In theLatter Day Saint movement, thegreat and abominable church (also called thegreat whore of all the earth) is a church described in theBook of Mormon and other revelations byJoseph Smith. The great and abominable church is identified as being synonymous with theWhore of Babylon[1] described inchapter 17 of theBook of Revelation.[2] Although many Latter Day Saints have associated the great and abominable church with theCatholic Church, official publications ofthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) have discouraged this interpretation.
The canonicalDoctrine and Covenants refers to the great and abominable church as both "the church of the devil"[3] and the "whore of Babylon".[1]
In a reprint of anEnsign article inJournal of Book of Mormon Studies, Stephen E. Robinson identifies six aspects of great and abominable church in the text of Nephi's vision in 1 Nephi 13. It persecutes and slays members of the church, seeks financial profit, is sexually immoral, takes important information out of the scriptures, has political power over the earth, and will be destroyed in a war. The great and abominable church is often equated withBabylon. Robinson finds five of the six characteristics from 1 Nephi attributed to Babylon in the Book of Revelation: persecuting members of the church, seeking material gain, sexual immorality, having political power, and being destroyed by the kings who make war against "the Lamb."[4]
The first edition of LDS Churchgeneral authorityBruce R. McConkie'sMormon Doctrine (1958) referenced the Catholic Church as "great and abominable" multiple times. Members of LDS Church leadership under president David O. McKay disapproved ofMormon Doctrine, and made McConkie promise not to publish a second edition. However, McConkie published a second edition in 1966, which softened some, but not all of the problems church leaders identified in the first edition.[5]
Neil J. Young stated that McConkie's definition of the Catholic Church as the great and abominable church inMormon Doctrine was uncontroversial with members because it was something that most members already believed. He subsequently stated that when Nephi sees priests clothed in "gold, and silver, and silks, and the scarlets, and fine-twined linen, and all manner of precious clothing", it is a direct allusion to the Catholic Church.[6] According to Stephen H. Webb, a Catholic theologian, the "great and abominable church" was commonly identified by early Mormons as theCatholic Church, but Nephi's original vision was not anti-Catholic. It was primarily concerned with warning believers not to "fall away from the truth".[7][8]
Official LDS publications discourage the identification of the great and abominable church with the Catholic Church, as well as with any other specific religion, denomination or organization. According to a 1988 article byStephen E. Robinson inEnsign, an official magazine of LDS Church, "no single known historical church, denomination, or set of believers meets all the requirements for the great and abominable church. ... Rather, the role of Babylon has been played by many different agencies, ideologies, and churches in many different times.[9][10] The article was reprinted inJournal of Book of Mormon Studies.[4] Robinson argues for the idea that the "great and abominable church" is historical in 1 Nephi 13 and typological in 1 Nephi 14. For Robinson, because of the phrase "most abominable above all other churches," the references in 1 Nephi 13 must apply to a specific church, but concludes that no known church thus far fulfills all the requirements described in Nephi's vision.[4] In a similar vein, the semi-officialEncyclopedia of Mormonism states: "Though many Protestants, following the lead ofMartin Luther, have linked this evil force described in Revelation 17 with the Roman Catholic church, the particular focus of these LDS and New Testament scriptures seems rather to be on earlier agents of apostasy in the Jewish and Christian traditions".[11]
Fatimah Salleh and Margaret Olsen Hemming, in their commentaryThe Book of Mormon for the Least of These, published byBCC Press, advocate for a reading that identifies the "abominable church" as an archetype, a force that "worships wealth" and "oppresses the saints of God." Salleh and Hemming identify these forces in slavery, colonialism, war, human trafficking, sweatshops, and mass incarceration.[12]
