Free Republic

When the rural neighborhood of Lone Mountain, Nevada, stood up to the might of the Mormon church, they may have anticipated an explosive argument. But not literally. 'We've had people setting off fireworks,' says resident Erin LeDoe. 'It was a neighbor who lives up against the mountain. They were setting off what were basically large cannons, right outside her backyard.' Those behind the pyrotechnics are thought to be supporters of a planned Mormon mega temple - and members of the church itself. Their target was a local woman who had fiercely opposed it, along with many of her neighbors, on...

Perhaps anticipating his death, Joseph met often with apostles and other close associates to restore the temple endowment prior to the completion of the Nauvoo temple. Wilford Woodruff, later situated the temple instruction in praying for the Lord's biblical vengeance of blood of the prophets as follows:[3] I have already said that there is nothing [antagonistic to the government in the Mormon endowments] of that kind in any part or phase of Mormonism. I ought to know about that as I am one of the oldest members of the church. A good deal is being made of a form of...

A highly disturbing new conference has emerged, featuring Jason Whitlock, John Rich, Voddie Baucham, Skillet’s John Cooper and Mormon Glenn Beck????! According to the promo material, Fearless Army: Roll Call 2.0 is a “gathering, celebration, and encouragement of men to put on the full armor of God to take a stand against the evil forces destroying American culture.(Ephesians)” insisting that “it’s important that men not give up meeting together and encouraging one another toward love and good deeds. (Hebrews 10:24-25)” The conference is being put on because “Jason Whitlock and John Rich “believe the best way to close the divides...

A Cumberland County man and “stake president” of the Harrisburg area Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints was charged Wednesday by Pa. State Police after they say he failed to report child sex abuse accusations against a former bishop, Boy Scout leader and lawyer from central Pennsylvania. Rhett Hintze, 50, of New Cumberland, was charged with one count of failure to report or refer child abuse in connection to the July 2023 charges against Shawn Gooden, a former bishop for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who is accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy in French...

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Since Utah became a state in the late 1800s, most of its residents have been members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But according to a new study, Utah isn’t majority Mormon anymore. A paper published this month in the Journal of Religion and Demography estimates that the percentage of Utahns who identify as members of the LDS church, otherwise known as Mormons, is about 42%. That’s markedly lower than previous media reports citing the church’s numbers, which put the percentage of Mormons in Utah at around 60% as recently as 2020....

A Mormon woman who was raped has revealed how her family blamed her for the attack and punished her for 'sinning.' Kristjana Hillberg, whose family practiced mainstream Mormonism, appeared on a recent episode of the Cults To Consciousness podcast to discuss her harrowing ordeal. The now 33-year-old laid bare the details of a sexual assault that left 'blood everywhere' and revealed how it made her mom 'sick.' She was forced to 'repent' her sins to the bishop in the aftermath and she was eventually disfellowshipped from the religion. Kristjana began by telling host Shelise Ann Sola what it was like...

Peter Jennings, the late anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight, once remarked the following as host of a television investigation of unidentified flying objects: “We have a lot of skeptics—I am very skeptical—but we seriously investigated something a lot of people are serious about,” he said. “And when we come to the end, this is wonderfully interesting. “More than 80 million Americans believe intelligent beings from somewhere else have come here,” he said. “Forty million believe they have seen UFOs, so this is of deep interest to people.” Jennings said further in exploring the wide span of those interviewed who...

A few months before her 18th birthday, Katie Wallace hatched a plan to overdose on heroin. She and a male friend who had her hooked on the drug would do it together, ending years of misery to which the 17-year-old saw no way out. It was not the path the Mormon church, in which Katie had been raised, had ordained for her. But it was one that she holds the religion responsible for, after church leaders allegedly covered up years of rampant sexual abuse and incest within her family. For Katie, now 39, it began when she was four. Unbeknown...

Mormon families who tried to expose cases of sexual abuse within their communities have alleged they were 'silenced' and threatened with disciplinary action by church leaders, DailyMail.com can reveal. In one instance, two Idaho members claim they were warned they could be punished after the pair alerted others in their congregation to the fact that their former bishop faced child sex abuse charges dating back 10 years. In another case in Minnesota, a church member and social worker claims he was stripped of his positions within the church after he spoke out about a registered sex offender who had been...

In a world where boundaries and definitions are stretched to unrecognizable limits, a congregation of ex-Mormons has outdone itself in an unprecedented display of spiritual anarchy. Stepping far away from previously blasphemous Mormon roots, they’ve founded a “church” where their sacrament is not the bread and wine symbolizing Christ’s sacrifice, but psychedelic mushrooms. Yes, you read that correctly. They call themselves the “Divine Assembly,” trading in pews and hymnals for bean bags and trip guides. These spiritual “adventurers” claim they are communing directly with the divine while they’re tripping, but the only thing they are communing with is the surreal...

‘The Chosen’ Director Dallas Jenkins has responded to fans wanting him to include the transfiguration of Jesus in his hit TV show about the life of Jesus, saying he’s confused why fans would think it would be an important scene to show, particularly because it wouldn’t “serve our story.” We’ve written about Jenkins in the past, with our posts Dallas Jenkins Says Mormons are Saved : ‘I’m Going to Die on That Hill’, as well as Dallas Jenkins Doubles Down on Controversial Mormon Comments, Straight up Lies and Dallas Jenkins Affirms Mormons are Christians in ‘Definitive, Final’ Video.’ Jenkins made...

Blackstone Group Inc BX.N said on Wednesday it agreed to acquire genealogy provider Ancestry.com Inc from private equity rivals for $4.7 billion, including debt, placing a big bet on family-tree chasing as well as personalized medicine. Ancestry.com is the world’s largest provider of DNA services, allowing customers to trace their genealogy and identify genetic health risks with tests sent to their home. Blackstone is hoping that more consumers staying at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic will turn to Ancestry.com for its services. “We believe Ancestry has significant runway for further growth as people of all ages and backgrounds become increasingly...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its investment arm have been fined $5 million for using shell companies to obscure the size of its $32 billion portfolio, which was under church control, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday. The faith, known as the Mormon church, maintains billions of dollars of investments in stocks, bonds, real estate and agriculture. Much of its portfolio is controlled by Ensign Peak Advisers, a nonprofit investment manager overseen by ecclesiastical leaders known as its presiding bishopric. The Mormon church was allegedly worried that the size of its portfolio, which reached...

The current size of Ensign Peak’s holdings remains a tightly held secret. The firm, based in Salt Lake City, was incorporated in 1997. Under SEC rules, it must disclose some types of investments, like U.S.-listed stocks, that it manages directly, which amounted to roughly $40 billion on Sept. 30. The remainder of the portfolio is made up of investments such as fixed-income securities, private companies or funds. Ensign Peak had an estimated $100 billion of holdings in 2019.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The leader of a small polygamous group near the Arizona-Utah border had taken at least 20 wives, most of them minors, and punished followers who did not treat him as a prophet, newly filed federal court documents show. Samuel Bateman was a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or FLDS, until he left to start his own small offshoot group. He was supported financially by male followers who also gave up their own wives and children to be Bateman’s wives, according to an FBI affidavit.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Tuesday it would back proposed federal legislation to safeguard same-sex marriages, marking the latest show of support for the measure from conservative-leaning groups. The nearly 17-million member, Utah-based faith said in a statement that church doctrine would continue to consider same-sex relationships to be against God’s commandments. Yet it said it would support rights for same-sex couples as long as they didn’t infringe upon religious groups’ right to believe as they choose. “We believe this approach is the way forward. As we work together to preserve the principles and practices of...

In an unexpected move, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave its support Tuesday to a proposed federal law that would not only recognize all legal marriages but also codify ones between same-sex couples. The Utah-based faith’s doctrine “related to marriage between a man and a woman is well known and will remain unchanged,” according to a news release posted to the church’s website. “We are grateful for the continuing efforts of those who work to ensure the Respect for Marriage Act includes appropriate religious freedom protections while respecting the law and preserving the rights of our LGBTQ...

On this date in 1942, 17-year-old Helmuth Hübener was executed at Plotzensee Prison for listening to the BBC. Huebener was a Mormon youth with the political perspicacity to abhor fascism from a very young age: the former Boy Scout (Mormons really take to scouting) ditched the Hitler Youth after Kristallnacht, which happened when Huebener was only 10 years old. As Germany forged ahead towards worse horrors in the years, conscientious people of all ages had moral dilemmas to resolve. Mormons in Nazi Germany weren’t persecuted per se and to keep it that way that small community generally kept its head...

As discussions, debates and disputes about the recent reversal of Roe v. Wade rage on, the questions always seem to be about women. Gabrielle Blair, a successful Latter-day Saint influencer known as “Design Mom,” says it’s time to shift that focus to men. After all, she argues in her soon-to-be-released book, “Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way to Think About Abortion,” 100% of unwanted pregnancies ultimately are caused by men. The issue must move away from controlling and legislating women’s bodies, she insists, and turn instead to the lack of male accountability. Here are excerpts from The Salt Lake Tribune’s...

Independent U.S. Senate candidate Evan McMullin called on Sen. Mike Lee to “break from partisan extremes” and get behind the bipartisan gun safety proposal unveiled in the Senate this week. McMullin said in a brief news conference via Zoom on Monday that he supports the proposal as a common-sense plan to protect children, families and gun rights.