Romney or Obama? The Choice

[mikegriffith1]

And as for the Mountain Meadows Massacre, that had nothing to do with the leadership of the Mormon Church. That was the action of a group of local members. The leadership in Salt Lake City didn't even find out about it until after it happened, and when they learned of it they strongly condemned it.

Furthermore, one should keep in mind that some members of the Fancher party (the group that was later massacred) engaged in some rather extreme provocations that infuriated local Mormons. Many of those Mormons had seen family members and friends murdered and brutalized in the Missouri persecutions, so it was not a good idea for members of the Fancher party to taunt them about being pleased with those persecutions and even to boast of having participated in them. Other members of the Fancher party proclaimed that when they reached California they were going to come back and attack the Mormons in force.

This is not to say that the Fancher party deserved their fate. There is no excuse for the conduct of the local Mormons who carried out the massacre. It is to say that the massacre may very well not have occurred if the Fancher party had not engaged in such extreme provocations.