Those at the Fair LDS website point out:
Joseph Smith encountered and recognized this sort of prejudice, and he spoke about it:
I never told you I was perfect, but there is no error in the revelations which I have taught. Must I then be thrown away as a thing of nought? [1]
Brigham Young explained it this way:
I recollect a conversation I had with a priest who was an old friend of ours, before I was personally acquainted with the Prophet Joseph. I clipped every argument he advanced, until at last he came out and began to rail against "Joe Smith," saying, "that he was a mean man, a liar, moneydigger, gambler, and a whore-master;" and he charged him with everything bad, that he could find language to utter. I said, hold on, Brother Gillmore, here is the doctrine, here is the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the revelations that have come through Joseph Smith the Prophet. I have never seen him, and do not know his private character. The doctrine he teaches is all I know about the matter, bring anything against that if you can. As to anything else I do not care. If he acts like a devil, he has brought forth a doctrine that will save us, if we will abide it. He may get drunk every day of his life, sleep with his neighbor's wife every night, run horses and gamble, I do not care anything about that, for I never embrace any man in my faith. But the doctrine he has produced will save you and me, and the whole world; and if you can find fault with that, find it. [2]
… Attorney John S. Reed, a life-long non-Mormon, said in May 1844:
The first acquaintance I had with Gen. Smith was about the year 1823. He came into my neighborhood, being then about eighteen years of age, and resided there two years; during which time I became intimately acquainted with him. I do know that his character was irreproachable; that he was well known for truth and uprightness; that he moved in the first circles of the community, and he was often spoken of as a young man of intelligence and good morals, and possessing a mind susceptible of the highest intellectual attainments. I early discovered that his mind was constantly in search of truth, expressing an anxious desire to know the will of God concerning His children here below, often speaking of those things which professed Christians believe in. I have often observed to my best informed friends (those that were free from superstition and bigotry) that I thought Joseph was predestinated by his God from all eternity to be an instrument in the hands of the great Dispenser of all good, to do a great work; what it was I knew not. [5]
What I do know is that the product of Mormonism, the Mormon scripture's heavy emphasis on doing good continuously can't be denied. Even the Mormon critic Dan Vogel admits that Joseph Smith was a real Christian and really believed in Christianity. All of the Mormon scriptures and revelations he produced that emphasize kindness, generosity and goodness stands on its own. The general Mormon culture of generosity, service and kindness cannot be diminished even after learning some of Joseph's character flaws and faulty behaviors.
I agree with Brigham Young, at the end of the day the doctrine of Joseph Smith is in most ways better than other Christian denominational options. As a pragmatist, I would simply rephrase Brigham Young's last sentence by rewording it this way, "the beliefs, rituals, and overall Life Philosophy Joseph Smith has produced can heal us and unite you and me, and much of the world; and if you can find fault with that, find it."
