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From: jonw@azure.UUCP (Jonathan White)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: Mormons and persecution
Message-ID: <2631@azure.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 22-Mar-84 12:06:52 EST
Article-I.D.: azure.2631
Posted: Thu Mar 22 12:06:52 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 25-Mar-84 10:13:43 EST
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 25


>> ...the Mormons were persecuted by Christians who thought the Mormons
>> had perverted Christianity. 

In all fairness to the Mormons, they must be considered a Christian sect.  Even
though orthodox Christians think of Mormons as apostates, Mormons think of all
other Christians as apostates.  If the Christian God really existed, He would
probably be highly amused.

>> By the way, Mark Twain wasn't fond of Mormons, and in one of his books
>> (Roughing It, maybe?) he describes an alleged massacre by Mormons of a wagon
>> train trespassing in Utah. 

In "Roughing It", Twain described the Book of Mormon as "chloroform on print."
He also made note of the many Biblical plagiarisms that show up in that book.
However, that "alleged massacre" is not alleged, it is fact.  Even contemporary
Mormon historians (most notably, Juanita Brooks) have acknowledged that the
Mormons did indeed carry out the Mountain Meadow Massacre, but they stop short
of pinning the blame directly on Brigham Young.  There is a strong
circumstantial case against Young, and it can studied in "Massacre at Mountain
Meadow" by William Wise (out of print, I think).  Also, that wagon train was
not trespassing; it was traveling along an established route in U.S. territory.

			Jon White
			[decvax|ucbvax]!tektronix!tekmdp!azure!jonw