So just to add information here that may or may not become relevant overtime, as I'm not sure if this is known in the UK or not...
The LDS operates a bit like a cult in some ways and is not your typical Christian church. They have their own doctrine that was added after the Bible and also figures who are seen as prophets in their own right both past and present (including living Leaders). That would mean they have had dreams and visions that overtime that shaped their leadership overtime.
Their most prominent Leader
literally just died and while he was 101, they're now checking to see if there was some connection as it has to be ruled out.
So I'm wondering if it were possible the shooter was a former parishioner. LDS has a "Disconnection" policy that operates very similarly to Scientology. I wouldn't say they are as severe, but it just depends on the reason I suppose. It can involve some harassment and letters of warning of impending damnation, fun things like that. Mainly just to pressure people to come back into the fold. So if this particular church has had leadership or individuals who have treated people like dog**** for trying to leave, then I can see a ton of drama coming from that. Either that or stories local to that area that may have left a really negative impression on some people living in that area and I can see that influencing a motive. I was told it was a really large temple for that area.
I can't imagine that any of that should explain this particular mass shooting but I suppose anything is possible. The Mormons, while definitely very strong in their beliefs, are not particularly violent or unkind people by nature. In fact, usually the opposite...
Stuff about Mormons, Charlie Kirk shooting (Utah-specific politics related to Mormons) and how it may connect to motives for anti-Christian violence in this area of the country...:
Spoiler:
Fun fact: Mormons practiced polygamy traditionally and there is a denomination/offshoot called FLDS (Fundamentalist LDS) who still practices it (illegally lol). There was a huge scandal with their Leader at a compound in TX (
YFZ Ranch) that was raided, but pretty sure they are Utah-based. They're not fond of this group because they are very backwards. Anyway, the LDS church are very good record keepers when it comes to genealogy and membership so if the man was in any way associated with LDS it is very likely to be known by someone there.
I know of the LDS from both an acquaintance who was a member and also they could be seen riding bikes in my old neighborhood in full church garb (shirt & tie) doing missionary work. Missionary work is a rite of passage and the church is very involved in every aspect of life, from young to old.
Why Did the Mormon Church Stop Polygamy?
https://wasmormon.org/why-did-the-mo...stop-polygamy/
Quote:
Territorial Law: Utah and Mormon Conflict
When the Utah Territory was established in 1850, it was given the latitude to enact its own laws. The Mormon Church publicly acknowledged polygamy in 1852 when Orson Pratt announced the practice on behalf of Brigham Young. Utah’s territorial legislature (heavily influenced by LDS leadership) didn’t prohibit polygamy, but protected it.
During the 1850s, Marriage was defined in civil and religious terms as the union of one man and one woman. Most states did not codify a formal definition, but the assumption of monogamy was embedded in bigamy laws, court rulings, and Christian norms. In the 1850s, there were no federal anti-polygamy laws yet, but state laws criminalizing bigamy were widespread. Marriage was understood to be monogamous by default, rooted in common law and Christian tradition. The Mormon introduction of polygamy in Utah clashed with these norms and triggered growing national and political backlash, culminating in federal legislation in the 1860s.
...
Federal Response Begins in the Late 1850s
While there was no specific federal law prohibiting polygamy during the 1850s, the U.S. government began to react to growing national outrage over the LDS Church’s plural marriage practices:
In 1856, the newly formed Republican Party platform condemned polygamy and slavery as the “twin relics of barbarism.” President James Buchanan sent federal troops to Utah in 1857 in what became known as the Utah War, partly due to concerns about Mormon theocracy and polygamy. The first major federal anti-polygamy law was not passed until 1862: the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, which criminalized plural marriage in U.S. territories.
|
Quote:
The Manifesto of 1890
The decision by the church to stop practicing polygamy was driven by external factors, including legal and societal pressures, as well as pragmatic considerations.
The end of polygamy in the Mormon Church is often framed within the faithful narrative as a revelation from God, a divine shift in commandment to meet the needs of the time. But from a critical perspective, this explanation rings hollow when one examines the political and legal pressures that led to the 1890 Manifesto. The claim that “God’s laws are higher than man’s laws” is central to Mormon theology, yet when the U.S. Government began seizing Church property, disincorporating the Church, and threatening its very existence through legislation like the Edmunds-Tucker Act, the so-called unyielding law of God was suddenly negotiable. If polygamy truly was an eternal commandment, a higher law, then the Church’s abandonment of it under duress exposes a profound inconsistency in its claim to divine authority
|
TLDR: They were pressured to stop polygamy which paved the way for Utah to become a State (1896):
Politico:
Utah enters the Union as 45th state, Jan. 4, 1896
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/...-4-1896-233073
Quote:
|
On this day in 1896, Utah became the 45th state to enter the Union. Six years earlier, Wilford Woodruff, president of the Mormon Church, issued a manifesto reforming the political and religious scene in Utah. The manifesto became a milestone on the road to statehood because it renounced polygamy within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (Woodruff, who was born in 1807 and died in 1898, had five or six wives and sired 33 children.)
|
Why are we talking about Utah? Remember that Charlie Kirks' shooting was in Utah.
The shooter's family was Mormon also. It's all very likely to just be a coincidence, but I do think it is interesting from just the historical perspective of what has happened in the past in that part of the US, that there are also all these other tensions that arise from a conflict of beliefs. Not just religiously, but politically (as seen in Utah's formation), so maybe... so if it's not entirely a religious motive, maybe political elements push that person over the edge to act. It's a lot going on at the same time is all and maybe bits here and there have somehow made religious folk in that region a more vulnerable target for violence.
To add to speculation, there's a video clip that's floating around, which I'm hesitant to share, because it's
unverified. Anyway, someone named "Kris Johns" tells the streamer that he is/was running for City Council and he supposedly canvassed this man's home very recently. For whatever reason, the conversation at the end turned very dark towards the LDS and he had made clear multiple times his position was that
"the Mormons were the Anti-Christ". So if that is true, that would be a possible motive.
I'll share it here, but just remember
it's unverified:
And indeed, Kris Johns
is a candidate for City Council and Burton County is close to the church, if it's not in that exact county...:
Kris Johns (Burton City Council At-large, Michigan, candidate 2025)
https://ballotpedia.org/Kris_Johns_(...candidate_2025)