I found this article on the term, anti-Mormon, quite interesting. I think that it really adds a dimension to the discussion here. This article is found in the Mormon Wiki, and this particular quote, I think is very valuable:
J. Nelson-Seawright, a Mormon, writes on how the term "anti-Mormon" is "inappropriately tainted with genocidal implications":
"The term 'anti-Mormon' has two meanings. First, it means anyone who is opposed to the LDS church. In this sense, there are plenty of anti-Mormons. But the second meaning, which is a semantic parallel to the term 'anti-Semite,' describes people who engage in acts of vitriolic hatred, or even proto-genocide, toward the church.
"As far as I can tell, there are really quite few (although not zero) anti-Mormons in the second sense. So the first definition would probably make the term more useful. Unfortunately, the emotional weight of the second meaning is so much greater than that of the first that it bleeds over. So I think it's really unacceptable to use the term 'anti-Mormon' when you're not describing someone engaged in actual acts of persecution -- because your audience will emotionally experience the statement as involving persecution...
"Bias or even an intention of convincing people not to be Mormon isn't the same as actual persecution. It's not anti-Semitic in the hate-speech sense to claim that the Law of Moses was fulfilled with the coming of Christ. And it's not anti-Mormon in the persecution sense to claim that Joseph Smith was a false prophet. These kinds of ideas, as well as the intention of convincing people not to be Mormon, fall squarely under the first category of anti-Mormon but not the second. We need a different word for these kinds of people, a word that isn't inappropriately tainted with genocidal implications."[8]
I know that when I think of an "anti-Mormon", I am thinking of someone who is causing violence toward the Mormon Church. And, I think that most folks do, as Nelson here suggests, emotionally connect with the second definition.
However, I think that Simon is referring to the
first definition of anyone who criticizes the Mormon Church.
May I suggest that the term, critic, might make a lot more sense, at least in the items we are discussing here?
As Jersey Girl pointed out, it sounds to me like Craig Criddle is a very nice man, who has a strong attachment to his family and Mormon friends. I don't see him as someone who would commit violent acts on LDS people, in general, or even to Church buildings, etc.
That is often what our minds automatically go to when we think of Anti-Mormons, and, I think with good reason. After all, Joseph Smith was killed by an angry mob of
anti-Mormons. It is this type of anti-Mormon that our minds tend to focus on when this term is used.
ETA--Here is the link to the article:
http://www.mormonwiki.org/Anti-Mormon