In 2015 while speaking with Elder D Todd Christofferson, Elder Dallin H Oaks made a defacto statement that is still reverberating for many Mormons: among believers and non-believers. Elder Christofferson was asked what the church leadership thinks of church members who support same-sex marriage and stated that members can believe what they wish, but warned …
Continue reading “Oaks’ ‘No Apologies’ – The Church Doesn’t Seek or Give Apologies”
Russell M. Nelson would have us believe he is in direct conversation with Jesus and with God the Father. Neil Anderson recounts a story from Wendy Nelson (Russell M. Nelson’s second wife) on his Facebook page which details Russell M. Nelson’s frequent practice of receiving revelation. It’s so frequent that he keeps a lined yellow …
Continue reading “Does President Nelson Talk With God? Do Any Church Leaders?”
When Natalie Palmer-Taylor’s son was the target of a racial epithet hurled by another Mormon youth, she went to the church’s headquarters to complain. Ezra Taft Benson received her complaint and retorted with this dismissive challenge: ‘If you allow the people of the church to turn you against the church, then you were not worthy …
Continue reading “Racism and Victim Blaming From God’s Anointed”
There has been a lot of discussion in Mormondom regarding race and the priesthood. The church denied the priesthood from black members (specifically those of African descent) from the 1850s until 1978. They did not relent through the end of slavery, through the proposed State of Deseret joining the United States as Utah, and through …
Continue reading “Apostles Discuss Reasons For Lifting the Priesthood Ban”
The short answer is we don’t know. We can’t know where tithing goes for sure because the church doesn’t and won’t share that information. This is despite the fact that church president Gordon B Hinckley stated when asked why the church wasn’t transparent as is required in many countries. He said that that information belongs …
Continue reading “Where Does Mormon Tithing Go? Read the Fine Print”
Not only does the church dismiss the previous racist doctrines of the church in today’s church essays, but the church publications and leaders also do the same. From the mid-1800s, the Church did not ordain men of black African descent to the priesthood or allow black men or women to participate in temple endowment or …
Continue reading “Mormon Leadership Dismisses Racist Doctrines as Folklore”
The Mormon church is famously secretive (or confidential) with it’s financial disclosures. They say as little as possible about it and are even known to hide money from the IRS and SEC in filing the required tax forms illegally. They’ve been busted by a whistleblower recently and the SEC came looking – they were able …
Continue reading “Mormon Excuses for Zero Financial Transparency”
Among the first votes of dissent in the modern Mormon church occurred in 1977, in opposition to the church doctrine banning blacks from any priesthood ordination and temple endowment. A member voted opposed to sustaining church leadership in General Conference 1977 and was subsequently excommunicated. Then less than 1 year later the church downgraded the …
Elder Andersen met with the leaders of Zimbabwe and he said the significance of the meeting with Vice President Mohadi was to “express to him our desire to help improve Zimbabwe.” He noted that Vice President Mohadi had made a specific request for support with the development of clean-water wells in more remote areas of …
Continue reading “Elder Anderson claims “We Are Not a Wealthy People””
The church brags about how much they give and donate to humanitarian efforts and welfare. But on the other hand, they do their best to hide how much they don’t give. They have hundreds of billions of dollars siphoned from tithing donations, which they invest and use to purchase real estate and operate their for-profit …
Continue reading “Mormon Church Relatively Meager Humanitarian Efforts”
Debra was raised in the faith in a large, strict Mormon family. She didn’t feel like she ever made her own decisions because she was to “follow all the rules set by the church and never deviate.” After some exploration as a teen, she helped convert her husband and raised a faithful Mormon family herself. …
Continue reading “Debra Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight”
In 1945 the Improvement Era shared the now-ingrained Mormon mantra “When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done“. J Raymond Cope In response to this message, a Christian minister was troubled by what control the Mormon church leaders had on the people of Utah. He was not a Mormon, but a Unitarian minister in Salt …
Continue reading “Questioning The Infallible Thinking of Mormon Leaders”
The September Six were a group of six members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) who were excommunicated or disfellowshipped in September 1993 for their intellectual and historical pursuits that were deemed contrary to the teachings and doctrines of the Church. The six members were: The excommunications and disfellowshippings of …
Continue reading “Mormon Excommunication For Change – The September Six and More”
The popular news program 60 Minutes released a segment on its program discussing the obscene wealth of the church and the whistleblower complaint filed by David Nielsen. His complaint alleges that the Mormon Church claims to behave as a non-profit charity, but in reality, is a for-profit corporation pursuing investments and investments. The church never …
Continue reading “Whistleblower News Prompts Vacant Responses from LDS Corp”
The show 60 Minutes broadcast a segment about the Mormon Billions. Sharyn Alfonsi follows up with whistleblower David Nielsen who resigned from his position at Ensign Peak Advisors and wrote the whistleblower report in 2019. Since then, the Mormon church has been fined 5 million dollars by the SEC for illegal filing practices, but Nielsen …
Considering the demeaning parable from Elder Renlund about the spoiled boy leaving the boat and Elder Holland being furious with members who “bail” and imploring members to “Stay in the Boat” as well as The Old Ship Zion references from Brigham Young, Mormon church culture has a lot of imagery around boats, and staying in …
In the Mormon community, the practice of putting questions on a shelf refers to the act of setting aside doubts or concerns about the faith in order to maintain belief and avoid conflict with church teachings. Mormons are encouraged to trust in the leadership and authority of the church and to believe that answers to …
Continue reading “Putting Questions on the Shelf is Unhealthy and Doesn’t Work”
A recent episode of the Mormon Book Reviews podcast features an interview with Evan, the creator of wasmormon.org, and his brother Garrett. Evan shares the story of how he came to create the website and why he chose to share his experience of leaving the Mormon church. The interview includes the personal stories of faith …
Continue reading “Explore the Origin Story of wasmormon.org – A Mormon Book Reviews Podcast Episode”
Joseph Fielding Smith wasn’t the only church leader that didn’t accept evolution. He claimed, “if evolution is true, the church is false.” He could be dismissed as a “man of his times”, especially now that it’s been a lifetime since he published that statement in his Doctrines of Salvation book. We have this same sentiment …
Continue reading “Russell M Nelson Continues Mormon Tradition To Deny Evolution”
Tax time in the US and as people are leaving the church, they are receiving real blessings. In many countries, donating money to a charitable organization is tax deductible, meaning this decreases your taxable income. This is a perk to tithing for some people, it can save you some money on your taxes, though not …
Continue reading “Stop Paying Tithing and Challenge the Tax Exemption Status of the Mormon Church”
When Latter-day Saints discover problems with church history and doctrine, they often turn to church leaders and scholars for answers. Sometimes these answers are more unsettling than the problems themselves. Here’s a video compilation followed by quotes with individual sources where available. Some struggle with unanswered questionsabout things that have been doneor said in the …
Continue reading “Changing The Narrative –Reconstructing Mormon History”
If Joseph Smith used a rock (seer stone or peep stone) in his hat as the main translation process, as the church is slowly teaching today, how do we call it a translation? If he didn’t use the gold plates to produce the Book of Mormon, why did he even have them? Why were they …
Continue reading “Joseph Smith’s Peep Stone Translation Method Renders The Gold Plates Useless”
Mason Allred and Mark Ashurst-McGee discuss the various historical accounts of the Book of Mormon translation process, including accounts of Joseph Smith using a Seer Stone to translate the ancient record and accounts of Joseph Smith using the Urim and Thummim in a video posted on the “Church History/Latter-day Saint History” YouTube account, the official …
Do you have exmormon trauma? Try writing your story. Write about your faith deconstruction or crisis. wasmormon.org gives you a place to do this important and healing writing. Consider contributing your story to the site so others can read it and find community and validation as well! Suppressing the trauma is bad for us and …
Continue reading “Writing Your Traumatic Faith Crisis Experience is Healthy and Healing”
A master’s student studying human rights in Sweden is writing his thesis on LGBTQ Rights and Religion Based on Mormonism. The research aims to see if religion has an impact on LGBTQ rights based on Mormonism and how Mormonism impacts LGBTQ people’s lives. Purpose of the project The purpose of the research project is to …
Continue reading “Research on Human Rights And Mormonism Seeking LGBTQ ExMormon Volunteers”
Members of the Mormon church are required to pay the church a tithe. This tithing is understood to be ten percent of the member’s income. This is the same for children who earn $5 for mowing the lawn to wealthy lawyers and doctors in the church. The church makes much of the sacrifice and blessings …
Continue reading “Development of Mormon Tithing – From Meager Origins to Ensign Peak Billions”
There are myriad warnings against dissension and apostasy by church leaders. Church leaders are afraid of those who leave the church behind. Those who leave have the gumption and the gall to stand up for what they believe in, rather than believing what they are told to believe. Those who leave have the courage to …
Continue reading “Mormon Authorities Threaten Doubters With “Don’t You Dare Bail” Messages”
What Happened between Fanny Alger and Joseph Smith? As a young woman, Fanny Alger was a servant in Joseph Smith’s house. She lived with the family for a time while also serving as a maid. Joseph Smith and Fanny got very close. Multiple accounts exist of Emma Smith, Joseph’s wife catching Joseph celestializing (sexually involved) …
Continue reading “Fanny Alger, Joseph Smith’s “dirty, nasty, filthy affair” Teen Bride”
David Nielsen, a former Ensign Peak portfolio manager, shared with his twin brother Lars about the shady practices and massive amounts of money the Mormon church, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have in investments. Together the brothers compiled information and reported it to the authorities at the SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) …
Continue reading “Whistleblowing On the Mormon 100 Billion “Rainy-Day Fund””
For the past week, the church has been all over the news. Not for something they will want to draw publicity. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that the Church has been fined $5 Million for using shell companies to obscure the size of its investment portfolio. On February 21st, the SEC issued a …
Continue reading “LDS Church’s Misstated Filings to SEC Approved by First Presidency”
!["One clear-cut position is that the folklore must never be perpetuated. I have to concede to my earlier colleagues. They, I'm sure, in their own way, were doing the best they knew to give shape to [the policy], to give context for it, to give even history to it. All I can say is however well intended the explanations were, I think almost all of them were inadequate and/or wrong." - PBS: The Mormons. Elder Jeffrey R Holland Interview, March 4, 2006 | wasmormon.org](https://i0.wp.com/wasmormon.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Holland-PBS-Interview-2006-01-the-folklore-must-never-be-perpetuated-well-intended-almost-all-inadequate-wrong.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1)
