Why hasn't the Mormon (LDS) Church ever apologized for the Mountain Meadows Massacre?

Question

"The Mountain Meadows massacre was a mass killing of Arkansas emigrants by local Mormon militia[1] (the Iron County Brigade of the Nauvoo Legion) [2] and Paiutes on September 11, 1857 at Mountain Meadows, a stopover along the Old Spanish Trail in southwestern Utah. Sources estimate that between 100 and 140 men, women and children were killed.[3]"

From

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

I mean apologize in the same way that the Catholic Church apologized for the Inquisition.

And for further (non-Wikipedia) sources on the Mountain Meadows Massacre, see

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22mountain+meadows+massacre

Answer 1

For Tut Tut: This response seems typical of a lot of people (mostly mormons), but the main difference is the families of the ill-fated Fancher train all have families still living. It happened in recent memory, and the people involved have never been held accountable except one man: John D Lee. One man DID NOT murder 150 men, women and children.

The crusades and inquisition happened long ago and a world apart. Mountain Meadows, the church's record and former statements on racism, and it's disputable claim on the origin of Native Americans are signs of an unrepentant and out of date concepts of what they think is "God's Truth"

Tell the surviving members of the Fancher family you don't think their place in history is very important. Tell the Morg they were justified as accomplices to murder.

Answer 2

Michael M. It replaced into legal to kill Mormons in Missouri till 1976. it is whilst the Extermination Order replaced into ultimately overturned. It made the front web page of the Buffalo newspaper.

Answer 3

1857
Mountain Meadows Massacre. Of the more than 100 people in the Fancher party passing through Utah, only a few of the children are not slaughtered. (See 1877a.)

1877
March 23, John D. Lee is executed for his part in the Mountain Meadows Massacre (Confessions of John D. Lee, p. 383) (See 1857b.)


I guess the execution is the closest they got to an apology....

Answer 4

The event in question was not a sanctioned church activity. The church, however, did erect a monument and hold a ceremony in the area in 1990 to remember the victims of the tragedy and to help the healing process. Referring to this event as a bridge over which they can cross the chasm of bitterness, President Hinckley said, "we walk across that bridge and greet one another with a spirit of love, forgiveness, and with hope that there will never be a repetition of anything of the kind."

You can read more at the following website.

http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/response/history/Mountain_Meadows_EOM.htm

Answer 5

So, you think all of history should apologize for every killing that ever occured?

Did you know that certain US states were allowed to shoot Mormons on site by LAW?

And apologizing would do what? Bring back the dead?

Answer 6

Has anyone apologized for the Hahn's Mill massacre?

Wikipedia is an unreliable source for facts. Wikipedia is more opinions since anyone can add or delete what is written.

Answer 7

Who says the church hasn't apologized for it? Aside from the fact that THE CHURCH had nothing to do with it, they still are trying to make it right.

Answer 8

are you going to judge and fault present-day mormons for something that happened in 1857?

that's like saying, why haven't christians apologized for the crusades?

don't judge.

Answer 9

Did it affect you? Let it go. Did anyone ever Thank Lincoln for getting the ball rolling on freeing the slaves? NO!

Answer 10

Good question.

It is written that if we repent of our wicked ways, God will heal our land.