View source for Did 19th century church leaders have a list of crimes that were "worthy of death?"

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==Criticism==
*Critics expand to idea of [[Blood atonement|blood atonement]] to include a long list of crimes that were alleged to be "worthy of death."

===Source(s) of the criticism===
*Bill McKeever, "Blood Atonement - If It Was Never Taught, Why Do So Many Mormons Believe It?", Mormonism Research Ministry (web site)
*{{AntiBook:Tanner:Changing World|pages=Chapter 20}}

==Response==
Critics have created a long list of crimes for which they claim the 19th century church required death through [[Blood atonement|blood atonement]]. The critics conflate blood atonement with captial punishment in order to promote the idea that the 19th century church was willing to kill anyone who disobeyed the law.

===Blood atonement: what is it?===
{{MainArticle|wikilink=[[Blood atonement]]}}

Blood atonement is a concept taught by Brigham Young and several other early Church leaders. It states that:

1. There are certain sins of ''apostacy'' that may not be covered by Christ's atonement. Such apostacy would involve church members who had already been endowed and made covenants in the temple.

2. That a person willing to repent of such sins might need to be '''willing allow their own blood to be shed'' to do so.

===Critics expand "blood atonement" to include a list of unrelated crimes===
Critics mine statements from early church leaders to make it appear that "blood atonement" was being applied to others for a variety of crimes against their will. The following table lists the crimes that the critics claim were "worthy of death," and the sources that they use to support this assertion.

{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
!width="35%"|Crime the critics claim was "worthy of death"
!width="65%"|Critics' [[Use of sources|use of sources]]
|-
|Murder||History of the Church 5:296; Doctrines of Salvation 1:136; Mormon Doctrine, 1958, p.314"
|-
|Adultery and immorality||Journal of Discourses 7:20; Journal of Discourses 6:38; Journal of Discourses 7:19; Journal of Discourses 1:97
|-
|Stealing||Times and Seasons, vol. 4, pp.183-84; History of the Church 7:597; Journal of Discourses 1:108-9; Journal of Discourses 1:73"
|-
|Using the name of the Lord in vain||Journal of Hosea Stout, vol. 2, p.71; p.56 of the typed copy at Utah State Historical Society
|-
||Not receiving the Gospel||Journal of Discourses 3:226
|-
|Marrying an African||Journal of Discourses 10:110; Wilford Woodruff's Journal, January 16,1852; Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Spring 1973, p.26
|-
|Lying||"Manuscript History of Brigham Young," December 20, 1846
|-
|Counterfeiting||"Manuscript History of Brigham Young," February 24,1847
|-
|Condemning Joseph Smith||''Quest for Empire—The Political Kingdom of God and the Council of Fifty in Mormon History'', p.127; Daily journal of Abraham H. Cannon, December 6, 1889, pp.205-6
|}

===Murder===
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===Adultery and immorality===
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===Stealing===
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===Using the name of the Lord in vain===
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===Not receiving the Gospel===
{{nw}}

===Marrying an African===
{{nw}}

===Lying===
{{nw}}

===Counterfeiting===
{{nw}}

===Condemning Joseph Smith===
The critics really have to stretch on this one, since if everyone who condemned Joseph Smith were "worthy of death," there would have been few critics left! This was obviously not the case during the 19th century, and the only support that the critics can gather for such a far-fetched idea is a second-hand quote from Brigham Young and a single entry in Apostle Abraham H. Cannon's journal. Cannon's journal says:

:Bro. Joseph F. Smith was traveling some years ago near Carthage when he met a man who said he had just arrived five minutes too late to see the Smiths killed. Instantly a dark cloud seemed to overshadow Bro. Smith and he asked how this man looked upon the deed. Bro. S. was oppressed by a most horrible feeling as he waited for a reply. After a brief pause the man answered, "Just as I have always looked upon it—that it was a d—d cold-blooded murder." The cloud immediately lifted from Bro. Smith and he found that he had his open pocket knife grasped in his hand in his pocket, and he believes that had this man given his approval to that murder of the prophets he would have immediately struck him to the heart.{{ref|cannon1}}

The only other evidence offered by the critics is a second hand quote said to have come from Brigham Young. Norton Jacob claims that Brigham said:

:A man may live here with us and worship what God he pleases or none at all, but he must not blaspheme the God of Israel or damn old Jo Smith or his religion, for we will salt him down in the lake.{{ref|jacob1}} 

The critics take the story about Joseph F.Smith's emotional reaction to hearing of the death of Joseph and Hyrum, along with an alleged quote from Brigham Young from a second hand source, and ridiculously expand this to mean that "blood atonement" requires death for ''anyone who condemns Joseph Smith''. The evidence for such an assertion by the critics is practically non-existent, and one must assume that they added this for the simple reason that they wanted to make the list of "crimes" that they relate to "blood atonement" more impressive.

==Conclusion==
{{nw}}


==Endnotes==

#{{note|cannon1}}"Daily journal of Abraham H. Cannon," December 6, 1889, pp.205-6.
#{{note|jacob1}}Klaus J. Hansen, ''Quest for Empire—The Political Kingdom of God and the Council of Fifty in Mormon History'', (1967), p.127; Hansen in turn quotes Dale Morgan, ''The Great Salt Lake'' (New York 1947) p. 202.

==Further reading==

===FAIR wiki articles===
*[[Blood atonement]]

===FAIR web site===
*Mike Parker, [http://www.fairlds.org/Misc/Did_Brigham_Young_Say_He_Would_Kill_an_Adulterous_Wife_with_a_Javelin.html Did Brigham Young Say that He Would Kill an Adulterous Wife with a Javelin?]

===External links===


===Printed material===