Is It Really Justifiable To Call Joseph Smith a Martyr?

Hey guys — on June 27, 1844, a mob burst into Carthage Jail and murdered Joseph and Hyrum Smith. Latter-day Saints consider Joseph Smith to be a martyr for the faith. However, some people feel that he doesn’t qualify for that title. I’m not a big fan of haggling over definitions, but I keep seeing this topic pop up, so let’s just talk about it.

Alright, can Joseph Smith rightly be called a martyr? The answer to that question largely depends on what your definition of a martyr is. The Cambridge Dictionary, Collins Dictionary, Britannica Dictionary, and Vocabulary.com all define martyr in essentially the same terms: “a person who suffers very much or is killed because of their religious or political beliefs, and is often admired because of it.”

These definitions cast a rather wide net: A martyr’s suffering doesn’t have to just be for religious reasons, and their suffering doesn’t even have to result in death. So I think Joseph very easily fits within this range of meaning and can thus very comfortably be termed a martyr. As far as I’m concerned, that wraps up this question.

Some people, though, appeal to a more narrow definition of the term, martyr. For example, Dictionary.com and Merriam-Webster give both a rather broad definition, similar to those we just looked at, in addition to a much more selective definition. Dictionary.com’s narrow definition calls a martyr “a person who willingly suffers death rather than renounce their religion.” Some antagonists take this definition and then assert that Joseph cannot be termed a martyr because (1.) he did not die for his faith or religious beliefs. And 2: he did not die willingly.

To read more: Faith & Beliefs