Comments on: Is There a Deeper Reason Why Mormons Don’t Use a Cross?

By: Mike Reed

Mike Reed — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:52:30 +0000

Contrary the theories held by several well respected scholars of Mormon Studies, the LDS aversion to the cross is a late development in Mormon history. It started at the grass-roots level at the turn of the 20th century, and became institutionalized as protocol in the 1950s under the direction of President David O. McKay–and the reason he gave was because it was a “Catholic” tradition. Prior to this time, several prominent Saints (including Church authorities) embraced and promoted the symbol of the cross. They embraced the symbol despite the fact that many mainstream Protestants (at the time the LDS Church was first being established) had rejected it. It is true that current LDS condemnations against the cross have echoed protestant polemics of the past (a fact that evangelical critics of Mormonism need to be aware of). But by the time the Saints started recycling these anti-cross arguments (of previous generations), mainstream Protestantism had already become more accepting of the symbol. The mainstream Protestant opposition to the cross was a phenomenon that teetered out around the 1840s and 50s, while the mainstream LDS opposition to the cross didn’t even start until a generation or two later.

I am a grad student who has nearly finished writing his MA thesis on the development of the Mormon cross taboo.

–Mike Reed
mike_g_reed@yahoo.com

By: Fine art paintings

Fine art paintings — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:37:25 +0000

find arts events…

By: joe

joe — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:23:33 +0000

There is a webpage from a bible fundementalist that explains that many symbols that people associate with christians either aren’t christian or not exclusively christian. The cross, and fish are two examples. He also questions the use of church steeples as well.

By: Kerry

Kerry — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:17:29 +0000

Thanks Shawn. That was intriguing. I had heard some members say that the reason we don’t use the cross is because Joseph Smith wanted the newly born church to have a visual identity that was seperate from the other Protestant churches. To show everyone that Mormons actually were different than other religions.

I guess that myth can be thrown out now.

By: Shawn L

Shawn L — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:46:37 +0000

Kerry — found an interesting essay on this very topic, written by a presenter from Sunstone West. Enjoy:

http://www.mormonstudies.net/html/cross.html

By: crazy for ctr rings

crazy for ctr rings — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:28:01 +0000

Hi Kerry, I am about the same age as you and I too grew up thinking that the cross was “bad” in our church. Since then I have come to find out the things you have already mentioned. The reason that we don’t worship the cross is because we try to celebrate the life of Christ but not that we want to forget his death and the great sacrifice he made. Thanks so much for the post!

By: JB

JB — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:51:55 +0000

To add to what Andrew said about having the cross in our home, as long as folks don’t start praying to the cross or kneeling in front of it as a representation of Christ, I agree. I had a similar experience in my mission, but in my case recommended the person remove the cross so they don’t feel the need to worship in front of it.

However, Mike brought up an interesting point as well… what symbol does represent the church. Andrew hit it on the head with Christ being the ultimate “symbol” of our faith. However nowadays, with all the logos and conceptual representations of everything from the USC Trojan to BYUs Cougar, or Apple’s… well, apple or Microsoft’s… window… or whatever that is, we try to represent everything conceptually these days. That said, do we have a conceptual image for the church?

For two possible answers, I’d point out the landing page of http://www.LDS.org. Two things come to mind. First, the Christus (spelling?), or statue representing Christ. Second the name of the Church. In many ways it is a conceptual image of the church that is branded throughout church material, etc. Other thoughts?

By: Kerry

Kerry — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:51:25 +0000

Wow, I must really be inspired. Now if I could just figure out where the inspiration is coming from….

Maybe someone will give us a summary of that workshop. Will probably be very interesting.

By: Shawn L

Shawn L — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:54:30 +0000

Kerry: It seems you have your finger on the pulse of something. I just got a preliminary program for the Sunstone West Symposium and there is a workshop entitled, “Mormons and the Cross.”

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 01:04:41 +0000

Hi Candy, to answer your question, CTR stands for “Choose the Right.” Mormon children typically receive a CTR ring around the time they are baptized (age eight) to help them remember the promise they made to God when they were baptized to love and follow Him. Many Mormons continue to wear CTR rings into adulthood for the same reason. So one could certainly say that a CTR ring is a Mormon symbol, similar to the WWJD rings that are popular among other Christian denominations.

Welcome here to the blog, you’re welcome back anytime!