# Scheduled Utah firing squad executions part of Mormon blood ritual. True or False? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 23, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scheduled-utah-firing-squad-executions-part-of-mormon-blood-ritual-true-or-false/177029 "2003-05-23T14:02:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scheduled-utah-firing-squad-executions-part-of-mormon-blood-ritual-true-or-false/177029/41 "2003-05-25T03:32:20Z")
I’d be interested in seeing what the legislature had to say about their rationale on enacting such a law. All I’m seeing here is a bunch of stuff about how some folks in the LDS church, both present and past, felt about the concept itself. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scheduled-utah-firing-squad-executions-part-of-mormon-blood-ritual-true-or-false/177029/42 "2003-05-25T03:37:22Z")
BTW, Captain Amazing: The last peace-time execution by the United State Armed Forces was a hanging–for the crime of rape, sometime in the 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scheduled-utah-firing-squad-executions-part-of-mormon-blood-ritual-true-or-false/177029/43 "2003-05-25T03:39:40Z")
STATES! United States. Sorry about the typo there. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scheduled-utah-firing-squad-executions-part-of-mormon-blood-ritual-true-or-false/177029/44 "2003-05-27T13:21:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by emarkp \* > \*\*I don’t see any discrepancy. The _method_ of execution isn’t important–the phrase “spill blood” or “shedding of blood” means death, not that blood actually comes out of the person. Any form of execution “spills blood.” \*\* Maybe I misunderstood **Pepperlandgirl** : when she wrote: > [@](#): > > Interestingly enough, in Utah it is commonly accepted that a blood crime can only be atoned for in blood. I interpreted it to mean the literal shedding of blood, not the figurative shedding. **Pepperlandgirl** , can you clarify this? At any rate, I read the Roberts essay, and it doesn’t address what we’re talking about here (at least, I don’t think it does – I confess that I skipped over some of the Biblical passages in my search for a discussion about literal shedding of blood). He seems to be dealing with the slander that the Mormon church engages in assassination – and I think we can all agree that there’s no evidence at all to support such an allegation. I agre with **Monty** : I’d like to see the Utah State Legislature’s (and Idaho’s) rationale for making the firing squad an option. Given what **Pepperlandgirl** said, I’m guessing they make it an option to satisfy the deeply-held religious (folkloric if you prefer) beliefs of some condemned criminals that only the literal shedding of their blood can allow them to atone for their crimes. Daniel [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scheduled-utah-firing-squad-executions-part-of-mormon-blood-ritual-true-or-false/177029.md?page=2)