Mormons and the Cross

Labarum Cross

Apparently the LDS have concerns about crosses, but originally accepted them:

Mormons and the cross

Salt Lake Tribune – May 1, 2009

It’s no accident that Mormon steeples, temples and necks are free of Christian crosses.

LDS leaders long have said the cross, so ubiquitous among traditional Christians, symbolizes Jesus’ death, while Mormons worship the risen Christ. Some Latter-day Saints go even farther, condemning the cross as some kind of pagan or satanic symbol.

Now a historian at California State University in Sacramento claims in a just-completed master’s thesis that Mormon aversion to the cross is a relatively recent development in LDS history, prompted in part by anti-Catholic sentiments.

“It first started at the grass-roots level around the turn of the 20th century, ” Michael Reed argues in the thesis, “The Development of the LDS Church’s Attitude Toward the Cross.”

“It later became institutionalized during the 1950s under the direction of LDS Prophet David O. McKay,” Reed writes…

Two years after becoming president in 1953, McKay pointed to a Catholic church in California and commented: “There are two great anti-Christs in the world: Communism and that church.”

In 1957, McKay established the LDS Church’s no-cross protocol, saying it was not proper for LDS girls to wear it on their jewelry, saying the cross is “purely Catholic. … Our worship should be in our hearts.”

Though McKay later tempered his comments about Catholicism, his opposition to the cross became church policy. From that day to this, Mormons look askance at any member who pays too much homage to the ubiquitous Christian symbol.

“If someone is wearing a cross, we get very uncomfortable,” Rees says. http://www.sltrib.com/faith/ci_12256269

Perhaps I should mention that according to at least one Catholic writer (see Constantine’s Cross a Symbol of Antichrist?), the type of cross at the beginning of this article is to be a symbol of antichrist.

We in the Living Church of God do not wear nor revere crosses.

Some articles of possibly related interest may include:

Five Dissimilarities Between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the Living Church of God The Living Church of God is not related to the Mormons and this article explains five differences, and one or two similarities.
What Did the Early Church Teach About Idols and Icons? What about the use of the cross, by the early Church?
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.