Last week I was having lunch with some of my colleagues and one of the brought up a new movie coming out later this year about the Mountain Meadow Massacre. I knew that this year was the 150th anniversary of the Massacre and had recently read the Ensign article about it, but I didn’t know about the movie.

Today I came across an article in my reads and took the chance to watch the movie trailer. Normally I mostly just sit back and listen when it comes to religion, but I feel like this time I should defend my faith.

I guess I shouldn’t be shocked that Hollywood would take a story and twist it under the guise of “Based on True Events.” Yes, what the men in Cedar City did was wrong. Yes, they were part of the local leadership of the church.¹ But Brigham Young, the leader and prophet of the church at that time, was not the instigator or cause of what happened. What happened was the result of the circumstances², two misguided men, and as is so typical in history, others that were unwilling to speak up against them, and against what they knew was right.

The movie itself portrays an very unfortunate event in history, especially Mormon history. But the movie is not portraying a total truth. I encourage you to read the articles above, should you have the desire for more information. The first from the USA Today focuses on the things that the movie twists. The second is from the church history department and paints a full picture, especially in regard to Brigham Young’s role in the Mountain Meadow Massecre. Both are quite long, but explain in better detail what really happened.

There is a great scripture in our church that says that the “Lord is well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually.”³ We often interpret this to mean that the Lord is pleased with the way the church is as a whole, but members often do things that are wrong. Just because one person does something bad, does not mean that the church is not good.

1. Both were later excommunicated from the church[↩]
2. I do NOT bring up the Mormon history as justification for what happened, but perhaps one day Hollywood will make a movie about how the early Mormons were unlawfully driven from Kirkland, Nauvoo, and ultimately forced to go west to practice their religion in peace. There would be no need to stretch the truth about the people beaten, raped and killed under the direction of government leaders.[↩]
3. D&C 1:30[↩]