The Church of Non-Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints

Res spotted this one:

LDS Church stressing its differences from FLDS polygamous sect

Mormon leaders today said they are stepping up efforts to make the public aware of the differences between the Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), which has recently garnered widespread national attention.

The Mormon effort is in response to a church-commissioned survey of 1,000 Americans that found a degree of confusion about the two churches. More than a third of those surveyed thought the Texas FLDS compound, which recently was raided by Texas’ Child Protection Services after allegations of child sexual abuse, was part of the LDS Church. Another 6 percent said the two groups were partly related.

Well, you can’t imagine they’d be happy about that. But I find it rankling that Mormons try to disown their polygamous past and try and claim the ‘Mormon’ label for themselves only.

Check out this article from the Deseret News.

The LDS Church has said there is no such thing as a “fundamentalist Mormon,” although an estimated 37,000 people who practice it consider themselves as such. Fundamentalists argue that the LDS Church has strayed from its original doctrine by abandoning the practice of polygamy in 1890.
…
Clinton Hudson, a student at Sonora High School, is a member of a Christian student fellowship. During a lunchtime meeting, he said one student said they should pray for the children taken in the raid. Another student said they should “pray for the Mormons.”

“I approached her and said, ‘They’re not Mormons. They’re fundamentalists. They broke off from the church’ and described our history and how they broke off. It really helped a lot,” Hudson said Sunday. “It was a great opportunity to get them to understand there’s a difference between them and us.”

Fundamentalists aren’t Mormons? Of course they’re Mormons.

Mormons claim they’re Christians, even though other Christians disagree. Latter-day Saints typically respond: Well, what does that matter? We’re Christians because we believe in Jesus. Why should people in other churches be able to tell us who we are? And then they turn around and pull this.

Mormons are Christians because they think they are. Fundamentalist Mormons are Mormons because they think they are. Simple as that.

Or try this clumsy analogy.

An illustration from the business world might give us some insight. Suppose several engineers at General Electric invented an electric motor and decided that their product was superior to other similar products produced by the company. This group of engineers decides then to break away from General Electric and form a new company called Fundamental General Electric or FGE for short. How would General Electric react to this? Would it feel that its brand equity was being diminished or stolen? Of course they would. And they would be right.

But you’d be wrong. While it’s easy to classify the LDS Church as a corporation, the analogy only works if the Utah church were the original. Mormons like to think this, but it ain’t so. In fact it’s just one offshoot among many that emerged during the turbulent time after Joseph Smith. It’s the most populous and successful variant, but that doesn’t confer the naming rights.

The Utah church has made a few videos to show that Mormons are normal and not weird. I think it’s going to backfire.

This one’s 18-year-old beauty queen Kayla. Her interests include beauty contests, sitting around playing Uno with her family, hygiene, and sitting on the porch talking about modesty. Right now she’s doing a Morse Code in reverse with her eyes. She’s trying to spell ‘Help me’ by opening them.

You know, I don’t think these clips are going to help people tell LDS from FLDS. In fact, I think I can actually see more parallels than before. Aren’t the fundies always going on about ‘modesty’? Why doesn’t this young lady try one of those shapeless dresses you see on the compound? This clip makes both cultures seem frighteningly parochial. It’s as though the LDS Church is trying so hard not to attack the FLDS that they’re failing to make any point whatever.