Mexico killing highlights confusion over Mormon groups

By BRADY McCOMBS
November 7, 2019

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — 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.

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