Tag Archives: LDS

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints really, truly, absolutely wants to be known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Not the LDS Church. Not the Mormon church. It made that clear Thursday — even though the last attempt to eradicate those nicknames for the Utah-based faith flopped. The new push …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: Three years ago this month, the U.S. Supreme Court made gay marriage legal in every state, but the LDS Church still hasn’t listed same-sex couples in its massive genealogy databank. Not surprising, perhaps, given the Utah-based faith’s opposition to same-sex marriage. But change is coming to the genealogy resource — and soon. The church’s genealogical …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is ending its relationship with the Boy Scouts of America and will create new youth programs for its members. The church said the move will be effective Dec. 31, 2019, according to a news release. The announcement comes soon after the Boy Scouts of America changed their …

The Associated Press reports: Thomas S. Monson, the 16th president of the Mormon church, has died after overseeing the religion for nine years. He was 90. Monson died Tuesday night at his home in Salt Lake City, according to church spokesman Eric Hawkins. Monson spent more than five decades serving in top church leadership councils — making him a well-known …

Newsweek reports: The Mormon church hates self-love. Masturbation should be strictly banned because it can turn young people into homosexuals and criminals, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes, according to a leaked guidebook issued to members. The 1981 guidebook, released this week by the transparency group MormonLeaks, provides some insights into what many young Mormons have been …

Ben Winslow reports at Salt Lake City’s Fox affiliate: Nearly all of the Utah State Senate has signed on in support of a Colorado shop who refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in a case now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah [photo], …

Salt Lake City’s CBS affiliate reports: She is a life-long member of the LDS church with the needed ecclesiastical endorsement to hold a current temple recommend — her faith’s standard of being a believer in good standing. Now she has taught her final class at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho, after she declined to retract a Facebook statement supporting the LGBT …

Hemant Mehta writes at the Friendly Atheist: While big-name singers are evidently saying no to performing at Donald Trump‘s inauguration, one of the only well-known acts to say yes has been the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They’re on a slate filled with Kid Rock, Ted Nugent, and an apparently divided group of Rockettes. The Church made clear that this isn’t a …

Two real life Mormon missionaries are going viral on YouTube with parody of Adele’s Hello than has hit 200,000 views in its first day. Marcus Joseph and Korey Smith (Joseph Smith, get it?) are Brigham Young students and you might not glom onto the fact that they’re actually pitching Mormonism until the final credit appears for LDS Smile, a group …

For real. He said that. The Huffington Post reports: A top Mormon leader made some eyebrow-raising claims about the gay community during a visit to Chile last week. During a Feb. 23 meeting, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) Elder David A. Bednar claimed that he and his fellow Mormons “do not discriminate” against gay and lesbian …

White Jesus has apparently delivered a personal message to the president of the Mormon Church. The Salt Lake Tribune reports: After same-sex marriage became legal in several countries, including the United States, the LDS Church’s top 15 leaders wrestled with what to do, weighed all the ramifications, fasted, prayed, met in the temple and sought God’s guidance on the issue. Balancing …

The Associated Press reports: Several hundred people with roots in the Mormon faith gathered in Salt Lake City on Saturday to renounce the church’s new policies targeting gays and their children in an event that marked the latest illustration of the fervor the rule changes have caused. Billed as a mass resignation by Mormons, people filled out paperwork and dropped …

From Salt Lake City’s CBS affiliate: The LDS church has clarified to its leaders that being in a same-sex marriage is considered a form of apostasy. The update came to what is known as Handbook #1, which is used as a guide for administering in the church, and is only available to LDS bishops and stake presidents. A screen shot …

In a statement that will surely incite evangelical outrage, the head of the Mormon Church has denounced Kim Davis. The Salt Lake Tribune reports: Kim Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky, cannot use her Christian faith as a justification for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gays, a high-ranking Mormon authority said Tuesday. Public officials “are not free to apply …

After wild claims by some Mormon nutters, the LDS Church has been forced to issue a reassuring statement about tonight’s “supermoon” eclipse. The Guardian reports: A rare confluence of a lunar eclipse and a supermoon to happen this weekend has prompted such widespread fear of an impending apocalypse that the Mormon church was compelled to issue a statement cautioning the …

Last night the Mormon Church issued a press release in which they threaten to end their relationship with the Boy Scouts over the end of the ban on 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 …

The Mormon Church has made its first-ever donation to an LGBT organization. Ben Winslow reports for Salt Lake City’s Fox affiliate: The LDS Church quietly made a $2,500 donation to the non-profit Utah Pride Center to help its efforts with LGBT homeless and youth. The money, coming in the form of access to the Bishop’s Storehouse, will provide food for …

A coalition of religious denominations including the Mormon Church has filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in which they argue that the legalization of same-sex marriage will, among other things, deprive them of “citizenship rights.” An excerpt: A right to same-sex marriage also would supplant the States’ “historic and essential authority to define the marital relation” with an …

“Having visited the Beehive State and Governor Herbert less than two years ago, I know firsthand how hard Log Cabin Republicans of Utah President James Humphreys and his team have been working to achieve this monumental victory. The passage of this bill in Utah should show Republicans around the country that the balance between LGBT rights and religious liberty is …

Via Salt Lake City’s Fox affiliate: The gallery was packed as Rep. Brad Dee, R-Ogden, presented the bill. Behind him were his co-sponsors, Sen. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, and Senate Majority Whip Stuart Adams, R-Layton. “There was a lot of people and a lot of faith that went into this particular bill,” Dee said, crying. An LGBT nondiscrimination bill, which …