Category: Mormonism in the News
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Onward and Upward: The LDS Church’s Parable of the Slope
In late May The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a new video, “The Parable of the Slope.” This video is a condensed/edited version of a General Conference talk given by LDS General Authority Seventy Clark G. Gilbert in October 2021. The church has taken the main talking points from Mr. Gilbert’s address…
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LDS Apostle Names the Most Remarkable Thing in the History of the World
M. Russell Ballard, the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, recently gave an address to church members and missionaries in Canada. Church News reports that in his talk, President Ballard identified “the most remarkable thing in the history of the world.” As a self-identified apostle…
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Mormonism’s “We’re Not Weird” Campaign
Once upon a time The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints freely identified itself as being different. In 1976, the man who became the church’s 15th president wrote, “Suffice it to say that [the LDS church’s] theology, its organization, and its practices are in many respects entirely unique among today’s Christian denominations” (Gordon B. Hinckley, What of…
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New LDS Easter Video Means To Offer Hope, but It Doesn’t Deliver.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a new Easter video last week. Titled “Rise,” the 1-minute 43-second video is described in a church news release as portraying “some of the challenges of life and the hope and help that Jesus Christ brings to those who follow Him” (“New Easter Video from Church…
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Revised LDS Temple Endowment Ceremony Now Includes More Pictures of Jesus
21 February 2023 I love to see the temple.I’ll go inside someday.I’ll cov’nant with my Father;I’ll promise to obey. “I love to See the Temple” is a popular Primary song in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Kids as young as three years old sing about preparing themselves to attend an LDS temple…
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The “Completely False” Rationale for Mormonism’s Restoration
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints struggles to explain past teachings about a universal Christian apostasy.
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LDS Church Corrects Perceived Improprieties in Classical Religious Art
2 January 2023 Just shy of 400 years ago, in the 1650s, Italian artist Carlo Maratta painted “The Holy Night,” a tender, nighttime depiction of Madonna and Child. In the painting, said to have been inspired by Correggio’s “Nativity,” the young Virgin Mary looks with adoration at her newborn babe from whom light seems to…
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Statue of Joseph Smith Joins 54 Other “Messiahs of Peace” at India’s World Peace Dome
In Pune, India stands the World Peace Dome, the “world’s largest dome” described as “an epitome of architectural magnificence.” Beneath the dome is the World Peace Prayer Hall, where up to 3,000 people may gather for “meditation and introspection” while surrounded by “the statues of the world’s greatest philosophers and scientists,” called “Messiahs of Peace.”…
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Mormonism? Who Cares?
14 November 2022 A new national survey related to Mormonism has recently been released to the public and has been in the news. The 2022 B.H. Roberts Foundation National Latter-day Saint Survey asked 1,157 Americans “about attitudes, knowledge, and beliefs about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” What they discovered is that Mormonism…
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Considering LDS General Conference ‘Dream Headlines’
The Salt Lake Tribune’s “Mormon Land” newsletter is having a contest. On September 1st readers were asked to submit their General Conference “dream headlines”; that is, headlines readers “would like to see emerge from next month’s General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” The 340 submitted headlines are now being published,…
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Joseph Smith vs. Joseph Smith
by Sharon Lindbloom 1 September 2022 Steven Harper is a professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University, a school owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Last week (23 August 2022) Dr. Harper published an article in the online edition of LDS Living Magazine titled, “Starting right—how…
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The LDS Church Is Just Trying to Blend In
In July (2022), LDS author Jana Riess made an interesting observation: “During the last four years, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has introduced a host of changes that have made the church a little more mainstream, a little less weird.” In her article, Dr. Riess notes some of these…
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‘Uncomfortable’ and ‘Weird’ LDS Temple Ceremony
Hulu, the online streaming service, released a miniseries in April (2022) based on the real-life 1984 Utah murders of a mother and her toddler daughter. The miniseries, “Under the Banner of Heaven,” follows Jon Krakauer’s 2003 bestselling book of the same name as it explores Mormon fundamentalism and Mormonism’s sometimes violent history. I’ve been seeing…
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The Crucial Question Related to Mormonism’s Dependence on Personal Revelation
7 June 2022 In an opinion piece about personal revelation published on May 28th (2022), The Salt Lake Tribune columnist Gordon Monson asks some interesting questions. He begins with a hypothetical one: “Is there a slipperier foundational concept in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints than the one that centers on being guided…
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Mormonism’s Washington D.C. Temple Remains a Mystery
20 April 2022 On Easter Sunday (April 17, 2022) CBS Morning News Sunday Morning presented viewers with an exclusive look at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ newly renovated Washington D.C. Temple. As a preview to the temple’s public open house scheduled for later this month, journalist Ed O’Keefe was given a tour…
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Is Jesus the Only Redeemer? In Mormonism, It Depends.
In the April 2022 issue of the LDS magazine For the Strength of Youth, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Russell M. Nelson, commented, “Jesus Christ’s Atonement was infinite. He saved all humankind from never-ending death. He suffered intensely, beyond what any mortal could suffer. His suffering was for all people…
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Everything that Matters Most in Mormonism
23 February 2022 On February 6th (2022) Brad Wilcox spoke at a church fireside event for young Latter-day Saints in Alpine, Utah. Dr. Wilcox is the 2nd counselor in the Young Men general presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a professor at church-owned Brigham Young University. In his talk, he…