Tag Archives: Utah

U.S. state where LDS church is headquartered. Majority Mormon population with distinct culture.

A $3 Million Check and a Genealogy Center: The Church Comes to the Juneteenth Museum

On October 7, 2026, Dr. Opal Lee turned 100. The woman known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” who campaigned for decades until Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, celebrated with a crowd in Fort Worth, a ceremonial demolition on the future site of the National Juneteenth Museum, and a gift. The Church of Jesus …

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A Loving God?

When deconstructing religious beliefs, examining whether the God we’ve been taught to worship and admire is indeed as loving as we think is on the table for many. Christianity teaches that “God is Love,” but examining scriptural narratives reveals inconsistencies in this portrayal, especially concerning God’s actions as a parental figure. Here are several examples …

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Martha Brotherton: Pressured by Church Leaders to Become a Plural Wife

In July 1842, the Sangamo Journal published the affidavit of Martha H. Brotherton, a young English convert who had only recently arrived in Nauvoo with her family. In it, she recounts a disturbing encounter where she was pressured by church leaders Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Joseph Smith himself to become Young’s plural wife. …

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Deseret News on Polygamy

The Audacity The recent Deseret News opinion piece condemning polygamy and polyamory as a “direct threat to kids” and insisting that “monogamy ought to remain our social ideal” is dripping with irony. For a newspaper owned by the LDS Church to rail against the supposed dangers of polygamy—without mentioning their own history as America’s largest …

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Sunstone Symposium Recap

The Sunstone Symposium is an annual conference where anyone with an interest in things Mormon—and Mormon-adjacent—can gather to learn, discuss, and connect. It’s a unique space where active Latter-day Saints, fundamentalist Mormons, scholars, and ex-Mormons come together to explore a wide range of ideas in a respectful and curious environment. This year’s symposium, held in …

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Elijah Abel, the NAACP, and the Abandoned Float That Helped Pressure for Change and Revelation

In the spring of 1978, 47 years ago to the day, there was a “Days of ‘47” parade for Pioneer Day in Salt Lake City. At the time the parade was planned, the church continued its unpopular priesthood ban on black members of the church. The ban was lifted weeks before the parade occurred, but …

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Scholars have concluded that the Nauvoo City Council acted legally to destroy copies of the newspaper but may have exceeded its authority by destroying the press itself. * Dallin H. Oaks, “The Suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor,” Utah Law Review, vol. 9, no. 4 (Winter 1965), 862–903. - LDS Website: Church History Topics: Nauvoo Expositor | wasmormon.org
Scholars have concluded that the Nauvoo City Council acted legally to destroy copies of the newspaper but may have exceeded its authority by destroying the press itself. * Dallin H. Oaks, “The Suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor,” Utah Law Review, vol. 9, no. 4 (Winter 1965), 862–903. - LDS Website: Church History Topics: Nauvoo Expositor
The racist behavior and malicious leanings of many members in Utah made me question my belief in the "religion" and God. How could a God just sit there and watch all the injustice, racism, and misleading information (done in his name) and do nothing? Discussions about those topics went nowhere and many just provided mental gymnastics. Those apologists puzzled me. They made me realize that "truth" was never the goal. - Luis' "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/elnene/
The racist behavior and malicious leanings of many members in Utah made me question my belief in the "religion" and God. How could a God just sit there and watch all the injustice, racism, and misleading information (done in his name) and do nothing? Discussions about those topics went nowhere and many just provided mental gymnastics. Those apologists puzzled me. They made me realize that "truth" was never the goal. - Luis' "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/elnene/
In a moment of spontaneous and mental lapse (to try to make others happy) decided to move from gorgeous San Diego to Salt Lake City. There I came across more informationm, the CES Letter, and met many going through a collapse of their faith. I realized the monumental mistake of moving to Utah, where if you are not a Trumper and a Mormon, you do not belong, and even supposed family will remind you of that at every opportunity. - Luis' "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/elnene/
In a moment of spontaneous and mental lapse (to try to make others happy) decided to move from gorgeous San Diego to Salt Lake City. There I came across more informationm, the CES Letter, and met many going through a collapse of their faith. I realized the monumental mistake of moving to Utah, where if you are not a Trumper and a Mormon, you do not belong, and even supposed family will remind you of that at every opportunity. - Luis' "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/elnene/
“The legality of the council's action in suppressing the Expositor depends upon the nature of the charges in the Expositor... some of the charges involve facts that are essentially undisputed... Politics. The Expositor's general complaints about the union of the authority of church and state in Nauvoo were essentially true... Religion. The same can be said of the Expositor's charges that Joseph Smith was teaching false religious doctrines, notably polygamy. Morality.... Whether the charges were true or false, they were malicious, scandalous, and defamatory.” - Dallin H. Oaks, “The Suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor,” Utah Law Review, Vol. 9, No. 4, 1965 | wasmormon.org
“The legality of the council's action in suppressing the Expositor depends upon the nature of the charges in the Expositor... some of the charges involve facts that are essentially undisputed... Politics. The Expositor's general complaints about the union of the authority of church and state in Nauvoo were essentially true... Religion. The same can be said of the Expositor's charges that Joseph Smith was teaching false religious doctrines, notably polygamy. Morality.... Whether the charges were true or false, they were malicious, scandalous, and defamatory.” - Dallin H. Oaks, “The Suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor,” Utah Law Review, Vol. 9, No. 4, 1965
I attended EFY a couple of times and absolutely lived for girls camp. I went to college at Utah State University, and took a break to serve in the Washington DC South Mission. Six months after my return I married my high school best friend in the Vernal Temple. - Erin's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/sistercushing/
I attended EFY a couple of times and absolutely lived for girls camp. I went to college at Utah State University, and took a break to serve in the Washington DC South Mission. Six months after my return I married my high school best friend in the Vernal Temple. - Erin's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/sistercushing/
“There was a hint of Mormonism in Smith's advocacy of patriarchal guardianship, and possibly a use of the concept of plural wives from Utah to justify Smith's position. The Los Angeles Star described Hannah as Biddy's sister and also as "… a woman nearly white, whose children are all nearly so, one of whose daughters (of eight years) cannot easily be distinguished from the white race." In addition to being Smith's slaves, some of Hannah's children may indeed have been his own offspring, or perhaps Cottrell's. The judge observed: "… the said Robert Smith from his past relation to them as members of his family does possess and exercise over them an undue influence in respect to the matter of their said removal inso far that they have been in duress and not in possession and exercise of their free will so as to give a binding consent to any engagement or arrange ment with him."” - Dolores Hayden, Biddy Mason’s Los Angeles 1856-1891. California History, Fall 1989 | wasmormon.org
“There was a hint of Mormonism in Smith's advocacy of patriarchal guardianship, and possibly a use of the concept of plural wives from Utah to justify Smith's position. The Los Angeles Star described Hannah as Biddy's sister and also as "… a woman nearly white, whose children are all nearly so, one of whose daughters (of eight years) cannot easily be distinguished from the white race." In addition to being Smith's slaves, some of Hannah's children may indeed have been his own offspring, or perhaps Cottrell's. The judge observed: "… the said Robert Smith from his past relation to them as members of his family does possess and exercise over them an undue influence in respect to the matter of their said removal inso far that they have been in duress and not in possession and exercise of their free will so as to give a binding consent to any engagement or arrange ment with him."” - Dolores Hayden, Biddy Mason’s Los Angeles 1856-1891. California History, Fall 1989
“Between 1848 and 1851, Smith's household, including his slaves, settled in Utah in the Salt Lake Basin. The Mormons were generally outspoken in their belief in the inferiority of Blacks and women. Biddy and Hannah were not recognized as independent family heads, but remained with Smith's household as slaves. Given the Mormon practice of polygamy, Black women's status as slaves or indentured servants of a Southern master not only remained low, but there was also a religious justification for any sexual exploitation a master wished to enforce.” - Dolores Hayden, Biddy Mason’s Los Angeles 1856-1891. California History, Fall 1989 | wasmormon.org
“Between 1848 and 1851, Smith's household, including his slaves, settled in Utah in the Salt Lake Basin. The Mormons were generally outspoken in their belief in the inferiority of Blacks and women. Biddy and Hannah were not recognized as independent family heads, but remained with Smith's household as slaves. Given the Mormon practice of polygamy, Black women's status as slaves or indentured servants of a Southern master not only remained low, but there was also a religious justification for any sexual exploitation a master wished to enforce.” - Dolores Hayden, Biddy Mason’s Los Angeles 1856-1891. California History, Fall 1989
“Warren Snow was Bishop of the Church at Manti, San Pete County, Utah. He had several wives, but there was a fair, buxom young woman in the town that Snow wanted for a wife... She thanked him for the honor offered, but told him she was then engaged to a young man, a member of the Church, and consequently could not marry the old priest. This was no sufficient reason to Snow. He told her it was the will of God that she should marry him, and she must do so... Then the authorities called on the young man and directed him to give up the young woman. This he steadfastly refused to do... He remained true to his intended, and said he would die before he would surrender his intended wife to the embraces of another.” - John D. Lee, Mormonism Unveiled: The life and confessions of the late Mormon bishop, 1877 | wasmormon.org
“Warren Snow was Bishop of the Church at Manti, San Pete County, Utah. He had several wives, but there was a fair, buxom young woman in the town that Snow wanted for a wife... She thanked him for the honor offered, but told him she was then engaged to a young man, a member of the Church, and consequently could not marry the old priest. This was no sufficient reason to Snow. He told her it was the will of God that she should marry him, and she must do so... Then the authorities called on the young man and directed him to give up the young woman. This he steadfastly refused to do... He remained true to his intended, and said he would die before he would surrender his intended wife to the embraces of another.” - John D. Lee, Mormonism Unveiled: The life and confessions of the late Mormon bishop, 1877

Bishop Warren S. Snow’s Teenage Brides and The Castration of Thomas Lewis

In 1857, just as tensions with the U.S. government were escalating toward the Utah War, a dark and largely forgotten episode of Mormon frontier justice played out in Manti, Utah. It involved a young man named Thomas Lewis, potentially an unnamed teenage girl, and Warren S. Snow, a high-ranking Mormon bishop and militia leader. What …

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The church’s whitewashed, faith-promoting history glosses over many crucial parts of Green Flake’s story. It omits that in Nauvoo, the Flake family donated his slave labor to help build the temple. It skips the fact that he was sent west not as a free pioneer, but to perform slave duties—and that when he arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, he plowed the land, planted the first crops, and built a log cabin, all in preparation for the arrival of his enslavers. The church also fails to mention that Green was later given to the church itself as tithing and “served” Brigham Young as a personal servant—a euphemism for slave—for at least a year. Even his eventual emancipation is left unspoken, likely because the details remain unclear and uncomfortable to confront.
The church’s whitewashed, faith-promoting history glosses over many crucial parts of Green Flake’s story. It omits that in Nauvoo, the Flake family donated his slave labor to help build the temple. It skips the fact that he was sent west not as a free pioneer, but to perform slave duties—and that when he arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, he plowed the land, planted the first crops, and built a log cabin, all in preparation for the arrival of his enslavers. The church also fails to mention that Green was later given to the church itself as tithing and “served” Brigham Young as a personal servant—a euphemism for slave—for at least a year. Even his eventual emancipation is left unspoken, likely because the details remain unclear and uncomfortable to confront.
“A few days before they reached the valley, Brigham fell sick. Green Flake drove the first wagon down into the Salt Lake Valley in an advance party. Along with Green, the two other enslaved people in the party, Oscar Crosby Smith and Hark Lay Wales, arrived in the valley on July 22, 1847. When Brigham arrived two days later, the three men were already planting crops and starting to build homes for their enslavers’ families who would arrive the next year.” - Utah.gov: Utah’s Black History: Green Flake | wasmormon.org
“A few days before they reached the valley, Brigham fell sick. Green Flake drove the first wagon down into the Salt Lake Valley in an advance party. Along with Green, the two other enslaved people in the party, Oscar Crosby Smith and Hark Lay Wales, arrived in the valley on July 22, 1847. When Brigham arrived two days later, the three men were already planting crops and starting to build homes for their enslavers’ families who would arrive the next year.” - Utah.gov: Utah’s Black History: Green Flake
“Sister Agnes Flake wishes me to inquire of you if there is any chance for her to receive any help by way of the negro man she left when she came here. She has a family on her hands for which to provide. Her health is also very delicate health and if she could realize something from this quarter it would be a benefit to her. Thomas I. Williams told me if he could, he would purchase the negro and pay for him. A word from you on this subject would be received a favor.” - Amasa Mason Lyman, LDS Apostle, in California, Letter to Brigham Young, LDS Church President, in Utah, July 21, 1854 | wasmormon.org
“Sister Agnes Flake wishes me to inquire of you if there is any chance for her to receive any help by way of the negro man she left when she came here. She has a family on her hands for which to provide. Her health is also very delicate health and if she could realize something from this quarter it would be a benefit to her. Thomas I. Williams told me if he could, he would purchase the negro and pay for him. A word from you on this subject would be received a favor.” - Amasa Mason Lyman, LDS Apostle, in California, Letter to Brigham Young, LDS Church President, in Utah, July 21, 1854

Green Flake, The Man and Slave Labor The Church Accepted as Tithing

Today, the LDS Church no longer condones slavery, and leaders assert that the church has always been against slavery and racism, but there is a hidden history of racism and even slavery in the church. There are even instances where slaves were given as tithing to the church—the church used slave labor in temple construction. Green Flake …

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Can Mormons Wear Tank Tops? What are Porn Shoulders?

In Mormonism, modesty has long been tied to righteousness, especially for women and girls. From early youth activities to temple preparation, countless lessons reinforce the idea that spiritual worth is directly connected to how much skin is covered. Among the most scrutinized body parts? Shoulders. For generations, sleeveless dresses have been seen as taboo—unworthy of …

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Jane Manning James: Faithful Servant, Denied Sisterhood, Sealed into Slavery

Jane Elizabeth Manning James was a remarkable woman who exemplified deep faith and resilience, despite the racism and systemic exclusion she endured within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Born free in Wilton, Connecticut, in the early 19th century. As a child, she worked as a domestic servant in a prosperous white household. …

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