Young 'did not order massacre'

There are several lessons to be learned from the events, he said, which parallel in significant ways the Salem witch trials in early New England:

• "Latter-day Saints must never put down another people, or for that matter, other Mormons, as fellow human beings or allow distinctions to become a cause for self-righteousness."

• "Tolerance and forgiving are the means of avoiding extreme behavior."

• "Obedience to religious authority ceases to be a virtue in my mind when it is unquestioned or untested, especially when leaders display a natural tendency for unrighteous dominion."

• "Authority requires checks and balances," he said, which failed when leaders in southern Utah functioned as a combination of both religious and civil leadership.

• "Misguided religion can cause great harm, even as proper and true religion may do great good."

The structure of their book intentionally "adopts the form of a great tragedy," Walker said. "I hope many will learn a few lessons about human nature and about themselves."

He said his experience with details of the events include the "pain of knowing, the pain of admitting, the pain of actively remembering." Yet "it is, in fact in my mind, the only way we can move forward."

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, a professor at Harvard University, responded to the papers, discussing the role of religious authority in naming and condemning wrongdoing. Though a Catholic archbishop in Boston did not personally abuse children in the church's recent sexual abuse scandal, news surfaced that he knew about it and failed to either reveal it or prevent future abuse, she said.

"The concern was why he didn't hold those responsible accountable. He kept them in positions, reassigned them. The blame then went to the pope. People felt the archbishop had done a terrible thing, and rather than be disciplined, he ended up a cardinal at the Vatican."

Such events, when placed in context with the massacre, lead to the question of a cover-up by LDS leaders, Ulrich said. "Was Brigham Young responsible for the cover-up? If so, we have a whole new set of questions."

The Salem witch hunts provide many lessons about "group hysteria and what responsible people with ecclesiastical authority do," Ulrich said. Why did some of those trials end in death and others didn't?

"Are we nurturing in this scholarly community a stance where people can say, 'No, sorry, I can't do that' to someone who is a sustained, ecclesiastical authority?"

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E-mail: carrie@desnews.com