The Historical Record of Mormon Blood Atonement

[_sock puppet]

Here is a fairly concise recap of the historical evidences of blood atonement having been practiced by the LDS in the late 19th Century.

I have read defenders (perhaps including DCP) that the historical record is weak in this regard. Yet when I read the attached piece, my initial impression is that there is significant historical evidence that the Mormons carried out blood atonement executions in Utah in the latter half of the 19th Century.

What makes these historical sources weak?

[_Buffalo]

Here is a fairly concise recap of the historical evidences of blood atonement having been practiced by the LDS in the late 19th Century.

I have read defenders (perhaps including DCP) that the historical record is weak in this regard. Yet when I read the attached piece, my initial impression is that there is significant historical evidence that the Mormons carried out blood atonement executions in Utah in the latter half of the 19th Century.

What makes these historical sources weak?

Apologetic necessity.

[_Nevo]

Here is a fairly concise recap of the historical evidences of blood atonement having been practiced by the LDS in the late 19th Century.

And here is a fairly long-winded polemical response from McKay Jones, an amateur LDS apologist.

I don't think there is any good evidence that "blood atonement" as such—ritual murder intended to save the victim's soul—was ever practiced. It may have been, but such cases must have been extremely rare (the documentation in Larsen and Stenhouse is weak to non-existent).

However, there is substantial historical evidence that Mormons occasionally killed apostates and other undesirable elements (see, e.g., Ardis Parshall, "'Pursue, Retake and Punish': The 1857 Santa Clara Ambush," Utah Historical Quarterly 73 [Winter 2005]: 64-86; William P. MacKinnon, "'Loney Bones': Leadership and Utah War Violence," Journal of Mormon History 33 [Spring 2007]: 121-178; David L. Bigler, "The Aiken Party Executions and The Utah War, 1857–1858," The Western Historical Quarterly 38 [Winter 2007]: 457-76; Polly Aird, Mormon Convert, Mormon Defector: A Scottish Immigrant in the American West, 1848-1861 [Norman, OK: Arthur H. Clark Company, 2009]).

[_sock puppet]

Here is a fairly concise recap of the historical evidences of blood atonement having been practiced by the LDS in the late 19th Century.

And here is a fairly long-winded polemical response from McKay Jones, an amateur LDS apologist.

I don't think there is any good evidence that "blood atonement" as such—ritual murder intended to save the victim's soul—was ever practiced. It may have been, but such cases must have been extremely rare (the documentation in Larsen and Stenhouse is weak to non-existent).

However, there is substantial historical evidence that Mormons occasionally killed apostates and other undesirable elements (see, e.g., Ardis Parshall, "'Pursue, Retake and Punish': The 1857 Santa Clara Ambush," Utah Historical Quarterly 73 [Winter 2005]: 64-86; William P. MacKinnon, "'Loney Bones': Leadership and Utah War Violence," Journal of Mormon History 33 [Spring 2007]: 121-178; David L. Bigler, "The Aiken Party Executions and The Utah War, 1857–1858," The Western Historical Quarterly 38 [Winter 2007]: 457-76; Polly Aird, Mormon Convert, Mormon Defector: A Scottish Immigrant in the American West, 1848-1861 [Norman, OK: Arthur H. Clark Company, 2009]).

Killing of anyone is not acceptable, but killing a group's own members for purposes of their believed eternal salvation is a type of fratricide that if true, is particularly disturbing.