Many Latter-day Saints know that the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (since April 2001, “The Community of Christ”) reject the doctrine of the plurality of the gods, the inspiration of the Book of Abraham, and do not practice baptism for the dead. RLDS historian Paul M. Edwards, who at the time of writing was the Temple School Division director for the RLDS Church, wrote the following about the rejection of these LDS doctrines and scripture during the early days of the Reorganization:
The idea of the plurality of gods was strong in the Reorganization, and in 1865 the Council of Twelve debated the issue and finally concluded they considered it divine. Joseph Smith III prevailed on the twelve with the view that the belief was not a requirement for “membership in good standing” nor was it to be taught as a general doctrine of the church. In time those members of the council—and of the church—for which this doctrine carried much significance began to die out. Thus, instead of a major debate over the issue, it simply faded away as the more orthodox Christian view of God, that of the Trinity, became the primary belief of the movement. By 1890 the plurality of gods was referred to as a “doctrine of man” (Van Hale, “The King Follet Discourse: Textual History and Criticism, Sunstone 8 [1983]:6).
Somewhere in the process the Book of Abraham began to fade into the background . . . [one] reason for the decline in acceptance of the Book of Abraham lies in the comparison between the Reorganization and the LDS church. As the LDS faction put more and more stress on the Book of Abraham, canonizing it as part of the Pearl of Great Price in 1880, the RLDS position became more significant as a means of differentiation. Probably the most definitive statement came from President W. Wallace Smith in March 1970 (Saints Herald vol. 117, no. 5 [May 3, 1970]:7-10) when he indicated that the Reorganization did not consider the Book of Abraham inspired . . . Baptism for the dead first appeared publicly on August 15, 1840, in Nauvoo, during the funeral sermon of Seymour Brunson. Based on the assumption that God loves all people, it recognized that if baptism is required for salvation, many who had passed away would die unsaved. The solution—theologically and personally—was the acknowledgement that the dead may be baptized by proxy. The concern, a strong one for the Smith family because Joseph’s eldest brother Alvin had died in 1823 without baptism, was formalized in a January 1841 document and published in the 1844 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. It became a temple ritual in 1841.
In keeping with their pluralistic approach, the early Reorganization took no clear stand on the concept of baptism for the dead: permissive but unstated. By 1886 it was specifically identified as having no General Church emphasis unless “reiterated or referred to as binding” by revelation (General Conference Resolution 282, 308). Throughout Joseph III’s life he recognized baptism for the dead as legitimate in principle but, particularly later in his life, did not push it as a doctrine. However, as late as 1892 the members of the Twelve expressed their willingness to respond to the ceremony if directed by revelation, but no Conference action was taken. (Paul M. Edwards, Our Legacy of Faith: A Brief History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints [Independence, Miss.: Herald Publishing House, 1991], 161, 162, 167-68, italics in original, emphasis in bold added)
Such attitudes, especially of pluralism, would, sadly, only grow stronger and stronger in then-RLDS now COC history, resulting in their ordination of women to the priesthood and even apostleship, rejection of the historicity of the Book of Mormon, acceptance of homosexuality and homosexual "marriage," etc.
