Though Nehor’s shameful life was thus ended, unfortunately, his doctrines did not die with him. It was too pleasant to those who desired to gain a home in that Eternal Abode in spite of a life of sinful joys and follies. Consequently it spread widely through the teachings of his followers. The law under which they had recourse in teaching their pernicious doctrines was one that assured to them religious freedom or liberty. The law was made to protect the innocent, but some found in it a convenient way to take refuge when to hide their own deceit suited their purposes best. To be proven false was to be branded with the mark of infamy, and those who dared lie were in danger of the law prohibiting it. Punishment for this crime was keen and sure. However, there was one recourse—one we call a loophole—that enabled many to escape punishment for their acts. Religious liberty was a sacred rite among the Nephites; no one could be in jeopardy of the law by stating his or her own belief. The followers of Nehor’s teachings contended that they believed all things they taught, and therefore could not be accused of advocating that which they knew to be false.
This part of the statutes of the new-born Republic excused many of the charge of spreading untruths or of falsely swearing. Later we shall see in the historical portions of the Book of Mormon the story of the traitorous Amlicites, the apostate Amalekites, the bloodthirsty Amulonites and Ammonihahites, that all these faithless deserters from the Church of God were those who embraced the teachings of Nehor. In all the lessons the people of the Lord have learned, in all the instructions they have received from experience, none are more vividly noted than the bitter hatred, the unexhaustible spite, the bloodthirstiness and the hardened hearts of those enemies of the Church of God who were once numbered among its faithful. The Book of Mormon often speaks of them as “being after the order of Nehor.” We imagine that to belong to that order required conformity to certain unholy covenants, and to take other vicious and immoral oaths. Besides lying, the Nephite Republic had laws penalizing those who robbed, those who stole from another, and those who committed murder, or whoredoms. Murder was punished by death.