Stalemates are inevitable in war. Both sides are locked in heated battle, refusing to give up even an inch of their land.

The distance between them creates a land in and of itself; a land owned by neither party.

Both sides dig their bunkers, resting the barrels of their guns along the edges, aiming toward this forbidden land.

There is hardly anything more vulnerable than stepping foot on No Man’s Land. A soldier who does is asking for death.

And yet, somewhere in the French countryside, a beautiful thing took place on Christmas Eve of 1914.

In the height of World War I, snowfall brought German and British forces to a sudden halt. No Man’s Land was quiet and covered in white frost.

The British were shocked at what happened next.

Private Albert Moren recalled, “It was a beautiful moonlit night, frost on the ground, white everywhere. About seven or eight in the evening there was a lot of commotion in the German trenches and there were these lights – I don’t know what they were.
And then they sang ‘Silent Night’ – ‘Stille Nacht’. I shall never forget it; it was one of the highlights of my life. What a beautiful tune.”

This simple yet bold act of communion lead to further – and bolder – attempts. Some German soldiers waved white flags, asking the British for a truce. They insisted that they would not shoot and asked the British to do the same.

The British popped their heads up over the barriers, only to quickly drop back down – a test to see if their enemies would shoot.

But the bullets didn’t come.

German soldiers then stood up, waving their arms.

But the bullets didn’t come.

Tentatively, on Christmas morning, they climbed out of their bunkers and stepped foot on No Man’s Land. One can only imagine the bravery this took; a leap of faith in trust for those who were their enemies, men who they had been locked in vicious battle with for months.

They sang songs, exchanged gifts, and even played soccer. Christmas, it seems, brought enemies together.

But not for long.

Leaders and top commanding officers on both sides did not approve of the affair. They feared it would weaken their soldiers’ resolve to fight. Commanders even monitored casualty rates. If the rates seemed lower than usual, they issued raids to foster the correct “fighting spirit.”

Let’s think about that for a moment.

It’s important to note the unfortunate callous disregard for human life in the midst of war. But beyond that, it is disconcerting that leaders would ever discourage a truce. A cease fire. Peace.

You see, winning is far more important.

Perhaps even more unfortunate is the loyal soldier. Soldiers trained and prepared to fight and protect in a war that they didn’t even start; pawns in a bloody game of chess, pressured to aim their crosshairs at men who aren’t too different from themselves, then forced to pull the trigger.

A British soldier named Murdoch M. Wood observed, “I then came to the conclusion that I have held very firmly ever since, that if we had been left to ourselves there would never have been another shot fired.”

After the truce of Christmas day, fighting resumed the very next morning. Friends became enemies once again. As if the previous day never happened.

This story cannot be said for the rest of the battlefield on this fateful Christmas day. Truces were uncommon. They were rare, in fact. Officers went out of their way to make sure they never happened. Adolf Hitler, a corporal at the time, reportedly said, “Such a thing should not happen in wartime. Have you no German sense of honor?”

Unfortunately, this Christmas truce was an anomaly. Though the soldiers saw wartime through a very different lens, the officers held all the power. Their desire to win and crush their enemies overruled the soldiers’ resolve for peace.

Some who asked for a truce, and took the step into the open field, were shot in the back.

Make no mistake, we are in a war. At least, that’s what we’re told.

We are trained as loyal soldiers to defend and protect the church – and supposed “truth” – even if it is at a great cost.

This has been ingrained in our church culture early on, back when members took oaths in the temple to avenge the blood of the prophets.

The Mountain Meadows Massacre has been spotlighted in the media with the premier of American Primeval. The representation isn’t historically accurate (though I find the true history behind the event to be even more horrific than what is portrayed in the show). I won’t go into details now, but if anyone is unaware of the incident, I suggest you research it.

For the purposes of this post, I will share that members of the church murdered about 120 innocent emigrants, including women and children, and framed the Native Americans for plotting and executing the attack.

I was shocked to learn that it took the church 150 years to “express regret” for the incident.

But don’t get your hopes too high. The church spokesperson made clear that “expressing regret” was not the same thing as an apology.

We all know that the church never apologizes.

Though the blood oath is gone from the temple now, and the 120 dead have long since been buried, the culture of “us vs. them” mentality is still alive and well.

After an honest look at history, it can be argued that Mormonism has hurt more people than they themselves have been hurt. We have persecuted and oppressed and even murdered “others” more than those others have done to us.

We can only play the victim card for so long.

I understand that we have a sensitive and trauma filled history. But that does not give us the excuse to pretend that our behaviors and actions do not matter; that we owe no one an apology or accountability.

We don’t hesitate to teach about our own persecutions in Sunday School. Just about every member is familiar with the murders of Latter-day Saints in Missouri, the governor’s Extermination Order, and the church’s trek out west to seek religious freedom.

Yet so many members are ignorant to the many massacres that took place in early Utah, where we murdered far, far more than what took place in Missouri.

We’re ignorant that Brigham Young signed his own version of an extermination order to eliminate hostile Native Americans, even though the Mormons were the ones who were infringing on their lands.

We’re ignorant that Native American slavery was legalized by Young, resulting in the enslavement of over 400 Native American children.

I do not share this to attack the early Saints or even Brigham Young himself. I share this solely because it is the truth. It is part of our history that has been ignored for far too long.

We cannot honestly look at our history and act as if the bad never happened. We cannot portray ourselves as the victims and never the perpetrators. Because it simply isn’t true.

Yet we soldiers march on. We are persuaded that we are the persecuted ones, our leaders convincing us that this is so; convincing us that our enemies – “Anti-Mormons”, the media, the LGBTQ+ community, feminists – are worthy of sniper attacks and that No Man’s Land is a necessary separation.

I don’t know about you, but I’m done fighting in a war that I never started.

Will you be the soldier who opens fire, sending a barrage of hate and vitriol at our perceived enemies?

Will you be the leaders sowing discord and discontent, riling up the soldiers to commit even greater acts of harm?

Or will you be like the brave soldiers on that Christmas day, stepping onto No Man’s Land with your hands raised, silently pleading, “Please, please… don’t shoot.”

The choice is yours.

And a message to the church: A church that professes so much about agency can certainly practice it. It is in your power to ask your loyal soldiers to place their weapons down. It is your responsibility to own up to, and apologize for, our own transgressions and mistakes.

It is your duty to set the example of what a humble, integrity filled church looks like.

Will you allow your soldiers to place their weapons down and retire from their posts?

Will you lead us on a path toward abundant and overflowing Christlike love and compassion, the likes of which the church has never seen before?

Will you be brave enough to step foot onto No Man’s Land?

The choice is yours.

Photo by Crina Parasca on Unsplash

Sources: World War I Christmas Truce of 1914: What Really Happened | TIME

Mountain Meadows Massacre – Wikipedia