The darker side of Mormonism ......

[babsbunny]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2579328.ece

The darker side of Mormonism
Just as the Mormon Republican Mitt Romney emerges as a major contender for the US presidency, a blood-soaked new film and a high-profile trial are exposing the dark side of his religion. And suddenly, the biggest obstacle on his road to the White House is the faith he holds so dear. Rupert Cornwell reports
Published: 24 May 2007
It was 11 September, a crystal-clear morning with the first hint of autumn crispness, as though a cynical, mocking God had set the stage for what would be the worst act of religiously inspired terrorism in US history.

But we are not talking about New York or Washington, DC in 2001. The setting was the uplands of remote south-eastern Utah, exactly 150 years ago, in a corner of an American West that was still a violent work-in-progress. Within minutes, some 140 pioneers - a wagon-train of men, women and children headed for California - lay dead in a massacre that would not be surpassed until the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995.

[Raven]

1. Interesting story. I had never heard that but, after all, we

Christians have had our share of shame for massacres over the centuries.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. Mormons were also slaughtered by non-mormons.

Bringing up the mountain meadows massacre because of Mitt Romney strikes me a bit like bring up 9-11 because of Keith Ellison.

[kestrel91316]

3. Mountain Meadows Massacre. Ordered by Brigham Young. Carried out,

in part, by my g-g-g-grandfather: William Adams Hickman. I uncovered historical evidence that he went there on the heels of the wagon train and came back in possession of property known to have belonged to the pioneers. All the books say nothing about his involvement, but I am convinced.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22Wild_Bill%22_Hickman
http://www.media.utah.edu/UHE/h/HICKMAN,WILLIAM.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_Massacre

[kurth]

4. "I am the voice of God: anyone who does not like it will be hewn down"

- Brigham Young.

[Arugula Latte]

5. Ah, religion.

Irrationality, social control, and violence, all wrapped up in fairy tales ...

[jwirr]

6. I think the biggest problem Mitt will have because of his religion

is not this little know massacre but the fact that most traditional Christian churches do not accept the Mormons as a Christian church, especially fundies!

[kurth]

7. Yep - Mormons are a competitive threat:

"Mormon missionaries have had the greatest success in countries with sizable Christian populations".
http://www.christianitytoday.com/tc/9r2/9r2068.html