Topical Guide/Church history/Danites

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Danites

Summary: The Danites were a brotherhood of church members that formed in Far West, Missouri in mid-1838. By this point in time, the Saints had experienced serious persecution, having been driven out of Kirtland by apostates, and driven out of Jackson County by mobs. It is claimed that Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon supported the formation of a vigilante band called the “Danites," and that the Danites were pledged to “plunder, lie, and even kill if deemed necessary."

September Dawn

Summary: "When an independent film company produced a grossly distorted version of the Mountain Meadows Massacre two years ago, the Church ignored it. Perhaps partly as a result of that refusal to engender the controversy that the producers hoped for, the movie flopped at the box office and lost millions." (The Publicity Dilemma, LDS Newsroom, March 9, 2009.)