Mormon Land

“As a Latter-day Saint artist, Joseph Brickey had painted church founder Joseph Smith dozens of times. So he was naturally skeptical in 2022, when he first saw headlines about a recently discovered daguerreotype that was reported to be the only known photo of Smith. He had studied extensively the human form, including facial structures. He had seen other photos making similar claims that were easi...

There was a time in the 1960s when W. Cleon Skousen, who died in 2006 at 92, was a widely known and controversial conservative figure in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Skousen was a popular speaker, teacher and writer, whose books about scriptures reflected a literal, nonmodernist approach to the Bible. He was a zealous anti-communist who freely mixed his Mormonism with his polit...

Earlier this month, general authority Seventy historian  Kyle McKay apologized  for remarks he made at a regional worship service in Oklahoma. In his controversial comments, McKay, the  official historian  for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, briefly reenacted a racist rendition of the African American spiritual “ This Little Light of Mine ,” which he described as “a song where whi...

There was a time in the 1960s and ’70s, when Marion Duff Hanks was better known than almost any other Latter-day Saint leader. The boyish, handsome, charismatic and deeply literate Hanks was tapped in 1953 at age 31 as a general authority in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was not released from full-time service in the faith until 1992. “Duff” (as his friends called him) was be...

For about a decade, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been in a costly rebrand aimed in part at shoring up its bona fides as a Christian denomination. Not everyone is convinced, including, it appears, inside the federal government. Late last week, the U.S. Department of Defense, helmed by conservative evangelical Pete Hegseth, issued a new, vastly pared down list of codes for rel...

Carol Lynn Pearson, renowned Latter-day Saint poet, playwright and activist, began keeping a nearly daily diary when she was a senior at Brigham Young High School in 1956. And she never stopped. The first of her four volumes , which is out now, reads like a chronicle of Mormonism’s intellectual history from the 1960s through 1980s. Pearson, who grew up in Utah and now lives in California, comments...

Jeff Strong, a former bishop, mission president and BYU faculty member, finds himself in a similar position to an increasing number of parents in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While he remains a believing, practicing and devout member, he has loved ones (including three of his five children) who have left the faith. Thus, his new book, titled “ Torn: Why People We Love Are Leavi...

Ronell Hugh says he was recently hiking a trail in Highland, Utah, when a white man in a gray truck leaned out his window and  shouted a racist threat . It was a moment both startling and deeply troubling for the president of the  Genesis Group , a support organization for Black Latter-day Saints. Hugh hadn’t been threatened like that before since living in the Beehive State. But he had heard lots...

It’s the late 1960s to mid-1970s. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues a century-old priesthood and temple ban against its Black members. It takes a high-profile public stance against the proposed Equal Rights Amendment . And a persistent patriarchy urges women to abandon careers and return home to care for their children and husbands — all the while limiting their leadership...

On April 4, millions of Latter-day Saints worldwide  raised their hands  to show symbolic support for their new prophet-president, Dallin H. Oaks. It was a rare ritual, called a  solemn assembly , done primarily at the time of a new leader for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But this act of “sustaining” is also commonly used in congregations as a way to express goodwill and welcom...

Nearly 50 years ago, Latter-day Saint prophet-president Spencer W. Kimball warned boldly and directly about the dangers of war, including the vast resources used in the destruction of America’s enemies. The Yoda-like leader cautioned that members were becoming a “ warlike people. ” His successors in the office, though, have rarely spoken with such passion and purpose. Their condemnations of war an...

Netflix's harrowing 4-part docuseries focuses on the crimes of Sam Batemen, but before Sam Bateman there was Warren Jeffs. As outsiders, Nicole and Rebbie can't begin to understand how either of these men were able to do what they did. Cristina helps contextualize what these religious doctrines and communities are like, how they differ from each other, where they can be mischaracterized, and what...

There was plenty of  good growth news  — at least on its books — for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2025: a record number of convert baptisms of more than 385,000; an overall global membership climbing ever closer to 18 million; and at least 44 nations or territories with annual growth rates above 10%. At the same time, the United States, the nation with the most Latter-day Sai...

The three most recent presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints died at ages 101, 90 and 97. In fact (not counting founder Joseph Smith) church presidents live to an average age of 87. And the current leader, Dallin Oaks, is 93. Decades ago, liberal apostle Hugh B. Brown, a self-proclaimed “ rebel ,” saw this emerging gerontocracy as a problem and proposed a remedy, which inclu...

At least four aspects of the just-completed General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stood out: • The Easter weekend focus on the death, resurrection and Atonement of Jesus Christ. • A solemn assembly combined with Dallin H. Oaks’ first conference sermon as the 18th church president. • A record number of convert baptisms in 2025. • The choice of an African woman to lea...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently announced that  women could now serve in Sunday school presidencies , a position that has traditionally been filled by men. Allowing women to oversee the teaching of scriptures and church doctrine to members was seen by many as a further move toward gender equity. The news, though, came with a caveat: If a woman were named as president, her...

It has been the month of breaking news surrounding reality television in Utah. From Season 4 of 'Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' premiering, to Taylor Frankie Paul's 'Bachelorette' season being cancelled, to Jessi from 'Secret Lives' getting divorced to then sending flowers to a friend for kissing her ex-husband...there is a lot to unpack! On this 'Mormons in Media' crossover, we discuss what ties b...

Mitt Romney may be the most famous Mormon politician, but the title of highest-ranking elected Latter-day Saint in U.S. history belongs not to a rich Utah Republican with a patrician background and deep ties in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but rather to a self-made Nevada Democrat with hardscrabble roots who converted to the faith. His name: Harry Reid. Passionately partisan, f...

As a young man, Troy Williams wore a missionary name tag for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Great Britain — all the while fighting against the growing realization he was gay. Afterward, he interned with the Utah Eagle Forum and learned the ways of backroom politicking at the feet of one of the state’s most effective conservative lobbyists, Gayle Ruzicka . Thus, an advocate was...

Born in Salt Lake City, John Dinkelman has spent nearly four decades working as a U.S. diplomat in countries as far away as the former Yugoslavia and Turkey, and as close as Nogales, Mexico. He currently serves other diplomats as president of the American Foreign Service Association . As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Dinkelman served a two-year mission in Argentina a...

For decades, the Temple Square mission in Salt Lake City has operated unlike any other run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The smallest mission in the world geographically, it is arguably also one of the busiest, acting as an introduction to the Utah-based faith for millions of visitors from across the globe — as well as a place of spiritual rejuvenation for members. Temple Squ...

Note to readers and listeners • In a tribute to Salt Lake Tribune guest columnist Ardis Parshall, who  died earlier this week , we are replaying this  “Mormon Land” episode  from last July in which the noted research historian discussed one of her favorite topics: Latter-day Saint pioneers. So enjoy once again hearing Parshall’s words, wit and wisdom. Ardis, we will miss you. Members of The Church...

Faithful Salt Lake Tribune readers know Eli McCann well. He’s the award-winning columnist who has them cracking up about  coming out as a coffee drinker  one minute and tearing up about the  Latter-day Saint youth group in the western Pacific  who won his heart the next. Now his monthly humor columns have been compiled into one bright, breezy book. Titled “ We’re Thankful for the Moisture: A Gay G...

There is no shortage of documentaries detailing the crimes of Ruby Franke and Hildebrandt. On this ‘Mormons in Media’ crossover, we unpack the Netflix documentary ‘Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story’ and the Hulu docuseries ‘Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke.’ Rebbie and Nicole are joined by Salt Lake Tribune columnist Eli McCann to talk child exploitation, manipulation, vulner...

By all accounts,  Richard Bushman  could be considered the patriarch of Mormon history. For more than nine decades, he has lived it, studied it, analyzed it, shared it with fellow believers and explained it to nonbelievers. The soft-spoken scholar — with three degrees from Harvard and a drive toward understanding truth — has been writing about Mormonism for much of his academic career. He is a gia...