At this point, nothing Glenn Beck does or says surprises me, so it is entirely expected that he would be opposing the so-called “9-11 Mosque” along with every other right-winger in America. But you’d think that Beck would at least see the irony in this given that he is Mormon and has seen his own religion come under attack in the very recent past.
Which leads me to a simple question: has Beck ever heard of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, which also took place on 9/11?
The Mountain Meadows massacre was a mass slaughter of the Fancher-Baker emigrant wagon train at Mountain Meadows, Utah Territory, by a local Mormon militia and members of the Paiute Indian tribe on September 11, 1857. The incident began as an attack, quickly turned into a siege, and eventually culminated in the murder of the unarmed emigrants after their surrender. All of the party except for seventeen children under eight years old were killed—about 120 men, women, and children were killed, but precise numbers have been debated. After the massacre, the corpses of the victims were left decomposing for two years on the open plain, the surviving children were distributed to local Mormon families, and many of the victims’ possessions were auctioned off at the Latter-day Saint Cedar City tithing office.
Since Beck is such a history buff, he really ought to study up on the incident via any one of the several books that have been written about it or the movie made about it.
In 2007, a memorial service was held at the site marking the 150th Anniversary of the massacre:
And among the speakers at the memorial service was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a long-awaited apology Tuesday for the massacre of an immigrant wagon train by local church members 150 years ago in southwestern Utah.
Elder Henry B. Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve read the church’s statement on assignment from the church’s governing First Presidency during a memorial ceremony at the gravesite of some of the massacre victims at Mountain Meadows, about 35 miles northwest of St. George.
The statement also places blame for the Sept. 11, 1857, massacre on the local church leaders at the time and church members who followed their orders to murder some 120 unarmed men, women and children.
“We express profound regret for the massacre carried out in this valley 150 years ago today, and for the undue and untold suffering experienced by the victims then and by their relatives to the present time,” Elder Eyring said.
“A separate expression of regret is owed the Paiute people who have unjustly borne for too long the principal blame for what occurred during the massacre,” he said. “Although the extent of their involve- ment is disputed, it is believed they would not have participated without the direction and stimulus provided by local church leaders and members.”
How do you suppose Beck would respond if people started citing the 9/11 Mountain Meadows Massacre as grounds for discriminating against Mormons? How do you suppose he would react to a campaign to prevent Mormons from building a monument on the site? How do you suppose Beck would respond to claims that it was “insensitive” for a Church leader like Eyring to speak at the site where Mormons massacred more than one hundred men, women, and children?
