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SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released the following statement today after a vote on a policy change by the Boy Scouts of America National Executive Board to admit openly gay leaders: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is deeply troubled by today’s vote by the Boy Scouts of America National Executive Board. In spite of a request to delay the vote, it was scheduled at a time in July when members of the Church’s governing councils are out of their offices and do not meet. When the leadership of the Church...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued the following statement Monday regarding the Boy Scouts of America resolution for adult leader standards: “As a chartering organization, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has always had the right to select Scout leaders who adhere to moral and religious principles that are consistent with our doctrines and beliefs. Any resolution adopted by the Boy Scouts of America regarding leadership in Scouting must continue to affirm that right.”

SALT LAKE CITY — The Church issued the following statement Friday: "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints acknowledges that following today's ruling by the Supreme Court, same-sex marriages are now legal in the United States. The Court's decision does not alter the Lord's doctrine that marriage is a union between a man and a woman ordained by God. While showing respect for those who think differently, the Church will continue to teach and promote marriage between a man and a woman as a central part of our doctrine and practice."

There's a Mormon character in one of ABC's new fall series. And viewers will learn this when they see him wearing nothing but his temple garments. That's just one of the reasons that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may not be particularly pleased with that character in the pilot of "Quantico," which is scheduled to premiere on Sunday, Sept. 27, at 9 p.m. on ABC/Ch. 4. The series is about a bunch of new recruits who arrive at the FBI training base in Quantico, Va., for training.

(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) reintroduced legislation in their respective chambers on Wednesday that would prohibit the federal government from denying tax exemptions or other government benefits to individuals and institutions that promote traditional marriage. "Protecting religious freedom from Government intrusion is a Government interest of the highest order," the bill states. If the U.S. Supreme Court rules in Obergefell v. Hodges that gay marriage is a constitutionally protected right, the First Amendment Defense Act (S. 1598, H.R. 2802) would prevent the Internal Revenue Service from denying tax-exempt status to churches that refuse to...

West Jordan • Many professional boxers have colorful and jarring nicknames designed to instill fear in opponents, capture the imagination of the general public and perhaps bring some extra publicity and headlines. But when it came to having a trademark moniker, Utah's Gene Fullmer wasn't like many of his counterparts. In a 2009 interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, Fullmer said he just preferred to be called by the name his parents, Tuff and Mary Fullmer, gave him when he was born in 1931. The former world middleweight boxing champion died late Monday night at a care center near his...

President Obama met privately with Mormon leaders last night in Utah. One topic on the agenda for the meeting? Immigration. "President Obama is meeting with leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, including President Henry Eyring, President Dieter Uchtdorf, Elder Tom Perry and Elder Todd Christofferson," White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz told the press. "The President is pleased to meet with top LDS leaders as so many presidents before him have done. Among other issues, they will discuss the church's long record of service, including its work on disaster relief and...

Question for a Mormon How does the Mormon community react when one Mormon tells lies about another Mormon and brags of the lie's success.

Glenn Beck says he is no longer a member of the Republican Party. “I’ve made my decision — I’m out," Beck said on his radio show Wednesday, according to Mediaite.com. "I’m out of the Republican Party. I am not a Republican; I will not give a dime to the Republican Party. I’m out.” The former Fox News host and founder of the Blaze supported the GOP during the last election cycle but has become disillusioned with the party in recent years over what he believes was its failure to stand up to the Obama administration — specifically, the Affordable Care...

SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) An LDS apostle reaffirmed recently that Mormons who support gay marriage are not in danger of losing their temple privileges or church memberships — even though the Utah-based faith opposes the practice.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Mormon-church-backed anti-discrimination bill that protects LGBT Utah residents and religious rights received final approval at the state's Republican-controlled Legislature on Wednesday. The House of Representatives voted 65-10 to pass the bill, which was only unveiled last week. The Senate passed it Friday. The bill earned a rare endorsement from the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which helped fast-track the measure through the Legislature. Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican and member of the church, has said he'll sign the bill.

Constitutional Carry is currently available in five States.  Fourteen States have active legislation pending to move the State to a Constitutional Carry model, including Maine, New Hampshire and Colorado.  Idaho’s legislation (HB89) has been blocked and declared dead by an ad-hoc secret committee. This ad-hoc secret committee has no published members, no scheduled meetings, and no public hearings on bills being voted on.  This committee has handles all bills introduced that cover firearms in the State of Idaho.  It is rumored it is a joint House and Senate committee. Idaho’s multiple concealed carry levels Idaho currently has multiple levels of...

David Conley Nelson has spent years researching the LDS Church during the Third Reich, resulting in the new book Moroni and the Swastika: Mormons in Nazi Germany.Though it’s not officially out until February 26, the book will be launched Sam Weller’s in Trolley Square, Salt Lake City, tomorrow evening.It’s not right to say I “enjoyed” this book, because it was disturbing to discover how deeply some Mormons bought into Nazi ideology. But it’s required reading for anyone interested in Mormon history and the larger question of a religion’s responsibility to procure justice for the oppressed – even when it means...

LEHI — Officers booked a man Wednesday afternoon after a 10-year-old girl disclosed the suspect had sexually abused her last summer. During an interview at the Children’s Justice Center, the victim said she was swimming at a neighbor’s home in Lehi during the summer of 2014. During that time, the neighbor’s uncle, Jeff Hunt, came out and got in the pool with the victim and with her friends. They started to play a game of “shark,” but during the game, Hunt, 42, reportedly made the victim grab and squeeze his crotch underwater. She also stated he had reached up and...

Utah lawmakers introduced a landmark bill Wednesday that bars discrimination against gay and transgender individuals while protecting the rights of religious groups and individuals. The measure has a rare stamp of approval from the Mormon church and stands a high chance of passing in Utah, where the church is based and many state lawmakers and the Republican governor are members of the faith.

Is polygamy becoming the new “gay” movement in America? With television shows such as HBO’s “Big Love” and TLC’s “Sister Wives,” polygamy is the once-taboo lifestyle that appears to be gaining wider acceptance–especially on the heels of homosexual marriage victories across the nation. [SNIP] Historically, polygamy has had little support in the U.S. since the Republican Party in 1854 declared it, along with slavery, one of the “twin relics of barbarism,” and Congress banned it in 1862. However, recent decisions of activist judges that thrust homosexual marriage on the American public are now being used, chapter and verse, to argue...

Polygamist reality TV star Kody Brown has traded his 'official' wife for the youngest of his four 'spiritual' brides. Kody appears to live in marital bliss with his four wives Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn and their 17 children on TLC's show Sister Wives. The polygamist was only legally wed to Meri after their wedding in 1990, while the the next three were 'spiritual' or 'sister' marriages. But it has now emerged that his first wife has become his first ex-wife after he divorced Meri Brown last September.

When 16-year-old Gabi Finlayson went to Paris with her mother and brother in December, she only bought one thing: a light pink dress with lace overlay that fell just below the knee. She planned to wear it to an upcoming high school dance. “I loved it,” she tells Yahoo Parenting. “It reminded me of Audrey Hepburn. It seemed like a classic dress I could wear forever.” So on Saturday night, the Utah high school junior couldn’t wait to show up at the dance. “Being a 16-year-old girl, it’s hard to find something that makes you feel pretty and when you...

“It is oppressive to live in the city of St. George as a non-Mormon,” St. George City Council applicant Tara Dunn announced to a crowd comprised of some of Southern Utah’s most influential people, many of whom are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her words seemed to hang in the air on Jan. 23 during the brief but tense pause that followed her speech in the St. George City Council chambers. Many were shocked to hear such strongly worded criticism of Latter-day Saint culture. Some were offended at what they felt was an attack on...

Here’s a simple algebra equation to describe what it’s like to grow up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Take the year, subtract 20, and that’s the year it really is inside the Mormon gerontocracy. When I was a child, I was told that black people couldn’t hold leadership positions until 1978 because it “just wasn’t their time yet.” To explain their opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment, my parents cited some paranoid logic about unisex bathrooms. I had left my family’s faith by the time church members were supporting California’s Proposition 8 to the tune of...