Circle Squared
A Textual Analysis of the Book of Mormon
Chapter 6: "Group Stink"
Chapter Summary:
King Benjamin records the names of the people and appoints priests to teach them--Mosiah reigns as a righteous king. About 124–121 B.C.
Being quite pleased with himself, Benjamin decides to record the names of every person present who has accepted future-Jesus. And wouldn't you know it, every single person (except for small children, of course, because that's ridiculous) accepted future-Jesus!
So, the tale of good king Benji consists of an old war-king, with the foresight to see his own impending death, delivering a speech to his people about future-Jesus, which is so inspiring and impactful that every single person believes his extraordinary claim without any evidence at all. Having read the entire speech, my impression is much less favorable. I don't see how anyone would be compelled to believe in future-Jesus based on Old Ben's talk.
In the first chapter of Mosiah, Mormon explains that Benjamin drove out the Lamanites from the land. Because of this, his kingdom saw lasting peace and prosperity. In the speech Benjamin delivered, he said, in no uncertain terms, that being a believer in future-Jesus will make one a better citizen. And now we read that everyone present has converted to pre-Jesus Christianity. How does Benjamin explain the fact that his people were peaceful and good citizens before they all believed in future-Jesus? Why would such a belief be necessary if they already had peace?
Of course, being scripture, I will never get a direct and comprehensible answer to these questions.
Benji appoints his son, Mosiah, the new king. The first thing Mosiah does as king is establish priests and religious teachers to teach the people about future-Jesus, and to constantly remind them that they need to behave because they made a super serious promise to god to do so.
Isn't it interesting that religious people feel the need to regularly bolster their faith-based beliefs? Isn't it interesting that such superficial communal reinforcement is not required for a belief in things like, say, gravity, evolution, the atomic mass of Carbon or any number of things proven through objective evidence?
As Christopher Hitchens once said in an interview, this is the strength of atheism; it does not need to be constantly reassured through weekly gatherings of likeminded believers because the evidence is on its side.
For the next three years Mosiah governs basically the same way as his deceased father, including earning his own keep through farming so that he "might not become burdensome to his people." When this tax-free system of government was first mentioned a few chapters ago, I raised the question: had Joseph been elected president of the United States--one of his many aspirations--would he have given up his presidential stipend? Considering he took money from people at every opportunity, I think not.