Churches: The Other Saints

After Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. was killed by an Illinois lynch mob in 1844, Brigham Young led 10,000 of his followers on the great westward trek to the land of Zion that became Utah. Not all of the new religionists went with him. Denouncing Young as a usurper, a little band of Smith's disciples stayed in the Midwest to form the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which last week opened its biennial world conference at its dome-topped headquarters in Independence, Mo.

True Heirs. By comparison with the 2,396,000 thriving, mission-minded Utah Mormons, the Reorganized Saints appear to be a fossilized, forgotten sect: their membership is only 191,400, mostly in California and the Midwest, and the church's growth rate is a modest 5,000 a year. Nonetheless, the Reorganized Saints steadfastly maintain that they are the true spiritual heirs of Joseph Smith, and they have plenty of his progeny to bolster the claim. Although the Utah Mormons claim only one direct descendant of Smith, at least 190 are Reorganized Saints, and their President, W. Wallace Smith, 65, is the prophet's grandson. The Reorganized Saints hold to the belief that Joseph Smith, before his death, anointed his eldest son, Joseph III, to succeed him as the sect's leader. Young Joseph became President of the Reorganized Church in 1860, ruled it for 54 years, and was followed by three of his sons in succession.

The Reorganized Saints do not call themselves Mormons, and differ with the Utah church on a number of doctrinal issues. They have never practiced polygamy, and admit Negroes to the priesthood—although only a few hundred belong to the church. Both churches accept the Book of Mormon as inspired scripture along with the Bible, and both believe that God provides continuous revelation through the church President. Last week Wallace Smith told the 20,000 delegates and visitors at Independence that his newest guidance calls for a replacement of certain officers in the hierarchy and for an expanded new program of evangelism. The delegates responded by approving a record budget of $8,200,000 for the next two years.

Warmer Toward Utah. Smith also suggested that the Reorganized Saints should, without compromising their beliefs, take more of an interest in the Christian ecumenical movement. As it happens, the Reorganized Saints feel more akin to other church groups—such as the Methodists—than they do to the Utah Mormons, even though relations between the two denominations are warmer than they used to be. Members of the Reorganized Saints' district in Utah are no longer shunned as apostates by Mormons, while spokesmen for the two churches now politely refer to their differences as problems of doctrinal interpretation rather than of heresy.