Brigham Young did not haphazardly assume leadership of the membership of the growing church. He understood perfectly the procedure as was so plainly illustrated in the scriptural accounts following the crucifixion of the Savior. Peter, James, & John, senior members of the twelve apostles, then received the mantle of leadership as the presidency of the church. Brigham Young, likewise senior member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, then received that responsibility to lead and direct the church in a difficult period of time and was subsequently sustained in that calling by the affirmation of church membership. This procedure traditionally has been followed since that time.

Trusting the above may be of interest. — Boyd Humpherys, Logan, Utah

My name is Marjory Hatch; I live in Edmonton, Alberta Canada. I am LDS and we go often to our Edmonton Temple. My husband, Thomas Deloss, and I watched "The Mormons", both segments and enjoyed them both. Agree that the Mountain Meadows Murders took up too much time, and stirred up some bad memories that cannot be resolved. I thought the polygamy information was set quite rightly in the 'history' part of the documentary and it was said in the second segment that we had abruptly stopped its practice (nothing about statehood). Loved the pictures of the temples - I was worried because I'd heard some people were offended, but the pictures I saw were and are available on the church websites already if you know where to look for them. They've mostly been in brochures for temple open-houses. All in all, I think it was a positive documentary for the church and we can take the opportunity to discuss it with our neighbors and friends. Thanks. — Marjory Hatch

As a convert and member of the church for some 35 years I did not see myself in this story. Much of what the real experience of being LDS was missed and it only presented a view of the sensational.

It did not reflect what is the essence of the LDS experience and the part that tells the individual that the experience is real and that is the experience that comes from a personal encounter with the Holy Ghost confirming answers to the questions asked.

It still was someone on the outside looking in and only bothering to look at the sensational or quoting the guys who didn't get the grapes they wanted or didn't like the ones they got, sounding off on how bad their experience was.

The picture it presented was sewed to a negative bias.

But then as a Marine, I experienced much the same feelings when some one else who wasn't a Marine tries to explain the Marine Corps experience.

Overall it didn't help and probably confirmed a lot of the feelings the "Anti's" love to whip up. — William G. Fortune