The culture has been furiously digesting religious fundamentalism of late, and that process hasn’t been kind to Mormons. The history of the Church of Latter Day Saints, after all, has plenty of violence and controversy, and besides, they live way out in Utah. The media, at any rate, seems to regard them as fair game. As this New York Times article makes clear, the Church of Latter Day Saints’ anni horribili continue with a movie due out this Spring about the Mountain Meadows massacre of 1857, when a group of Mormons joined forces with Indians to kill 128 non-Mormon emigrants passing through on their way to California.

Mormon faithful might be made hopeful by the fact that Jon Voight, fresh from his role as Pope John Paul II, plays a fictional LDS elder in the film, called “September Dawn.” Hopes may be crushed by the fact that the film’s director previously worked on such thoughtful screen gems as “The Next Karate Kid” and “Gone Fishin.”