Mormonism

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Billionaire Exits Mormon Church With a Big Rebuke
Billionaire Leaves Mormon
Church Over LGBTQ+ Stance
in case you missed it

Billionaire Leaves Mormon Church Over LGBTQ+ Stance

Jeff T. Green issues public rebuke

(Newser) - In what is being referred to as an unusual move, a high-profile member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is leaving—and making it publicly known that he's doing so because of the church's stance on certain issues. "I believe the Mormon Church has...

Mormon Church Not Happy Utah Plans to Ban Conversion Therapy

LDS church wants pending state regulation on minors amended

(Newser) - A state regulation is pending in Utah that would prohibit psychologists from using gay conversion therapy on minors—and on Tuesday night, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a statement announcing its opposition to the ban. "We teach the right of individuals to self-determination and the...

Dad of Elizabeth Smart: I'm Gay, Getting Divorced

Ed Smart also says he's not finding 'solace' anymore in LDS church

(Newser) - Ed Smart, father of kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart , posted a letter on Facebook Thursday that held some stunning revelations: He's gay, divorcing Elizabeth's mother, and "doesn't see a place for himself in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," per the Deseret News . Smart...

LDS Church Makes 'Surprise' Change on LGBT Issues

Mormon children of LGBT parents can be blessed, baptized

(Newser) - Children of LGBT parents may now be blessed as infants and then, later, baptized as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church announced that and other changes Thursday to controversial church policies that were enacted in 2015, the Deseret News reports. Church leaders said at...

David Cross Will Perform at Utah School Despite Row

The comedian tweeted what appeared to be a joke about holy undergarments

(Newser) - The University of Utah says a tweet from comedian David Cross showing him wearing undergarments sacred to the Mormon faith was "deeply offensive" but the college won't consider calls for the cancellation of his performance on campus Wednesday. College president Ruth Watkins criticized the tweet in a statement...

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: Don't Call Us Mormons

'LDS Church' is also now frowned upon

(Newser) - "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Tabernacle Choir" isn't a name that exactly rolls off the tongue, but the Mormon Tabernacle Choir might have to adopt it. Russell T. Nelson, the church's president, announced Thursday that it is launching a major campaign to have the...

Mormons Make History With New Apostles

Brazilian, Chinese-American choices add diversity

(Newser) - The Mormon church made history and injected diversity into a top leadership panel on Saturday by selecting the first-ever Latin-American apostle and the first-ever apostle of Asian ancestry, the AP reports. The selections of Ulisses Soares of Brazil and Gerrit W. Gong, a Chinese-American, were announced at the start of...

President of Mormon Church Dies
15th Man to Succeed
Joseph Smith Has Died
OBITUARY

15th Man to Succeed Joseph Smith Has Died

Thomas Monson was LDS leader for almost a decade

(Newser) - The 15th man to succeed Joseph Smith as chief of the Mormon church has died. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says 90-year-old church president Thomas Monson died at his Salt Lake City home Tuesday evening, the AP reports. Monson—who was ordained as a bishop at the...

Mormon-Owned BYU Ends 6-Decade Ban
Mormon-Owned BYU
Ends 6-Decade Ban

Mormon-Owned BYU Ends 6-Decade Ban

Caffeinated soft drinks are now being sold on Brigham Young University campus

(Newser) - Mormon church-owned Brigham Young University ended a six-decade ban Thursday on the sale of caffeinated soft drinks on campus, surprising students by posting a picture of a can of Coca-Cola on Twitter and just two words: "It's happening." The move sparked social media celebrations from current and...

Mormons Excommunicate First Leader in Decades

This time, it wasn't for apostasy, church says

(Newser) - A Mormon church leader was removed from his post and kicked out of the religion Tuesday for the first time in nearly three decades. James J. Hamula was released from a mid-level leadership council based on disciplinary action by the religion's highest leaders, says Eric Hawkins, a spokesman for...

Mormon Millionaire Planning Massive Utopia in Vermont

David Hall's vision is the same as one Joseph Smith had in 1833

(Newser) - “Lots of things he did were stupid, but in my view, he was a sage or a seer and didn’t even understand what came to him.” So says wealthy Mormon David Hall about Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church. Bloomberg has a fascinating deep dive...

Hundreds of Mormons Quit Over New Anti-Gay Policy

Church blocks kids of same-sex couples

(Newser) - At least 1,500 Mormons have resigned from the Church of Latter-day Saints over a new policy targeting same-sex couples and their kids. New guidelines state Mormons in same-sex relationships must face disciplinary councils and possible excommunication, while their "natural or adopted" children can't be baptized until they...

Mormon Church Reveals Its 'Seer Stone'

Church says it was used to translate sacred text

(Newser) - To most people, it just looks like a smooth, egg-sized rock, but it was part of the founding of the Mormon church and photos of it have now been published for the first time. The images of the "seer stone" that Mormons believe founder Joseph Smith used to translate...

Mormons Expel 'Ordain Women' Founder

Kate Kelly excommunicated until she shows 'true repentance'

(Newser) - Mormon leaders have made good on their threat to inflict the church's harshest punishment on an activist who wanted women to become priests. Kate Kelly, a founder of the Ordain Women group, was found guilty of apostasy and excommunicated by church elders who found her guilty of launching an...

Archaeologists Seek Home of Mormon Founder's Father

Illinois dig unearths 10K years of history

(Newser) - Archaeologists in Nauvoo, Ill., are searching for a key site in the history of America's biggest homegrown religion. Over the last few years, some 10,000 items—including buttons, window glass, and bits of pottery—have been found by a team trying to find the former home of the...

Mormon Church Threatens to Boot Pair of Activists

...for pushing women priests, gay acceptance

(Newser) - Kate Kelly wants women to be allowed to become Mormon priests. John P. Dehlin simply wants Mormons to be more accepting of gay members. Now both are facing excommunication from the church for apostasy, the New York Times reports. They were notified of the move on consecutive days this week,...

BYU Compares Masturbation to ...Combat

Satellite campus releases bizarre video

(Newser) - Well, this is weird. Brigham Young University's satellite campus in Idaho recently released a video urging students to report friends who are ... masturbating too much. And if that wasn't quite bizarre enough, the video also compares the self-love problem to warfare, the Daily Beast reports. The video centers...

Mormon Women Protest All-Male Priesthood

But study shows majority of LDS women oppose female ordination

(Newser) - Some 130 women gathered outside the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City yesterday, after being rejected from a meeting for the faith's all-male priesthood, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. The women, members of the Ordain Women movement in the LDS Church, tried to buy tickets to the event, but...

Romney's Testy 'Mormon Video' Goes Viral

Are liberals kidding themselves by relishing his 'weird' beliefs?

(Newser) - A video of Mitt Romney irritably defending his faith went viral this week, a sign that Democrats are likely reveling in his ill temper and Mormon beliefs during the last days of the campaign, the Washington Post reports. Romney gets irate in the 2007 video when his interviewer—Jan Mickelson...

Anti-Romney Billboard Rips Mormon 'Bigotry'

Meanwhile, Ohio takes down voter fraud billboards

(Newser) - Mitt Romney's Mormon faith hasn't been much of an issue this election, but American Atheists is trying to make it one. The group is sending out a mobile billboard reading "No Blacks Allowed (until 1978)" and "No Gays Allowed (Current)" to follow Romney for the next...

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