For many years tattoos and decorative piercings weren't a real issue for members of the Mormon Church. Until the year 2000, there was only one reference to tattooing in all of Mormon teaching and that was in the 1965 unofficial personal publication Mormon Doctrine by Mormon Apostle, Bruce R. McConkie. It states; "Tattooing is a desecration of the human body and should not be permitted, unless all that is involved is the placing of a blood type or an identification number in an obscure place. Latter-day Saint servicemen in particular are counseled to avoid the pitfalls of tattooing. Persons who are tattooed are not, however, denied the ordinances and blessings of the temple."
In the October 2000 General Conference the first of many "councils" against tattooing was announced.
