Please, folks...no Mormon bashing.
That will be difficult since this massacre was carried out by Mormons.
What do you want us to say? They were all peace loving, Christians?
"..the Mountain Meadows massacre of 1857, in which 137 pioneers from Arkansas were killed in Utah by a raiding party whose ties to the LDS Church are still in dispute."
You can't dispute history. It did happen. And the people who did it were connected to the Mormon Church which was at the time quite a militaristic organization. Brigham Young referred to himself as the "Mohammad of the West".
However, modern day Mormons are no more responsible for this than modern day Catholics for the inquisition or modern day Episcopalians for the Star Chamber.
But it happened.
I think Hollywood is always looking for away to protray western religions in a bad light.
I don't think it would be Mormon bashing to discuss Moundain Meadows. Brigham Young and the Mormon Church didn't want the settlers there and they ended up dead. I think there is a pretty good chance that Mormons carried out the raid or pursuaded indians to do it. The only people really disputing this is the LDS Church and their PR firms.
***Please, folks...no Mormon bashing.***
History in context is not bashing.
Hows about a long look at the MORRISITE MASSACRE in which dis-illusioned former mormons were murdered by B. Young's militia. They surrounded the Morrisite camp and bombarded it with cannon fire before attacking, shooting down men, women and children.
And there are several other massacres of other groups also, but none hit the nerve like the MMM.
It is not 'mormon bashing' to discuss an event of historic interest in which the attack was carried out by the Territorial Militia (Mormons) and the "Indians" were merely a "damage control" allegation for public relations purposes.