About the film

This is a subject the LDS church would like to forget. I heard from several sources that they had objected to the film. One has to ask the question: Just what kind of "Christians" would murder women and children? Hmmm?

Brigham Young's bloodthirsty quotes can be found in "Massacre at Mountain Meadows" by William Wise.

Well, it certainly did not play in theaters in _my_ area, because we watched for it.

it really makes you realize what a heinous act this was , and to this day only one person has taken the fall and the Mormons, still won't talk about it or acknowledge that it ever really happened.

In a PBS broadcast soundbite, LDS apostle, Dallin H. Oaks, said, "I have no doubt...Mormons, including local leaders of our church, were prime movers in that terrible episode and participated in the killing. And what a terrible thing to contemplate, that the barbarity of the frontier, and the conditions of the Utah war and whatever provocations were perceived to have been given, would have led to such an extreme...atrocity perpetrated by members of my faith. I pray that the Lord will comfort those that are still bereaved by it, and I pray that he can find a way to forgive those who took such a terrible action against their fellow beings."

Expression of regret. On September 11, 2007, at the memorial ceremony for the sesquicentennial anniversary of the massacre, Henry B. Eyring, an Apostle who would join the First Presidency of the LDS Church the following month, read an official statement, saying:

"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. 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. Although the extent of their involvement is disputed, it is believed they would not have participated without the direction and stimulus provided by local church leaders and members."

Eyring was careful to place responsibility with local LDS civic and religious leaders, rather than with Brigham Young. Some, including Baker-Fancher Party descendants and historian Will Bagley, did not see this as an apology. Church spokesman Mark Tuttle agreed, saying "We don't use the word 'apology.' We used 'profound regret.'

However, Richard E. Turley, managing director of the Family and Church History Department, said it was intended as an apology and the church-owned Deseret News called this message "a long-awaited apology" from the LDS Church.