The cross taboo was a late development in Mormon history, manifesting itself at the grass-roots level around the 1900s and later being institutionalized as protocol in the 1950s by President David O. McKay. Previously, many Saints used and promoted the symbol in its visual and material form. This paper will explain why the early Mormon mainstream did not initially buy into the anti-cross polemics that typically came from American Protestants during the time that the Church was organized. Additionally, I will illuminate how and why the cross aversion later came about.

Michael G. Reed