“FUNDAMENTALIST MORMON” IS THE CORRECT TERM CONTRARY TO LDS CHURCH CLAIMS

The Principle Voices Coalition has learned that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has sent a letter to media outlets asking that the term “fundamentalist Mormon” not be used. In the recent past, the Church has insisted that we instead be defined as “polygamous sects”, even though most of us are not (and do not refer to ourselves as) polygamists.

We strenuously object to any efforts to deprive us and others of the freedom to name and describe ourselves by terms of our own choosing. Fundamentalist Mormons have been referred to by that name since the 1930s, often by the Church itself. We are proud of our Mormon heritage. Plural marriage is only one of the tenets of our religion, the Gospel of Jesus Christ as restored through Joseph Smith.

Ironically, the LDS Church has been justifiably uncomfortable with repeated assertions by members of some Christian denominations that Latter-day Saints are not Christians. In many ways, we consider ourselves to be adherents to Mormonism (and Christianity) no less than were Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and John Taylor. What distinguishes us from the modern, mainstream Church is that we have endeavored to observe the original, fundamental precepts of the restored Gospel, while the Church itself has, since the early 1900s, repudiated several of them.

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The Principle Voices Coalition - contact: Anne Wilde

The Apostolic United Brethren - contact: David Dye

The Davis County Cooperative Society - contact: Carlene Cannon

The Work of Jesus Christ (Centennial Park) - contact: Marlyne Hammon

and numerous independent fundamentalist Mormons

To contact any one of these representatives, please send your emails to: Principlevoices@comcast.net, and we will forward them for you. Thank you.

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