---

Mormonism/Mormon Church

---

Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, has spent time on and off for the last seven years building a defense of the Book of Mormon, one of the key tomes of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Religion News Service reports.

The three-term senator — A former missionary and bishop and the grandson of a past president of the church — has now delved into a different debate: whether the book Mormons believe was revealed by an angel to their founder Joseph Smith in the 1820s is authentic.
» Full Story

Prominent fundamentalist Mormons, most of whom were excommunicated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for practicing polygamy while they were alive, have been posthumously re-baptized in LDS temples, a Salt Lake City researcher says.

“The LDS Church appears to be reinventing its polygamous history, as it ushers excommunicated Mormon fundamentalists back into the LDS fold through a postmortem back door,” Helen Radkey wrote in her report.
» Full Story

Thousands of issues of Brigham Young University’s student newspaper were pulled from newsstands because a front-page photo caption misidentified leaders of the Mormon church as apostates instead of apostles.

An apostate is someone who abandons a previous loyalty – such as to faith, political party or a cause.
» Full Story

While protesters outside the LDS Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City condemned Mormonism as non-Christian, nearly every speaker inside the giant building Sunday morning emphasized the conviction that Jesus Christ is at the center of Mormon faith, theologically, personally and intimately.

More than 20,000 members listened in the Conference Center during a morning and afternoon session, while millions more watched the proceedings via satellite in LDS chapels across the world.
» Full Story

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is angry over an episode of HBO’s hit series “Big Love” that the church says is in “appallingly bad taste.”

polygamist family, is reported to be depicting an endowment ceremony, one of the most sacred rituals of the Mormon Church.
» Full Story

Colorado-based Focus on the Family has pulled an online interview with conservative television host Glenn Beck after concerns were raised about Beck’s Mormon faith.

Gary Schneeberger, vice president of media and public relations for Focus on the Family Action, said that “differences in the Mormon faith and the historical evangelical faith are not inconsequential.”
» Full Story

From the possibility of a Mormon in the White House to a stream of Latter-day Saints on reality television, from being attacked as belonging to a cult (or mistaken for a polygamous sect in Texas) to participating in California’s bitter battle for traditional marriage, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would see their faith in the nation’s mirror. To many, such scrutiny was unlike any they had seen in their lifetime.
» Full Story

Declaring “no mob veto,” a full-page ad in the New York Times on Friday denounced the “violence and intimidation” directed at members of the LDS Church who supported California’s ban on gay marriage.

In a statement Friday, church officials expressed gratitude to the dozen civil rights and religious leaders, ranging from Catholic to evangelical Christian to Orthodox Jew, who attached their names to the advertisement.
» Full Story

Historians have long criticized the Mormon church for glossing over the unflattering parts of its history and censoring materials of interest to scholars.

Publishing Smith’s papers marks a brave departure from that past, said Jan Shipps, a professor of religious history and a Mormon expert at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

“It’s saying our story is there for anybody to see,” said Shipps. “They are becoming a full-fledged religious tradition and they are not trying to hide the details.”
» Full Story

Holocaust survivors said Monday they are through trying to negotiate with the Mormon church over posthumous baptisms of Jews killed in Nazi concentration camps, saying the church has repeatedly violated a 13-year-old agreement barring the practice.

‘Baptism for the dead’ is one of many un-biblical practices of the Mormon Church — which, theologicaly, is a cult of Christianity.
» Full Story

A couple thousand people gathered outside the Capitol in Sacramento this afternoon to rally for the legalization of same-sex marriages just days after voters imposed a constitutional ban.

The gathering follows several similar events around the Bay Area and California. Earlier today, more than 400 people gathered outside the distinctive Mormon Temple in Oakland to protest the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints‘ support of Proposition 8.
» Full Story

Brigham Young University has yanked the diploma of a man who created a calendar featuring shirtless Mormon missionaries and was later excommunicated from the church.

“When a student applies for graduation, he or she must be in good standing with the university,” BYU spokeswoman Cari Jenkins said.

The BYU letter said Hardy’s degree is on hold because he was not in good honor code standing because of his excommunication. The LDS Church owns and operates BYU.
» Full Story

A father found in contempt for violating a custody agreement that barred him from promoting Mormonism to his two sons lost his appeal at the Arkansas Court of Appeals on Wednesday.

Joel Mark Rownak and Lisa Monette Rownak agreed in their 2005 divorce to raise their children “in the Protestant faith.” The decree bars them from promoting another religion without the other’s consent.
» Full Story

Mormon church president Thomas S. Monson said Saturday the church has plans to build five new temples worldwide, three abroad and two in the United States.

The Mormon Church is considered to be, theologically, a cult of Christianity. Its temples, rituals and doctrines are rejected by mainstream Christians.

Due to its attempts to pass off Mormon doctrines and practices as being compatible to — or even representative of — Christianity, the Mormon Church is considered to be, theologically, a cult of Christianity.
» Full Story

Mormonism’s use of the term ‘Christian’ is false and misleading, in the same way that slapping the term ‘ROLEX’ onto a fake watch is deceptive.

Pointing this out has nothing to do with religious hatred or intolerance, but rather with historical and theological accuracy and honesty.
» Full Story

The Cambridge stake center, as the building will be called, will house four Mormon congregations – two of which worship in English, one in Portuguese, and one in Spanish – as well as the headquarters for the Cambridge stake, which is a geographical unit, akin to a diocese, that in this case includes an estimated 4,000 Mormons worshiping in 14 area congregations.
» Full Story

On Sept. 11, 1857, Mormon militiamen led the slaughter of 120 men, women and children on wagon train bound for California in an incident known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

For years, Mormon church officials downplayed the role Mormons played in the mass killing.

Now a new book lays the blame largely on Southern Utah church and militia leaders.
» Full Story

The creator of a calendar that featured shirtless Mormon missionaries was excommunicated Sunday after a disciplinary meeting with local church leaders in Las Vegas.

“Men on a Mission,” which has sold nearly 10,000 copies at $14.99 each, included pictures of 12 returned missionaries wearing black slacks, but not their trademark white shirts, in modest poses. The men also were photographed in traditional missionary garb and share their religious beliefs in biographical sketches. [video]
» Full Story

Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, described plural marriage as part of “the most holy and important doctrine ever revealed to man on earth” and taught that a man needed at least three wives to attain the “fullness of exaltation” in the afterlife.

He warned that God had explicitly commanded that “all those who have this law revealed unto them must obey the same … and if ye abide not that covenenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory.”

So why did the Mormons eventually reject polygamy?
» Full Story

Mormon leaders today said they are stepping up efforts to make the public aware of the differences between the Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), which has recently garnered widespread national attention.

Then we fill in the details the LDS leaves out.
» Full Story

---

Mormonism/Mormon Church Research Resources

---

Our Mormonism/Mormon Church news feed with only items about Mormonism/Mormon Church

Books about Mormonism/Mormon Church

Apologetics Research Resources on Mormonism/Mormon Church

---

Factlet

---

---

Advertisement

---

---

About Religion News Blog

---

Religion News Blog (RNB), published by Apologetics Index, highlights news items and other resources on world religions, cults, religious sects, new religious movements, alternative religions, abusive churches and - to a lesser extent - related issues (e.g. ethics, human rights).

The information is provided for research and educational purposes.

RNB's non-profit news clipping service is used by - among others - Christian apologists, countercult professionals, anticult organizations, cult experts, teachers, religion professionals, reporters and other researchers.

Categories / News Trackers:
Samples of the hundreds of religious news subjects covered in Religion News Blog include (click links for respective news trackers): the Alpha Course, Alternative Healing, Catholic Church, Christianity, Cults, Falun Gong, Hate Groups, Interfaith issues, Islam, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism / Mormon Church, Polygamy, Religion Trends, Scientology, Transcendental Meditation, Unification Church, Wicca / Witchcraft, and many more.
[More info : How to link]

---

Most Read about Mormonism/Mormon Church

---

1. Gallup poll: Two thirds of Americans not ready for a Mormon president
2. DNA tests contradict Mormon scripture
3. 'Rise' revisits fastest-growing religion claim
4. Are Americans Ready for a Mormon President?
5. Book says Joseph Smith came from Jesus' family tree
6. Federal agency sues University of Phoenix for alleged Mormon bias
7. LDS Church revises pamphlet on gays
8. Da Vinci Code's premise not so shocking to LDS
9. Judge to mediate $45m sex-abuse suit against LDS Church
10. Mormon prom a modest good time

---

Headlines by Email or RSS

---

RNB's RSS feed | What is this?

Subscribe by Email | What is this?

---

Use Our Headlines

---

Free: Place RNB Headlines on your website! It's easy: just copy and paste