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Texas LDS deal with confusion

The confusion the Texas (and all) LDS are dealing with is a confusion in their own minds.

It is a profound confusion manifest in such absolutely untrue statements as, �While the FLDS Church is not connected in any way to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints��

The LDS Church IS ABSOLUTELY CONNECTED with the FLDS Church in very important ways.

First is the connection LDS should feel for their fellowman. FLDS members are fellow human beings and should be treated with dignity and respect, not dehumanized, demonized, and marginalized, as the LDS are trying to do in their efforts to distance themselves from the FLDS.

FLDS members are religious believers in God, just like the LDS. They are believers in the sanctity of marriage and family, just like the LDS. They are believers in eternal marriage (the New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage), just like the LDS. They are believers in the modern revelations of the Restoration (Book-of-Mormon, D&C, etc.), brought about by Joseph Smith, just like the LDS.

The FLDS are closer brothers/sisters to the LDS than any other religion. Shame on the LDS for forgetting that by abandoning and condemning them in time of need.

we need to stop this stuff saying we, the LDS church are not in any way connected. In the same way the Nephites were connected to the Lamanites, we are conected to these people as well. In our Articles of faith it says we obey the law, yet our LDS dominated legislature ha chosen to ignore the fact that this (polygamy) illegal activity was going on,. Shame on us.

Just by the fact the guy yelled out compund he knew the difference. If he's that stupid why waste time worrying about it.

We do marry young here in Utah, like 18-19 yo for women. Perhaps if we weren't so odd to the outside world, we wouldn't be lumped with the FLDS.

Most people know Utah is full of Mormons and has polygamists. Most people don't or won't bother to distinguish between the two.
LDS outside Utah bear the brunt of the hostility. Only Utah can deal with the root problem.

Religious bigotry and ignorance are both thriving in our country. The recent campaign by Governor Rommney exposed an underbelly of these problems, which in 21st century America I would have hoped was better, but seemingly is worse. This tragic situation in Texas , although not related to the L.D.S. Church, will only give those both in the secular and religious communities an opportunity to rant and rave about the Gospel and the truth it has restored. They will do as they will and at their own risk. My only hope is that the sweet spirit of love and forgiveness of our Savior will continue to be spread by His Church to all the people of the World, and I know that it will.

In the event that you are actually wondering why the LDS and FLDS are so easily confused, just look at some of the posts on D.N. It seems that many, many LDS do not understand that Freedom of Religion granted in the Constititution does not protect one from arrest when one has committed criminal offenses. One cannot withhold insulin from a diabetic minor without suffering criminal neglect and murder charges. One cannot murder a person so that another may practice the right to fresh blood as sacrament in the Church of the Holy Vampire. One cannot sacrifice ones own child on an altar (even if God commands it) or allow for rape simply because the church mandates it as sacred. One cannot abandon a minor son because he is a threat to the men in the community. It is that community culpability that removed those children from all parents since it is as a community that the rape and abandonment occurred. While the LDS church tries to separate themselves from the FLDS the people within the Church seem to be doing the opposite in defending crimes as a "Constitutional Right." They aren't.

Both LDS and FLDS teach from the Book of Mormon so there is a huge connection.

More ridiculous comments from uninformed people.

The LDS Church has NOTHING to do with the FLDS Church. Members who practice polygamy or repeatedly teach people that polygamy is a modern practice (after being warned not to do so) are excommunicated. But the raid in Texas wasn't about adult polygamy. The Texas officials said the wiveS could return to their husbnds - the issue is child abuse.

The average marrying age in the LDS Church is around 23 years old and 60% of LDS members have some college experience.

The confusion about the two Churches is because of a biased media who want to purposely smear the Church to limit its influence and message.

If people want to argue that the FLDS and the LDS churches are the same, then by the same logic the "Christian" Church in Waco Texas that was raided in 1993 is the same as the First Baptist Church.

LDS Social Services need to jump in and help fix this mess. The LDS need to help these FLDS. The Church will help everyone else but those in the backyard. Only reason the the Muslims get aid is for political advantage. Being a member for 37 years I am ashamed of leadership. You let the Baptists clean this up for you.

BWinslow: Where does this statement come from in your article and what does it have to do with anything? "The local Baptist congregations have contracts to provide relief services in disaster situations."

What kind of back up can we LDS really give the FLDS though? I mean we have to fight to survive just as much as minority here. That said, I would prefer if some pronouncements were limited to simply saying we are not them anymore than Anglicans are Catholics. While I might like to see the Church reassert its legal argument that plural marriage is constitutionally protected, I'm not expecting it to happen anytime soon. At any rate, I hope more LDS speak up for the FLDS, in at least so much as they've been targeted and attacked by the government.

Quit complaining, would you people on this blog? Obviously you who have made comments on this blog are either not members or inactive who think they know alot. I'm getting quite tired of it. Let me explain something to you, the "Mormons" aren't mentioning they don't have common ground with the FLDS. They are saying to those who know nothing of the difference between "Mormons" and FLDS that we should not be identified as the same. There IS a difference. As you can tell from reading the article, people have ignorantly identified members and missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as FLDS. We belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, not the FLDS.

We are an LDS family in Texas. This event has shaken me to my very core. I can hardly believe that the state that I love and am proud to call home has taken these children from their families and the only way of life they have known. We homeschool our children and basically keep to ourselves in the commmunity that we live in, just like the FLDS families in San Angelo. Can the state come in and take my children if they want? I cannot imagine what these children and parents must be going through. What are these children being told? What type of homes will they be going to? How can we help them? We are not foster family, but I feel like I need to help these children in some way.

Chill out dude.

Maybe you guys in Utah marry that young, but Elder Cook said the average marrying age for LDS women is 23 years old.

I think that what the LDS Church means is that they are in no way connected to the FLDS in terms of any form of relationship with the FLDS church. Obviously the LDS and FLDS do have some beliefs like eternal marraige and works for the dead in common, but the LDS Church in no way is connected to the FLDS. To some people there is no explaining this to, they will think what they want to think and hold there bigotry close to their hearts. Also, I'd be interested to know where people find the LDS Church demonizing men of the FLDS church. I've read the LDS Church's statements and nowhere do I find the LDS Church demonizing the FLDS Church.

Before I was baptized at age 29, I did not think the church was odd. But I know many who did, including my own mother. I have since come to realize people CHOOSE to think this because they know deep down inside that they should be living their lives differently but don't want to change. So what they adjust instead is their view of the Church that could lead them there.

I don't know what Utah you are living in, but the majority of women I know get married AFTER they are at least 20.

Are you neocon Mormons who bash the ACLU watching this news:

"SAN ANGELO, Texas (CNN) -- The Texas branch of the American Civil Liberties Union said it was concerned that the basic rights of the children and mothers connected to a Texas polygamist ranch were violated during a recent raid and custody hearing."

Or are you so blinded by your own biases that you will ignore it?