1+ day, 19+ hour ago (1677+ words) (Illustration by Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune) In 2014, Latter-day Saint apostle David A. Bednar rose in front of a packed Marriott Center at Brigham Young University and issued a call for church members to embrace social media as a tool for spreading the faith's teachings everywhere an internet connection can be found. "Beginning this day," Bednar said, "I exhort you to sweep the Earth with messages filled with righteousness and truth " messages that are authentic, edifying and praiseworthy " and literally to sweep the Earth as with a flood." More than a decade later, it's fair to say that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have delivered, leveraging existing accounts and launching new ones to share their testimonies and go post-for-post with naysayers about their beliefs and practices. But Bednar may have gotten more than he bargained…...

3+ day, 19+ hour ago (1063+ words) Nine in 10 Americans gather around a table to share food on Thanksgiving. At this polarizing moment, anything that promises to bring Americans together warrants our attention. But as a historian of religion, I feel obliged to recount how popular interpretations of Thanksgiving also have pulled us apart. Communal rituals of giving thanks have a longer history in North America, and it was only around the turn of the 20th century that most people in the U.S. came to associate Thanksgiving with Plymouth "Pilgrims" and generic "Indians" sharing a historic meal. The emphasis on the Pilgrims" 1620 landing and 1621 feast erased a great deal of religious history and narrowed conceptions of who belongs in America " at times excluding groups such as Native Americans, Catholics and Jews. The Wampanoag, who shared food with the Pilgrims in 1621, continue to celebrate the cranberry harvest, and similar feasts…...

4+ day, 19+ hour ago (341+ words) Decades before there was a wing of Mormon studies dedicated to female leaders in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a handful of pioneering historians mined the archives for records of and stories about prominent women in the faith. Maureen Ursenbach Beecher was one of those trailblazers. Under the leadership of church historian Leonard J. Arrington, Beecher, who died Nov. 18 at home in Ottawa, Canada, at age 90, was hired as the faith's expert on Eliza R. Snow, the poet, preacher and plural wife of church founder Joseph Smith and his immediate successor, Brigham Young. It was Beecher, for instance, who first recognized the importance of the unpublished 1842 minutes of the women's Relief Society founding in Nauvoo, Illinois, and shared them with the General Relief Society Presidency 150 years later. A 1987 volume of essays, "Sisters in Spirit," co-edited by Beecher and Lavina…...

4+ day, 19+ hour ago (250+ words) (Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) A first edition the Book of Mormon. The story of the "Three Nephites" appears in the volume. If you ask members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints if they know about the "Three Nephites," chances are most will know the allusion. The story comes from the Book of Mormon in chapters where the risen Christ visits the Americas and chooses 12 apostles. Of those, three ask to linger in mortality until Jesus comes again, ministering to the people. From the time when the book of scripture was first published until today, members have reported encounters with these shape-shifting strangers, who seem to pop up randomly angelic visitors of sorts sent to help people. For decades, Brigham Young University professor William A. "Bert" Wilson, seen as "the father of Mormon folklore," gathered these accounts....

5+ day, 1+ hour ago (381+ words) (Vatican Media via AP) Newly elected Pope Leo XIV concelebrates Mass with the College of Cardinals inside the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican the day after his election as 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Friday, May 9, 2025. Vatican City " A new Vatican doctrinal note describes marriage as an exclusive and "indissoluble union" between one man and one woman, reaffirming the Catholic Church's criticism of polygamy and polyamory. The document, "One Flesh: In Praise of Monogamy," was approved by Pope Leo XIV on Friday and published on Tuesday, when it was presented by the Vatican head of the doctrinal department, Cardinal V'ctor Manuel Fern'ndez, during a news conference at the Vatican. "Polygamy is in opposition with moral law," the document states in Italian. "It radically contradicts conjugal communion." A theme woven throughout the document is that monogamy protects the equality and…...

5+ day, 8+ hour ago (853+ words) (Jacob Oman) Latter-day Saint Jacob Oman shows off his latest tattoo. It's no secret that tattoos have been under scrutiny by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for decades. But is that stigma changing? In a Pew Research Center survey, approximately 85% of U.S. Latter-day Saints agreed that over the past 20 years, society has become more accepting of tattoos. That begs the question: Are more Latter-day Saints actually getting them? Ryan Burge, a professor and religion analyst at Washington University in St. Louis, studied the data and noted that 20% of Latter-day Saints reported having at least one tattoo. Only Jewish adherents ranked lower at 17%. Although 80% of the nation's Latter-day Saints avoid tattoos, some observers believe that number is on the decline. (Ethan Gregory Dodge) Ethan Gregory Dodge showcases his tattoo honoring his Latter-day Saint pioneer ancestor. Freelance journalist…...

5+ day, 19+ hour ago (964+ words) (Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Tyler Bowyer, Turning Point Action's chief operating officer and a Latter-day Saint, speaks at an event in Logan in late September. Minutes before Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University, the conservative Christian political activist said, "First of all, I love Mormons." The 31-year-old evangelical knew he was speaking to an audience that included many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But he also recognized the contribution of his Turning Point Action team, some of whom were Latter-day Saints, particularly his chief operating officer, Tyler Bowyer. "I love how Mormons send missionaries around the world," Kirk said on that fateful day, adding: "I'm an evangelical Christian, but I'm not one of those guys that hates on Mormons." Yet within days of Kirk's assassination, the "Turning Point USA…...

1+ week, 19+ hour ago (1235+ words) (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Latter-day Saint missionaries spread their message in Paraguay. Women now can go on full-time missions at age 18, instead of 19. During his first interview as president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Dallin H. Oaks said the patriarchal faith had "work left to do" in "using the great qualifications and powers of the daughters of God." Barely a month later, he and his First Presidency counselors, apostles Henry B. Eyring and D. Todd Christofferson, announced that young women can now enter missionary service at age 18, the same as young men. "I never understood why they wanted the girls to wait," said Becca Ferguson, a 21-year-old student at church-owned Brigham Young University and returned missionary. "Girls kind of mature faster than boys." Differences in the mission experience still remain. The news release stressed that…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago (1115+ words) (Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Missionaries in an English class at the Missionary Training Center in Provo in 2023. The governing First Presidency has announced that women can now service missions starting at age 18. Latter-day Saint missionaries are entering a new age of equality. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Friday that it is lowering the minimum age for female missionaries from 19 to 18, making it the same as for men. Many young women at church-owned Brigham Young University, which provides a prolific pool of Latter-day Saint missionaries, seemed especially thrilled by the change. "I don't turn 19 until July, and so I've been thinking a lot about a mission, but now I can actually make this decision now. I can put my papers in now instead of in February," BYU student Kate Behrmann said. "It definitely affects a…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago (972+ words) (Jeffrey D. Allred | AP) BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier, left, and brother Tiger Bachmeier pray before a college football game in Provo. My favorite British writer, Charles Dickens, wrote words in 1859 that perfectly describe the state of American collegiate athletics today: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." One need not look too far to find the worst. Arizona and Colorado fans have taunted teams from Brigham Young University, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with religious slurs in recent basketball and football games. A few weeks ago, U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, used his social media account to bully a 19-year-old kid " a University of Utah kicker " because the player followed his pregame practice routine at the same time a prayer was being said before the Utah-BYU football showdown in Provo. I don't…...