Flunking Sainthood
For today’s Mormons, it’s Food Storage Lite
By Jana Riess — January 26, 2023
(RNS) — From two years to one year to six months to three months: Food storage requirements aren’t what they used to be for Latter-day Saints.
How to stay Mormon after a faith crisis (if staying is what you want)
By Jana Riess — January 18, 2023
(RNS) — Former LDS Bishop Christian Kimball has spent the last 25 years ‘on the inside of the edge’ of Mormonism.
6 ideas for Mormons studying the New Testament this year
By Jana Riess — January 5, 2023
(RNS) — From podcasts to YouTube channels to books, here’s my curated list of favorite (fun, even!) companions for studying the New Testament in 2023.
Top 10 Mormon news stories of 2022
By Jana Riess — December 30, 2022
(RNS) — From a Joseph Smith photograph to David Archuleta's decision to 'step away' from the church, it's been an eventful year.
The ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ of Mormon prayer
By Jana Riess — December 23, 2022
(RNS) — I want the language I use in prayer to reflect my relationship with God and help it to grow.
On Mormon tithing and a $100 billion investment fund
By Jana Riess — December 14, 2022
(RNS) — Tithing can’t be reduced to checking a box that says you support an insanely wealthy institution with yet more wealth and are suddenly right with the Lord because of it.
Mormon TikTok star debunks Bible conspiracies, misinformation
By Jana Riess — December 9, 2022
(RNS) — More than a quarter-million TikTok followers enjoy Dan McClellan's unusual combination of deadpan humor and solid biblical scholarship.
Why Americans are leaving their churches
By Jana Riess — December 1, 2022
(RNS) — For sociologist Stephen Bullivant, the question is why it took so long for the religious exodus to happen.
Death and the Little Black Funeral Dress
By Jana Riess — November 29, 2022
(RNS) — Each time I wear it to mourn someone I’ve loved, my dress becomes more steeped in love and history.
New memoir unpacks what Mormon girls are taught about marriage
By Jana Riess — November 15, 2022
(RNS) — 'I needed to learn that I get to decide what my life looks life,' says Rachel Rueckert, author of the new memoir 'East Winds.'
LDS Church is under fire in Australia
By Jana Riess — October 31, 2022
(RNS) — If the reports are true, the government of Australia has every right to be angry. This kind of financial practice looks terrible for the church. It feels covert and deceptive.
Mormons are insulated from some dangers of celebrity culture — but not all
By Jana Riess — October 27, 2022
(RNS) — It helps that some of our leaders are over the age of 90.
Does Evan McMullin have a chance to beat GOP Senator Mike Lee in Utah?
By Jana Riess — October 24, 2022
(RNS) — For an incumbent GOP senator to lose an election in one of the nation’s rubiest states is certainly a long shot, at least according to the rules of politics as usual. But it's not politics as usual.
Mormon leaders and the fear of apologizing
By Jana Riess — October 14, 2022
(RNS) — The inability to apologize is damning to us spiritually, as a church, in that it impedes our progress. There is so much freedom in being able to say ‘I messed up and I am so sorry.’
Are double ear piercings and sleeveless tops OK now for Mormon teens?
By Jana Riess — October 5, 2022
(RNS) — The LDS church just backed off telling Mormon teens what not to wear.
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.
