On November 14, political commentator and comedian Bill Maher bashed the founder of Mormonism, accusing him of being a polygamist and calling his religion a 19th century sex cult.

Earlier this month, the Mormon Church acknowledged that its founder Joseph Smith had as many as 40 wives, including one that was only 14 years old. Apparently, Smith was unwilling to have multiple wives initially, but he gave in eventually, after receiving a commandment from God. His church also clarified that Smith may not have necessarily consummated all of his marriages, as some of the unions had been “eternity-only sealings.”

This recent admission from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came after its innumerable painstaking efforts to prove Smith was happily married to one woman only. Now it estimates that Smith was married to 30 or 40 others. Since the church disavowed polygamy in 1890 after being pressured by the American government, some members of the faith were stunned with this revelation.

“What I love is he said he had a revelation in 1831 from an angel who said, ‘Marry plurally — get as many b***s as you can up in there,’” Maher said. “‘Joseph Smith, [the church] says, resisted three times until the angel came down with the sword, threatening Joseph with destruction unless he obeyed. And you can’t argue with an armed angel.”

One of his panelists, actor Martin Short, jokingly inquired what exactly Maher found so difficult to believe about the Mormon Church’s declaration.

Maher then went on to say, “This religion is based on a sex cult. It is plainly based on a 19th century sex cult. And I think if we didn’t have Mormonism, we’d have to invent it for all the religious people who need something to look down on because they believe something crazy, this fits the bill perfectly.”

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