[Colofornian]

From the article: Today, there are no crosses on Mormon temples...Mormon chapels do not have crosses, either.

(Or IN temples, either...kind of surprising, given the extent of "proxy" activity going on inside temples -- baptisms for the dead, for example...I mean, wasn't Christ dying on the cross the greatest "proxy" act of eternity???)

From the article: Reed said the cross "taboo" was grass roots and began around the turn of the 20th century...even when the use of the cross is divorced from anti-Catholicism, Mormons, as a whole, still do not generally use the cross as an outward symbol of their faith. "Contempt." "Aversion." "Opposition." "Taboo." Reed struggled throughout his presentation to find the right word to describe how Mormons feel about using the cross as a symbol. In a recent telephone interview, Robert A. Rees, an LDS scholar (and the "response" to Reed's presentation at the Sunstone Symposium), used the word "ambivalence" to describe Mormons' feelings toward using the cross as a symbol.

Could it be that the cross is the great "work" accomplished on our behalf -- and 'tis anathema to a spirit of "pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps" mentality?

u>From the article: "While searching for evidence to support the assumption that early Saints had initially rejected the symbol of the cross, I couldn't find any," Reed said...Reed found the cross all over Mormondom. It appeared as jewelry on Brigham Young's wives and daughters. It appeared in floral arrangements in funerals. It appeared as tie tacks on men's ties and watch fobs on men's vests. It appeared on cattle as the official LDS Church brand. Crosses were on church windows, attic vents, stained-glass windows and pulpits. They were on gravestones and quilts. Even two temples, the Hawaiian and the Cardston, Alberta Temple were described in a 1923 general conference as being built in the shape of a cross.

Well, if 19th century Mormonism was a "restoration" -- and if 19th century Mormons weren't prominently "anti-cross" -- then where did the 20th & 21st century Mormons base their authority to neglect the cross?

[DManA]

Reed also uses the word “contempt” for how Protestants feel about the cross — 19th-century Protestants, that is. It turns out that cross “aversion” was a Protestant pastime in times past.

I’ve never heard that claim in my life. What a bizarre lie.

[Colofornian]

From the article: President McKay began to "privately re-examine his own beliefs" about Catholicism, according to Reed. Reed said that members of the LDS Church have rid themselves of "much of the anti-Catholic ideas of the past."

(How do you erase though what Lds leaders -- "apostles" and others like Pratt & McConkie -- have said about Catholics that simply??? Especially since their works & quotes are still found throughout Lds bookstores & Lds curricula manuals, etc???)

Besides, Lds still haven't erased their anti-Catholic "scriptures" like 1 Nephi 14:9...or Joseph Smith -- History vv. 18-20 in the Pearl of Great Price -- where Smith's founding vision indirectly labeled ALL Catholic creeds as an "abomination" to the Mormon god and ALL Catholic professing believers were indirectly labeled as "corrupt."

The Lds church HQ has not only NOT pulled back on that -- but they've ensured that stuff is printed in the MILLIONS and translated into dozens of languages worldwide!!!

[svcw]

It turns out that cross "aversion" was a Protestant pastime in times past

In a word, liar.

[Grunthor]

Reed also uses the word “contempt” for how Protestants feel about the cross — 19th-century Protestants, that is. It turns out that cross “aversion” was a Protestant pastime in times past. Its source was anti-Catholicism. Reed quoted historian Ryan K. Smith, who said that from 1820 to 1850 the number of Catholics in the United States grew from about 195,000 members to 1.75 million members, the largest religious body in the nation. And Catholics used crosses.

And so the Protestants didn’t. “To Protestant Americans, the cross was perceived to be a strictly Catholic symbol,” Reed said.

---

There is a difference between a Crucifix and a cross.

[Seruzawa]

Oh my. All you do on the FR is post anti-Mormon screed. We have a radical communist administration now. The Mormons are one of the most consistently conservative groups in the USA. Utah is one of the most reliably conservative States, and that’s because of the Mormons. You can keep your transparent attempts to drive a wedge between conservatives. I’m not LDS, but I live in Utah and I’m just fine with the Mormons. I’ve met far fewer left-wing O-bots amongst them than I have amongst Californians and Coloradans.

[the long march]

On this one I have to say I have an aversion to the symbol of a cross. It is the low point of our Saviour’s life as a man. It is a position of defeat, humiliation, and pain. As a testament to my faith, I much prefereither a living example or perhaps an empty tomb. That is a more powerfulmessage and symbol as far as I am concerned.

Fact is I see all too many folks flaunting a cross as jewelry and then living as if they were mocking the One who paid the Ultimate price

[ConservativeMind]

I have no problems with not having crosses on a church. Physical symbols really don’t have a place in worship. per se. The church is the body of Christ and our relationships are with God through Christ.

Our faith has nothing to do with a symbol, but, in fact, the memory and knowledge of what God, Christ, and the great men and women in the Bible have granted us to be able to follow and grow our souls.

We don’t have 50 ft. tall versions of Bibles on our churches, nor do we have a burning bush at our alter. Both of these should suffice as reasonable “symbols” of worship to those who think worship requires them, but, strangely, they don’t.

You can have a church with no steeple and no cross and be perfectly fine before God and Christ.

[San Jacinto]

I attended a church for many years that did not display the cross, nor any image of Christ, nor stained glass, nor any other image or symbolism. The idea was that the essence of faith is a personal relationship with Jesus which is available to each individual who is open to it, without the need for any intermediate influence or "religious" gateway. This was not "animosity" toward the cross and it wasn't Mormanism.

You seem to go out of your way to criticize a religion to which you apparently don't belong. I don't see the benefit of that, but if it floats your boat- then have at it, I guess.

[marron]

The word “contempt” is not true.

But there are, or were at least, protestant groups that did not consider wearing a cross to be proper. This was based on two issues; one being the “graven image” issue, the other being that the focus ought better to be on the resurrenction rather than the crucufixion.

I think some of that is going away. For that matter (you might not know it to read some FR threads) but a lot of the inter-denominational hostility is easing, I think. Christians recognize fellow Christians where they find them, even if they disagree on points of doctrine. I think the fact that the fact that Christianity is so much under assault in the popular culture that people are starting to recognize their allies come from varied Christian backgrounds, but if they are willing to stand up under fire, they’re a brother nevertheless.

[Alex Murphy]

Today, there are no crosses on Mormon temples. Yet two are shaped like a cross. Mormon chapels do not have crosses, either. But many have prints of the crucifixion hanging on their walls. Michael G. Reed, who has a bachelor of arts in humanities and religious studies and a master of art in liberal arts from California State University, Sacramento, explored at a recent Sunstone Symposium what he called, in rather charged language, the "LDS Contempt for the Christian Symbol."

Reed also uses the word "contempt" for how Protestants feel about the cross -- 19th-century Protestants, that is. It turns out that cross "aversion" was a Protestant pastime in times past. Its source was anti-Catholicism. Reed quoted historian Ryan K. Smith, who said that from 1820 to 1850 the number of Catholics in the United States grew from about 195,000 members to 1.75 million members, the largest religious body in the nation. And Catholics used crosses.

Related thread:
The Political Surf on Mormons and the cross

According to Michael Reed, an LDS historian at the University of California in Sacramento, the LDS church’s frowning on crosses was part of a movement initiated in the 1950s, under then-President David O. McKay, that sought to emphasize the church’s differences with the Catholic Church. In 1957, McKay declared the cross off limits on jewelry, saying the cross is “purely Catholic. … Our worship should be in our hearts,” McKay said, writes Stack in her article.

According to Reed’s thesis cited in Stack’s article, McKay had been annoyed by Catholic celebrations in Belgium while a mission president. Also, anti-Catholic feelings intensified when church leaders worried a Utah Catholic radio show was designed to win converts from among Latter-day Saints.

[wbarmy]

There is a difference between the cross and the crucifix.

And there is power in the cross.

1 Corinthians 1:18
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

Galatians 6:14
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

[Tennessee Nana]

WEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

There is so little in that lyin’ mess that could not be commented on...

Gee I wonder where all those crosses on Christian churches and Christian graves of the 1800s came from ???

If the cross was important to 1800s mormons why did Brigham Young knock down the cross and desecrate the graves of his victims, the 120 murdered members of the Fancher party at the Mountain Meadows massacre ???

Mormons have never acted like the cross was important to them...anything but..

The mormons in these threads argue that the cross is unimortant to salvation...and instead Jesus saved us in the Garden of Gethsemane..

The mormons dont honor Good Friday ??? The day Jesus died on the cross to save them ??? Well that tells on them...

Whay do they think the Commuion cup and wafer is ??? Jesus commanded us to remember his DEATH...and why He died for us...

1Cr 11:23 ¶ For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the [same] night in which he was betrayed took bread:

1Cr 11:24 And when he had given thanks, he brake [it], and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

1Cr 11:25 After the same manner also [he took] the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me.

1Cr 11:26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Gollies the Jesus of the Bible tolld us to remember His death and yet mormons refuse to and boast of their disobeidence...well after all, they are non-Christians ...

My gg grandfather got a cross on his grave in 1868..

As a child I attended a church built in the 1800s ...

Any crosses, Nana ???

Yeppers..a big one on the roof, a gold stand up one on the alter, embroided onto the vestments of the pastor, on our choir robes, on the wooden pulpit, on the stand tghat held the huge Bible,

Plus above the alter was the Star of David...I learnt that Christians were connected to the Jews...

Women wore crosses around their necks etc...

The Protestants put an enormous lighted cross on the hill overlooking the town...it could be seen for miles...

Its still there to this day..

To commemorate the settlers eh, Nana ???

No to commemorate Jesus the one who died on the cross to save us...

The cross is a center of the Christian faith...

Without it there would be no Christianity...

Paul wrote about the importance of the cross...

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18

1Cr 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

1Cr 1:18 ¶ For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

1Cr 1:19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

1Cr 1:20 Where [is] the wise? where [is] the scribe? where [is] the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

1Cr 1:21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

1Cr 1:22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

1Cr 1:23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

1Cr 1:24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

1Cr 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1Cr 1:26 ¶ For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, [are called]:

1Cr 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

1Cr 1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, [yea], and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

1Cr 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

1Cr 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

1Cr 1:31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:17-31

Yes the cross may be foolishness to mormons but to Christians it is the power of God...

and that is why the Christians, Catholics and Protestants alike, honor the cross and have a cross on their buildings etc...in remembrance of Jesus, the one who died for us...on a cross...

The Old Rugged Cross sung by Jim Nabors...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAB41b3gNU0

[SkyPilot]

But the Mormon temples just love Masonic symbols.

[Elsie]

Mormons did not pick up their feelings about the cross from the Protestants.

SOMEwhere along the way, the PROTESTANTS managed, someHOW, to put a LOT of CROSSES in their churches without a lot of fanfare.

[lucias_clay]

Of course the mormons oppose the cross. Its a Christian symbol afterall.