Ready, Aim, Fire! Blood atonement is alive and well in Utah, it seems. Today, the AP reported that the Mormon Church issued an official statement that it does not oppose the Utah Sentencing Commission's efforts to eliminate the firing squad as a method of execution in the Beehive State. It seems the commission was afraid that Mormon legislators, defering to the Mormon doctrine of blood atonement, would oppose efforts to eliminate this picturesque form of capital punishment (which, by spilling the wrongdoer's blood, satisfies a divine requirement and allows for a measure of forgiveness for the wrongdoer's sins; other forms of capital punishment don't confer this benefit on the executed party). Funny, I hear "firing squad," and I think of Breaker Morant. I guess people think differently in Utah.
The LDS Church objects that everyone misunderstands the doctrine of blood atonement; read this short article from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism for the semi-official explanation. Or read this letter from Bruce R. McConkie for a more straightforward statement of what would appear to be the truly official position ("There is no such a doctrine as blood atonement in the Church today nor has there been at any time. Any statements to the contrary are either idle speculation or pure fantasy."). Of course, if there is no such doctrine in the Church today, it is a little confusing why the Church needs to issue a clarifying statement for the benefit of the Utah Legislature (who, I assume, aren't a bunch of backcountry hicks given to believing bizarre 19th-century doctrine). Blood atonement also features prominently in the personal religious views of the Lafferty brothers, as recounted in Jon Krakauer's recent book Under the Banner of Heaven.
2:56:08 PM 
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