Many early Latter Day Saints, including Joseph Smith, had phrenological readings done, and these readings were used by adherents and critics as supporting evidence of their respective viewpoints. Phrenologists themselves considered themselves a secular science, compatible and even supporting of religion. This contrasts with the basic attitude of Orthodox Christian clergy, who generally condemned phrenology as "atheism, materialism, and determinism". Phrenology was never endorsed as a part of church theology or doctrine, but neither was it considered incompatible. Developed in the 1790s, it became widely popular in the United States in the 1830s and 1840s, coinciding with the rise of the Latter Day Saint movement. Phrenology is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits. Phrenology has been a cultural factor in the Latter Day Saint movement (informally Mormons) since around the time of its founding in 1830. Phrenology chart published in Latter Day Saint newspaper The Prophet on Janu
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