Utah/Crime and violence

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Utah crime and violence

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• Did Utah foster a culture of violence in the 19th century?
• Castration as a punishment among 19th century Mormons
• Crimes that some critics of the Church claim were "worthy of death" in the 1800's
• The Parrish-Potter murders

Did Utah foster a culture of violence in the 19th century?

Jump to details:

• Question: Was Utah was a hotbed of violence, murder, and lawlessness that can be attributed to Mormon doctrine and practices?
• Question: Did Brigham Young create a 'culture of violence' in 19th century Utah with his incendiary speeches?
• Question: Did Aaron DeWitt, an ex-Mormon in Utah, receive threats to his life from the Church?

Castration as a punishment among 19th century Mormons

Summary: I have read about a group of men (LDS) that went around castrating immoral men (who were also LDS) with the express permission of local church leaders. These events supposedly happened during the Brigham Young's administration. It is claimed that Brigham was aware of and approved of this and may have given the order. What can you tell me about this? I read that missionaries who selected plural wives from female converts before allowing church leaders to select from them first were castrated.

Jump to details:

• Question: Did Bishop Warren S. Snow forcibly castrate twenty-four-year-old Thomas Lewis?
• Question: Was Thomas Lewis castrated because he wanted to marry a young woman who was desired by an older man as a plural wife?
• Question: Was the castration of Thomas Lewis approved by Brigham Young?
• Question: Other than the story of Thomas Lewis, are there other accounts of men being castrated by Mormons in the 1850s?

Crimes that some critics of the Church claim were "worthy of death" in the 1800's

Summary: Critics expand to idea of blood atonement to include a long list of crimes that were alleged to be "worthy of death."

Jump to details:

• Source:JD 11:262:Brigham Young:There is also a man down the street who tried to exhibit the endowments to a party who was here
• Question: Did the concept of "blood atonement" include a long list of crimes that were considered "worthy of death"?
• Question: Was murder a crime that was "worthy of death" among 19th century Mormons?
• Question: Were adultery and immorality crimes that were "worthy of death" among 19th century Mormons?
• Question: Was stealing a crime that was "worthy of death" among 19th century Mormons?
• Question: Was using the name of the Lord in vain a crime that was "worthy of death" among 19th century Mormons?
• Question: Was "not receiving the Gospel" a crime that was "worthy of death" among 19th century Mormons?
• Question: Did Brigham Young say that race mixing was punishable by death?
• Question: Was lying a crime that was "worthy of death" among 19th century Mormons?
• Question: Was counterfeiting a crime that was "worthy of death" among 19th century Mormons?
• Question: Was condemning Joseph Smith a crime that was "worthy of death" among 19th century Mormons?

The Parrish-Potter murders

Jump to details:

• Question: Were Brigham Young and the entire Church hierarchy responsible for the "Parrish-Potter" murders?
• Question: What was Brigham Young's position on punishing theft without due process?

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Source(s) of the criticism

Critical sources

Richard Abanes, One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003), 217–217 ( Index of claims ) Will Bagley, Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows (University of Oklahoma Press, 2002), 42, 51–53, 397 n. 63. David L. Bigler, Forgotten Kingdom: The Mormon Theocracy in the American West, 1847–1896 (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1998), ??. (bias and errors) Review Sally Denton, American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, (Secker & Warburg, 2003), 190. Jon Krakauer, Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (Anchor, 2004), ??.

Notes

Further reading and additional sources responding to these claims