Godbeites

William S. Godbe

The Godbeites were members of the Godbeite Church, officially called the Church of Zion, organized in 1870 by William S. Godbe. This dissident offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was aimed toward embracing all belief systems. Known for mysticism, the church died out by the 1880s.

In 1868 Godbe and other Mormon merchants began criticizing the economic demands and policies of Brigham Young in Utah Magazine, a periodical that would eventually become The Salt Lake Tribune. Godbe and several other proponents were excommunicated from the church on October 25, 1869. Godbe wanted to reform the LDS Church and believed that political reform—namely breaking Young's control over secular matters in the territory—could help spur religious reform.

The Godbeites were the original core of Utah Territory's Liberal Party although as the party became more explicitly anti-Mormon and critical of polygamy the Godbeite influence on the Liberal Party died out.

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