Blood atonement - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Mormonism

Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...

, blood atonement is a controversial doctrine that teaches that murder

Murder

Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

is so heinous that the atonement of Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

does not apply. Thus, in order to atone for these sins, the perpetrators must have their blood shed upon the ground as a sacrificial offering. The concept was originally taught by Brigham Young

Brigham Young

Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...

, though it appears to be an expansion on the previous teachings of Joseph Smith, Jr. Within Mormon fundamentalism, the concept of blood atonenment is still recognized. In contrast, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has stated that "the so-called 'blood atonement,' by which individuals would be required to shed their own blood to pay for their sins, is not a doctrine of [the LDS Church]."

The doctrine originated during the Mormon Reformation

Mormon Reformation

The Mormon Reformation was a period of renewed emphasis on spirituality within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . It took place in 1856 and 1857 and was under the direction of President of the Church Brigham Young. During the Reformation, Young sent his counselor Jedediah M...

, when Brigham Young

Brigham Young

governed the Utah Territory

Utah Territory

The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah....

as a near-theocracy

Theocracy

Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....

. Young and the other members of his First Presidency

First Presidency

In the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency was the highest governing body in the Latter Day Saint church established by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1832, and is the highest governing body of several modern Latter Day Saint denominations...

taught that the doctrine was ideally to be a voluntary choice by the sinner, carried out with love and compassion. Young considered it charitable to sacrifice a life than to see them endure eternal torment in the afterlife. In a full Mormon theocracy

Theodemocracy

Theodemocracy is a political system that combines elements of theocracy and democracy.One concept of theodemocracy was theorized by Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement...

, blood atonement practice would be implemented by the state as a penal measure. The blood atonement doctrine was the impetus behind laws in the territory and state of Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

allowing capital punishment

Capital punishment

Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...

by firing squad or decapitation

Decapitation

Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...

. Though people in Utah were executed by firing squad for capital crimes under the assumption that this would aid their salvation, there is no clear evidence that Young or other top theocratic Mormon leaders enforced blood atonement for apostasy

Apostasy

Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...

or non-capital crimes like miscegenation

Miscegenation

Miscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....

. There is, however, some evidence that the doctrine was enforced a few times at the local church level without regard to secular judicial procedure. The rhetoric of blood atonement may have contributed to a culture of violence leading to the Mountain Meadows massacre

Mountain Meadows massacre

The Mountain Meadows massacre was a series of attacks on the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train, at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. The attacks culminated on September 11, 1857 in the mass slaughter of the emigrant party by the Iron County district of the Utah Territorial Militia and some local...

.

Blood atonement remains an important doctrine within Mormon fundamentalism. Within mainstream Mormonism, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has informally opined, since 1978, that the doctrine is no longer in force. LDS apostle Bruce R. McConkie

Bruce R. McConkie

Bruce Redd McConkie was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1972 until his death...

, claiming to reflect the view of church leadership, wrote in 1978 that while he still believed that certain sins are beyond the atoning power of the blood of Christ, the doctrine of blood atonement is only applicable in a theocracy. Nevertheless, given its long history, the doctrine still plays a role in some Utah death penalty trials.

Historical and doctrinal background

Mormonism was in its early days a Restorationist faith, and leaders such as Joseph Smith and Brigham Young frequently discussed efforts to re-introduce social, legal, and religious practices described in the Bible, such as temple building, polygamy, and a patriarchal, theocratic governing structure. The term "blood atonement" does not appear in Mormon scripture. However, in the Book of Mormon there are verses clearly detailing that "the law of Moses" requires capital punishment for the crime of murder.

The concept of blood atonement for adultery was less clearly articulated in LDS scripture. In Doctrine and Covenants 132, Joseph Smith wrote that people who break the "New and Everlasting Covenant" (Celestial marriage

Celestial marriage

Celestial marriage is a doctrine of Mormonism, particularly The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and branches of Mormon fundamentalism.Within Mormonism, celestial marriage is an ordinance associated with a covenant that always...

) would be "destroyed in the flesh" and be punished until they received their exaltation at the Last Judgment

Last Judgment

The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, or The Day of the Lord in Christian theology, is the final and eternal judgment by God of every nation. The concept is found in all the Canonical gospels, particularly the Gospel of Matthew. It will purportedly take place after the...

.

The requirement of bloodshed for capital crimes grew into the idea that salvation would be blocked unless this penalty was adhered to, as the "law" would remain "unfulfilled." The belief of the necessity of spilled blood and death to make restitution for adultery and murder was aided by a generally favorable view toward capital punishment, the idea that spilled blood "cries out" for retribution, the "blood for blood" doctrine that says crimes of bloodshed should be punished by the spilling of blood, and the concept that repentance requires restitution. Although the scriptures in Alma 34 of the Book of Mormon speak of the "requirement" in terms of a legal obligation, Brigham Young described blood atonement-worthy crimes as actually negating the salvation offered by Jesus, stating that a sinner's crimes "will deprive him of that exaltation which he desires."

Capital punishment in Mormon scripture and ritual

Mormonism's teachings regarding capital punishment

Capital punishment

originate with older Jewish and Christian teachings. Like the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

, the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...

has passages that speak favorably about capital punishment. The book described a theocratic government

Theocracy

with a law that "if a man murdered he should die" Nevertheless, the Book of Mormon did not always require capital punishment. The Book of Mormon provided an example where God (and the government) forgave "many murders" after repentance, "through the merits of [God's] Son". The book also stated that murderers could avoid an "awful hell" if they "repent and withdraw [their] murderous purposes."

Underlying the blood atonement concept is the idea that spilled blood "cries out" for retribution, an idea that finds several examples in Mormon scripture. In the Bible, the blood of Abel ascended to the ears of God after he was killed by Cain. In the Book of Mormon, the "blood of a righteous man" (Gideon) was said to "come upon" the theocratic leader Alma

Alma

- Print media :* Alma , a 1922 novel by Oswald de Andrade* Alma , a drama by Joshua Sobol about Alma Mahler-Werfel* Alma Cogan , a 1991 novel by Gordon Burn...

"for vengeance" against the murderer (Nehor). Mormon scripture also refers to the "cry" of the blood of the saints ascending from the ground up to the ears of God as a testimony against those who killed them. After the death of Joseph Smith, Jr.

Death of Joseph Smith, Jr.

The death of Joseph Smith, Jr. on June 27, 1844 marked a turning point for the Latter Day Saint movement, of which Smith was the founder and leader. When he was attacked and killed by a mob, Smith was the mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois, and running for President of the United States...

, Brigham Young

Brigham Young

added an Oath of Vengeance

Oath of Vengeance

Oath of Vengeance is a 1944 American film directed by Sam Newfield.- Cast :*Buster Crabbe as Billy Carson*Falcon as Billy's horse*Al St. John as Fuzzy Q...

to the Nauvoo Endowment ritual

Endowment (Latter Day Saints)

In the theology of the Latter Day Saint movement, an endowment refers to a gift of "power from on high", typically associated with Latter Day Saint temples. The purpose and meaning of the endowment varied during the life of movement founder Joseph Smith, Jr...

. Participants in the ritual made an oath to pray that God would "avenge the blood of the prophets on this nation." The prophet was Smith and "this nation" was the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. (This oath was removed from the ceremony during the 1920s.) In 1877, Brigham Young noted what he viewed as a similarity between Joseph Smith's death and the blood atonement doctrine, in that "whether we believe in blood atonement or not", Joseph and other prophets "sealed their testimony with their blood."

The LDS temple rituals formerly provided an example in which capital punishment is contemplated for violation of historical blood oaths in the Endowment ritual

Endowment (Latter Day Saints)

. The blood oaths in the ceremony related to protecting the ritual's secrecy. In keeping with the idea that grievous crimes must be answered with bloodshed and that blood atonement should be voluntary, 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

Washing and anointing

The washing and anointing is a temple ordinance of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that pertains to exaltation within the Celestial Kingdom. Combined, the two ordinances are known as the initiatory, which is performed for both the living and the dead.-History:Ritual anointings were...

ordinances. The gory wording was removed early in the 20th century and changed to a less explicit reference to "different ways in which life may be taken." Vestigial accompanying suggestive gestures were removed by the LDS Church in 1990 However the temple ceremony still states that "under no condition, even at the peril of your life, will you ever divulge" information regarding the rituals. There are no documented instances of a person who has been killed for violating these oaths of secrecy.

"Blood for blood" doctrine and retributive capital punishment

Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement

Latter Day Saint movement

The Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...

, was a strong proponent of capital punishment, and 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." Years before making this remark, however, Smith was quoted as saying that the hanging of Judas Iscariot

Judas Iscariot

Judas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...

was not a suicide, but an execution carried out by Saint Peter

Saint Peter

Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...

. In a March 4, 1843 debate with church leader George A. Smith

George A. Smith

George Albert Smith was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and served in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and as a member of the church's First Presidency.-Childhood:Smith was born in Potsdam, St...

, who argued against capital punishment, 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." 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." Sidney Rigdon

Sidney Rigdon

Sidney Rigdon was a leader during the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Baptist background:...

, Smith's counselor in the First Presidency

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 and bury them." On the other hand, Smith was willing to tolerate the presence of men "as corrupt as the devil himself" in Nauvoo, Illinois

Nauvoo, Illinois

Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the population was just 1,063 at the 2000 census, and despite being difficult to reach due to its location in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its...

, 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."

Brigham Young

Brigham Young

, Smith's successor in the LDS Church, initially held views on capital punishment 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. 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." Later that year, Young gave orders that "when a man is found to be a thief,...cut his throat & thro' him in the River." Young also stated that decapitation

Decapitation

of repeated sinners "is the law of God and it shall be executed." There are no documented instances, however, of such a sentence being carried out on the Mormon Trail

Mormon Trail

The Mormon Trail or Mormon Pioneer Trail is the 1,300 mile route that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveled from 1846 to 1868...

.

In the Salt Lake valley, Young acted as the executive authority while the Council of Fifty

Council of Fifty

The Council of Fifty was a Latter Day Saint organization established by Joseph Smith, Jr...

acted as a legislature. One of his main concerns in the early Mormon settlement was theft, and he swore that "a theif [sic] should not live in the Valley, for he would cut off their heads or be the means of having it done as the Lord lived." A Mormon listening to one of Young's sermons in 1849 recorded that he said "if any one was catched [sic] stealing to shoot them dead on the spot and they should not be hurt for it."

In Utah, there existed a law from 1851 to 1888 allowing persons convicted of murder to be executed by decapitation.

Being "destroyed in the flesh" for violation of celestial marriage covenants

The most immediate precursor to the blood atonement doctrine stems from a controversial section of Mormon scripture dictated by Smith in 1843 commanding the practice of plural marriage

Plural marriage

Polygamy was taught by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890.The Church's practice of polygamy has been highly controversial, both within...

(D&C 132). This revelation stated that once a man and a woman enter the "New and Everlasting Covenant" (a celestial marriage

Celestial marriage

), and it is "sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise" (which Smith later taught was accomplished through the second anointing

Second Anointing

In the Latter Day Saint movement, the second anointing, also known historically and in Latter Day Saint scripture as the fulness of the priesthood, is an obscure and relatively rare ordinance usually conducted in temples as extension of the Nauvoo Endowment ceremony. Founder Joseph Smith, Jr...

ritual), that they are guaranteed to become gods in the afterlife no matter what sins or blasphemies they commit, so long as they "commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood," and they do not commit the unpardonable sin

Eternal sin

Eternal sins or unforgivable sins or unpardonable sins, are a concept in Christian theology of sins which cannot or will not be forgiven, whereby salvation becomes impossible...

of "blasphemy against the Holy Ghost." If a sealed person shed innocent blood, they would suffer the fate of David

David

David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...

, who was redeemed, but fell short of his exaltation, and did not become a god (D&C 132:39). If a sealed person committed the unpardonable sin, they would become a son of perdition

Son of perdition (Mormonism)

Son of perdition is a phrase used in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and by Mormon fundamentalists to describe a person who will not take part in the glory of God in the afterlife...

. According to early Mormon teachings, the unpardonable sin consisted of entering the New and Everlasting Covenant, and then falling away to become an "apostate."

However, if a sealed and anointed person broke their covenants to any extent short of murder or the unpardonable sin, they would still gain their exaltation and become gods and goddesses in the afterlife, but would be "destroyed in the flesh, and shall be delivered unto the buffetings of Satan unto the day of redemption" (D&C 132:26). The revelation did not, however, specify the mechanism by which such people would be "destroyed in the flesh," and it did not indicate whether that "redemption" would be the result of the sinner's own blood or the result of the atonement of Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

Teachings by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve

As far as scholars can tell, the author of the blood atonement doctrine was LDS Church president Brigham Young

Brigham Young

, who first taught the doctrine after the death of Joseph Smith, Jr.

Death of Joseph Smith, Jr.

The doctrine first began to be heavily taught and promoted, however, during the Mormon Reformation

Mormon Reformation

(1856–1858), most insistently by Jedediah M. Grant

Jedediah M. Grant

Jedediah Morgan Grant was a leader and an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was member of the First Council of the Seventy from 1845 to 1854. He also served in the First Presidency under Church President Brigham Young from 1854 to 1856...

of the First Presidency

First Presidency (LDS Church)

The First Presidency is the presiding or governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . It is composed of the President of the Church and his counselors. The First Presidency currently consists of President Thomas S. Monson and his two counselors, Henry B...

. Public talk of blood atonement diminished substantially by the end of the Mormon Reformation in 1858, when Brigham Young surrendered his theocracy

Theocracy

to Alfred Cumming

Alfred Cumming (governor)

Alfred Cumming was appointed governor of the Utah territory in 1858 replacing Brigham Young following the Utah War...

, the governor appointed by the U.S. as a result of the Utah War

Utah War

The Utah War, also known as the Utah Expedition, Buchanan's Blunder, the Mormon War, or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between LDS settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the United States government. The confrontation lasted from May 1857 until July 1858...

. The subject of blood atonement remained largely dormant until the 1870s, when the issue was revived by the national media during the John D. Lee

John D. Lee

John Doyle Lee was a prominent early Latter-day Saint who was executed for his role in the Mountain Meadows massacre.-Early Mormon leader:...

trials for his role in the Mountain Meadows massacre

Mountain Meadows massacre

Development of the doctrine in the 1840s and early 1850s

When Brigham Young

Brigham Young

led the Saints from Nauvoo, Illinois

Nauvoo, Illinois

to the Salt Lake valley beginning in the mid-1840s, he and his followers intended to establish a theocracy independent of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, where there would be no distinction between church and state

Separation of church and state

The concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....

. (For Mormon theocratic political theory, see Theodemocracy

Theodemocracy

Theodemocracy is a political system that combines elements of theocracy and democracy.One concept of theodemocracy was theorized by Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement...

). Brigham Young's first recorded teachings on the blood atonement doctrine were in 1845, when Young had stepped into the shoes of Joseph Smith, Jr., the previous theocratic leader who had been killed in 1844

Death of Joseph Smith, Jr.

. That year, he was said to have approved of a Mormon being killed by an unknown assailant in Nauvoo, Illinois

Nauvoo, Illinois

, an act he characterized as "a deed of charity" because "he might now possibly be redeemed in the eternal world" .

In the Salt Lake valley, Young maintained a Council of Fifty

Council of Fifty

The Council of Fifty was a Latter Day Saint organization established by Joseph Smith, Jr...

composed of religious leaders as a kind of legislature, but this body's power was limited . In 1849, as Young and the Council of Fifty

Council of Fifty

The Council of Fifty was a Latter Day Saint organization established by Joseph Smith, Jr...

were drafting a plan for a proposed State of Deseret

State of Deseret

The State of Deseret was a proposed state of the United States, propositioned in 1849 by Latter-day Saint settlers in Salt Lake City. The provisional state existed for slightly over two years and was never recognized by the United States government...

, Young spoke to the Council about what to do with thieves, murderers, and adulterers, and said, "I want their cursed heads to be cut off that they may atone for their crimes". The Council voted the next day that an imprisoned man "had forfeited his head" and to "dispose of him privately" (March 4 entry). Two weeks later, Young recommended decapitation for the man and a fellow prisoner, but the Council decided to let them live. Later in 1851, the General Assembly of the State of Deseret, picked by the Council of Fifty, adopted a capital punishment provision allowing decapitation

Decapitation

as a means of execution, which would remain in force until 1888 .

In a speech before the Utah Territory

Utah Territory

legislature on February 5, 1852, Young appeared to be arguing for a law requiring decapitation

Decapitation

for whites "condemned by the Law" for miscegenation

Miscegenation

Miscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....

with black people

Black people

The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...

. He told the legislature that miscegenation was a grave sin that would bring a curse upon a man and his children produced by the union . He said that if a white Mormon "in an unguarded moment should commit such a transgression", decapitation "would do a great deal towards atoning for the sin...it would do them good that they might be saved with their Bre[theren]" . He said, "It is the greatest blessing that could come to some men to shed their blood on the ground, and let it come up before the Lord as an atonement" .

Impending theocratic blood atonement for "covenant breaking" Mormons

During the Mormon Reformation

Mormon Reformation

, church leaders began to criss-cross Mormon communities in a dramatic call for greater orthodoxy and religious purity. Brigham Young

Brigham Young

, who was then a theocratic

Theocracy

leader, began preparing church members for what they thought was the quickly-approaching Second Coming

Second Coming

In Christian doctrine, the Second Coming of Christ, the Second Advent, or the Parousia, is the anticipated return of Jesus Christ from Heaven, where he sits at the Right Hand of God, to Earth. This prophecy is found in the canonical gospels and in most Christian and Islamic eschatologies...

, and for a time of "Celestial law" in the Utah Territory

Utah Territory

. According to Young:
"The time is coming when justice will be laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet; when we shall take the old broadsword and ask, Are you for God? And if you are not heartily on the Lord's side, you will be hewn down."

The most vocal proponent of the blood atonement doctrine was Jedediah M. Grant

Jedediah M. Grant

, Young's second counselor in the First Presidency

First Presidency (LDS Church)

from 1854 to 1856. Grant, a firebrand preacher, rose to the First Presidency

First Presidency (LDS Church)

after the death of Willard Richards

Willard Richards

Willard Richards was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and served as Second Counselor in the First Presidency to church president Brigham Young in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death.Willard Richards was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, to...

in 1854 and became the main force behind the Mormon Reformation

Mormon Reformation

. His teachings in 1854 related to "covenant breakers," people who had broken their covenants made in the Endowment

Endowment (Latter Day Saints)

or Celestial marriage

Celestial marriage

. At a meeting in the Salt Lake Tabernacle on March 12, 1854, Grant asked, "What disposition ought the people of God to make of covenant breakers?" In answer to his question, he stated that they should be put to death . However, he lamented on the difficulty in applying this in a secular democracy, stating, "I wish we were in a situation favorable to our doing that which is justifiable before God, without any contaminating influences of Gentile amalgamation, laws, and traditions." Arguing for a purer theocracy

Theocracy

, he stated that it is the right of the church "to kill a sinner to save him, when he commits those crimes that can only be atoned for by shedding his blood.... We would not kill a man, of course, unless we killed him to save him."

Parley P. Pratt

Parley P. Pratt

Parley Parker Pratt, Sr. was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1835 until his murder in 1857. He served in the Quorum with his younger brother, Orson Pratt...

, a prominent member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is one of the governing bodies in the church hierarchy...

, was also a proponent of the blood atonement doctrine. On December 31, 1855, Pratt pressed the Utah Territory

Utah Territory

legislature to "[m]ake death the penalty for fornication and adultery." He cited 1 Cor. 5:5, calling on early Christians "[t]o deliver [an adulterer] unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus," as a Biblical justification for the blood atonement doctrine . Pratt stated, "This destruction of the flesh must have had reference to the death of the body; the man having justly forfeited his life in accordance with the law of God."

On March 16, 1856, Young acknowledged that it might seem, based on rhetoric from the pulpit, that "every one who did not walk to the line was at once going to be destroyed," but thus far, he said, nobody had been killed . He warned them, however, that the time "is not far distant" when the LDS Church would enforce the law of blood atonement against covenant breakers . One of the temple covenants at the time was, "I will never have anything to do with any of the daughters of Eve, unless they are given to me of the Lord." Though the "strict penalty of the law" dictated death to atone for breaking this covenant, Young said that the church would "not yet" enforce it .

On January 11, 1857 Heber C. Kimball

Heber C. Kimball

Heber Chase Kimball was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement. He served as one of the original twelve apostles in the early Latter Day Saint church, and as first counselor to Brigham Young in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his...

, a member of the First Presidency

First Presidency (LDS Church)

, spoke about the adulterers within the church and warned that "[t]hey are worthy of death, and they will get it. That time is near by, and God has spoken from the heavens, and when certain things are about right, we shall make a public example of those characters, ...and the time is just at our doors." In the meantime, rather than atoning for sins with blood, Kimball taught that it was possible to at least partially atone for sins by means other than blood, and encouraged covenant breakers to "pay all you can, that there may not be much against you when the accounts are settled up."

Echoing Kimball's words, on February 8, 1857, Young warned the church that institution of the "celestial law" requiring mandatory blood atonement was "nigh at hand," and that under this law, covenant breakers guilty of adultery

Adultery

Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...

would be "hewn down." In the meantime, he said, "if this people will sin no more, but faithfully live their religion, their sins will be forgiven them without taking life."

Voluntary blood atonement and enforcement by individuals

In addition to talk about blood atonement as a theocratic form of capital punishment

Capital punishment

whose time was "nigh at hand," church leaders also discussed unofficial blood atonement. According to one interpretation of Brigham Young's sermon on March 16, 1856, the sermon encouraged enforcement of the doctrine by individuals in certain situations. He said that if "you found your brother in bed with your wife, and put a javelin through both of them, you would be justified, and they would atone for their sins, and be received into the kingdom of God." He said, "under such circumstances, I have no wife whom I love so well that I would not put a javelin through her heart, and I would do it with clean hands." But he warned anyone who intended to "execute judgment" that he or she "has got to have clean hands and a pure heart, ...else they had better let the matter alone." If the adulterous couple were not actually caught in the act, Young recommended to "let them live and suffer in the flesh for their sins." According to Young, when any person violates a covenant with God, "The blood of Christ will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it" either in this life or the next .

At a meeting on September 21, 1856 attended by both Young and Grant, Grant stated that there were a great many covenant-breaking members in the church "who have committed sins that cannot be forgiven through baptism." These people, Grant said, "need to have their bloodshed, for water will not do, their sins are too deep a dye." Therefore, Grant advised these people to volunteer to have a committee appointed by the First Presidency to select a place and "shed their blood." Brigham Young spoke in agreement, stating:
"There are sins that men commit for which they cannot receive forgiveness in this world, or in that which is to come, and if they had their eyes open to see their true condition, they would be perfectly willing to have their blood spilt upon the ground, that the smoke thereof might ascend to heaven as an offering for their sins, and the smoking incense would atone for their sins."
Indeed, Young claimed that men had actually come to him and offered their blood to atone for their sins . For these sins, which Young did not specify, the shedding of blood is "the only condition for which they can obtain forgiveness," or to appease the wrath that is kindled against them, and that the law might have its course." The atonement of Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

, Young said, was for "sins through the fall and those committed by men, yet men can commit sins which it can never remit."

On February 8, 1857, Brigham Young stated that if a person "overtaken in a gross fault" truly understood that "by having his blood shed he will atone for that sin, and be saved and exalted with the Gods," he would voluntarily ask to have his blood shed so he could gain his exaltation . He framed blood atonement as an act of selfless love, and asked the congregation, "Will you love that man or woman well enough to shed their blood?" As a matter of love, he said, "if [your neighbor] needs help, help him; and if he wants salvation and it is necessary to spill his blood on the earth in order that he may be saved, spill it."

Blood atonement for apostasy

Most discussion of blood atonement during the Mormon Reformation concerned the killing of "covenant breakers." The greatest covenant breakers were thought to be "apostates," who according to early Mormon doctrine would become sons of perdition

Son of perdition (Mormonism)

Son of perdition is a phrase used in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and by Mormon fundamentalists to describe a person who will not take part in the glory of God in the afterlife...

and for whom "there is no chance whatever for exaltation." Nevertheless, Brigham Young believed that blood atonement would have at least some benefit. Young's first discussion of blood atonement in 1845 concerned a man who may have been considered an apostate in Nauvoo, Illinois

Nauvoo, Illinois

. On February 8, 1857, Young said, regarding apostates, that "if their blood had been spilled, it would have been better for them." Young warned these apostates that although "[t]he wickedness and ignorance of the nations forbid this principle's being in full force, ...the time will come when the law of God will be in full force," meaning that apostates would be subject to theocratic blood atonement. In August 1857, Heber C. Kimball echoed Young's statements about apostates, stating that "if men turn traitors to God and His servants, their blood will surely be shed, or else they will be damned, and that too according to their covenants."

Properly-practiced blood atonement

Blood atonement as taught above was not to be used as a way to punish, but as a way for the sinner to make restitution for his sins. One hearsay account was given by John D. Lee, who was killed for his involvement in the Mountain Meadows massacre (see below). Lee stated in his memoirs that he had heard of only one person who had properly received death by blood atonement - by willingly atoning for the crime:

Rosmos Anderson was a Danish man who had come to Utah...He had married a widow lady...and she had a daughter that was fully grown at the time of the reformation...

At one of the meetings during the reformation Anderson and his step-daughter confessed that they had committed adultery, believing when they did so that Brigham Young would allow them to marry when he learned the facts. Their confession being full, they were rebaptized and received into full membership. They were then placed under covenant that if they again committed adultery, Anderson should suffer death. Soon after this a charge was laid against Anderson before the Council, accusing him of adultery with his step-daughter...the Council voted that Anderson must die for violating his covenants. Klingensmith went to Anderson and notified him that the orders were that he must die by having his throat cut, so that the running of his blood would atone for his sins. Anderson, being a firm believer in the doctrines and teachings of the Mormon Church, made no objections, but asked for half a day to prepare for death. His request was granted. His wife was ordered to prepare a suit of clean clothing, in which to have her husband buried, and was informed that he was to be killed for his sins, she being directed to tell those who should enquire after her husband that he had gone to California.

Klingensmith, James Haslem, Daniel McFarland and John M. Higbee dug a grave in the field near Cedar City, and that night, about 12 o'clock, went to Anderson's house and ordered him to make ready to obey the Council. Anderson got up, dressed himself, bid his family good-bye, and without a word of remonstrance accompanied those that he believed were carrying out the will of the "Almighty God." They went to the place where the grave was prepared; Anderson knelt upon the side of the grave and prayed. Klingensmith and his company then cut Anderson's throat from ear to ear and held him so that his blood ran into the grave. As soon as he was dead they dressed him in his clean clothes, threw him into the grave and buried him. They then carried his bloody clothing back to his family, and gave them to his wife to wash, when she was again instructed to say that her husband was in California .... The killing of Anderson was then considered a religious duty and a just act.

Lee refused to be killed in the same manner for his conviction, requesting instead that he be executed by firing squad, rejecting the notion that he needed to atone for the Mountain Meadows massacre.

Killings said to have been incited by the doctrine

Although blood atonement was taught as a way to save "covenant breakers" or "apostates," the church's teachings on the subject have been cited as a contributing factor in inciting various extra-judicial killings in the Utah Territory

Utah Territory

Mountain Meadows massacre

The Mountain Meadows massacre

Mountain Meadows massacre

of September 11, 1857 was widely blamed on the church's teachings of blood atonement and other anti-United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

rhetoric by LDS Church leaders during the Utah War

Utah War

. The widely-publicized massacre was a mass killing of Arkansan emigrants by a Mormon militia led by prominent Mormon leader John D. Lee

John D. Lee

John Doyle Lee was a prominent early Latter-day Saint who was executed for his role in the Mountain Meadows massacre.-Early Mormon leader:...

, who was later executed for his role in the killings. After escalating rumors that the emigrants participated in early Mormon persecution, the militia conducted a siege, and when the emigrants surrendered, the militia killed men, women, and children in cold blood, adopted some of the surviving children, and attempted a cover-up.

Though widely connected with the blood atonement doctrine by the United States press and general public, 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 view it as an act of intended retribution. Young was accused of either directing the massacre, or of baring complicity after the fact. However, when Brigham 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."

Rumors of blood atonement enforcement by Utah-era Danites

Many of these rumors were centered around a group called the Danites. The Danites were a fraternal organization founded by a group of Latter-day Saints in June 1838, at Far West

Far West, Missouri

Far West, Missouri, was a Latter Day Saint settlement in Caldwell County, Missouri.-Foundation and early history:The town was founded by Missouri Mormon leaders, W. W. Phelps and John Whitmer in August 1836 shortly before the county's creation. The town was platted originally as a square area,...

in Caldwell County, Missouri

Caldwell County, Missouri

Caldwell County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. , the population was 8,969. Its county seat is Kingston. The county was organized in 1836 as a haven for the Mormons, who had been previously driven from Jackson County, Missouri in November of 1833 and had been refugees in...

. The Danites operated as a vigilante group and took a central role in the events of the Mormon War. Although the organization ceased to formally exist in Missouri, the name "Danites" may have been used in both Nauvoo and Utah. It is not certain whether the Danites continued to exist as a formal organization in Utah

Utah

.

During the 1860s and 1870s, there were widespread rumors that Brigham Young had a Danite organization that was enforcing the blood atonement doctrine. Evidence of this, however, never rose above the level of rumor . Responding to this, Brigham Young stated on April 7, 1867:

Is there war in our religion? No; neither war nor bloodshed. Yet our enemies cry out "bloodshed," and "oh, what dreadful men these Mormons are, and those Danites! how they slay and kill!" Such is all nonsense and folly in the extreme. The wicked slay the wicked, and they will lay it on the Saints.

Disaffected Mormon Fanny Stenhouse, a Godbeite

Godbeites

The Godbeites were members of the Godbeite Church, officially called the Church of Zion, organized in 1870 by William S. Godbe. This dissident offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was aimed toward embracing all belief systems...

dissenter and prominent critic of Brigham Young, described the Danites as "Avenging Angels" who murdered disaffected Mormons and blamed their disappearance on Indians. Ann Eliza Young

Ann Eliza Young

Ann Eliza Young also known as Ann Eliza Webb Dee Young Denning was one of Brigham Young's fifty-five wives and later a critic of polygamy...

, an ex-wife of Brigham Young and author of the exposé Wife No. 19, also described the Danites as still being organized after reaching Utah, and murdering dissenters and church enemies. While their claims remain controversial among Mormon historians, their writing does indicate that the concept of Danites remained in use as a concept as late as the 1870s.

Thomas Coleman murder

An example used by some to illustrate the alleged practice of blood atonement is the 1866 murder of the former-slave, Thomas Coleman (or Colburn), who was in good standing as a member of the LDS Church. As Mormon historian D. Michael Quinn

D. Michael Quinn

Dennis Michael Quinn is a historian who has focused on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a professor at Brigham Young University from 1976 until his resignation in 1988. At the time, his work concerned church involvement with plural marriage after the 1890 Manifesto, in which...

has documented, Coleman was apparently secretly courting a white Mormon woman, contrary to both territorial law and Mormon teachings regarding people of African descent.

At one of their clandestine meetings behind the old Arsenal (on what is now Capitol Hill in Salt Lake) on December 11, Coleman was discovered by "friends" of the woman. The group of vigilantes hit Coleman with a large rock. Using his own bowie knife, his attackers slit his throat so deeply from ear to ear that he was nearly decapitated, as well as slicing open his right breast, in what some believe was a mimicry of penalties illustrated in the temple ritual. Not all of Coleman's wounds correlated with the temple ritual, however, since he was also castrated. A pre-penciled placard was then pinned to his corpse stating "NOTICE TO ALL NIGGERS - TAKE WARNING - LEAVE WHITE WOMEN ALONE." Even though it was the middle of winter, a grave was dug and Coleman's body was buried. The body was disposed of in less than three hours after its discovery. Less than twelve hours after that, Judge Elias Smith, first cousin of Joseph Smith, appointed George Stringham (a Mormon ruffian and vigilante with ties to Porter Rockwell, Jason Luce, and William Hickman) as the foreman of the Coroner's Jury; they briefly met and summarily dismissed the case as a crime that was committed by either a person or by persons unknown to the jury, abruptly ending all official enquiry into the bizarre murder.

The ritualistic elements involved in the execution of Coleman’s murder may have been in response to a public sermon made three years earlier by Brigham Young on March 3, 1863. In this sermon, Young states, “I am a human being, and I have the care of human beings. I wish to save life, and have no desire to destroy life. If I had my wish, I should entirely stop the shedding of human blood.” Following this statement, however, Young makes a statement regarding interracial relations in which he continues, "Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so." Young continues his sermon by condemning whites for their abuse of slaves with the proclamation, “for their abuse of that race, the whites will be cursed, unless they repent.”

With regard to Coleman's murder, LDS apologetics point out that the practice of "blood atonement" is said to apply to endowed Mormons who apostatized. Coleman was a member in good standing and was not endowed, suggesting that his death may have actually been the result of racism. The LDS apologist organization FAIR has claimed that Young's statement was not made out of racist leanings but rather "Brigham Young's comments were a condemnation of abuse and rape of helpless black women, and not an overtly racist statement condemning interracial marriage."

Other killings

One of the examples cited by critics of the church is a set of murders in Springville, Utah

Springville, Utah

Springville is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Provo–Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 20,424 at the 2000 census, while the 2008 estimates placed it at 28,520. Just minutes south of Provo, Springville is a bedroom community for...

of individuals who, according to historical documents and court records, were "very questionable characters." Judge Elias Smith stated in regard to the case: "We have carefully examined all the evidence furnished by a remarkably accurate stenographic reporter, and can only conclude that evidence before the court goes to show that Durfee, Potter and two of the Parrishes got into a row about matters best, if not only, known to themselves, and for that Potter and two Parrishes were killed." – Records published in the Deseret News, April 6, 1859.

In 1902, the police and press initially speculated that blood atonement might have been a motive for the New York City "Pulitzer Murder" committed by William Hooper Young

William Hooper Young

William Hooper Young was a convicted American murderer. In 1903, he was convicted of the "Pulitzer Murder" in New York City and was sentenced to life imprisonment.-Early life:...

, a grandson of Brigham Young. This speculation was largely fueled by the fact that a notebook belonging to Hooper Young had been found at the scene of the crime, and "blood atonement" and supporting scriptural references was scrawled on one of the pages. Because Young pleaded guilty to murder, his exact motive for the crime was never determined, but medical experts and the judge were of the opinion that Young was medically—though probably not legally—insane. Hooper Young's case and contemporary blood atonement are discussed in detail in Brian Evenson

Brian Evenson

Brian Evenson is an American academic and writer of both literary fiction and popular fiction. He has received degrees from Brigham Young University and the University of Washington . After leaving a teaching position at BYU, he held positions at Oklahoma State University, Syracuse University...

's 2006 novel The Open Curtain.

Blood atonement after Brigham Young

By 1877, when Brigham Young

Brigham Young

died, the blood atonement doctrine, whether or not it was properly understood by the public, had "done more than any other thing save polygamy to bring Mormonism into disrepute". In response, church leaders and journalists took an active interest in explaining and justifying the doctrine, and in countering the negative press. John Taylor, Young's successor, acknowledged in North American Review
North American Review
The North American Review was the first literary magazine in the United States. Founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others, it was published continuously until 1940, when publication was suspended due to J. H. Smyth, who had purchased the magazine, being unmasked as a Japanese...

the "we believe some crimes can only be atoned for by the life of the guilty party"; however, he said, "all culprits worthy of death...should be executed by the proper civil officer, not by any exercise of the lex talionis or the intervention of ecclesiastical authority".

Chief among the Mormon apologetic

Apologetics

Apologetics is the discipline of defending a position through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers Apologetics (from Greek ἀπολογία, "speaking in defense") is the discipline of defending a position (often religious) through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers...

writers defending the doctrine in the late 19th century was Charles W. Penrose

Charles W. Penrose

Charles William Penrose was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from July 7, 1904. Penrose was also a member of the First Presidency of the church under Church Presidents Joseph F. Smith and Heber J...

, editor of the church-owned Deseret News, who would later become a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is one of the governing bodies in the church hierarchy...

and the First Presidency

First Presidency (LDS Church)

Blood atonement for murder

Prior to the death of Brigham Young

Brigham Young

, blood atonement doctrine was taught primarily as a means for Mormon "covenant breakers" (usually adulterers and apostates) to pay for their sins, but a full list of sins requiring blood atonement was never given. In at least one instance, Heber C. Kimball

Heber C. Kimball

suggested that the principle would apply to the sin of murder

Murder

Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

. After Young's death, blood atonement continued to be taught as a necessary means to pay for the sin of adultery

Adultery

, however, blood atonement teachings largely ignored the penalty for apostates and lesser "covenant breakers", and focused primarily on the sin of murder

Murder

Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

, emphasizing that it was intended to be operative only within the context of legal capital punishment

Capital punishment

.

According to Penrose, "Murder is a 'sin unto death,' which prayers and repentance and ordinances will not wash away". Therefore, "the only valid offering that the criminal can make is his own life's blood poured out upon the ground in willing expiation." That is why, Penrose said, the Utah Territory

Utah Territory

gave convicted murderers a choice between hanging and shooting (id.)

As Mormon thinkers recognized, application of the blood atonement doctrine to the sin of murder seemingly created some difficulties. The Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...

states that murderers can receive forgiveness by repentance. Nevertheless, a passage in the Doctrine and Covenants
Doctrine and Covenants
The Doctrine and Covenants is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement...

says that murder is unpardonable. Attempting to resolve this seeming conflict in a Deseret News article on July 4, 1883, Apostle Charles W. Penrose

Charles W. Penrose

taught that in some cases such as murder done in anger or provocation, murder might be forgiven, but only after the guilty party atones for the murder by the shedding of blood.

Repudiation of allegations of the practice by the LDS church in 1889

The practice of “blood atonement” was formally denied and repudiated by the church in a statement issued in 1889:

MANIFESTO OF THE PRESIDENCY AND APOSTLES "SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 12th, 1889.
To Whom It May Concern:
In consequence of gross misrepresentations of the doctrines, aims and practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly called the 'Mormon' church, which have been promulgated for years, and have recently been revived for political purposes and to prevent all aliens, otherwise qualified, who are members of the 'Mormon' church from acquiring citizenship, we deem it proper on behalf of said church to publicly deny these calumnies and enter our protest against them.
We solemnly make the following declarations, viz.:
That this church views the shedding of human blood with the utmost abhorrence. That we regard the killing of a human being, except in conformity with the civil law, as a capital crime, which should be punished by shedding the blood of the criminal after a public trial before a legally constituted court of the land.
We denounce as entirely untrue the allegation which has been made, that our church favors or believes in the killing of persons who leave the church or apostatize from its doctrines. We would view a punishment of this character for such an act with the utmost horror; it is abhorrent to us and is in direct opposition to the fundamental principles of our creed.
The revelations of God to this church make death the penalty of capital crime, and require that offenders against life and property shall be delivered up and tried by the laws of the land.’’
We declare that no bishop's or other court in this church claims or exercises civil or judicial functions, or the right to supersede, annul or modify a judgment of any civil court. Such courts, while established to regulate Christian conduct, are purely ecclesiastical, and their punitive powers go no further than the suspension or excommunication of members from church fellowship.
[Signed]: WILFORD WOODRUFF, GEORGE Q. CANNON, JOSEPH F. SMITH, Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
LORENZO SNOW, FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS, BRIGHAM YOUNG, MOSES THATCHER, FRANCIS M. LYMAN, JOHN HENRY SMITH, GEORGE TEASDALE, HEBER J. GRANT, JOHN W. TAYLOR, M. W. MERRILL, A. H. LUND, ABRAHAM H. CANNON, Members of the Council of the Apostles.
JOHN W. YOUNG, DANIEL H. WELLS, Counselors.

LDS Church general authority

General authority

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a general authority is a member of certain leadership organizations who are given administrative and ecclesiastical authority over the church...

B.H. Roberts responded to Young’s statements, stating:

“The doctrine of "blood atonement," then, is based upon the scriptural laws considered in the foregoing paragraphs. The only point at which complaint may be justly laid in the teaching of the "Reformation" period is in the unfortunate implication that the Church of the Latter-day Saints, or individuals in that church, may execute this law of retribution. Fortunately, however, the suggestions seemingly made in the overzealous words of some of these leading elders were never acted upon. The church never incorporated them into her polity. Indeed, it would have been a violation of divine instruction given in the New Dispensation had the church attempted to establish such procedure. As early as 1831 the law of the Lord was given to the church as follows: "And now, behold, I speak unto the church: Thou shalt not kill; and he that kills shall not have forgiveness in this world, nor in the world to come.”

Accusation by R. C. Evans

In 1920, R. C. Evans

R. C. Evans

Richard Charles Evans was a Canadian apostle and member of the First Presidency in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who became the leader of a schismatic sect that separated from the RLDS Church in 1918.Evans was born in St. Andrews in Argenteuil County, Province of...

, a former member of the First Presidency

First Presidency (Community of Christ)

The First Presidency of the Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is the church's highest-ranking priesthood quorum. It is composed of the president and two counselors, and they preside over the whole church under the principles of "theocratic...

of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Community of Christ

The Community of Christ, known from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , is an American-based international Christian church established in April 1830 that claims as its mission "to proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love, and peace"...

who had left the church, wrote a book called Forty Years in the Mormon Church: Why I Left It!. Evans accuses both the RLDS Church and the Utah-based LDS Church of advocating “blood atonement” and associates the alleged practice with the “Danites.” In response to denials by both churches that the practice had ever been implemented, Evans wrote:

Thus we have the President of the Reorganized Church and son of Joseph Smith admitting, as well as apologizing for the rash statements of his father and other leaders in the old church, and then we have Joseph F. Smith of the Utah church using about the same argument to excuse the language and murderous conduct of the Danites in Utah. All we care to say is reply to both of these descendants of the original prophet and organizer of the Danite Band is, that when the leading members and officers of the church for many years teach and practice, by threats and murders, ascribed to the Danite Band, then we believe the public is justified in denouncing such language and conduct, and affirming it to be the doctrine of the church.

Response by Joseph Fielding Smith

Responding to Evans’s accusations regarding the alleged implementation of the practice of “blood atonement”, Joseph Fielding Smith

Joseph Fielding Smith

Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr. was the tenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1970 until his death. He was the son of Joseph F. Smith, who was the sixth president of the LDS Church...

restated the doctrine, but denied that it had ever been practiced by the church, claiming that any such accusation was a “damnable falsehood.” Smith wrote,

Through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel...Man may commit certain grievous sins - according to his light and knowledge -that will place him beyond the reach of the atoning blood of Christ. If then he would be saved he must make sacrifice of his own life to atone - so far as the power lies - for that sin, for the blood of Christ alone under certain circumstances will not avail...But that the Church practices “Blood Atonement” on apostates or any others, which is preached by ministers of the ‘Reorganization’ is a damnable falsehood for which the accusers must answer.

Statements in the late twentieth century

Like several teachings enunciated by Brigham Young (see, e.g., Adam-God theory

Adam-God theory

The Adam–God doctrine was the most prominent of several theological ideas taught within mid-19th century Mormonism, and is part of the modern theology of Mormon fundamentalism. Introduced by Brigham Young in the 1850s, the doctrine teaches that Adam is both the common ancestor and the father of...

), blood atonement has been widely criticized by Latter Day Saints. The status of the teaching has been addressed by modern leaders in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As late as 1970, the church's First Presidency

First Presidency (LDS Church)

authorized a church publication that interpreted D&C 132:26 (Joseph Smith's written revelation authorizing plural marriage

Plural marriage

in 1843) as saying that even after repentance, "some sins may call for a most dreadful punishment even then—the destruction in the flesh and being turned over to the buffetings of Satan until the day of redemption. This punishment is most severe."

In 1954, church historian Joseph Fielding Smith

Joseph Fielding Smith

taught the following about blood atonement:

Man may commit certain grievous sins—according to his light and knowledge—that will place him beyond the reach of the atoning blood of Christ. If then he would be saved, he must make sacrifice of his Own life to atone—so far as in his power lies—for that sin, for the blood of Christ alone under certain circumstances will not avail.... Joseph Smith taught that there were certain sins so grievous that man may commit, that they will place the transgressors beyond the power of the atonement of Christ. If these offenses are committed, then the blood of Christ will not cleanse them from their sins even though they repent. Therefore their only hope is to have their own blood shed to atone, as far as possible, in their behalf.

In addition, Apostle

Apostle (Mormonism)

In the Latter Day Saint movement, an Apostle is a "special witness of the name of Jesus Christ who is sent to teach the principles of salvation to others." In many Latter Day Saint churches, an Apostle is a priesthood office of high authority within the church hierarchy. In many churches, apostles...

Bruce R. McConkie

Bruce Redd McConkie was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1972 until his death...

agreed with Brigham Young and Joseph Fielding Smith that "under certain circumstances there are some serious sins for which the cleansing of Christ does not operate, and the law of God is that men must then have their own blood shed to atone for their sins."

McConkie's repudiation of the need to practice the doctrine

In 1978, Bruce R. McConkie, acting under the direction of President of the Church Spencer W. Kimball

Spencer W. Kimball

Spencer Woolley Kimball was the twelfth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1973 until his death in 1985.-Ancestry:...

and the First Presidency

First Presidency (LDS Church)

, repudiated the blood atonement doctrine:

You note that I and President Joseph Fielding Smith and some of our early church leaders have said and written about this doctrine and you asked if the doctrine of blood atonement is an official doctrine of the Church today. If by blood atonement is meant the atoning sacrifice of Christ, the answer is Yes. If by blood atonement is meant the shedding of the blood of men to atone in some way for their own sins, the answer is No. We do not believe that it is necessary for men in this day to shed their own blood to receive a remission of sins. This is said with a full awareness of what I and others have written and said on this subject in times past. In order to understand what Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Charles W. Penrose and others have said, we must mention that there are some sins for which the blood of Christ alone does not cleanse a person. These include blasphemy against the Holy Ghost (as defined by the Church) and that murder which is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice. However, and this cannot be stressed too strongly, this law has not been given to the Church at any time in this dispensation. It has no application whatever to anyone now living whether he is a member or a non-member of the Church.

Blood atonement in a theocracy

In McConkie's letter, he suggested that the doctrine could, in fact, be valid, but only in a pure theocracy

Theocracy

, although also stating that "Brigham Young and the others were speaking of a theoretical principle that operated in ages past and not in either their or our day." He further stated:

There simply is no such thing among us as a doctrine of blood atonement that grants a remission of sins or confers any other benefit upon a person because his own blood is shed for sins. Let me say categorically and unequivocally that this doctrine can only operate in a day when there is no separation of Church and State and when the power to take life is vested in the ruling theocracy as was the case in the day of Moses.

Regarding "blood atonement" in a theocracy, the Encyclopedia of Mormonism states:

Several early Church leaders, most notably Brigham Young, taught that in a complete theocracy the Lord could require the voluntary shedding of a murderer's blood-presumably by capital punishment-as part of the process of Atonement for such grievous sin. This was referred to as "blood Atonement." Since such a theocracy has not been operative in modern times, the practical effect of the idea was its use as a rhetorical device to heighten the awareness of Latter-day Saints of the seriousness of murder and other major sins. This view is not a doctrine of the Church and has never been practiced by the Church at any time.

Relation to capital punishment in Utah

Joseph Fielding Smith stated:

[T]he founders of Utah incorporated in the laws of the Territory provisions for the capital punishment of those who wil[l]fully shed the blood of their fellow men. This law, which is now the law of the State, granted unto the condemned murderer the privilege of choosing for himself whether he die by hanging, or whether he be shot, and thus have his blood shed in harmony with the law of God; and thus atone, so far as it is in his power to atone, for the death of his victim. Almost without exception the condemned party chooses the latter death. This is by authority of the law of the land, not that of the Church.

In addition, in his first edition of the book Mormon Doctrine, McConkie opined that because blood atonement requires the "spilling of blood upon the ground", execution by firing squad

Execution by firing squad

Execution by firing squad, sometimes called fusillading , is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war.Execution by shooting is a fairly old practice...

was superior to execution by hanging

Hanging

Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...

, which would not suffice to create a blood atonement. Regarding this, McConkie commented:

As far as I can see there is no difference between a firing squad, an electric chair, a gas chamber, or hanging. Death is death and I would interpret the shedding of man's blood in legal executions as a figurative expression which means the taking of life. There seems to me to be no present significance as to whether an execution is by a firing squad or in some other way. I, of course, deleted my article on "hanging" from the Second Edition of Mormon Doctrine because of the reasoning here mentioned.

In an interesting contradiction, author Sally Denton in her book American Massacre, states that execution by firing squad was not considered a valid method for performing “blood atonement,” claiming instead that “beheading was the preferred method.” Denton recounts the execution of John D. Lee

John D. Lee

John Doyle Lee was a prominent early Latter-day Saint who was executed for his role in the Mountain Meadows massacre.-Early Mormon leader:...

for his role in the Mountain Meadows massacre

Mountain Meadows massacre

. When offered a choice of execution by hanging, firing squad or beheading, Denton claims that Lee’s “choice of execution by firing squad sent a clear signal to the faithful that he rejected a spiritual need to atone for any sins.”

Execution by firing squad was banned by the state of Utah on March 15, 2004, but because the law was not retroactive

Ex post facto law

An ex post facto law or retroactive law is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of actions committed or relationships that existed prior to the enactment of the law...

, four inmates on Utah's death row

Death row

Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...

(one of them, Roberto Arguelles, died of natural causes) could still opt for this method of execution. Ronnie Lee Gardner

Ronnie Lee Gardner

Ronnie Lee Gardner was an American criminal who received the death penalty for murder in 1985, and was executed by firing squad by the state of Utah in 2010...

, who had been sentenced to death in October 1985, cited his "Mormon heritage" for choosing to die by firing squad and fasted

Fasting

Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. An absolute fast is normally defined as abstinence from all food and liquid for a defined period, usually a single day , or several days. Other fasts may be only partially restrictive,...

for two days before his execution. He felt that lawmakers had been trying to eliminate the firing squad in opposition to popular opinion in Utah because of concern over the state's image during the 2002 Winter Olympics

2002 Winter Olympics

The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event that was celebrated in February 2002 in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Approximately 2,400 athletes from 77 nations participated in 78 events in fifteen disciplines, held throughout...

. On the day before Gardner's execution in June 2010, the LDS Church released the following statement:

In the mid-19th century, when rhetorical, emotional oratory was common, some church members and leaders used strong language that included notions of people making restitution for their sins by giving up their own lives.

However, so-called "blood atonement," by which individuals would be required to shed their own blood to pay for their sins, is not a doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We believe in and teach the infinite and all-encompassing atonement of Jesus Christ, which makes forgiveness of sin and salvation possible for all people.

Practice of "blood atonement" by fundamentalist groups

In modern times, the concept of "blood atonement" has been used by a number of fundamentalist splinter groups as an excuse to justify murdering those who disagree with their leaders or those who attempt to leave their church. These groups all claim to follow the "original" teachings of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and claim that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS church) has strayed from the proper path by banning these practices. This practice is attributed to a tendency toward extreme "literalism" in the interpretation of early doctrines.

Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Warren Jeffs

Warren Steed Jeffs was the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints . In 2011, Jeffs was convicted of two felony counts of child sexual assault....

, leader of the LDS splinter-group Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is one of the largest Mormon fundamentalist denominations and one of the largest organizations in the United States whose members practice polygamy. The FLDS Church emerged in the early twentieth century when its founding members left...

(FLDS), a polygamous

Polygamy

Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...

sect based in Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

and Utah

Utah

, USA, has allegedly indicated his desire to implement the doctrine in his church. Former FLDS member Robert Richter reported to the Phoenix New Times
Phoenix New Times
The Phoenix New Times is a free, weekly Phoenix, Arizona newspaper, put out every Thursday. It is the founding publication of the New Times Media , but The Village Voice is now the flagship publication of that company....

that Jeffs repeatedly alluded in his sermons to blood atonement for serious sins such as murder and adultery. Richter also claims that he was asked to design a thermostat for a high temperature furnace that would be capable of destroying DNA evidence if such "atonements" were to take place.

Ervil LeBaron and the Church of the Lamb of God

Ervil LeBaron

Ervil Morrell LeBaron was the leader of a polygamous Mormon fundamentalist group who ordered the killings of many of his opponents, using the religious doctrine of blood atonement to justify the murders...

, the leader and prophet of the Church of the Lamb of God, initiated a series of killings which ultimately resulted in his being sentenced to life in prison. Before his death in prison, LeBaron wrote a document which he called The Book of the New Covenants. This document listed a number of people who had been disloyal and "deserved to die." Copies of this list fell into the hands of LeBaron's followers, who proceeded to administer what they called "blood atonement" to the individuals listed.

One of LeBaron's daughters, Lillian, relates an account of some of these killings in the film The God Makers II. Chynoweth relates the account of the murder of her husband, her brother-in-law and his 8-year-old daughter by her half brothers on 27 June, the 144th anniversary of the death of Joseph Smith Jr.. She states that their names were “on the list to be atoned for” because her father believed that they were “traitors to God’s cause.” Not explicitly named in the film, the list that Chynoweth referred to was called ‘’The Book of the New Covenants’’, and was written by Ervil LeBaron before his death in prison. The document contained a list of individuals that LeBaron believed deserved to die. Upon receipt of the list by several of his sons, they proceeded to administer this punishment. At the end of Chynoweth’s interview, she states that if anything happens to her that the “Mormon” church will be responsible. Immediately following this statement, the film states that shortly after the interview, Lillian was found dead in her home from a gunshot wound. Depressed and aware that she was on the list and that other members of the Church of the Lamb of God were still looking for her, Chynoweth committed suicide. It should be noted that in The God Makers II, Lillian LeBaron Chynoweth refers to the "Mormon Church" as being responsible for the killings. The film does not make clear that the "Mormon Church" referred to by Chynoweth is actually the "Church of the Lamb of God." The film also makes no mention the suicide and instead implies that Chynoweth was killed.

External links

Utah Lighthouse Ministry, Blood Atonement Section
Bruce R. McConkie letter on Blood Atonement cited above
Unforgivable sin and blood atonement (MormonWiki.org - evangelical wiki on Mormonism)

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Historical and doctrinal background

Capital punishment in Mormon scripture and ritual

"Blood for blood" doctrine and retributive capital punishment

Being "destroyed in the flesh" for violation of celestial marriage covenants

Teachings by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve

Development of the doctrine in the 1840s and early 1850s

Impending theocratic blood atonement for "covenant breaking" Mormons

Voluntary blood atonement and enforcement by individuals

Blood atonement for apostasy

Properly-practiced blood atonement

Killings said to have been incited by the doctrine

Mountain Meadows massacre

Rumors of blood atonement enforcement by Utah-era Danites

Thomas Coleman murder

Other killings

Blood atonement after Brigham Young

Blood atonement for murder

Repudiation of allegations of the practice by the LDS church in 1889

Accusation by R. C. Evans

Response by Joseph Fielding Smith

Statements in the late twentieth century

McConkie's repudiation of the need to practice the doctrine

Blood atonement in a theocracy

Relation to capital punishment in Utah

Practice of "blood atonement" by fundamentalist groups

Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Ervil LeBaron and the Church of the Lamb of God

See also

External links