Yearly Archives: 2024

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“Institutionally, the Church reacted swiftly to the revelation on the priesthood. Ordinations and temple recommends came immediately. The reasons that had been given to try to explain the prior restrictions on members of African ancestry — even those previously voiced by revered Church leaders — were promptly and publicly disavowed.” - President Dallin H. Oaks, 2018 'Be One' Celebration, 40 Years Since Priesthood Ban | wasmormon.org
“Institutionally, the Church reacted swiftly to the revelation on the priesthood. Ordinations and temple recommends came immediately. The reasons that had been given to try to explain the prior restrictions on members of African ancestry — even those previously voiced by revered Church leaders — were promptly and publicly disavowed.” - President Dallin H. Oaks, 2018 'Be One' Celebration, 40 Years Since Priesthood Ban
“Some, in their personal lives, continued the attitudes of racism that have been painful to so many throughout the world, including the past 40 years. Others have wanted to look back, concentrating attention on re-examining the past, including seeking reasons for the now-outdated restrictions... To concern ourselves with what has not been revealed or with past explanations by those who were operating with limited understanding can only result in speculation and frustration. To all who have such concerns, we extend our love and this special invitation. Let us all look forward.” - President Dallin H. Oaks, 2018 'Be One' Celebration, 40 Years Since Priesthood Ban | wasmormon.org
“Some, in their personal lives, continued the attitudes of racism that have been painful to so many throughout the world, including the past 40 years. Others have wanted to look back, concentrating attention on re-examining the past, including seeking reasons for the now-outdated restrictions... To concern ourselves with what has not been revealed or with past explanations by those who were operating with limited understanding can only result in speculation and frustration. To all who have such concerns, we extend our love and this special invitation. Let us all look forward.” - President Dallin H. Oaks, 2018 'Be One' Celebration, 40 Years Since Priesthood Ban
"By entering and by your presence here, you consent to be photographed, filmed and/or otherwise recorded. Your entry constitutes your consent to such photography, filming and/or recording and to any use, in any and all media throughout the universe in perpetuity, of your appearance, voice and name for any purposes whatsoever in connection with the campaign presently entitled: Light The World. You understand that tall photography, filming and/or recording will be done in reliance on this consent given by you by entering this area. If you do not agree to the foregoing, please do not enter this area." - Giving Machine Filming Notice, Light The World Ad Campaign - LDS Church | wasmormon.org
"By entering and by your presence here, you consent to be photographed, filmed and/or otherwise recorded. Your entry constitutes your consent to such photography, filming and/or recording and to any use, in any and all media throughout the universe in perpetuity, of your appearance, voice and name for any purposes whatsoever in connection with the campaign presently entitled: Light The World. You understand that tall photography, filming and/or recording will be done in reliance on this consent given by you by entering this area. If you do not agree to the foregoing, please do not enter this area." - Giving Machine Filming Notice, Light The World Ad Campaign - LDS Church
“The commandment to love our neighbors without discrimination is certain. But it must not be misunderstood. It applies generally. Selection of a marriage partner, on the other hand, involves specific and not general criteria... The probabilities of a successful marriage are known to be much greater if both the husband and wife are united in their religion, language, culture, and ethnic background. Thus, in choosing your eternal companion, please be wise. It’s better not to fly in the face of constant head winds. Occasional squalls provide challenge enough.” - LDS President, Russell M. Nelson, 1995 BYU Devotional, A More Excellent Hope | wasmormon.org
“The commandment to love our neighbors without discrimination is certain. But it must not be misunderstood. It applies generally. Selection of a marriage partner, on the other hand, involves specific and not general criteria... The probabilities of a successful marriage are known to be much greater if both the husband and wife are united in their religion, language, culture, and ethnic background. Thus, in choosing your eternal companion, please be wise. It’s better not to fly in the face of constant head winds. Occasional squalls provide challenge enough.” - LDS President, Russell M. Nelson, 1995 BYU Devotional, A More Excellent Hope
“We recommend that people marry those who are of the same racial background generally, and of somewhat the same economic and social and educational background (some of those are not an absolute necessity, but preferred), and above all, the same religious background, without question” (Spencer W. Kimball, 1976 Devotional Speeches of the Year) Institute Eternal Marriage Student Manual: Marriage and Divorce 2002-2024 | wasmormon.org
“We recommend that people marry those who are of the same racial background generally, and of somewhat the same economic and social and educational background (some of those are not an absolute necessity, but preferred), and above all, the same religious background, without question” (Spencer W. Kimball, 1976 Devotional Speeches of the Year) Institute Eternal Marriage Student Manual: Marriage and Divorce 2002-2024
“We recommend that people marry those who are of the same racial background generally, and of somewhat the same economic and social and educational background (some of those are not an absolute necessity, but preferred), and above all, the same religious background, without question” (“Marriage and Divorce,” in 1976 Devotional Speeches of the Year [Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1977], p. 144). Aaronic Priesthood, Manual 3, 1995. Chapter 31: Choosing an Eternal Companion | wasmormon.org
“We recommend that people marry those who are of the same racial background generally, and of somewhat the same economic and social and educational background (some of those are not an absolute necessity, but preferred), and above all, the same religious background, without question” (“Marriage and Divorce,” in 1976 Devotional Speeches of the Year [Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1977], p. 144).Aaronic Priesthood, Manual 3, 1995. Chapter 31: Choosing an Eternal Companion
“I just couldn't believe that kind of the brazenness of this tax avoidance or tax evasion... These records tell a damning story about a religion that's actually run as a multinational corporation and now stands accused of not just breaching its own moral code, but also breaking the law.” - Ben Schneiders, Investigative Reporter, Asian Sydney Morning Herald, Mormon Church Accused of Ripping Off Taxpayers by Millions, 60 Minutes Australia | wasmormon.org
“I just couldn't believe that kind of the brazenness of this tax avoidance or tax evasion... These records tell a damning story about a religion that's actually run as a multinational corporation and now stands accused of not just breaching its own moral code, but also breaking the law.” - Ben Schneiders, Investigative Reporter, Asian Sydney Morning Herald, Mormon Church Accused of Ripping Off Taxpayers by Millions, 60 Minutes Australia
“It's a large set of Corporations that have, as a sideline, a religion... I mean it's just so obvious. That's where the fundamental modeling of the Mormon church, to me, is just wrong, as a religious institution. It cannot justify itself as a religion because it is profit-taking rather than profit-distributing.” - Neville Rocco, Australian Barrister, Former Mormon Bishop Mormon Church Accused of Ripping Off Taxpayers by Millions, 60 Minutes Australia | wasmormon.org
“It's a large set of Corporations that have, as a sideline, a religion... I mean it's just so obvious. That's where the fundamental modeling of the Mormon church, to me, is just wrong, as a religious institution. It cannot justify itself as a religion because it is profit-taking rather than profit-distributing.” - Neville Rocco, Australian Barrister, Former Mormon Bishop Mormon Church Accused of Ripping Off Taxpayers by Millions, 60 Minutes Australia
“[The church is] acting like a big Corporation that's reducing its outlays and cheating the tax man, and we just thought, "but, that's that's not what the church is meant to be." It was very hard to reconcile that... I'll be just very straightforward. I want my tithing money back. I paid it under false pretenses.” - Trevor & Sue Given, Former Australian Mormon Mormon Church Accused of Ripping Off Taxpayers by Millions, 60 Minutes Australia | wasmormon.org
“[The church is] acting like a big Corporation that's reducing its outlays and cheating the tax man, and we just thought, "but, that's that's not what the church is meant to be." It was very hard to reconcile that... I'll be just very straightforward. I want my tithing money back. I paid it under false pretenses.” - Trevor & Sue Given, Former Australian Mormon Mormon Church Accused of Ripping Off Taxpayers by Millions, 60 Minutes Australia
“The alleged tax dodging strategy is even clearer when you look at how much Mormon money is given to charity in Australia compared to the rest of the world. Here there are just 60,000 Mormons yet together apparently they give 93 Million dollars a year to charity. But outside Australia, where tax deductibility for tithing isn't an issue the church's 16 million members combined give only 25 million dollars a year to charity. That makes Australian Mormons the most generous on the planet.” - Mormon Church Accused of Ripping Off Taxpayers by Millions, 60 Minutes Australia | wasmormon.org
“The alleged tax dodging strategy is even clearer when you look at how much Mormon money is given to charity in Australia compared to the rest of the world. Here there are just 60,000 Mormons yet together apparently they give 93 Million dollars a year to charity. But outside Australia, where tax deductibility for tithing isn't an issue the church's 16 million members combined give only 25 million dollars a year to charity. That makes Australian Mormons the most generous on the planet.” - Mormon Church Accused of Ripping Off Taxpayers by Millions, 60 Minutes Australia
“Accusations of lightening the pockets of the Australian tax office by 400 million dollars. The church's members claim very generous tax benefits, while other religions in Australia go without. It's alleged the Mormon books are actually being cooked in a massive tax dodge. Handed out on doorsteps around the world, [The Book of Mormon] promises to answer all of life's great questions. But we're throwing open a set of books the Mormons would rather nobody reads – their financial books.” - Mormon Church Accused of Ripping Off Taxpayers by Millions, 60 Minutes Australia | wasmormon.org
“Accusations of lightening the pockets of the Australian tax office by 400 million dollars. The church's members claim very generous tax benefits, while other religions in Australia go without. It's alleged the Mormon books are actually being cooked in a massive tax dodge. Handed out on doorsteps around the world, [The Book of Mormon] promises to answer all of life's great questions. But we're throwing open a set of books the Mormons would rather nobody reads – their financial books.” - Mormon Church Accused of Ripping Off Taxpayers by Millions, 60 Minutes Australia
“There are large trees called Indian laurel... Recently many of these trees were attacked by a disease... When this fungus attacks, the effects are not seen for some years. However, the fungus gradually rots the roots of those beautiful trees, and they begin to die... and the trees must be cut down. Like the fungus that enters these trees, doubts can invade our thoughts. If we let them grow, over time they can affect our roots and rot our foundation of faith until we too may be cut down.” - LDS Seventy, Elder Hugo Montoya, Ensign, June 2017 | wasmormon.org
“There are large trees called Indian laurel... Recently many of these trees were attacked by a disease... When this fungus attacks, the effects are not seen for some years. However, the fungus gradually rots the roots of those beautiful trees, and they begin to die... and the trees must be cut down. Like the fungus that enters these trees, doubts can invade our thoughts. If we let them grow, over time they can affect our roots and rot our foundation of faith until we too may be cut down.” - LDS Seventy, Elder Hugo Montoya, Ensign, June 2017
"So-called friends can introduce doubt by asking hurtful questions. Internet sites can generate doubt by presenting information out of context. But doubts especially intensify when we ourselves, feeling abandoned or overwhelmed, question the burdens we bear." - LDS Seventy, Elder Hugo Montoya, Ensign, June 2017 | wasmormon.org
"So-called friends can introduce doubt by asking hurtful questions. Internet sites can generate doubt by presenting information out of context. But doubts especially intensify when we ourselves, feeling abandoned or overwhelmed, question the burdens we bear." - LDS Seventy, Elder Hugo Montoya, Ensign, June 2017
"Let us not doubt that this work is true. Whenever we are tried with doubts, let us ponder our spiritual experiences. Doing so will help us to erase the doubts. This is particularly true for those who have returned from full-time missionary service and then allowed doubts to creep in, for longtime members who have grown tired of enduring, and for recent converts who initially felt great joy but have not nourished their faith." - LDS Seventy, Elder Hugo Montoya, Ensign, June 2017 | wasmormon.org
"Let us not doubt that this work is true. Whenever we are tried with doubts, let us ponder our spiritual experiences. Doing so will help us to erase the doubts. This is particularly true for those who have returned from full-time missionary service and then allowed doubts to creep in, for longtime members who have grown tired of enduring, and for recent converts who initially felt great joy but have not nourished their faith." - LDS Seventy, Elder Hugo Montoya, Ensign, June 2017
This is a spotlight on a profile shared at wasmormon.org. These are just the highlights, so please find Anja's full story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/veronika-tait/. There are over a hundred more stories of Mormon faith journeys contributed by users like you. Come check them out and consider sharing your own story at wasmormon.org!
This is a spotlight on a profile shared at wasmormon.org. These are just the highlights, so please find Anja's full story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/veronika-tait/. There are over a hundred more stories of Mormon faith journeys contributed by users like you. Come check them out and consider sharing your own story at wasmormon.org!
"You may not have experienced a so-called "faith crisis" but put yourself in my shoes for a minute. I know this is difficult for my critics, but imagine you’re in a situation where you’ve somehow come to know with certainty that your childhood religion isn’t true. If it’s easier, imagine you grew up in a completely different religion like Scientology or Islam. What would you do once you learned it wasn’t what you thought?" - Veronika's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/veronika-tait/
"You may not have experienced a so-called "faith crisis" but put yourself in my shoes for a minute. I know this is difficult for my critics, but imagine you’re in a situation where you’ve somehow come to know with certainty that your childhood religion isn’t true. If it’s easier, imagine you grew up in a completely different religion like Scientology or Islam. What would you do once you learned it wasn’t what you thought?" - Veronika's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/veronika-tait/
"The more I contemplated, the weaker my belief in Christianity became. Human behavior is so much more than choice and willpower. It stems from our evolution — it’s influenced by what our parents ate while pregnant with us and whether they smoked or not. It’s influenced by the genes we didn’t choose and the zip codes we were born into. It’s affected by hormones, neurotransmitters, pollution, toxins, trauma, and an endless list of other factors. Once I immersed myself in the complexities of the brain, studied the origin of behavior, and read the history of how mental illness has been treated, I saw how little conscious control we really have over our behaviors." - Veronika's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/veronika-tait/
"The more I contemplated, the weaker my belief in Christianity became. Human behavior is so much more than choice and willpower. It stems from our evolution — it’s influenced by what our parents ate while pregnant with us and whether they smoked or not. It’s influenced by the genes we didn’t choose and the zip codes we were born into. It’s affected by hormones, neurotransmitters, pollution, toxins, trauma, and an endless list of other factors. Once I immersed myself in the complexities of the brain, studied the origin of behavior, and read the history of how mental illness has been treated, I saw how little conscious control we really have over our behaviors." - Veronika's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/veronika-tait/
"It made sense to me to keep the parts of the gospel that advocated for service and love. But if it wasn’t capital T True, how could I excuse the church’s stance on LGBTQ members, the role of women, or the church’s history of racism? My platitudes that "God works in mysterious ways" and "It’ll all make sense in the end," were only comforting when I believed the church was ultimately run by God. After my shelf broke, meaning after I acknowledged all the things I couldn’t make sense of in Mormonism and everything fell apart, I wasn’t sure what I believed in." - Veronika's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/veronika-tait/
"It made sense to me to keep the parts of the gospel that advocated for service and love. But if it wasn’t capital T True, how could I excuse the church’s stance on LGBTQ members, the role of women, or the church’s history of racism? My platitudes that "God works in mysterious ways" and "It’ll all make sense in the end," were only comforting when I believed the church was ultimately run by God. After my shelf broke, meaning after I acknowledged all the things I couldn’t make sense of in Mormonism and everything fell apart, I wasn’t sure what I believed in." - Veronika's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/veronika-tait/
"I let go of claiming, as many religious people had in the past, that my feelings confer ultimate truth. I let go of certainty. I made no claim to know if there was an afterlife or a supreme being. I don’t believe suffering is a lesson from God to help us grow. Sometimes bad things just happen, and there is no supernatural explanation. People experience injustice and needless suffering. Leaving the church created a greater urgency in me to learn about injustice, social policy, and community action. If God isn’t here to end world hunger, slow climate change, or welcome asylum seekers at the border, who is?" - Veronika's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/veronika-tait/
"I let go of claiming, as many religious people had in the past, that my feelings confer ultimate truth. I let go of certainty. I made no claim to know if there was an afterlife or a supreme being. I don’t believe suffering is a lesson from God to help us grow. Sometimes bad things just happen, and there is no supernatural explanation. People experience injustice and needless suffering. Leaving the church created a greater urgency in me to learn about injustice, social policy, and community action. If God isn’t here to end world hunger, slow climate change, or welcome asylum seekers at the border, who is?" - Veronika's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/veronika-tait/
"I read memoirs of other people leaving their childhood religions and searched for how they made sense of their life afterward. I learned about cults and how we humans justify our beliefs. I learned about how we make decisions — about how susceptible we are to biases, fallacies, and overconfidence. I dove into evolutionary psychology to understand human nature from a broader perspective, learning how group behaviors, snap judgments, and intuition can be both adaptive and maladaptive." - Veronika's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/veronika-tait/
"I read memoirs of other people leaving their childhood religions and searched for how they made sense of their life afterward. I learned about cults and how we humans justify our beliefs. I learned about how we make decisions — about how susceptible we are to biases, fallacies, and overconfidence. I dove into evolutionary psychology to understand human nature from a broader perspective, learning how group behaviors, snap judgments, and intuition can be both adaptive and maladaptive." - Veronika's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/veronika-tait/