"'What you have [in Mormonism] is just plain charlatanry by Joseph Smith, who created Mormonism...It's interesting that Smith and his father, when they lived in New York, were obsessed with finding Captain Kidd's buried gold.  Then what does Smith later claim he finds?  gold plates from the Angel Moroni, and then they disappear and are supposedly taken to heaven and never seen again.

What you have here is an elaborate hoax...The problem with Mormons is basically one of credibility because of the unreliability of Joseph Smith and a blatant lack of corroboration.  Unlike the gospels, whose credibility has been greatly enhanced by archaeology , archaeological discoveries have repeatedly failed to substantiate the Book of Mormon.' (pg. 71, The Case for Faith)."