The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Peace and Violence among 19th-Century Latter-day Saints
Gospel Topics Essays
Sampson Avard’s Danite band was real, brief, and then denounced. Joseph distanced the Church from Avard’s excesses. Anti-Mormon writing turned a Missouri militia fracas into a permanent secret order. The D&C’s peace texts remain the doctrine.
A rogue covenant in a war zone is not the hidden constitution of the Church.
- Danites were a Missouri-war phenomenon, not a standing order.
- Avard’s testimony was self-serving and should be read as such.
- D&C 98 is still the revealed ethic.