Joseph Smith
The limits of Mormon obedience
By Jana Riess — April 6, 2023
(RNS) — LDS prophets have been on the wrong side of justice. When it is acceptable to disobey them?
Behind the Latter-day Saint church’s vast wealth are two centuries of financial hits and misses
By Benjamin Park — April 5, 2023
(The Conversation) — Joseph Smith encouraged early Latter-day Saints to pool their resources. Two centuries later, one of the results is an investment portfolio estimated at $100 billion.
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.
From Mormon missionary to Lutheran pastor
By Jana Riess — April 27, 2021
(RNS) — Langston ‘tried millions of ways’ to make Mormonism work, but she eventually found peace in the Lutheran Church (ELCA) and began to pursue a path toward ordination. Her parents and husband, who are still Latter-day Saints, were supportive, but ‘they were heartbroken.’
Mormon excommunication was not designed to happen this way, say scholars
By Isaac Barnes May and Samuel S. Wells — April 24, 2021
(RNS) — Joseph Smith designed an innovative and humanitarian system of church discipline that protected the rights of the accused. So what happened? Two scholars explain.
Mormonism and the ‘one true church’
By Jana Riess — February 4, 2021
(RNS) — Author Patrick Mason says Latter-day Saints' focus on being the 'one true church' may be missing the larger purpose of the restoration.
Marianne Williamson’s metaphysical campaign for president
By Mark Silk — May 13, 2019
(RNS) — If Candidate Williamson has a predecessor it's Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, who undertook to run for president in early 1844.
4 myths about ex-Mormons
By Jana Riess — February 12, 2019
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.
First-edition Book of Mormon sells at auction for $80,000
By Kimberly Winston — March 1, 2018
(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.
LDS church sets record price for a manuscript of the Book of Mormon
By Kimberly Winston — September 22, 2017
(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.
Contested sacred space USA: Conflict and cooperation in the heartland
By Kimberly Winston — August 11, 2017
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.
The Erie Canal and the birth of American religion
By S. Brent Rodriguez-Plate — June 30, 2017
(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.
A new Mormon temple rises in Ben Franklin’s Philadelphia
By Lauren Markoe — August 4, 2016
(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.
Mormon founder turned over priesthood keys to women, says Deseret Book author
By Jana Riess — June 21, 2016
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.
Gay Mormon rocker no longer singing praises for his faith
By Jana Riess — April 30, 2016
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.
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