How to Respond to the Latter Day Saints
Kaiser
1977
Submitter: Jaded me, read the cover and said “Turn the lights off and don’t answer the door? ” This book was published in 1977, one year before the church changed its viewpoints on some of its traditions and values.
Holly: Religion is a section that is easily overlooked because you think of it as having a longer shelf life than other subject areas, but many faiths make official updates to their doctrines over time! It’s actually a pretty complicated collection to manage if you’re not familiar with the timelines of different sects and denominations.
Side note: I wonder if the Mormons published a document on how to respond to the Lutherans about their “cult”?
YIKES that last section!
You mean page 35? That was all absolutely true at the time this book was written.
Of course, a year later that book probably should have been weeded. Or at least that page should have.
Many LDS and Mormons still teach that. There’s a whole “ExMormon” tag on TikTok where they talk about how it’s a cult and how they were taught to be racist because Heaven is supposed to be “whitesome and delightful.”
No, page 35 is at least partly wrong. Mormons have *never* believed that Native Americans were “part of the Jewish race.” They did believe that Native Americans were part of the lost tribes of Israel, though, specifically the tribe of Manasseh, although the church’s official position on that has changed and it’s no longer considered doctrine.
The rest of it was fairly accurate at the time it was written, although that is certainly no longer the case. If it were, “yikes!” would be far too mild a description!
I’m unsure “the rapid growth” of the organization still holds true either.