Mormonism and America

Part 1: The history, the conflicts and the comparisons

This afternoon at the 178th Semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, President Boyd K. Packer, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, gave a talk about the early persecution of the Church and their love of this country.

The angle he took is similar to an opinion of mine that I've been wanting to put to paper for a couple years, now. He outlined the horrors that early Church members faced in the communities in which they lived: mob attacks, looting, beatings, tarring and feathering, burning down of homes, raping of their women, and the execution of men, women and children. He even pointed out that the local and national governments were more than apathetic to the plight of the early Saints, but in many instances, further perpetuated the notions that were at the foundation of the hate. Law enforcement officials refused to protect the Saints and chose not to arrest the aggressors, judges did not find any grounds for conviction in the mobbers activities, and Missouri Governor Boggs issued an extermination order, making Mormons the only group of people in the United States who could legally be murdered without consequence. US President Martin Van Buren agreed that the Saints' cause was just, while claiming that there was simply nothing he could do.

Over the course of United States history, there have been many atrocities carried out against citizens for non-justifiable reasons. Skin color, nation of origin, and religious and political beliefs are historically the primary variables. The enslaving of certain human beings by others to exploit their physical strength was an awful practice in the history of the United States (and the world). People being held as the property of other people is barbaric. Many generations of blacks lived and died in captivity, being forced to toil for their room and board--and they did so against their wills. For a vast majority of those enslaved, even escaping would not grant freedom and equality of opportunity.

During the Revolutionary War, Tories were persecuted by the Revolutionaries, and vice versa. Irish immigrants were dragged out of New York taverns into the streets only to be publicly beaten and humiliated. Dutch, German, Greek and Italian immigrants have all taken their turns being shunned and ridiculed by the established circles in neighborhoods and cities. Jews have been taunted and discriminated against in many places in this country and for many years.

Various religions have been targets of attacks, both large and small. Whether a religious minority is rejected by the community to serve in elected office or whether a Christian church is sued for displaying a Nativity at Christmas time, certain American citizens fight against a religious person's right of Freedom of Speech.

No matter how awful, belittling, dangerous or degrading any of these examples is, none of them can realistically compete with the way the Mormons were dealt with. Not only were they physically attacked and tortured, because if that was all, it would be the same as some of the examples I offered previously. They were not only forced to leave their homes, belongings, land and loved-ones because mobs burned their homes and killed their family members. They were not only kicked out of towns, arrested thousands of times on false charges that never panned out, held in jails for weeks and weeks without a formal charge or trial, forced to move from town to town, county to county and state to state, and not only were they on the wrong side of a governmentally drafted extermination order, but they were also kicked out of the country.

Citizens of the United States of America, were forced to leave the country of their birth and/or choice because of their religious beliefs. The Mormon Pioneers trekked across the plains and over the Rockies into what was then part of Mexico. The words of the Declaration of Independence and of the U.S. Constitution were cast aside and trampled underfoot by both the electorate and the elected. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness were all legally revoked from this group of people. Their right to own private property was revoked. Their First Amendment rights of freedom of speech, peaceable assembly and religion were revoked. Their Fourth Amendment rights regarding search and seizure were revoked. Their Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Amendment rights to a fair and speedy trial by an impartial jury of their peers was revoked.

They suffered nearly all the hardships that other oppressed groups of people faced, but on top of it all, they lost their right to life and they were violently and officially forced out of their own country.