Mormonism and violence

Mormons have both used and been subjected to significant violence throughout much of the religion's history.^[1] In the early history of the United States, violence was used as a form of control. Mormons were violently persecuted and pushed from Ohio to Missouri, from Missouri to Illinois and from Illinois, they were pushed west to the Utah Territory. There were incidents of massacre, home burning and pillaging, followed by the death of their prophet, Joseph Smith. Smith died from multiple gunshot wounds in a gun battle while jailed in Carthage; Smith defended himself with a small pistol smuggled to him by Cyrus Wheelock while trying to protect himself against a mob. There were also notable incidents in which Mormons perpetrated violence. Under the direction of Mormon prophets and apostles, the Mormon burned and looted Davies County, attacked and killed members of the Missouri state militia, and carried out an extermination order on the Timpanogos. Other Mormon leaders led the Mountain Meadows Massacre, Battle Creek massacre, and Circleville Massacre. Mormons have also been a major part in several wars, including the 1838 Mormon War, Walker War and Black Hawk War.

The memory of this violence has affected both the history and the doctrines of the Latter Day Saint movement.^[2]

History of religious violence against Mormons[]

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Early Mormon history is marked by many instances of violence, which have helped to shape the church's views on violence. The first significant instance occurred in Missouri. Mormons who lived there tended to vote as a bloc, which often lead to the unseating of the local political leadership.^[3] Differences culminated in hostilities and the eventual issuing of an executive order (often called the Extermination Order) by Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs declaring, "the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State." Three days later, a militia unit attacked a Mormon settlement at Haun's Mill, resulting in the death of 18 Mormons and no militiamen. The Extermination Order was not formally rescinded until 1976.

In Nauvoo, Illinois, conflict was often based on the tendency of Mormons to "dominate community, economic, and political life wherever they landed."^[4] The city of Nauvoo had become the largest in Illinois, the city council was predominantly Mormon, and the Nauvoo Legion (the Mormon militia) continued to grow. Other issues of contention included polygamy, freedom of speech, anti-slavery views during Smith's presidential campaign, and the deification of man. After the destruction of the press of the Nauvoo Expositor, Smith was arrested and incarcerated in Carthage Jail, where he was killed by a mob on June 27, 1844. The conflict in Illinois became so severe that most of the residents of Nauvoo fled across the Mississippi River in February 1846.

After Mormons established a community hundreds of miles away in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, anti-Mormon activists in the Utah Territory convinced President Buchanan that the Mormons in the territory were rebelling against the United States under the direction of Brigham Young.^[5] 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.

Violent acts committed by Mormons[]

The Mormon writer Jana Riess has expressed much concern about what she describes as "Mormon Americans' strange relationship with guns."^[6]

Around 2018, an alt-right group of online Mormons called Deseret Nation (or #DezNat for short) emerged. They are known for using violent threats and references to violence in Mormon history against those who disagree with them; this has included professors at BYU .^[7][8][9]

Instances of theological violence[]

Mountain Meadows massacre[]

The widely publicized Mountain Meadows massacre of September 11, 1857, during the Utah War, was a mass killing of about 130 emigrants, mostly from Arkansas and heading for California. It was led by a local leader and member of the church, John D. Lee over a Mormon militia. Lee was later excommunicated and executed for his role in the killings. After escalating rumors that some of the emigrants had participated in persecuting members of the church prior to the westward migration, the militia attacked the emigrants, and after forcing them to surrender, killed nearly all of them. A few children survived and were adopted by nearby residents. Several individuals involved in the massacre participated in a cover up, blaming the massacre on largely uninvolved Native American tribes.

Though widely connected with the blood atonement doctrine by the United States press and general public,^{[citation needed]} there is no direct evidence that the massacre was related to "saving" the emigrants by the shedding of their blood (as they had not entered into Mormon covenants); rather, most commentators^[who?] view it as an act of intended retribution. 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 he believed in 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" (Young 1877, p. 242).

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.^[10]

List of Mormon wars and massacres[]

This list includes all wars and massacres that have involved significant numbers of members of the Latter Day Saint movement as victims or perpetrators.

Mormon views on capital punishment[]

Capital punishment in Mormon scripture[]

Religious justification for capital punishment is not unique to Mormons.^[11]

Retribution[]

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. ... " (Roberts 1909, p. 296).

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."^[12] In a March 4, 1843, debate with church leader George A. Smith, who argued against capital punishment,^[13] Smith said that 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" (Roberts 1909, p. 296). 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."^[14] 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."^[15] On the other hand, 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" (Roberts 1932).

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 (Roberts 1932). 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"(Roberts 1932, p. 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."^[16] Young also stated that the decapitation of repeated sinners "is the law of God & it shall be executed."^[17] There are no documented instances of such a sentence being carried out on the Mormon Trail.

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."^[18] 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 they should not be hurt for it."^[19]

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 (Gardner 1979, p. 13).

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" (Young 1856a, p. 53). 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 (Young 1857, p. 220). The concept was first taught in the mid-1850s by the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (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 (Campbell 1988, ch. 11). There is inconclusive evidence, however, to suggest that the doctrine was independently enforced a few times by Mormon individuals (Stenhouse 1873, pp. 467–71). 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 (Quinn 1997).

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.^[20] 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.^[20]

Penalties[]

Blood oaths[]

Historically, Mormon ritual provided an example in which capital punishment is contemplated, though not necessarily required, for violations of historical blood oaths in the endowment ritual. The blood oaths in the ceremony were related to protecting the ritual's secrecy. Participants made an oath that rather than ever revealing the secret gestures of the ceremony, they would rather have: "my throat ... be cut from ear to ear, and my tongue torn out by its roots," "our breasts ... be torn open, our hearts and vitals torn out and given to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field," "your body ... be cut asunder and all your bowels gush out," showing an entire refusal to accept the promises made in the washing and anointing ordinances (Buerger 2002, p. 141). They were changed to a reference to "different ways in which life may be taken" (Buerger 2002, p. 141). The entire "penalty" portion of the ceremony was removed by the LDS Church in 1990, and during its lifetime, there is no documented instance in which a person has been killed for violating the oaths of secrecy.

Law 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".^[21] "The prophets" were Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and "this nation" was the United States.^[22] The oath was removed from the ceremony during the 1920s.^[23]

In 1877, Young noted 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."^[24]

Violence related to LGBT people[]

In October 1976, LDS Church apostle Boyd K. Packer gave a sermon, "To Young Men Only,"^[25][26] in which he encouraged young male Latter-day Saints to defend themselves, physically if necessary, against sexual assaults by other men. The sermon was later published as a pamphlet and was widely circulated to LDS young men. Openly gay^[27] historian D. Michael Quinn criticized Packer's comments, saying they constituted an endorsement of gay bashing, and he also claimed that the church endorses such behavior by continuing to publish Packer's speech.^[28]

On July 5, 2015, the LDS Church issued an official statement in response to the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage and to clarify its official position of nonviolence to the LGBT community:^[29]

The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us to love and treat all people with kindness and civility—even when we disagree. We affirm that those who avail themselves of laws or court rulings authorizing same-sex marriage should not be treated disrespectfully. Indeed, the Church has advocated for rights of same-sex couples in matters of hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment, and probate, so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the constitutional rights of churches.

On August 23, 2021, in an address to faculty and staff at Brigham Young University, 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."^[30]

Violence in the Mormon scriptures[]

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.^[31]

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.^[32] In Ether chapter 15, the warrior Coriantumr, who is the last survivor of the Jaredites, decapitates Shiz.^[33] 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.^[34]

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".^[35] 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".^[36]

The Book of Mormon is not unique in describing divinely directed or sanctioned violence. Additional examples appear in the Old Testament, which Mormons also consider to be sacred scripture.^{[citation needed]}

See also[]

Notes[]

References[]

Further reading[]

• "Peace and Violence among 19th-Century Latter-day Saints", Gospel Topics, churchofjesuschrist.org, LDS Church
• Stack, Peggy Fletcher (May 13, 2014), "lds.org essay explores violent acts by and against Mormons", Salt Lake Tribune