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When asked whether they felt an issue was immoral, morally acceptable, or “not a moral issue,” here’s a breakdown of how many Mormons declared that certain activities were “morally wrong.” Drinking alcohol: 54% Having an abortion: 74% Sex between unmarried adults: 79% Practicing polygamy: 86% Hold the phone. 86% of Mormons say that polygamy is morally wrong?* It seems that Mormons hate polygamy even more than abortion. Remember that abortion is discussed in the church handbook as a sin that requires serious repentance — and sometimes disciplinary action on the part of the church. Abortion is permissible only in rare...

...When ushered into the master bedroom of the Mormon patriarch Brigham Young at his winter home in St. George, Utah, a few years ago, I felt duty-bound to ask an obvious question: Where did the other women sleep? Other women? The church tour guide blushed, and laser-stared me as if I’d blasphemed the Mormon Moses. I wondered about arrangements and jealousies, the conjugal timing of a man who was married to 55 women, by most accounts. I didn’t ask about the sexual acrobatics of the great pioneer, just the spreadsheet logistics of managing all those spouses. ...The Church of Jesus...

PROVO — Police at Brigham Young University are investigating whether any laws were broken after professors discovered a voice-activated recording device stuck under a chair in a lecture hall on campus. Two professors were working on a PowerPoint presentation in the Joseph Smith Building two weeks ago when they discovered a digital recorder stuck to the bottom of a stool with Velcro, police said. After attempting to play back the recordings, they grew concerned and began searching other classrooms in the building. Upon discovering similar Velcro setups under chairs in other classrooms, the professors called police. The investigation, however, has...

The two sets of inscribed plates that Strang claimed to have found in Wisconsin and Michigan beginning in 1845 almost certainly existed. Milo Quaife's early, standard biography of Strang reflects that, while Strang's angelic visitations "may have had only a subjective existence in the brain of the man who reported them, the metallic plates possessed a very material objective reality." And they were almost certainly forgeries. The first set, the three "Voree" or "Rajah Manchou" plates, were dug up by four "witnesses" whom Strang had taken to the plates' burial place. Illustrated and inscribed on both sides, the Rajah Manchou...

As the new essay unintentionally hits the fan, Mormons are reeling and responding with their classic denials, claim of victim-hood and their typical repertoire of logical fallacies. Soon, their favorite defender, the straw man argument will be in full regalia, culminating in a passive aggressive indirect platitude statement (such as doubt your doubts, you have to go around the BOM, etc.) in the next general conference to which members will cling to for life. Already I have been contacted by members with their "straw man babies". So I have compiled a list of the quorum of the 15 straw men...

On October 22...LDS.ORG posted three essays dealing with the practice of plural marriage by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between the 1830s and 1904... Several major controversies have been generated in conjunction with the introduction of plural marriage in Nauvoo in the early 1840s. All of these are briefly discussed in the introductory essay, Polyandry (paragraphs 20–23, endnotes 29–30). The essay acknowledges that “Joseph Smith was sealed to a number of women who were already married,” estimating the number of these sealings at 12–14 (endnote 29)... Fanny Alger... Sexuality... Children with plural wives... Number of...

Though done in a lighthearted manner, this 4-minute video is a fairly accurate depiction of standard Mormon doctrine. It would be nice if Mormon missionaries explained Mormonism as clearly as the characters in this video do, but I imagine that would not foster strong LDS Church growth. Mormon Secrets: What the Missionaries Don’t TellBy Saved XMormon

A current LDS apostle and a former Utah governor were honored by Utah Catholics Thursday. Elder L. Tom Perry and his wife, Barbara Perry along with Jon Huntsman and his wife, Mary Kaye Huntsman, were honored at Catholic Community Services’ annual Humanitarian Awards Dinner at Little America Hotel in downtown Salk Lake City. Mary Kaye Huntsman has launched two youth programs called Bag of Hope and Power in You. The Catholic Community Service said that Jon and Mary Kaye have worked tirelessly in pubic service and to help those in need...

A Mormon bishop in Los Angeles is under fire for his assertion that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is unworthy to enter the faith's temples because of his support for Democratic Party positions. Mark Peredes' blog, titled "Good Riddance to Harry Reid, the Mormon Senate Leader," has drawn criticism from the church and Mormon Democrats. [SNIP] Reid spokeswoman Kristen Orthman on Saturday released a letter from a Mormon Democrat in Las Vegas to Paredes. "Our comment to this is to show you one of many comments Sen. Reid has received from his friends," Orthman said. The letter was written by...

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A Mormon bishop in Los Angeles is under fire for his assertion that Sen. Harry Reid is unworthy to enter the faith’s temples because of his support of Democratic Party positions.

Mia Love in Utah makes history, becomes first African American republican elected to US Congress

For at least half a century, the party of Lincoln has battled charges that it is racist, sexist and anti-immigrant. Today, voters from a conservative state made those arguments a little bit harder to make. In Utah, Mia Love became the first black Republican woman — and first Haitian American — elected to Congress. For the GOP — a house divided that faces significant demographic hurdles to winning the White House in 2016 even as it celebrates President Obama’s shellacking — this was huge. A party threatened with extinction among African Americans and immigrants now has someone to brag about...

Even her name is media friendly. Mia Love instantly became the darling of the Republican Party on Wednesday, after being elected as its first black female member of Congress -- and a Mormon to boot. And she has also rapidly drawn comparisons with Barack Obama, not least since she wowed her party's 2012 national convention with a tale of rags-to-political riches, much like the young Senator Obama did in 2004. "Many of the naysayers out there said that Utah would never elect, a black Republican LDS woman to Congress," she said at her victory rally, referring to the Church of...

Mia Love, bidding to become the first black Republican woman to win a congressional seat in 160 years of the Grand Old Party, was trailing Democrat Doug Owens in early unofficial returns Tuesday evening in Utah’s 4th District race.

This is my response to the Plural Marriage in Kirkland and Nauvoo essay posted last week to LDS.org. A couple of years ago I was talking to my 16-17 year old Sunday School class about polygamy. They raised it – not me. Our conversation was about the early practice of Mormon polygamy and how it came about. The girls in the class turned up their noses and looked aghast while one boy responded to Joseph Smith’s revelation on polygamy with a snort, and a, ‘Yeah right! That’s convenient!’ To say that polygamy has been a singular nuisance to the...

A Mormon mother of three secured her place in American history as the first black female Republican elected to Congress. "Tonight you have made history!" Utah's Mia Love told supporters after winning the state's 4th House district. "Many of the naysayers out there said that Utah would never elect a black Republican LDS (Latter Day Saint) woman to Congress. Not only did we do it, we were the first to do it!" Love, 38, who also will be the first Haitian-American to serve in the Capital, was surrounded by her husband, Jason, and their kids: Alessa, 14; Abigail, 11; and...

Among Republicans, the numbers are even more dramatic: 59 percent said that they believe that churches should speak out on the political issues of the day; 53 percent don’t believe that political leaders spend enough time talking about their faith; and 72 percent believe that it is important that members of Congress have strong religious beliefs. Clearly, they want to get a better sense of the faith that animates a politician’s values and how grounded they are in their faith. Many Americans have come to understand that if you know about a candidate’s faith then you can get a pretty...

...FOR FAITHFUL LATTER-DAY SAINTS, the temple endowment ceremony is one of the most...powerful ordinances received in mortality. One authoritative source called it the temporal stepping stone which all people must pass to achieve exaltation with God the Father and Jesus Christ...1 ... 1 Gospel Essentials, rev. ed., sunday school manual (Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), 1979, 247. [SNIP] Another element of literalism disappeared in 1927 when kissing over the altar during vicarious sealings for the dead was abolished.129 Probably the greatest twentieth-century catalyst to increase the number of vicarious endowments was Heber J. Grant's emphasis...

I recently listened to an interesting podcast episode of Buddhist Geeks called “Creating Living Ritual” included a critique of modern Buddhism’s “dead” ritualism. The discussion included some thoughts about what modern ritual should include to be successful and ironically, many of those suggestions Joseph Smith included in the first endowment ceremony which have recently been removed or altered. It got me wondering: did Joseph Smith create better ritualistic practices than we have today? He goes on to lament that “Buddhist rituals, definitely including most Tantric Buddhist rituals, are nothing like that. They are dead, zombie rituals.” (emphasis mine) He also...