religion. I used Barbour extensively in my response to Riskas. Claiming that Mormons are simply never taught to think, and claiming that "everything we read is geared to simply re-enforcing what we have been told" is, I think a rather grotesque over-generalization and caricature. Frankly, if it were true, I'd never have read Riskas. Nor a great many other things that I have read. Nor would my LDS favorite writers been able to produce the work that has most impressed and challenged me over the years.
Riskas did respond to my review by tacking a wordy response to a dismissive review of my Interpreter article on Amazon. I notice that he didn't bother to quote me a single time (my review quotes him extensively), and he never addresses particular arguments except that he emphatically denies that he is a Positivist. Alan Goff has observed that the standard response to being called a Positivist involves denying that one is a Positivist while continuing to make Positivist claims. Had Riskas been able to define what characterizes positivism, and then showed that he does not make any positivist claims, that would constitute a logical argument. What we get is not what I would call a logical argument. Rather, he just tells his readers what to think, sans any actual confrontation with my logical arguments. That is, he makes no effort to distinguish his monotonously repeated Positivist claims about Verification and Falsification from text-book definitions of Positivism as built on standard claims about Verification and Falsification. This is not the kind of response that shows me by example the arcane art of critical thinking. It is simply anti-testimony. Those curious about Positivism, it's formal definition, characteristics, and critical unraveling beginning in the 1950s and 1960s, can consult my essay, or read Barbour for themselves, if you's like a relevant non-LDS view, and a different outside test to apply to Mormon, or any other faith.

Riskas claims that Mormons are trapped in a box in which the instructions for how to get out are written on the outside, and encourages us to uncritically submit to an outside test for faith. I ask readers to consider whether Riskas's outside test for faith (which turns out to be off-the-rack positivism) is just another box with the instructions for how to get out written on its outside. So I suggest applying a different outside test to both Riskas and Mormonism. And that is Barbour's wonderful little book. I still think that if Kerry had read Barbour, he could have had a far different experience with Riskas. In responding to me at Amazon, Riskas barely mentions Barbour and makes no effort deal with the implications of his work.

And at one point in my Interpreter essay, I do perform a bit of a Derridian deconstruction of Riskas. (Riskas does not cite Derrida). Riskas explains that he was raised by a controlling and authoritarian Father, and that during the sixties, he went through a period of rebellion in response to such toxic parenting. Then, without a trace of self-reflection or irony, he elsewhere argues that God does not exist on the grounds that God does NOT behave like a controlling and authoritarian toxic parent, of the sort that he himself rebelled against. Really. And this is supposedly a master class in critical thinking? Riskas basically insists that a person cannot and should not have faith in the absence of ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY. Think about that. And he claims absolute certainty with respect to his disbelief, insisting that nothing (such as evidence of any kind) could ever change his mind. An awareness of irony is not his strong suit.

Riskas has an extensive bibliography, notably heavy on atheistic psychology, militant atheism, light on Mormon thought, and non-existent on Nibley, Falconer, Givens, Goff, Sorenson, Gardner, Madsen, etc. That is, his reading is slanted towards re-enforcing his views, and light on the best and most important Mormon thought. There several places where Riskas makes fundamental misreadings of LDS thought that serve as what he calls "multipliers of negative effects." More accurate readings provide alternate wine bottles which can handle the wine in a more durable and rewarding manner.

And incidentally, my essay uses LDS scripture and Barbour to argue that what we call testimony can and should involve far more than mere warm fuzzies.

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Jim S.

A Qualified Voice of Warning!

Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2012

Verified Purchase

After reading the other reviews and information provided in this site, I decided to buy it to see for myself what all the fuss is about. It didn’t take long to find out. After reading the Introduction I realized that this is indeed a serious book that presents a formidable challenge to the Mormon faith. Therefore, if you are a Mormon, as I am, please be advised that there is a real risk to reading this book, although I would argue that the risk it poses is worth taking.

Let me say up front that this is not a book for the uneducated or slight of intellect. The author seems to have written it for highly educated or otherwise intelligent or intellectually curious readers who are either critics or investigators of the Church, or are members of the Church who either have questions and doubts, or consider themselves loyal public advocates and defenders of the faith. Also, the author, now an Atheist, repeatedly makes it clear that his conclusions extend to other theistic religions as well.

Essentially, there are two main aspects to Riskas’ deconstruction of the Mormon faith. The first is his analysis of the foundational teachings of the Church, which comprise Chapters 3-6. In these Chapters Riskas brings into question the concept of the Mormon God and Godhead, the various aspects of the Mormon “Plan of Salvation,” and the Mormon doctrines of Revelation and Faith. The second aspect of the book is Riskas’ “psycho-social” assessment of the Church, which begins toward the end of Chapter 8, and continues in the Epilogue, Personal Postscript and Appendix A. In his assessment of Mormonism he brings into question the nature and interpretations of Mormons’ most sacred spiritual experiences and way of life, as well as the practices and culture of the Church as a social system. These two main aspects of Riskas’ deconstruction of Mormonism result in the following two corresponding problems.

The first problem is with the theological teachings of the Mormon Church. As succinctly summarized on the back cover description of the book, there is, as Riskas argues, “At bottom …simply nothing to believe.” Because the common and formal conceptions of the Mormon God and Godhead are, as the analysis shows, “false or incoherent” they are consequently “factually vacuous” (or without factual meaning or significance), resulting in a ‘God’ or ‘Godhead’ that amounts to a “factual non-reality.” From this demonstrated and argued conclusion Riskas shows that the rest of Mormon theology falls, in his words, like a “house of cards.” Even a “retreat” to faith and personal revelation, as Riskas calls it, is necessarily blocked, both by their own conceptual incoherence and more sensible naturalistic explanations, and by the conclusions of his analysis of the Mormon concept of ‘God’.

The second problem is with the Mormon Church as a social system. Such system, as characterized by Riskas, is a well constructed program of authoritarian indoctrination and behavioral conditioning built on what he terms an implicit “moralistic core” and authoritarian “code of patriarchy.” According to Riskas’ well-resourced and professionally supported assessment, this program essentially fosters “self-hatred” and “self-sacrifice” that can and does result in various forms of mental illness. As he sees it, this could not be otherwise, given that such program makes, by design, the coveted status of personal “acceptability” by a “Parent-God” and the receipt of “temporal and eternal blessings” from such God dependent on “worthiness” through “faithfulness” and “righteousness.” And given too that such worthiness, faithfulness and righteousness is in turn dependent on one’s judged degree of conformity with, and unwavering obedience to, authoritative counsel, revealed commandments, and binding covenants of sacrifice and consecration. These facts, as presented, coupled with natural human motivations, vulnerabilities, and proclivities for self-deception and destructive behavior lead Riskas to conclude in his Introduction that “…not only is Mormonism, like all other theistic faiths, ultimately an incoherent, irrational, and harmful belief system, but that at its darkest and most fundamental core…it is potentially, if not actually, one of the most socially damaging and dangerous theistic religions of all.”

The two primary problems and conclusions presented above are unsettling to me for three primary reasons (which unfortunately can’t be adequately examined or critiqued in the detail they deserve in an Amazon Review).

First, the author raises some troubling ethical questions regarding Mormon culture, and the institutional social and educational practices of the Church. While I’m not a clinical psychologist or sociologist by profession I am fairly well read in the behavioral and social sciences and have personally experienced concerns about these matters from time to time. Riskas does a good job, I think, of bringing such concerns into sharp focus and taking them to a higher level through his well documented and argued assessment. (See in particular pp. 315-334, inclusive of footnotes)

Second, unlike other critiques of Mormonism, his analysis and assessment of the Church’s teachings and widely held beliefs are not based on scriptural, historical, scientific or comparative religious arguments. No one to my knowledge has ever defended the faith from the type of conceptual analysis or in-depth psycho-social assessment presented in this book.

And third, the author preemptively addresses and dismantles up-front (in the Introduction, pp. xlix-lx) and throughout the book the best, predictable arguments in defense of the faith. This he does by exposing what he refers to as “common reasoning fallacies” and “evasive possibility strategies” typically used by Church members, leaders and apologists in defending the faith.

The author’s analytical approach to critical inquiry is described at great length in the Foundational Preface and Chapter 1, and is well-illustrated on pp. 26-38 in an “Instructive, ‘Deconstructive’ Conversation” between a well-informed and faithful Mormon and an Objective Outsider from another world seeking to understand Mormonism. After reading the exchange, I went back and put myself in the role of the Mormon to try to reply to the questions and arguments raised by the “Objective Outsider.” Then, after reading through Chapters 2-7 I tried to answer the summary questions of his analysis raised in the first part of Chapter 8. The results of my efforts in both instances were disappointing to say the least, even with my access to the best authoritative discourses and apologetic writings and resources I have access to. Riskas’ grasp of Mormon theology is sound (and frankly impressive). In the end, I wasn’t able to muster any legitimate, much less compelling answers to the “analytical questions” and “irresolvable contradictions” and concerns presented in this book.

This was disturbing enough, but what really hit me was Riskas follow-up question to my anticipated failed attempts: “How many admissions of ignorance in reply to analytical questions about the nature of something claimed to…actually exist are needed to convince a reasonable person that he or she does not in fact know what is believed or claimed to be known, and consequently does not know what is being talked about when such beliefs are… asserted as truth claims?”

Besides this, what was perhaps most disarming to me, apart from the three unsettling reasons above, was the author’s uncanny ability to first expose the various ways I had inadvertently exposed (“betrayed”) my unspoken or denied questions, doubts and concerns over the years, and then anticipate and respond to many of my responses (or failed responses) to his questions and arguments.

Also disarming was Riskas’ naked honesty in presenting his own background in the Church, and the circumstances and details of his personal conversion and deconversion. While I was at first skeptical of his background and reasons for leaving the faith and writing this book, there was no doubt in my mind after reading his personal background information that Riskas was the real deal. His analysis and assessment of his own conversion and deconversion stories frankly unnerved me, and his ethical and psycho-social indictment of the faith cut deep, particularly as it pertained to the Church’s program for raising children in a culture of unquestioning obedience, loyalty and faith as a prerequisite of personal worthiness. Make no mistake about it, not only does this man have a mastery of the doctrines, teachings and practices of the faith, he seems to have lived it fully and faithfully enough to criticize it with fairness, incisiveness and credibility.

Though the tone of the author’s criticisms of the Church and certain of its loyal members is impassioned and even harsh in parts of his Personal Postscript, the substance of some of his accusations, criticisms and concerns is not, I think, entirely without merit. I felt the personal sting of some of his criticisms to be sure, but I wasn’t alone. Riskas was there with me, harshly chastening himself in retrospect for his own lack of “intellectual integrity” in joining the Church as an educated young man, for turning a deaf ear to his own real doubts out of guilt and fear, and for obediently living the faith, converting others to the faith, and indoctrinating his own children to his own and their detriment, and the detriment of their children. While I don’t agree with the extent, severity and inevitability of all of his social criticisms (including his own self-criticisms), I could nonetheless see some truth in them, and more in some than others. They have certainly given me pause for deep personal reflection.

It would be a lie for me to say that this book hasn’t challenged my faith, or I think for anyone to say otherwise who has actually read and understood it. But I still choose to believe that such a challenge, like any challenge, can be the source of a stronger faith. That’s my hope at least, and the qualification of my “voice of warning” to fellow members of the Church who might choose to read this book as well. Still, I might be wrong. If so, then perhaps, to Riskas’ point, we’re all better off without any such faith at all.

I decided to write and publish this review in hope of provoking the thoughtful and scholarly attention it demands. And I decided to rate it as I did because I think the author did a masterful job, and I respected how fair, honest and effective he was in intelligently analyzing and assessing our faith and accomplishing his stated reasons for doing so.

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