Hi, what fun. What an opportunity for you to learn and teach. I wouldn’t pass it up if I were you. Mormonism is a very easily proved fraud. The LDS church has repeatedly directly and indirectly admitted Joseph Smith wrong, duped etc. Start out with the following example:
The Kinderhook Plates… In official LDS Church History a fraud was perpetrated against Joseph Smith. A group of men brought Joseph a set of plates they at first claimed they found buried. Joseph Smith accepted these plates as authentic and even claimed that he had translated a portion of them. History of the Church vol. 5, p. 372. The following is attributed to Joseph Smith:
Code:
"I insert fac-similes of the six brass plates found near Kinderhook,...
"I have translated a portion of them and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the Ruler of heaven and earth." If Joseph Smith had not been murdered in June 1844, it is very possible he might have published a complete "translation" of these plates. Just a month before his death it was reported that he was "busy in translating them. The new work... will be nothing more nor less than a sequel to The Book of Mormon;..." (Warsaw Signal May 22, 1844) The fact that Joseph Smith was actually preparing to print a translation of the plates is verified by a broadside published by the Mormon newspaper, The Nauvoo Neighbor, in June 1843. On this broadside, containing facsimiles of the plates, we find the following: "The contents of the Plates, together with a Fac-Simile of the same, will be published in the 'Times and Seasons,' as soon as the translation is completed."
After the plates were found, nine “citizens of Kinderhook” certified that R. Wiley took the “six brass-plates” from “a large mound, in this vicinity.” Unfortunately for the Mormon position, it was later revealed that the plates were forgeries. On April 25, 1856, W. P. Harris, who was one of the nine witnesses to the discovery of the plates, wrote a letter in which he stated that the plates were not genuine: “…I was present with a number at or near Kinderhook and helped to dig at the time the plates were found… I… made an honest affidavit to the same… since that time, Bridge Whitten said to me that he cut and prepared the plates and he… and R. Wiley engraved them themselves… Wilbourn Fugit appeared to be the chief, with R. Wiley and B. Whitten.” (The Book of Mormon?, by James D. Bales, pp. 95-96)
As proof these plates were a fraud, later close examinations were done as the story resurfaced, and the LDS church tried to defend Joseph Smiths original claims. George M. Lawrence, a Mormon physicist was given permission to examine and make “some non-destructive physical studies of the surviving plate.” In his “Report of a Physical Study of the Kinderhook Plate Number 5,” George Lawrence wrote: The dimensions, tolerances, composition and workmanship are consistent with the facilities of an 1843 blacksmith shop and with the fraud stories of the original participants." Since Mr. Lawrence was only allowed to make non-destructive tests, some Mormon scholars would not accept his work as conclusive. In 1980, however, the Mormon scholar Stanley P. Kimball was able “to secure permission from the Chicago Historical Society for the recommended destructive tests.” Professor Kimball described the results of the tests in the official Mormon Church publication, The Ensign, August 1981, pp. 66-70: “A recent electronic and chemical analysis of a metal plate… brought in 1843 to the prophet Joseph Smith… appears to solve a previously unanswered question in Church history, helping to further evidence that the plate is what its producers later said it was - a nineteenth-century attempt to lure Joseph Smith into making a translation of ancient-looking characters that had been etched into the plates… As a result of these tests, we concluded that the plate… is not of ancient origin… we concluded that the plate was made from a true brass alloy (copper and zinc) typical of the mid-nineteenth century; whereas the ‘brass’ of ancient times was actually bronze, an alloy of copper and tin.”
Here we see that LDS experts in the most official magazine of the LDS church admitted that Joseph was duped into making a translation of forged plates set up to catch him as a fraud. Joseph showed great ability and imagination in doing this translation. Easily with his talent he created the BOM in the same manner.
I would start here then move on to the Papyrus of the Book of Abraham (which the LDS church also admits indirectly is a fraud) then on to Josephs prophecies in the D&C (most of which failed) You should find ample ammunition for these discussions on the web. However if you have trouble just ask I have hard hitting arguments on these and many other points that I have all ready to go…
Tiber diving team of 2004 (we go deeper!)
Also, thanks for your other advice.