Mormon Land

The mission statement of Brigham Young University, the flagship school of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, says nothing about pursuing spots in the College Football Playoff or the Final Four.

It does say that BYU graduates “should be capable of competing with the best in their fields.”

So, in this era of “name, image and likeness,” with athletic budgets soaring into the mega-millions, does that mean the Cougars are ...

For many early Utah pioneers, James Brown Jr. was a hero of sorts. He led a Mormon Battalion company into the Salt Lake Valley just days after Brigham Young. He and his family settled Ogden, which became known for a time as Brownsville, and he served as a Latter-day Saint bishop.

As a prominent leader, he married 13 women — all sealed to him in temple rites — and fathered 28 children.

What most church members didn’t know was that J...

Gordon B. Hinckley, then president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, stepped up to the microphone in General Conference in the fall of 2000 and solemnly denounced tattoos as “graffiti on the temple of the body.”

The following year, the faith’s “For the Strength of Youth” pamphlet pointedly counseled young people not to “disfigure” themselves with tattoos.

With those words, body art — no matter how innocent, innocu...

To Christians everywhere, the story of refugees is a part of Scripture. It is sacred. Adam and Eve, Moses and the Israelites, the Book of Mormon’s Lehi and his family, even Mary, Joseph and the child Jesus.

The history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints includes an epic journey of migrants fleeing persecution to find a promised land.

Latter-day Saints, then, have a natural affinity for immigrants. On top of that, mo...

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have a standard crossing-the-Plains narrative: Pioneers traversed the Mississippi River on the ice led by Brigham Young. Everything was well organized, and everyone was well behaved. They trekked hard by day and prayed together at night. They sang “Come, Come, Ye Saints” around the campfire and then delighted in dancing to the tunes of fiddles.

Sure, there was hardship, so ...

The latest word from the IRS is that, contrary to popular belief, churches and other houses of worship can endorse political candidates from the pulpit without threatening their tax-exempt status.

When asked to comment on the tax agency’s stance, a spokesperson for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pointed, perhaps tellingly, to the faith’s official policy of political neutrality, which states matter-of-factly that th...

This nonpartisan Latter-day Saint group has called out President Donald Trump for continuing to spread the false narrative that the 2020 election was rigged and for targeting those who have reported the truth about his electoral defeat that year.

It has denounced the present federal administration’s quest for greater power and Congress’ unwillingness to act as a constitutional check against such executive overreach.

It has opposed ...

On the third crossover episode between ‘Mormon Land’ and ‘Mormons in Media, ’ Rebbie and Nicole are joined by Meg Walter, host of the ‘Hive Mind’ podcast. After watching the ‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ reunion, the three talk about the heaviness of it. Nicole asks the question: If faith is so important to these women, why stay in the LDS Church where they don’t follow the rules versus choosing a different denomination? We also t...

On Sept. 28, 2017, The Salt Lake Tribune premiered a new podcast, “Mormon Land,” and its first guest was Tom Christofferson, a prominent LGBTQ+ member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a brother of apostle D. Todd Christofferson.

Deseret Book had just published Tom’s memoir, “That We May Be One: A Gay Mormon’s Perspective on Faith and Family.”

As hosts, we were definitely neophytes, but the power of Tom’s narra...

Stassi D. Cramm did not spend her childhood fantasizing about becoming the first female prophet-president in the Community of Christ’s 165-year history.

Indeed, Cramm did not originally plan for a life of ministry in the church, which, like the much-larger Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, traces its origins to Joseph Smith.

But sometimes, Cramm says, God has other plans for you.

Earlier this month, Cramm was ordained to...

To many liberal members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, apostle Hugh B. Brown was an ecclesiastical icon, a fierce warrior for social justice and a passionate proponent of ending the faith’s former temple/priesthood exclusion of Black members. Still, Brown was not without his critics, including some strong opponents among the church’s highest leadership ranks.

As a member of the governing First Presidency from 1...

Critics often say that there is no place in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for LGBTQ+ members. After all, they rightly point out, the faith’s policy is that having same-sex attraction is not a sin but acting on it is.

That can put those who are in a same-sex marriage or advocating for it in a tough position. It also has led to self-loathing among LGBTQ+ members and serious conflicts with those who believe everyone ...

In 2012, scholar John Turner published an award-winning biography of Brigham Young, a mountain of a man in Western Americana. But there remained a bigger fish to pursue, namely Joseph Smith, the “white whale” of Mormon history, the religious icon who gave birth to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Turner’s voyage is now complete and the resulting book, “Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet,” is avai...

In the second monthly bonus episode brought to you by a collaboration of “Mormon Land” and “Mormons in Media,” Latter-day Saint Rebbie Brassfield and non-Latter-day Saint Nicole Weaver recap season two of “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” From discussing maternity garments and Gen-Z Latter-day Saints bringing back cross necklaces, the pair talks about all the things you may have been wondering. You might even learn the Young Women Th...

It took more than three decades for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to grow its membership in Kenya from a handful in the late 1980s to more than 21,000 today.

These days, though, the number of conversions is rising more rapidly in this East African country. Kenya now even has its first Latter-day Saint temple.

Such expansion brings with it challenges brought by having young lay leaders, adapting to cultural practic...

As the world held its collective breath for white smoke at the Vatican to signal the selection of a new Catholic pope, some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were smugly thinking how straightforward their faith‘s succession process is.

No guessing. No politicking. No top candidates. The senior apostle simply moves up a seat.

Some wonder, though, what’s wrong with mystery and surprise? Is an election in this...

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are more prone to perfectionism.

That was the assumption, at least, that Justin Dyer, professor of religious education at church-owned Brigham Young University, was used to hearing.

Then the statistician, along with a few colleagues, started digging into the data. What they found was more complicated than the common wisdom that church membership, with its lofty eternal aim ...

In 1981, then-apostle Ezra Taft Benson rose to the pulpit during a General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and told women: “You were elected by God to be wives and mothers in Zion. Exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom is predicated on faithfulness to that calling. Since the beginning, a woman’s first and most important role has been ushering into mortality spirit sons and daughters of our Father in Heav...