Anti-Mormonism
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Anti-Mormonism refers to individuals, literature and media that are opposed to the beliefs, adherents, or institutions of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement as a whole. It may include hostility, prejudice, discrimination, persecution, and violent physical attacks targeting Mormons and the Latter Day Saint movement.
Opposition to Mormonism began before the first Latter Day Saint church was established in 1830 and continues to the present day. The most vocal and strident opposition occurred during the 19th century, particularly the forced expulsion from Missouri following the 1838 Mormon War, during the Utah War of the 1850s, and in the second half of the century when the practice of polygamy in Utah Territory was widely condemned by the majority of Americans.[1]: 192 [2]: 86 [3]: 382 Opponents of polygamy believed that polygamy forced wives into submission to their husbands[4]: 454 and some described polygamy as a form of slavery.[2]: 117
Modern-day opposition generally takes the form of websites, podcasts, videos or other media criticizing Mormonism, or protests at large gatherings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), such as its semiannual general conference, outside of Latter-day Saint pageants, or at events surrounding the construction of new temples. Scholars hold that the church's historical claims are false, while some non-Mormon Christians teach that the faith is non-Christian. Critics claim that it is a religion based on fraud or deceit on the part of its past and present leaders.
Most Americans accept Mormonism as a valid faith, and in 2012 the US presidential candidate Mitt Romney's membership in the LDS Church was described as "non-issue" in that year's election.[5] The FBI began tracking anti-Mormonism hate crimes in the United States in 2015 and have noted an increase in incidents over time (through 2019).[6]
- ^ Linford, Orma (1965). The Mormons and the Law: The Polygamy Cases. The University of Wisconsin.
- ^ a b Talbot, Christine (2013). A foreign kingdom: Mormons and polygamy in American political culture, 1852–1890. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-09535-1. OCLC 862745819.
- ^ Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher (2017). A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women's Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835–1870 (1st ed.). Knopf. ISBN 978-0-307-59490-7. OCLC 955274387.
- ^ Phipps, Kelly Elizabeth (April 2009). "Marriage and Redemption: Mormon Polygamy in the Congressional Imagination, 1862–1887" (PDF). Virginia Law Review. 95 (2): 435–487. JSTOR 25478708.
- ^ Turner, John G. (October 3, 2012). "Mitt Romney's Mormon religion a non-issue during the 2012 presidential election". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved May 23, 2025.
- ^ "The FBI has been tracking crimes against Latter-day Saints for 3 years. Here's why". Deseret News. January 12, 2019.