Flunking Sainthood
Teaching the Mormon Heavenly Mother: “Women want to know her”
By Jana Riess — June 8, 2015
Missy McConkie recently convened a Relief Society event about the Mormon Heavenly Mother. She says that if we don't start teaching about her and asking questions, we won't add to whatever knowledge we already have (though we actually know more than many Mormons think we do).
Death by Mormon fasting
By Jana Riess — June 5, 2015
Mormons believe that if we are to become like Christ, one thing we must learn to do is to die and be reborn. Fasting is that lesson for us, month in and month out.
Mormons and “mankind”: Still holding on, but why?
By Jana Riess — June 4, 2015
With changes in the English language over the last fifty years, for the LDS Church to hold on to the use of "mankind" almost feels like a deliberate political statement. And a strange one, at that.
Mormon Nastygrams and the “abomination” of homosexuality
By Jana Riess — June 2, 2015
This is by no means the first Mormon nastygram I’ve ever received, and it's not even close to being the worst. After five years of blogging, I've become downright philosophical about them. But several things struck me about this one.
Mormon Kickstarter campaign places women at “center stage” in LDS history
By Jana Riess — May 28, 2015
Where are the women in LDS church history? Their achievements are recounted as the history of women in the Church, but not as the history of the Church. Ardis Parshall's project aims to change that.
Drink a coffee, save your Mormon soul
By Jana Riess — May 27, 2015
When this Mormon guest blogger was asked to rank various sins as a kid, she put drinking alcohol and coffee at the top -- ahead of murder and fornication. Dozens of church lessons in dietary legalism had already sunk in.
Mormons and evangelicals: Answering the hardball questions about our faith
By Jana Riess — May 22, 2015
The Mormon-evangelical dialogue group, led by BYU's Robert Millet and Fuller Theological Seminary's Richard Mouw, handles the tough questions between two religions that have often been at odds.
Don’t ask a Mormon, “Do you have a temple recommend?”
By Jana Riess — May 20, 2015
"About the only time it’s appropriate for you to ask someone whether they have a temple recommend is if you’re working the desk and they’re walking in the front door," says guest blogger Mitch Mayne.
News flash! Americans like Mormons better when we’re not oppressing gays
By Jana Riess — May 15, 2015
Every time my church does something that appears to diminish the humanity of LGBT persons, our reputation as a religion takes a hit. Now there is some statistical evidence of just how much.
New film looks at tumultuous last year of Thomas Merton’s life
By Jana Riess — May 12, 2015
A new documentary follows the last year of Merton's life, including conflicts with his abbot, his meetings with the Dalai Lama, and his untimely death at age 53.
A new Mother’s Day song for Mormons
By Jana Riess — May 8, 2015
A Mormon Primary president wasn't happy last year with the Mother's Day song options, so she gave her chorister an assignment: Go write something better.
Is the National Day of Prayer still relevant?
By Jared Brock — May 7, 2015
"Many people think that God is like Santa Claus - I know I did," says guest blogger Jared Brock. "I think we’ve missed the point of prayer."
Gay Mormon Celeste Carolin wants to stay active in the LDS Church — and to get married
By Jana Riess — May 5, 2015
Seattle Mormon Celeste Carolin wants to marry the love of her life. Under current LDS policy, that means her options are to either be excommunicated or to voluntarily resign from the Church. "I will choose neither," she says. "I choose to stay."
Mormons fast for Baltimore
By Jana Riess — May 4, 2015
The Baltimore fast reminded me of two important truths, the first being that most Mormon people are eager to be mobilized for good. The second is that I need to reconfigure my own faulty understanding of the Church.
Mormon silence on Baltimore. And Ferguson. And Cleveland.
By Jana Riess — April 30, 2015
Half a century after the civil rights movement, black people are still dying in America’s streets at the hands of whites. Is it too much to expect that a prophetic religion that wants to offer God’s voice to us today would go out on a limb and say that, in general, this is wrong?
Jana Riess
Flunking Sainthood
Senior columnist Jana Riess is the author of many books, including "The Prayer Wheel" (Random House/Convergent, 2018) and "The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church" (Oxford University Press, 2019). She has a PhD in American religious history from Columbia University.
