Monday, June 20, 2022

Eldin Ricks and the Deseret News for September 19, 1951: There are 256, not 20,000+ Protestant Denominations

  

[1 Nephi 13:]29. An exceeding great many do stumble] Paul spoke of “One Lord, one faith and one baptism.” In the United States alone there are 256 distinct denominations claiming to represent Christ’s Way. (Eldin Ricks, Book of Mormon Commentary, Volume 1: Comprising the Complete Text of The First Book of Nephi with Explanatory Notes [Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1951], 153)

 

The article referenced in the above is:

 

Deseret News, Church Section, September 19, 1951, p. 14:

 



 

Dr. Howard S. McDonald, president of Los Angeles Stake and City College, former president of Brigham Young University, and earlier, president of San Francisco Stake, was guest speaker on the "Our America," national program, last Saturday in Los Angeles. . . . Thirty-three returned missionaries are now members of Herauders Society at LDS Business College. . . . A total of 256 religiou[s] groups are embraced in the "1951 Yearbook of American Churches," which shows that there are 285,834 congregations and similar united with a membership of 87,548,021 persons, or 58.9 per cent of the nation's population.