Mormonism and violence

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The history of the Latter Day Saint movement includes numerous instances of violence committed both by and against adherents. Mormons faced significant persecution in the early 19th century, including instances of forced displacement and mob violence in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. [1] [2] Notably, the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, was shot and killed alongside his brother, Hyrum Smith, in Carthage, Illinois in 1844, while Smith was in jail awaiting trial on charges of treason and inciting a riot.

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Mormons have also been involved in acts of violence. The Danites, a vigilante group initially sanctioned by Mormon leaders, burned and looted Davies County and engaged in clashes with the Missouri state militia during the 1838 Mormon War. Mormons settlers in the western United States participated in various conflicts, including the Walker and Black Hawk wars, which involved clashes with Native American tribes. Additionally, there were incidents such as the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the Battle Creek Massacre, and the Circleville Massacre, in which Mormons committed acts of violence against non-Mormons. These incidences of violence have negatively affected both the history and the doctrines of the Latter Day Saint movement. [3]

History of religious violence against Mormons

The following lists instances of anti-Mormon violence which took place in early Latter Day Saint history.

Missouri

Jackson County

Destruction of the printing press, by C.C.A Christensen Destruction of the printing press, Jackson County 1833.jpg
Destruction of the printing press, by C.C.A Christensen

Shortly after the formal organization of the Church of Christ in upstate New York in 1830, Mormon missionaries conducted expeditions and began establishing permanent settlements in western Missouri, particularly in Jackson County, starting in 1831. The rapid growth of the Mormon population and their distinct religious beliefs created tension with existing non-Mormon residents. The Mormons' economic cohesion, marked by their collective land purchases and successful agricultural endeavors, and their proselytizing among Native Americans and African-Americans, heightened the fears and anxieties of the non-Mormon community. [4] [5]

In July 1833, a group of vigilantes published a manifesto accusing the Mormons of having a "corrupting influence" on their slaves. They attacked the Mormon printing press, razed the building, and scattered the type on the street. [6] [7] They then targeted the homes of the Mormon leaders, dragged, tarred and feathered them, and issued an ultimatum demanding that all Mormons leave the county. [8] The Mormons were given a short amount of time to comply; when they refused to leave, a violent expulsion occurred. The Mormons were forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in neighboring counties. The Missouri state government, rather than protecting the Mormons, largely turned a blind eye to the violence and displacement. [9]

Northwestern Missouri

In 1836, the state congress established Caldwell County as a place for the Mormons to settle. [10] The church relocated its main headquarters in January 1838 from Kirtland, Ohio to Far West in Caldwell County. Settlement in the area increased as thousands of Mormons poured into the new headquarters in Missouri from Kirtland and other areas. Mormons established new colonies outside of Caldwell County, including Adam-ondi-Ahman in Daviess County and De Witt in Carroll County. The Missourians saw expansion of Mormon communities outside of Caldwell County as a political and economic threat. [11]

On August 6, 1838, in Daviess County, a brawl erupted between a group of Mormons and non-Mormon residents during election day. The perception that Mormons intended to vote as a bloc clashed with the opposition of non-Mormons who sought to prevent them from casting their ballots. [12] Meanwhile, the siege of DeWitt unfolded in Carroll County, where a large mob of vigilantes encircled the settlement, cutting off its supplies and demanding the Mormons' departure. Outnumbered and fearing violence, the Mormons sent appeals for assistance to other Mormon communities in nearby counties. The siege ultimately ended when a state militia unit arrived, and the Mormons agreed to evacuate the town. [13]

Hostilities culminated in 1838 when Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs issued an executive order, commonly known as the Mormon Extermination Order. This order declared that "the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State." Just three days later, a militia unit attacked a Mormon settlement at Haun's Mill, resulting in the death of 18 Mormons.

Illinois

Battle of Nauvoo, by C.C.A Christensen The Battle of Nauvoo by C.C.A. Christensen.png
Battle of Nauvoo, by C.C.A Christensen

The conflict in Illinois was often rooted in the growing political and economic power of the Mormon community, concentrated in the city of Nauvoo. As the Mormon population expanded, non-Mormons in Hancock County, especially in the neighboring towns of Warsaw and Carthage, grew increasingly threatened by the Mormons' dominant position. [13] Other sources of tension included Joseph Smith's practice of polygamy, Smith's opposition to slavery during his presidential campaign, and the doctrine of human deification.

Tensions boiled in 1844 following the destruction of the anti-Mormon Nauvoo Expositor newspaper press, which was condemned as a "public nuisance" by Smith and the city council. In response, the Warsaw newspaper called for a "war of extermination" against the Mormons, to be made with "powder and ball". [14] [15] Amid the uproar, Smith was arrested and jailed in Carthage, where he and his brother Hyrum Smith were ultimately killed by a vigilante mob. After Smith's assassination, tensions between the Mormons and their opponents in Illinois escalated, culminating in a mob of about 1000 armed vigilantes sieging Nauvoo in 1846. [16] The Mormons eventually surrendered and were expelled from the city, crossing the Mississippi into Iowa.

In 2004, the Illinois House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution of regret for the forced expulsion of the Mormons from Nauvoo. [17]

Utah Territory and the Utah War

After Mormons established a community hundreds of miles away in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, anti-Mormon activists in the Utah Territory persuaded President Buchanan that the Mormons in the territory were rebelling against the United States under the direction of Brigham Young. [18] In response, in 1857 Buchanan sent one-third of United States's standing army to Utah in what is known as the Utah War. During the Utah War, the Mountain Meadows massacre occurred.

Instances of Mormon theological violence

Historian Wallace Stegner wrote “It would be bad history to pretend that there were no holy murders in Utah and ... no mysterious disappearances of apostates". [19] One example cited by historians is in March 1857 when an elderly church member of high standing William R. Parrish decided to leave Utah with his family when he "grew cold in the faith", but had his throat slit near his Springville, Utah home. [20] [21]

Mountain Meadows massacre

1859 depiction of the unburied corpses in the aftermath of the Mountain Meadows massacre. MMM-Harpersw8-13-1859.jpg
1859 depiction of the unburied corpses in the aftermath of the Mountain Meadows massacre.

On September 11, 1857 LDS settlers with the Utah Territorial Militia (officially called the Nauvoo Legion) murdered at least 120 children, women, and men, in the end sparing only seventeen young children under the age of seven. [22] The massacre in the southern Utah Territory at Mountain Meadows was considered the largest act of domestic terrorism in United States history prior to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. [23] It was perpetrated during a period of escalating tensions between Mormons and the United States which Mormons viewed from an apocalyptic lens. The victims were mostly from Arkansas, and were passing through the Utah territory on their way to California.

The massacre was influenced, in part, by unfounded rumors that some of the emigrants had previously persecuted Mormons. Leading the massacre were William H. Dame, regional church president and colonel of the Mormon militia, and his battalion leaders Isaac C. Haight (also a regional church president), John D. Lee, and John H. Higbee. The militia surrounded the emigrants and laid siege, and after forcing them to surrender, the militia systematically executed all of them except the youngest children, who were taken and adopted by nearby residents. The militia covered up the massacre by blaming it on largely uninvolved Native American tribes. Though Dame, Haight, and other leaders were indicted in the 1870s for their roles in the massacre, John D. Lee was the only participant who stood trial, where he was ultimately convicted and executed.

Brigham Young was accused of either directing the massacre or with complicity after the fact. When Young was interviewed on the matter and asked if it was related to his beliefs regarding blood atonement, he replied, "I do, and I believe that Lee has not half atoned for his great crime." He said "we believe that execution should be done by the shedding of blood instead of by hanging," but only "according to the laws of the land". [24] American troops who visited the site later constructed a cairn at the site, topped with a sign saying "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." According to a Mormon present at the event, when Young visited the site sometime afterward, he remarked "Vengeance is mine, and I have taken a little"; his party proceeded to destroy the cairn and memorial. [25]

Lists of acts of violence involving Mormons

Wars and massacres in the 1800s

This list of acts of violence includes some wars and massacres in the 1800s in which Mormons played a significant role on either side of the conflicts.

DateLocationNameDeathsDescription
November 4, 1833 Jackson County, Missouri Battle near the Blue River1 Mormon, 2 non-MormonsSkirmish after several Missourians captured a Mormon ferry on the Big Blue River. Mormons were subsequently forcefully expelled from Jackson County. [26] [27]
1838 Missouri 1838 Mormon War 22 Mormons (including 17 at Haun's Mill), 1 non-MormonAlso known as the Missouri Mormon War. Included the events of the Haun's Mill Massacre, Battle of Crooked River, and Siege of DeWitt. [28] [29]
1844–46 Nauvoo, Illinois Mormon War in Illinois ~10 Mormons (including the Death of Joseph Smith & Hyrum Smith)Skirmish preceding the Mormon Exodus [30] [31]
1849Battle Creek (Pleasant Grove, Utah) Battle Creek massacre 4+ Timpanogos peopleAttack on an encampment of Timpanogos families after they took some Mormon cattle [34]
1850 Provo, Utah Provo River massacre 40–100 Timpanogos people, 1 Mormon personMormon settlers laid siege to an encampment of Timpanogos families on the Provo River, and executed men who surrendered. [35]
1851 Skull Valley, Utah William McBride Massacre 9 Goshute peopleCaptain William McBride attacked a Goshute camp after they took some cattle. [37]
April 1851 Skull Valley, Utah Porter Rockwell Massacre 4 or 5 Ute peopleIn an attempt to find a group of horse thieves, Captain Porter Rockwell took 30 uninvolved Ute people prisoner. Later most escaped, but 4 or 5 did not and were executed. [38]
1853Utah Walker War 12 LDS people, ~12 Native AmericansSeries of battles between Mormon and various indigenous tribes led by Walkara [39]
1853 Nephi, Utah Nephi massacre 7 Goshute menEight uninvolved Western Shoshone men were murdered in retaliation for the deaths of four Mormons at the hands of some Ute men. [40]
1857 Mountain Meadow, Utah Mountain Meadows Massacre ~120 non-LDS travelersNauvoo Legion laid siege to the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train, then slaughtered all children over 7, women, and men when they surrendered. [3]
1857Central Utah Aiken massacre 5 non-LDS travelers killedLynching of five Californian travelers reportedly at the orders of top leaders. One of the party of six escaped. [41]
1857–1858Utah Utah War Some non-Mormon civiliansAmerican troops coming into Utah after rumors of a Mormon rebellion [42]
1862Kington Fort Morrisite War 10 Morrisite Mormons, 1 Utah militiamanBattle between the Church of the Firstborn (Morrisite) and the Utah Territorial Militia [43]
1865–72Utah Black Hawk War (Utah) 140 Native Americans, ~70 LDS peopleSeries of battles led by Black Hawk involving various indigenous tribes [44]
1866 Circleville, Utah Circleville Massacre ~30 Paiute children, women, and menCircleville residents captured and executed some Paiute families as tensions in the Black Hawk War escalated. [45]

Acts of violence involving Mormon fundamentalists in the 1900s and 2000s

This list includes modern instances of violence in which Mormons have played a significant role on either side of the conflicts.

DateLocationNameDeathsDescription
1972—1977 Sonora, Mexico Ervil LeBaron murders Several peopleChurch leader Ervil LeBaron of the Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God orchestrated the murder of several apostates. [46] [47]
July 24, 1984 American Fork, Utah Lafferty murders 2 peopleFundamentalist Mormons Ron and Dan Lafferty under the direction of a purported revelation from God murdered their sister-in-law Brenda Lafferty and her child. [48]
January 28, 1988 Marion, Utah Singer–Swapp standoff 1 law enforcement officerMormon fundamentalist Addam Swapp and eight followers bombed an LDS church on January 16th and were then in a 13-day standoff with law enforcement in order to fulfill Swapp's revelation that his father-in-law John Singer would be resurrected after the battle. [49] : 11,13  Singer, also a polygamist, had died in a shootout with police 9 years earlier. [49] : 11  One officer was shot by John's son and others were wounded. [50]
June 27, 1988 Texas 4 O'Clock murders 4 peopleErvil's successor Heber LeBaron of the Church of the Firstborn led the murder of four apostates. [51]
November 4, 2019 Sonora, Mexico LeBarón family massacre 9 MormonsMexican cartel members ambushed three vehicles of Mormon families headed to a wedding. [52]

Mormon views on capital punishment

Capital punishment in Mormon teachings

Joseph Smith did not teach blood atonement, but taught a "blood for blood" law of God's retribution, stating that if he could enact a death penalty law, "I am opposed to hanging, even if a man kill another, I will shoot him, or cut off his head, spill his blood on the ground and let the smoke ascend thereof up to God. ... " GeneralJosephSmithAddress-JohnHafen.jpg
Joseph Smith did not teach blood atonement, but taught a "blood for blood" law of God's retribution, stating that if he could enact a death penalty law, "I am opposed to hanging, even if a man kill another, I will shoot him, or cut off his head, spill his blood on the ground and let the smoke ascend thereof up to God. ... "

Religious justification for capital punishment is not unique to Mormons. [55] Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, was a strong proponent of capital punishment, and he favored execution methods that involved the shedding of blood as retribution for crimes of bloodshed. In 1843, he or his scribe commented that the common execution method in Christian nations was hanging, "instead of blood for blood according to the law of heaven." [a] In a March 4, 1843, debate with church leader George A. Smith, who argued against capital punishment, [b] Smith said that day if he ever had the opportunity to enact a death penalty law, he "was opposed to hanging" the convict; rather, he would "shoot him, or cut off his head, spill his blood on the ground, and let the smoke thereof ascend up to God." [54] [53] In the church's April 6, 1843, general conference, Smith said he would "wring a thief's neck off if I can find him. if I cannot bring him to justice any other way." [60] Sidney Rigdon, Smith's counselor in the First Presidency, also supported capital punishment involving the spilling of blood, stating, "There are men standing in your midst that you can't do anything with them but cut their throat & bury them." [54] [61] Smith was willing to tolerate the presence of men "as corrupt as the devil himself" in Nauvoo, Illinois, who "had been guilty of murder and robbery," in the chance that they might "come to the waters of baptism through repentance, and redeem a part of their allotted time". [62] Despite Smith's endorsements of capital punishment in March 1843, there is no evidence he ever authorized such punishment in Nauvoo, though his follower Robert D. Foster beheaded a man in near there in November 1843. [54] In 1844 Smith was killed by a mob in a shootout, during which Smith wounded three with a six-shooter. [54]

Brigham Young, Smith's successor in the LDS Church, initially held views on capital punishment that were similar to those of Smith. On January 27, 1845, he spoke approvingly of Smith's toleration of "corrupt men" in Nauvoo who were guilty of murder and robbery on the chance that they might repent and be baptized. [62] On the other hand, on February 25, 1846, after the Saints had left Nauvoo, Young threatened adherents who had stolen wagon cover strings and rail timber with having their throats cut "when they get out of the settlements where his orders could be executed". [63] : 597  Later that year, Young gave orders that "when a man is found to be a thief, ... cut his throat & throw him in the River." [63] : 597  [64] Young also stated that the decapitation of repeated sinners "is the law of God & it shall be executed." [65] [66] [67]

In the Salt Lake Valley, Young acted as the executive authority while the Council of Fifty acted as a legislature. One of his main concerns in the early Mormon settlement was theft, and he swore that "a thief should not live in the Valley, for he would cut off their heads or be the means of haveing[ sic ] it done as the Lord lived." [68] A Mormon listening to one of Young's sermons in 1849 recorded that he said that "if any one was catched[ sic ] stealing[,] to shoot them dead on the spot and [the shooter] should not be hurt for it." [69] [70]

In the Utah Territory, there was a law from 1851 to 1888 that allowed persons who were convicted of murder to be executed by decapitation; during that time, no person was executed by that method. [71]

Blood atonement

"Blood atonement" is the controversial concept that there are certain sins to which the atonement of Jesus does not apply, and before a Mormon who has committed such sins can achieve the highest degree of salvation, he or she must personally atone for the sin by "hav[ing] their blood spilt upon the ground, that the smoke thereof might ascend to heaven as an offering for their sins". [72] Blood atonement was supposed to be voluntarily practiced by the sinner, or it was contemplated as being mandatory in a theoretical theocracy which was planned for the Utah Territory, but it was supposed to be carried out with love and compassion for the sinner, not out of a desire for vengeance. [73] The concept was first taught in the mid-1850s by the First Presidency of the LDS Church during the Mormon Reformation, when Brigham Young governed the Utah Territory as a near-theocracy. Even though there was discussion about implementing the doctrine, there is no direct evidence that it was ever practiced by the Mormon leadership in their capacity as the leaders of both church and state. [74] There is inconclusive evidence, however, to suggest that the doctrine was independently enforced a few times by Mormon individuals. [75] Scholars have also argued that the doctrine contributed to a culture of violence, which, combined with paranoia that resulted from the church's long history of being persecuted, incited over a hundred extrajudicial killings by Mormons, including the Mountain Meadows Massacre. [76]

LDS Church leaders taught the concept of blood atonement well into the 20th century within the context of government-sanctioned capital punishment, and it was responsible for laws in the state of Utah that allowed prisoners on death row to be executed by firing squad (Salt Lake Tribune, 11 May 1994, p. D1). Although the LDS Church repudiated the teaching in 1978, it still has adherents within the LDS Church as well as adherents within Mormon fundamentalism, a schismatic branch of the Latter Day Saint movement whose adherents seek to follow early Mormon teachings to the letter. Despite its repudiation by the LDS Church, the concept also survives in Mormon culture, particularly with regard to capital crimes. [77] In 1994, when the defense in the trial of James Edward Wood alleged that a local church leader had "talked to [Wood] about shedding his own blood," the LDS Church's First Presidency submitted a document to the court that denied the church's acceptance and practice of such a doctrine, and included the 1978 repudiation. [77]

Discussions involving violence in temple ceremonies

The Mormon temple endowment ceremony used to contain discussions of violence. Author and former Brigham Young University (BYU) professor [78] Brian Evenson stated "any book that spoke in any detail about the relationship of Mormon culture to violence needed to acknowledge the connection of the temple ceremony to violence." [79] : 99 

Temple penalties

Woman in temple clothing circa the 1870s, depicted with a knife symbolically referenced in the penalty to allow ones body to "be cut asunder and all your bowels gush out. Mormon woman's temple clothing circa 1870s.jpeg
Woman in temple clothing circa the 1870s, depicted with a knife symbolically referenced in the penalty to allow ones body to "be cut asunder and all your bowels gush out.

In Mormonism, a penalty is a specified punishment for breaking an oath of secrecy after receiving the Nauvoo endowment ceremony. Adherents promised they would submit to execution in specific ways should they reveal certain contents of the ceremony. In the ceremony participants each symbolically enacted three of the methods of their execution: throat slitting, heart removal, and disembowelment. These penalties were first instituted by Joseph Smith in 1842, and further developed by Brigham Young after Smith's death. [84] They were changed to a reference to "different ways in which life may be taken". [84] The entire "penalty" portion of the ceremony was removed by the LDS Church in 1990.

Writer J. Aaron Sanders stated that the temple penalties were a form of blood atonement. [79] : 94, 99  Author Peter Levenda linked Smith's introduction of the Masonic blood oaths into the temple endowment as a step towards later threats of blood atonement for other perceived crimes in Utah territory. [85] Historian Juanita Brooks stated that violent enforcement of religious oaths was a "literal and terrible reality" advocated by Brigham Young "without compromise". [86]

Oath of vengeance

After the death of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young added an oath of vengeance to the Nauvoo endowment ritual. Participants in the ritual made an oath to pray that God would "avenge the blood of the prophets on this nation". [87] "The prophets" were Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and "this nation" was the United States. [87] The oath was removed from the ceremony during the 1920s. [88]

In 1877, Young stated what he viewed as a similarity between Smith's death and the blood atonement doctrine in that "whether we believe in blood atonement or not," Smith and other prophets "sealed their testimony with their blood." [89] [90]

In October 1976, LDS Church apostle Boyd K. Packer gave a sermon, "To Young Men Only," in which he said a missionary had told him of his companion enticing the other missionary to "join [him] in immoral acts". The missionary punched his companion so hard he fell to the floor, to which Packer responded resulting in audience laughter, "thanks. Somebody had to do it". [91] : 382–384  [92] [93] The sermon was later published as a pamphlet and was widely circulated to LDS young men. [94] [95] Historian D. Michael Quinn criticized Packer's comments, saying they constituted an endorsement of gay bashing; he also argued that the church endorses such behavior by continuing to publish Packer's speech. [94] [96] Others criticized the pamphlet as well. [97] [98]

On July 5, 2015, the LDS Church issued an official statement in response to the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage. The statement said that proponents of same-sex marriage should be treated with civility and not disrespectfully. [99]

On August 23, 2021, in a controversial address to faculty and staff at BYU, apostle Jeffrey R. Holland called for "a little more musket fire from this temple of learning" in "defending marriage as the union of a man and a woman." [100] [101]

Far-right movements

This section is an excerpt from DezNat.[ edit ]
Deseret nationalist flag.jpg
Mormon Flag of God's Kingdom (2002).svg
Left: A Utah beehive crossed with an Italian fasces.
Right: Original flag of the proposed State of Deseret

Deseret nationalism, popularized online as #DezNat, [102] is a far-right Mormon nationalist movement in the United States. It originated in 2018 following the Unite the Right rally by Logan Smith, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. [103] The term originated as a Twitter hashtag, collecting upwards of 114,000 original posts.

Contributors to The Daily Beast and The Daily Utah Chronicle have described DezNat as an extremist alt-right, white nationalist movement. [104] [105] [106] Journalists at The Guardian consider the group right-wing with elements of the far-right. [107] Supporters of DezNat have insisted that their purpose is to gather orthodox Latter-day Saints and defend the Church. Correspondingly, they see the term “alt-right” as inaccurate and even defamatory. [108] Supporters use Bowie knife imagery as a homage to Brigham Young.

Some within the DezNat community have advocated for the restoration of the historical State of Deseret as an independent state outside of U.S. jurisdiction. [109] As well as the secession of a theocratic Mormon state, some DezNat commentators have suggested this should be a white ethnostate using both neo-Nazi and far-right accelerationist imagery. [109] [107] Users of the hashtag reject being labeled as alt-right. [105] [110] [106] Smith says the hashtag recognizes faithful LDS Church members as "a unique people and should be united spiritually, morally, economically, and politically behind Christ, the prophet, and the church." [104] [111] [112]

The community has been criticized for promoting harassment against members of the LGBTQ community, ex-Mormons, feminists, abortion-rights advocates, and pornographic film actors. [104] Some within DezNat advocate for violent actions under the pretext of blood atonement for certain sins, [104] a practice the LDS Church leadership has disavowed. [113] [114] [115]

Violence in Mormon scripture

War is a central, cyclical theme in the Book of Mormon. There are many wars mentioned in the Book of Mormon, depicted as the consequence of prideful or sinful behavior. Battles often occur between two peoples called the Nephites and Lamanites, but other groups attacked or drawn into battle include "secret combinations" (i.e., organized criminals), factions among the Jaredites.

The Book of Mormon concludes with a cataclysmic war between the Nephites and Lamanites. The final prophet of the Book of Mormon, a Nephite named Moroni, laments that his people have participated in sexual violence, torture, and cannibalism:

And notwithstanding this great abomination of the Lamanites, it doth not exceed that of our people in Moriantum. For behold, many of the daughters of the Lamanites have they taken prisoners; and after depriving them of that which was most dear and precious above all things, which is chastity and virtue—And after they had done this thing, they did murder them in a most cruel manner, torturing their bodies even unto death; and after they have done this, they devour their flesh like unto wild beasts, because of the hardness of their hearts; and they do it for a token of bravery. [116]

Several decapitations and dismemberments are also described in the Book of Mormon. In chapter 4 of the First Book of Nephi, the prophet Nephi is commanded by the Spirit to kill a man named Laban, whom he decapitates. [117] In Ether chapter 15, the warrior Coriantumr, who is the last survivor of the Jaredites, decapitates Shiz. [118] In Alma chapter 17, Ammon (a Nephite missionary) defends a Lamanite king's livestock by cutting off the arms of several thieves and killing several others with a sling. [119]

In chapter 9 of the Third Book of Nephi, Christ announces to ancient Americans that he has destroyed more than a dozen cities and their inhabitants due to their corruption. He announces that he destroyed some cities by causing them "to be burned with fire because of their sins and their wickedness", while others were "sunk in the depths of the sea" or "covered with earth". [120] The text reports that some of the victims mourned, "O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and had not killed and stoned the prophets, and cast them out; then would our mothers and our fair daughters, and our children have been spared". [121]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ This statement was written by Willard Richards in 1843. [56] [57] Years before making this remark, however, Smith was quoted as saying that the hanging of Judas Iscariot was not a suicide, but an execution carried out by Saint Peter. [58]
  2. ↑ George A. Smith later changed his views on capital punishment, and would write the first code in Utah which allowed both execution by firing squad and decapitation. [59]

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In Mormonism, a penalty is a specified punishment for breaking an oath of secrecy after receiving the Nauvoo endowment ceremony. Adherents promised they would submit to execution in specific ways should they reveal certain contents of the ceremony. In the ceremony participants each symbolically enacted three of the methods of their execution: throat slitting, heart removal, and disembowelment. These penalties were first instituted by Joseph Smith in 1842, and further developed by Brigham Young after Smith's death. The penalties were similar to oaths made as part of a particular rite of Freemasonry practiced in western New York at the time the endowment was developed. During the 20th century, the largest Mormon denomination, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gradually softened the graphic nature of their penalties, and in 1990, removed them altogether from its version of the ceremony. Other Mormon denominations continue to have the penalties as part of their temple oaths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phineas Young</span> American Mormon missionary

Phineas Howe Young was a prominent early convert in the Latter Day Saint movement and was later a Mormon pioneer and a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Phineas Young was an older brother of Brigham Young, who was the president of the LDS Church and the first governor of the Territory of Utah.

Mormon theology has long been thought to be one of the causes of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The victims of the massacre, known as the Baker–Fancher party, were passing through the Utah Territory to California in 1857. For the decade prior the emigrants' arrival, Utah Territory had existed as a theocracy led by Brigham Young. As part of Young's vision of a pre-millennial "Kingdom of God," Young established colonies along the California and Old Spanish Trails, where Mormon officials governed as leaders of church, state, and military. Two of the southernmost establishments were Parowan and Cedar City, led respectively by Stake Presidents William H. Dame and Isaac C. Haight. Haight and Dame were, in addition, the senior regional military leaders of the Mormon militia. During the period just before the massacre, known as the Mormon Reformation, Mormon teachings were dramatic and strident. The religion had undergone a period of intense persecution in the American mid-west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Neibaur</span>

Alexander Neibaur was the first dentist to practice in Utah and the first Jew to join the Latter Day Saint movement. He was educated for the profession at the University of Berlin and was a skilled dentist before the establishment of dental schools in America. He was fluent in 7 languages and as many dialects.

Richard Eyring "Rick" Turley Jr. is an American historian and genealogist. He previously served as both an Assistant Church Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and as managing director of the church's public affairs department.

In 1857, at the time of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, Brigham Young, was serving as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and as Governor of Utah Territory. He was replaced as governor the following year by Alfred Cumming. Evidence as to whether or not Young ordered the attack on the migrant column is conflicted. Historians still debate the autonomy and precise roles of local Cedar City LDS Church officials in ordering the massacre and Young's concealing of evidence in its aftermath. Young's use of inflammatory and violent language in response to a federal expedition to the territory added to the tense atmosphere at the time of the attack. After the massacre, Young stated in public forums that God had taken vengeance on the Baker–Fancher party. It is unclear whether Young held this view because of a possible belief that this specific group posed a threat to colonists or that they were responsible for past crimes against Mormons. According to historian William P. MacKinnon, "After the war, Buchanan implied that face-to-face communications with Brigham Young might have averted the Utah War, and Young argued that a north–south telegraph line in Utah could have prevented the Mountain Meadows Massacre."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints</span> Overview of and topical guide to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The following outline is provided as an overview of and a topical guide to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

This is a bibliography of works on the Latter Day Saint movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Native American people and Mormonism</span>

Over the past two centuries, the relationship between Native American people and Mormonism has included friendly ties, displacement, battles, slavery, education placement programs, and official and unofficial discrimination. Native American people were historically considered a special group by adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement (Mormons) since they were believed to be the descendants of the Lamanite people described in The Book of Mormon. There is no support from genetic studies and archaeology for the historicity of the Book of Mormon or Middle Eastern origins for any Native American peoples. Today there are many Native American members of Mormon denominations as well as many people who are critical of Mormonism and its teachings and actions around Native American people.

References

  1. ↑ Nelson, Marie H. (1997). "Anti-Mormon Mob Violence and the Rhetoric of Law and Order in Early Mormon History". Legal Studies Forum. 21: 353.
  2. ↑ Arrington, Leonard J. (1992). The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints (2nd ed.). University of Illinois Press. pp. 51–52. ISBN   0-394-46566-0. Persecution of the Mormons in a land of religious toleration seemed outrageous to the victims and to many observers ... recent studies ... suggest that the response of the anti-Mormons was consistent with vigilante strategies widely adopted for similar problems at the time.
  3. 1 2 Bagley, Will (2004). Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows . University of Oklahoma Press. p. xvii. ISBN   978-0-8061-3639-4 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ↑ Bushman, Richard L. (1960). "Mormon Persecutions in Missouri, 1833". Brigham Young University Studies. 3 (1): 11–20. ISSN   0007-0106. JSTOR   43043849. Missourians were voluble about the causes of their enmity. Declarations adopted by mass meetings in Jackson County and articles by individual apologists described the sources of resentment interference with Negroes, collusion with Indians, threatened armed aggression, the offensive religion of the Mormons, and their growing political power
  5. ↑ Arrington, Leonard J.; Bitton, Davis (1992). The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-Day Saints. University of Illinois Press. ISBN   978-0-252-06236-0.
  6. ↑ Brodie, Fawn M. (1957). No Man Knows My History. p. 129. A mob had stormed into Independence, burned the printing house, smashed the press, carried off the newly printed collections of revelations, tarred and feathered Bishop Partridge, and ordered the whole colony to leave the county.
  7. ↑ LeSueur 1987 , pp. 143–144
  8. ↑ Jennings, Warren A. (1962). Zion is Fled: The Expulsion of the Mormons from Jackson County, Missouri. University of Florida. the mob declared that they or the mormons must leave the county, or they or the mormons must die. Under the pressure of this intimidation, the leaders reluctantly agreed to depart.
  9. ↑ Lund, Matthew (2012). The Vox Populi Is the Vox Dei: American Localism and the Mormon Expulsion from Jackson County, Missouri. Feeling powerless, Governor Dunklin eventually conceded to popular rule in Jackson County. Likewise, submitting to the limitations of the federal constitution, the Jackson Administration bowed to the local will and sovereignty of the state. Consequently, the Mormons failed to receive protection and redress from local, state and federal authorities for depredations committed against them.
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  11. ↑ Arrington & Bitton 1979 , pp. 50–52
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  15. ↑ Arrington, Leonard J (1992). The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints (second ed.). University of Illinois Press. p. 62. ISBN   0-394-46566-0. Anti-Mormon firebrands were intemperate in their denunciation of the Mormon scum and their demands for using "powder and ball"
  16. ↑ Herron, David L. (January 1, 2024). "The Battle of Nauvoo". Journal of Mormon History. 50 (1): 45–78. doi:10.5406/24736031.50.1.03. ISSN   0094-7342.
  17. ↑ Archives, L. A. Times (April 8, 2004). "Illinois Offers Its Regrets to Mormons". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
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  116. ↑ Moroni 9:9–10
  117. ↑ 1 Nephi 4
  118. ↑ Ether 15:29–32
  119. ↑ Alma 17
  120. ↑ 3 Nephi 9
  121. ↑ 3 Nephi 8:25

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