Pioneer Day
So here we are again: Pioneer Day weekend. And once again, I won’t be celebrating. Before I continue, let me give some background for the uninitiated: in the 1830s, Latter-day Saints were a persecuted minority (whereas now, everybody loves us, right? Right? [crickets chirping]). Seriously, though, the Latter-day Saints were intent on building a Zion society—not a Utopia per se , but about as close as we fallible humans can get. Anyone was welcome to join the Saints in this endeavor, regardless of religious persuasion. However, the non-LdS takers were few, indubitably because of the stigma associated with the Church of Christ and its much-maligned members. About a year after the Church was organized in 1830, Church leaders moved its headquarters from the Palmyra, New York, area to Kirtland, Ohio. Shortly thereafter, the Church set up a second center in Jackson county, Missouri. But within just a few years, mob violence had become so significant that the Saints were driven out of Oh