How very sad. The mission field is great in Utah, many more will be broken before it is opened to the Word of God.
Being fired for Beer and Bibles - wow how narrow minded and legalistic can people be. Really, sponsor an event then fire a person for participating in that even.
I’m Baptist, but we’d win more to Christ if we didn’t act like Muslims at times. It is possible to share the Gospel over a beer. I wish more folks realized that.
this church is still here in Utah - and there are several newer Christian churches in this area that are drawing in both ex-Mormons and soon-to-be ex-Mormons. I know several families personally that have left Mormonism. It is much more a situation of making a Christian church available and letting those with a spiritual hunger stop by and see the alternative.
Joseph Smith drank beer and wine (and expressly not for sacramental purposes according to the LDS History of the Church).*
Section 89 of the LDS Doctrine & Covenants (generally called the Words of Wisdom and 'revealed' in 1833) discourages the consumption of wine (excluding sacramental wine) or "strong drinks." As interpreted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, this means alcoholic beverages are forbidden, including beer.
To this non-LDS, firing him for drinking a beer seems a step beyond a 1970s Southern Baptist church looking down on a man with long hair, while the stereotypical painting of Jesus with flowing locks hung on the sanctuary wall.
*Beer: Millennial Star, vol. 23, no. 45 p. 720 (9 November 1861) (there was previously a .pdf of this volume in the Brigham Young Digital Collections here, but it's been moved or deleted)
Wine: ("Called at the office and drank a glass of wine with Sister Jenetta Richards, made by her mother in England . . ." ~ Note of Joseph Smith); History of the Church (June 27, 1844), vol. 6, p. 616; ("Dr. Richards uncorked the bottle, and presented a glass to Joseph, who tasted, as also Brother Taylor and the doctor . . . "); History of the Church (June 27, 1844, vol. 7, p. 101 ("Sometime after dinner we [John Taylor and other prisoners at Carthage Jail] sent for some wine. It has been reported by some that this was taken as a sacrament. It was no such thing; our spirits were generally dull and heavy, and it was sent for to revive us[.]. I believe we all drank of the wine, and gave some to one or two of the prison guards."