(RNS) — If Candidate Williamson has a predecessor it’s Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, who undertook to run for president in early 1844.

Most didn’t leave because they got offended, became atheists, or wanted to join another religion. Also, the vast majority of former Mormons say they’re happy after leaving.

(RNS) — The starting bid was $1, but the final 15 minutes of the weeklong auction were punctuated by rapidly rising bids in mostly $500 increments.

(RNS) — For $35 million, the LDS church gets a handwritten copy of its founding text, while the Community of Christ gets a much-needed boost to its bottom line.

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (RNS) — From Jerusalem to Ayodhya, the world has no shortage of contested religious sites. But here in the U.S., the three largest Mormon denominations have found a way to peacefully share places that all of them hold sacred.

(RNS) Independence Day marks the 200th anniversary of the Eric Canal, the “psychic highway” that nourished the Mormons, the Adventists, spiritualism, a revived apocalypticism, the Oneida Community, the Amana Colony and the Shakers, among others.

(RNS) The public gets a brief window to tour a temple soon to be closed to all but members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Fiona Givens, a Deseret Book author and popular Mormon speaker, says early LDS women were given priesthood keys — and that there is historical tradition linking Heavenly Mother to the Holy Ghost.

Tyler Glenn’s new solo video “Trash” says the Mormon religion is claustrophobic for LGBT people—and since the video ends with the singer’s mock death, apparently fatal.

Membership in Relief Society used to be something you had to apply for, and several other surprises from the first 50 years of Mormon women’s history.

Where Mormon leaders once spoke at length about the end of the world and being victims of persecution, sociologists say now it’s all about Jesus and the nuclear family.

SALT LAKE CITY – The seer stone, said one critic, “drags across the line into the realm of the superstitious.”

The faithful believe God helped him use the “seer stone” to translate symbols found on gold plates into English text that became the Book of Mormon.

More than 700 people have been cast in scenes from the Book of Mormon this week on the hill in Manchester, where Joseph Smith is said to have received the faith’s sacred texts from an angel.

Meet the guy behind the Minions: Cinco Paul, one of the creators of the “Despicable Me” franchise, talks about how his Mormon faith has influenced his two decades of screenwriting.