What Was the Mormon Practice of Blood Atonement? History and Context

LDS Perspective

The so-called doctrine of blood atonement was never an official teaching of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, nor was it ever practiced as a systematic religious ordinance. During the Utah territorial period, some Church leaders, most notably Brigham Young, taught that certain sins—specifically murder and possibly adultery—were so grievous that they placed the sinner beyond the reach of Christ

Historical Perspective

Blood atonement was a nineteenth-century Mormon theological doctrine asserting that certain sins—termed "eternal sins"—placed the sinner beyond the redeeming power of Jesus Christ's atonement, necessitating that the individual's own blood be shed upon the ground to achieve forgiveness and avoid becoming a "son of perdition." According to historical records, Joseph Smith articulated early versions of this concept, including a March 4, 1843 statement opposing hanging in favor of execution methods that spilled blood, stating he would "shoot him, or cut off his head, spill his blood on the ground, and let the smoke thereof ascend up to God" (Source 9, 10). The doctrine achieved its most systematic formulation during Brigham Young's leadership of the Utah Territory, particularly during the Morm