Anniversary of the 9/11 Tragedy of 1857

Today marks the 150th anniversary of a dark and tragic even in American history, when a group of religious fanatics brutally slaughtered unarmed men, women, and children. On Sept. 11, 1857, at the Mountain Meadows Massacre, Mormon fanatics murdered more than 120 settlers who were passing through Utah on their way to California. The Mormons had assured the pioneers safe passage if they disarmed and surrendered after a force of Paiute Indians and Mormon soldiers had laid siege to the Francher-Baker wagon train for five days.

A person’s faith or lack thereof has absolutely no bearing on the morality of their behavior. Hitler and Stalin were Atheists, the 9/11 hijackers and Taliban were Muslims, the genocidal Crusaders and Spanish Inquisitors were Christians, the Old Testament chronicles the many horrendous atrocities committed by followers of the Jewish faith, Hindus in India have slaughtered entire villages of Muslims in recent years, and Zen Buddhists were complacent in Japanese war atrocities in WWII.

So what is the common thread that ties the Hindu Ghandi, Catholic Mother Theresa, Buddhist Dali Lama, Jewish Albert Einstein, Deist Thomas Jefferson, Muslim Saladin, and Atheist Isaac Asimov together? What motivates and inspires all these famous humanists to their great works?

Perhaps it’s as simple as Thomas Paine, the Atheist who inspired the American Revolution, put it, “My country is the world and my religion is to do good.”

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The critically-panned film September Dawn is reported to dramatically reenact the events at Mountain Meadows; however, the independent documentary film Burying the Past, which purports to explore the eye-witness accounts, forensic evidence, and cover-up by the Mormon Church, has received much better reviews. I have not seen either film.