(January 12, 2021 at 3:24 pm)arewethereyet Wrote: I'm not really sure how to ask this so kick me if I goof it up...
What is the feeling among, I guess, mainstream LDS toward those in FLDS?
Oh, no worries! I get what you mean. So, a little preface.
1. I was not aware of the many other offshoots of Mormonism while I was a member. The only one I knew of was the Fundamentalist group that you mention. 2. I was also not taught about Joseph Smith's polygamy in church. It was a revelation by Smith but a Brigham Young practice and I was also taught(incorrectly, mind you), that it stopped very soon after it was implemented(lol).
So, the general feeling towards FLDS is that they were perverted weirdos led astray by their inability to accept the new prophet, Young, as the true prophet and their desire to continue to practice polygamy. I was also taught that Emma Smith, Joseph's wife, went with them and took Joseph's translation of the Bible with her. So, we didn't have the full scripture retranslation of the Bible that Smith did while he was alive, only a portion that we would reference in classes.
Other than that, they weren't discussed except as giving Mormons a bad name. Because "no, we're not the ones who practiced polygamy; we're the decent ones." When in fact, come to find out, the main LDS branch was constantly having to get reprimanded by the government to stop practicing polygamy all the way up to the 1920's. I know that there are records of secret polygamous marriages being performed by church leadership over the border in Mexico as late as 1947.
