Most significant positive evidence
Smith created a durable religious community, inspired mutual aid and sacrifice, developed an expansive theology, promoted religious liberty and produced significant organisational and institutional innovation.
Person
Joseph Smith
Historical-person assessment. Joseph Smith created a durable religious community, promoted mutual aid, produced an expansive theology and advocated religious liberty for his followers and others. His record also includes secret plural marriages, including a sealing to a fourteen-year-old, the concentration of religious, civic and militia authority, destruction of a critical printing press, financial controversy and theocratic political ambitions.
This is a contemporary assessment current to 26 June 2026. It must be revised as later conduct and evidence become available.
Ethical assessment categories
Current published result
Overall ethical score
-20.82
Reasoned summary
Smith's organisational creativity, community solidarity and some pluralist political ideas are substantial positives. They are outweighed by secrecy, unequal plural marriage, coercive authority and suppression of a hostile press, producing a materially negative assessment.
This assessment presents six separate ethical dimensions rather than one overall moral score. Each result must be read with its evidence, plausible range, confidence, disputes, exclusions, severe-harm findings and sources.
Most significant negative evidence
The strongest negative evidence concerns secret and unequal plural marriage, including a fourteen-year-old, concealment, suppression of a critical press, financial controversy, militia escalation and concentration of religious, civic and political power.
Read the full Joseph Smith ethical assessment, evidence and sources
Six-dimensional ethical profile
The overall figure is the equal-weight average of the applicable dimensions. It does not replace the separate scores, evidence or uncertainty.
- Personal moral conduct
- -35.00
- Rights and dignity
- -17.90
- Nonviolence and harm
- -35.00
- Stewardship of power
- +20.00
- Wisdom and truthfulness
- -17.53
- Consequential legacy
- -39.50
- Severe-harm record
- No separate finding recorded
Assessment history
Ethical assessment: Joseph Smith (Religious leadership, 1820–1844)
Religious leadership, 1820–1844 · Published assessment · reviewed June 26, 2026
Result: Six-dimensional ethical profile