Mexico killing highlights confusion over Mormon groups
SALT LAKE CITY >> After nine people belonging to a Mormon offshoot community were killed in Mexico this week, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a short statement expressing sympathy for the victims while clarifying that they didn’t belong to the mainstream church.
That the faith widely known as the Mormon church would feel the need to make such a clarification amid a tragedy underscored the conundrum the church faces when big news happens with splinter groups that practice polygamy. Plural marriage was key during the faith’s founding days, but the Utah-based church denounced it more than a century ago.
The victims’ connection to Mormonism featured prominently in headlines this week about the drug cartel attack on a caravan of American women and children living in Mexico, though there’s no indication they were targeted for their religion.
Church leaders were likely hoping to end widespread confusion among outsiders about the faith’s stance on polygamy and links to the offshoots, said
Patrick Mason, a religious scholar who is the Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University.
Church spokesman Eric Hawkins declined to elaborate on how the church handles the confusion, saying it wants to respect the grieving families.
Similar confusion was common more than a decade ago when a group led by Warren Jeffs was in the news over allegations of child sexual abuse and a raid on its Texas ranch.
“The LDS church isn’t going to be able to shake the ghost of polygamy anytime soon,” Mason said. “That history will continue to haunt every aspect of Mormonism for a long time to come. It’s too powerful an image, it’s too powerful a cultural memory.”
Mason pointed to a 2007 study by the Pew Research Center during church member Mitt Romney’s first run for president, which found “polygamy” was the most common word associated with members of the faith.
Popular TV shows about polygamous families, including the reality series “Sister Wives” and the fictional show “Big Love,” only exacerbated the confusion, he said.