Why don't Mormon churches have crosses on them?

Answer 1

The LDS Prophet actually answered this question fairly recently, he said:

We recently held an open house in the Arizona Temple. Following a complete renovation of that building, nearly a quarter of a million people saw its beautiful interior. On the first day of the opening, clergymen of other religions were invited as special guests, and hundreds responded. It was my privilege to speak to them and to answer their questions at the conclusion of their tours. I told them that we would be pleased to answer any queries they might have. Many were asked. Among these was one which came from a Protestant minister.

Said he: “I’ve been all through this building, this temple which carries on its face the name of Jesus Christ, but nowhere have I seen any representation of the cross, the symbol of Christianity. I have noted your buildings elsewhere and likewise find an absence of the cross. Why is this when you say you believe in Jesus Christ?”

I responded: “I do not wish to give offense to any of my Christian brethren who use the cross on the steeples of their cathedrals and at the altars of their chapels, who wear it on their vestments, and imprint it on their books and other literature. But for us, the cross is the symbol of the dying Christ, while our message is a declaration of the living Christ.”

He then asked: “If you do not use the cross, what is the symbol of your religion?”

I replied that the lives of our people must become the only meaningful expression of our faith and, in fact, therefore, the symbol of our worship.

Answer 2

We dont believe in using the cross as a symbol because we believe we should focus on his life and resurection and not his death.

I never really understood why religions use the cross.
Crucifixion was not unique to Jesus. If he had been hanged or stoned to death I often wonder if people would wear little nooses or rocks around their necks. To each their own.



Brian the question was why dont we use crosses. There goes another idiot telling mormons why they do something or what they believe. How arrogant can people like you be?????? We dont worship the cross for the reasons most people gave on here. Not for any other reasons. Dont tell me or any mormon why we do or dont do something. You arent mormon. You have no business answering this question if you dont know the answer. Clearly you dont know the answer. I pity anyone around you. You must be one of the most obnoxious people to try to get along with. I could tell you my eyes were brown and you would probably still insist they were blue. Get a life.


aloha, none of our buildings should have crosses on them.

Answer 3

The question has been answered sufficiently, but I would like to respond to 7 of 9.
For me, my wearing of a CTR ring or the garment does not have the symbolism of a cross. The CTR ring is a reminder to Choose The Right in all that I do and say. The garment is a reminder of covenants I have entered into. The necklace (I was never in YW) is worn to remind the Young Women of the values that have hopefully been instilled in them. The cross on the other hand is suppose to remind you of Jesus Christ - but of His death, agony, sorrow, and pain. And while that can be very important, especially when going through the repentance process, or when at a crossroads where a decision must be made, that's not the part of Christ I try to pattern myself after. I don't want to try to become a person who has a lot of agony and pain, but instead I want to rely on Christ to take that away (if it is His will), I want to try to become a person who is loving and kind and full of compassion towards others. When I think about His suffering for too long, it gets me depressed and I don't want that. So instead of drawing attention to His death and suffering, I'd rather draw attention to His resurrection and the fact that He lives.

Answer 4

Because the mormons dont worship the cross.

Answer 5

Latter-day Saints object to the use of a cross on their buildings and the wearing of the cross. They view the symbolism of the cross as having a pagan origin and that it symbolizes Christ's torture and death, not his resurrection. LDS Apostle Bruce R. McConkie stated: "The sectarian world falsely suppose that the climax of his (Christ's) torture and suffering was on the cross …-- a view which they keep ever before them by the constant use of the cross as a religious symbol. The fact is that intense and severe as the suffering was on the cross, yet the great pains were endured in the Garden of Gethsemane. (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p.555)

Answer 6

We do not look down on using the cross as a symbol. There are plenty of LDS paintings that depict the crucificiton. However we do not use it as a symbol. Whoever shared that talk by Pres. Hinckley did a great job. We try to make our lives symbols.

Answer 7

A few of our buildings do have crosses. We normally don't use the cross because it represents Christ's death whereas we want to focus on the fact that he rose from the tomb. We worship a Living Christ.

Answer 8

Mormons focus on the life of jesus rather on the death... Mormons believe there is far more to be learned from the teaching of a life than the moment of death.. While mormons believe jesus died for everyones sins they believe his real lessons were in his life rather than his death..

Answer 9

I heard this question put to a Mormon missionary one time. He said, "because we don't feel that Christs death is the important part. It's the resurrection that vital."

Answer 10

Why do we need them? I don't see anywhere in the Bible where it says we must put such symbols of man's inhumanity to man up on our buildings in order to be Christian.

The early church didn't use crosses. They used the fish symbol when iti wasn't safe to be known as Christian.