From the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints:
• The Church reiterated on 6 April that it has no affiliation whatever with the Texas-based sect that has been subject to investigation by state law enforcement officers and child protective services in recent days, and whose leader, Warren Jeffs, was jailed in 2006.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints discontinued polygamy officially in 1890. Some people left the Church to continue the practice of polygamy, or were excommunicated because they refused to give up the practice. Some of their descendants are found in polygamous communities today in various parts of the United States and Canada, but especially in the West. They are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• [The late] Church President Gordon B. Hinckley stated the following about polygamy in the Church’s October 1998 general conference: “I wish to state categorically that this Church has nothing whatever to do with those practicing polygamy. They are not members of this Church. Most of them have never been members … If any of our members are found to be practicing plural marriage, they are excommunicated, the most serious penalty the Church can impose. Not only are those so involved in direct violation of the civil law, they are in violation of the law of this Church.”
• Some news reports, especially those outside the U.S., still fail to draw clear distinctions between Mormons and polygamous sects whenever stories arise about polygamy in the Intermountain West.
• The term “Mormon” is correctly used to apply ONLY to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Mormon” should never be used to describe polygamous sects.
• Latter-day Saints are offended when elementary mistakes are made in the news media or when printed or posted photographs fail to make the distinction between the Church and polygamous groups.
• Elder [M. Russell] Ballard [of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles] stated: “You would think that after over 100 years, media organizations would understand the difference. You can’t blame the public for being confused when some of those reporting on these stories keep getting them wrong.”
• There could not be two groups of people more different. Mormons do not look like members of the polygamous group in Texas — they do not dress like them, worship like them, or believe the same things.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a global faith with 13 million members worldwide. We teach the gospel in 90 languages. There are members of our faith in every country. We are the 4th largest denomination in the U.S. We have donated over $1 billion in humanitarian aid worldwide. We operate Brigham Young University. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints could not be more different than these small, secretive, polygamous societies.
I’m going to be civil in my reply.
[Church President Gordon B. Hinckley stated the following about polygamy in the Church’s October 1998 general conference: “I wish to state categorically that this Church has nothing whatever to do with those practicing polygamy.” ]
That would all be fine, except Celestial marriage IS part of your church doctrine, and Celestial marriage IS polygamous (else how do you populate all those worlds with one god?
[They are not members of this Church. Most of them have never been members …]
So, you are saying that Mormons are Christians because they believe in Christ but FLDS are not Mormon even though they believe in Joseph Smith and follow more Mormon doctrine than Mormons follow Christian doctrine? My head hurts.
[If any of our members are found to be practicing plural marriage, they are excommunicated, the most serious penalty the Church can impose. Not only are those so involved in direct violation of the civil law, they are in violation of the law of this Church.”]
And we aplaud your church for it. But that isn’t the only problem going on, it’s also the heavy handed brainwashing and shunning that are used by the FLDS to control their victims, which also exists in various forms in the LDS and are a vestige of Brigham Young’s polygamy and blood atonement practices. In fact, you yourself are a heavy handed enforcer, using the same tactics a Warren Jeffs uses to deride opponents and call them “evil”.
[• Some news reports, especially those outside the U.S., still fail to draw clear distinctions between Mormons and polygamous sects whenever stories arise about polygamy in the Intermountain West.]
Well, considering you still worship Joseph Smith who started the whole polygamy thingy (”God will strike me dead if you don’t marry me”), I think the confusion is understandable.
[• The term “Mormon” is correctly used to apply ONLY to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Mormon” should never be used to describe polygamous sects.]
Now that is mighty delightsome of you guys. Yet, if any of us question your being a distant sect of Christianity not deserving of the name, the same rules no longer seem to apply and the Bigot word is used. My how convenient Quemosabe.
[• Latter-day Saints are offended when elementary mistakes are made in the news media or when printed or posted photographs fail to make the distinction between the Church and polygamous groups.]
Christians are offended when you fail to make distinctions between your plural gods and Christianity. I think you will survive.
[• Elder [M. Russell] Ballard [of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles] stated: “You would think that after over 100 years, media organizations would understand the difference. You can’t blame the public for being confused when some of those reporting on these stories keep getting them wrong.”]
Like I believe anything from a self-proclaimed Apostle.
[• There could not be two groups of people more different. ]
Oh yeah? How about the difference between Mormons and Satanists, could that be more different? I think so. Consequently that is a deceptive premise.
[Mormons do not look like members of the polygamous group in Texas — they do not dress like them, worship like them, or believe the same things.]
Oh come now, they are conguent is soooo many ways.
(Give me a break, OMM...Here later in your post you boast about LDS being in every country...and then you have the gall to claim that every Mormon worldwide has a certain "look"...)
Mormons do not...believe the same things...The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints could not be more different than these small, secretive, polygamous societies.
I would say that four of the key distinctives of the fLDS in comparison to the "Mother Ship" is...
(a) polygamy for "time" (otherwise both groups agree on polygamy for "eternity"):
(b) blacks as eligible members of the priesthood (fLDS is still pre-1978 mainstream Mormonism on that tenet);
(c) they follow distinct leaders;
and (d) the fLDS is isolationist whereas the "Mother Ship" openly proselytizes. (Most of the rest of the distinctions are minor)
Bottom-line? The fLDS are simply a time-machine reminder of what generations-ago-Mormonism was. And that's why I've said on other posts that LDS have a "love-hate" relationship with fLDS polygamy & its own polygamous past AND alleged future.
Of course LDS want to distance themselves from the children, grandchildren, & greatgrandchildren of LDS (now called fLDS)...After all, who wants to look in the mirror of what their grandparents, great grandparents, & great-great grandparents were like? Who wants to open the time machine door & see your own heritage, something you thought was carefully tucked away, displayed in color for all the world to see?
Please regard this question as an opportunity for a correction or a good answer from you, not hostility from me:
I’ve never understood the reversal of Mormons on polygamy. Was Smith wrong about the issue, misunderstanding God’s will? Or was there something peculiar about the 1850s through the 1880s that made polygamy appropriate then, but not now?
I’ll throw these points out so you can address them right away, rather than turning this into a debate:
1. Do Mormons understand how deeply this creeps non-Mormon Christians out? Sure, it’s more responsible that promiscuity, which is very common, but often even promiscuous “settle down,” and while they may not understand how their promiscuity was a betrayal of their once-future spouse, the notion of their spouse having sex with another person within the coventant of marriage is sickening. That it be religious sanctioned is positively revolting.
2. Whether or not polygamy is currently practiced, isn’t it condoned in Mormon scripture? Sure, David and Solomon were polygamous, and Abraham had relations with his handmaiden... but that’s not read among us Catholics as condoning the practice. David’s sexual appetites led him to murder; Solomon’s led to the loss of his empire; even Abraham’s attempt at a pious secondary sexual relationship ended up in marital strife, the exile of an innocent, and the creation of a nation consumed with hatred for Israel. My sense is that the more spiritual Catholics are, the more they would find bringing another sex partner into their marriage as disgusting, but Mormonism comes across as having compromised that ideal for acceptance into “polite society.”
Again, I do not mean to make these questions into assertions. I hope any third party will recognize I am acknowledging my ignorance in such matters.