en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormonism
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the principle of blood atonement (repudiated by the LDS Church in the mid-19th century)
The timeline is wrong. Official LDS sources show blood-atonement preaching occurred in the mid-1850s, and the church publicly denounced killing apostates in 1889—not in the mid-19th century.
Full reasoning
This parenthetical is chronologically incorrect.
The LDS Church's own Reformation of 1856–57 topic says that during the mid-1850s, Brigham Young, Jedediah Grant, and other leaders taught that "some sins were so evil that forgiveness could only come from the sinner's blood being shed." In other words, blood-atonement preaching was being taught in the mid-19th century, not repudiated then.
Official LDS materials place the public denial later. The Church's Peace and Violence among 19th-Century Latter-day Saints essay says that in 1889, the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve wrote: "We denounce as entirely untrue the allegation ... that our Church favors or believes in the killing of persons who leave the Church or apostatize from its doctrines."
So the article's claim that the LDS Church repudiated blood atonement in the mid-19th century is not compatible with the Church's own historical timeline. Mid-century was when this rhetoric was being preached; the public repudiation cited by official LDS sources comes later.
2 sources
- Reformation of 1856-57
At times, Brigham Young, Jedediah Grant, and other leaders had warned against dissenters and apostates. Drawing on biblical passages ... these leaders had also taught that some sins were so evil that forgiveness could only come from the sinner's blood being shed.
- Peace and Violence among 19th-Century Latter-day Saints
In responding to some of these allegations in 1889, the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles wrote: "We denounce as entirely untrue the allegation ... that our Church favors or believes in the killing of persons who leave the Church or apostatize from its doctrines."