Re: Why do the Mormons bother with this newsgroup?

In article <87acfaafns.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Gareth McCaughan wrote:
> "dianaiad" wrote:
>
>> There are several Mormon splinter groups who still practice polygamy. I
>> believe you are thinking specifically of the "Short Creek"
>> 'fundamentalist' Mormons. They are not members of the "mainstream"
>> Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are not, in other
>> words, LDS. They are Mormons by virtue of the fact that they believe in
>> the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith as a Prophet....and they claim to be
>> Mormon. ;-)
>
> Do they not call themselves Latter-day Saints, then?
> If not, do you know why not?
>
> (A bit of googling *suggests* that the official name of
> that group is the "Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints",
> but not from any source I'm very happy about trusting.)

Diana is a member of an organization, The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, that has a clearly defined membership standard. If
you are on their rolls as a member in good standing then you are a
member in good standing. If not, you aren't. However, her
organization is not the only one that derives its origin from Joseph
Smith's original organization. Amongst those that do derive are some
of the various polygamous splinter groups as well as other groups such
as the Community of Christ (use to be Reorganized Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints and which never endorsed polygamy [it
split before polygamy became official in the LDS]). The combined
total of the various polygamous approving splinters seems to be about
30,000 (not all live in Utah and they are not all in one group).

Some of the above from http://www.religioustolerance.org/ldswho.htm
and http://www.religioustolerance.org/lds_poly2.htm

One can use the colloquial term 'Mormon' to refer to members of many
or all of these groups just as one could use 'Christian' to refer to
refer to members of many or all of the groups following what they see
as Jesus. Just as one can't blame the Roman Catholic Church for the
faults of the Southern Baptist convention (or vice versa) solely on
the grounds that both are Christian, one can't blame the LDS for the
actions of the other groups derived from Joseph Smith (or vice versa)
solely because they were all 'Mormons'.


>>> As a matter of interest, and a straight answer, can you tell me roughly
>>> how many coloured members there are of the Mormon Church? I know that
>>> coloured people could not be priests before 1936, and I still don't know
>>> why. How many coloured priests are there now?
> ...
>> Whatever the reason, the situation was resolved and is no longer an
>> issue...and the church is growing faster in "black" areas than anywhere
>> else. It is, for instance, growing faster than our wildest expectations
>> in Africa.
>>
>> Does that clear anything up for you?
>
> Well, you still haven't answered Mike's question :-).
> I'm not sure that Mike's question is a very useful one,
> but that's a separate matter.

Note that the LDS prohibited males who were considered descendants of
Cain from becoming priests before 1978 (and note that all males other
than those prohibited were expected to become priests). Such people
could have looked completely 'white' and still have been banned (one
drop of 'black' blood sort of thing).
http://www.religioustolerance.org/lds_race.htm


--
\----
|\* | Emma Pease Net Spinster
|_\/ Die Luft der Freiheit weht
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Some questions for the LDS contributors
    ... If I was to decide to become a Mormon, ... > at the time were told by an angel to restore the church to ... That's between God and the guy being offered baptism. ... > evangelical mainstream Christian), ...
    (uk.religion.christian)
  • Re: On this day in history.... January 4, 1893 US President Benjamin Harrison granted amnesty to tho
    ... on January 4, 1896, Utah was admitted as the 45th state. ... point of contention was the Mormon's embrace of polygamy. ... Mormon historians once held that polygamy was only a diversionary ... church, recent interpretations by Lyman and historian Jan ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: About the Mormons
    ... I studied Divinity along side a Mormon and have even read the book ... >>> Christians when you believe that the Christian church is apostate! ... to and including mine,and quite frankly, Baptists were a very large ...
    (uk.religion.christian)
  • Re: Why do the Mormons bother with this newsgroup?
    ... >> church leadership, not allowing black ministers to preach from white ... > christians but there is nothing like the 'christian right' of the USA. AIUI ... Were you aware that Mormon women comprised a huge percentage of the ... US Congress had irrevokably admitted Utah to the union. ...
    (uk.religion.christian)
  • Re: Why do the Mormons bother with this newsgroup?
    ... >>> except for those Mormons who have kept to polygamy... ... There are several Mormon splinter groups who still practice polygamy. ... Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ... LDS church, has 12 million members and counting, the largest polygamous ...
    (uk.religion.christian)
Loading