Debunking Mormonism

I have been wanting to research and write an article like this for some time, but Kyle J. Gerkin beat me to it, and now I don’t have to. This is a beautiful article debunking Mormonism. Here is the mirrored article link (the original version is no longer available).

For those of you who are too lazy to read it, here are some highlights:

• Joseph Smith “translated” golden plates given to him by God into english, but he did not translate the “reformed egyptian” into contemporary english - instead he translated them into King James style english. Coincidentally, Joe Smith grew up reading the King James Bible.
• The Book of Mormon claims the following tools existed in ancient MesoAmerica: chariots, steel swords, bellows for blacksmithing, and silk. None of these were in the Americas until the Columbian exchange.
• The BoM describes a vast civilization of millions who inhabited cities for hundreds of years, yet no ruins from even a single BoM city have ever been identified. No BoM place-names were in use when Europeans arrived in the New World.
• The BoM peoples had a seven-day week, but no Mesoamerican calendar matches this.
• The BoM refers to animals and crops that did not exist in America until Columbus arrived: ass, bull, calf, cattle, cow, domestic goat, horse, ox, domestic sheep, sow, swine, elephants, wheat, and barley.
• The BoM says that the Native Americans descended from Hebraic (Semitic) origins. However through archaeology and DNA testing, we know that Native Americans descend from Asiatic origins.
• There are no examples of “reformed Egyptian” in Mesoamerican history. And no Native American language is related to either ancient Egyptian or Hebrew, whereas a relationship does exist between Native American languages and Asian (Siberian) languages.
• As shown in the Mormon South Park Episode, a woman stole a “translation” from Joseph Smith, and demanded that he replace it with an exact copy saying, “If this be a divine communication, the same being that revealed it to you can easily replace it.” Smith refused, and wrote the same manuscript from a different point of view.
• Joseph Smith was given real egyptian from an ancient Egyptian burial to translate (this was pre-Rosetta stone, and Egyptian could not be read). Modern day scholars agree that his translation is entirely manufactured and incorrect.

How can Mormons believe this obvious bologna?

In addition - Before Joe Smith “found” the golden plates - he claimed to be able to find gold. He defrauded some people of their money, who ended up digging into the ground and surprise - found nothing.