Controversies regarding The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

General note about critical analyses of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Though The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not usually respond to criticisms directly, some church members have made an effort to collect and catalogue criticisms and have taken apologetic positions from time to time in support and defense of their religion. Even when supported by General Authorities of the LDS Church, however, these apologetic positions do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the Church nor the beliefs of Latter-day Saints at large.

List of controversial subjects

• Book of Mormon
• Book of Mormon controversies
• Book of Abraham
• Book of Moses
• Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible
• Plural Marriage and Eternal Marriage
  • Initial secrecy of Plural Marriage
  • Abolishing Plural Marriage in Utah as a condition of statehood
  • Plural Marriage after the 1890 Manifesto
• Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  • Vicarious baptism for the dead of (in)famous persons and groups of people
  • changes to temple ordinances
• Tritheistic, Anthropomorphic Godhead versus the mainstream Christian concept of God: the Trinity
• Mormonism as a Christian religion
  • Mormonism compared to other religions
    • Freemasonry
    • Early Christian Church
      • Similarities to Arianism
    • etc
• Deification in Mormonism: Exaltation or becoming like God
• The Adam-God doctrine
• Pre-existence
• Continuous revelation versus a closed Biblical canon
• Great Apostasy, loss of Priesthood Authority, and restoration
• Blacks and Mormonism
• Blood Atonement and Danites
• The Mountain Meadows Massacre
• The Kirtland Safety Society
• The Martyrdom of Joseph Smith
• Financial prosperity of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Authoritarianism and Mormonism
  • Destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor
  • Prophetic (in)fallibility
    • Prophecies of Joseph Smith
      • The Civil War Prophecy
      • Prophecy regarding Dan Jones
      • Prophecy of own martyrdom
    • Men on the moon
    • The Salamander Letter
  • Censorship and historical revisionism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
    • Excommunication of Latter-day Saint scholars
    • Varying accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision
  • Politics, Government and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
    • influence on local government and business
    • activism against state lotteries, legitimizing homosexual practices, pornography, abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment
      • Homosexuality and Mormonism
  • Women and Mormonism
    • Women and Priesthood in Mormonism
• Legalism and Mormonism
  • The Word of Wisdom

List of prominent critics or controversial Mormons

• Steve Benson
• Ed Decker
• Gail Houston
• Sonia Johnson
• David Knowles(sp?)
• Thomas Murphy
• D. Michael Quinn
• Jerald and Sandra Tanner

General categorization of criticisms and apologetics of Mormonism

In general the controversies can be categorized as follows:

1. Critics charge that the doctrines or practices of Mormonism are heretical, cult-like or bizarre in contrast to mainstream Christianity (as in vicarious baptism for the dead).
2. Critics consider the culture of Mormonism to be authoritarian, legalistic, deceptive, delusional or politically oppressive (as in the subjugation of women).
3. Critics charge that the Church leadership has engaged in historical revisionism, cover-up or censorship.
4. Critics charge that Joseph Smith and the events surrounding the founding of the Church are fraudulent.

In general, Mormon apologists respond to the attacks in the following ways:

1. Mormonism is only bizarre or heretical compared to mainstream Christianity because Mormonism is more similar to the original Christianity.
2. Mormonism may not be politically correct but it is no less so than original Christianity or the theocracy of the Jews.
3. There is no infallability, but the Prophet will not be allowed to lead the people astray in matters of salvation.
4. There are in fact many good things about Mormonism.
5. There are in fact many evidences that the Book of Mormon is authentic.
6. There is no reason to draw an arbitrary limit on the definition of Christianity such that Mormons are excluded simply because of doctrinal uniqueness; Fundamentally, the Church believes the same basic doctrines as any other Christian church, namely, that Christ is the savior and people should strive to follow him.