A coalition that represents fundamentalist Mormons has issued a statement objecting to the LDS Church’s effort to deny their claim to a shared heritage.

The Principle Voices Coalition, based in Utah, said its members “strenuously object to any efforts to deprive us and others of the freedom to name and describe ourselves by terms of our own choosing.”

The statement comes two weeks after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints launched a media campaign to distinguish itself from breakaway sects.

The LDS Church said the education effort intensified after authorities’ April raid on a west Texas ranch that is home to members of the FLDS sect. The church reiterated in a June 26 statement “as it has done many times” that it “has nothing whatsoever to do with any groups practicing polygamy.”

But a poll conducted by the LDS Church shows confusion persists.

More than a third of those surveyed thought the FLDS sect was part of the Mormon Church based in Salt Lake City.

On Wednesday, LDS Church spokesman Scott Trotter reiterated the church’s view that “there is no such thing as a Mormon fundamentalist or a Mormon polygamist.

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