The Mormon narrative seems to always start with a young boy who asked God a question one spring morning in 1820. Because of his great faith, God answered. Joseph Smith’s words on returning to his mother—“I know for myself…” and his subsequent lifetime of constant revelations—constitute the take-away of every missionary discussion, family home evening, or sermon: God answers prayers. Enter Mother Teresa. According to letters sent to her spiritual directors (intended to be destroyed but nonetheless preserved and published... Read more

About two weeks ago, the Church Newsroom said in response to NBC’s “Mormon in America” that the Church does not prohibit the use of caffeine. The Newsroom quickly hedged, but by then bloggers and tweeters were off to the races. “OK, Mormons, drink up,” wrote the Salt Lake Tribune’s Peggy Fletcher Stack; @nicknewman801 celebrated “the sound of a million cans of soda opening”; and cartoonist Pat Bagley, tongue firmly in cheek, compared the announcement to other great moments in Mormon... Read more

To my mind, a particularly beautiful aspect of religious community is the support it can provide when a member is in crisis. I think of Amish communal barn raisings as a consummate example. A Catholic Folklorist friend of mine often reminds me to be grateful for the richness of community I have enjoyed in my own ward. I attribute much of that vibrancy to the fact that I see these people every week; we take each other meals and share... Read more

Recently, I gave a presentation on depictions of Mormon women in the print media since the late nineteenth century. A couple things struck me. First, the media has always been interested in Mormon women. Focusing on the oppression of women is one way that the journalists explored and explained how Mormonism was different and, perhaps, dangerous to the country. Writers employed what I like to call the anti-Catholic template that has been floating around in the public discourse, arguably, since... Read more

If one were to rank the issues about which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is most sensitive, near the very top of the list would be the persistant accusation that Mormons are somehow not Christians.  This is literally the first question in the FAQ section at www.mormon.org. In responding to this charge over many decades, the church has sought to emphasize its Christian identity. Besides numerous discourses on the subject, the Church has projected a Christian image... Read more

A family member of mine shared this photo on Facebook a few days ago. This came as a shock, as I have known this person for most of my life and have never once heard her say anything even remotely religious – she has never used any religious language at all in my presence, not even the commonplaces of funerals or the casual apocalypticism of contemporary politics. Doesn’t attend church, doesn’t have anything in her home to suggest that she harbors any... Read more

Like many liberal Mormons, I looked forward to Joanna Brooks’s interview with Jon Stewart, like a teenage girl looks forward to a Justin Bieber concert. It’s not just that I’m a long time fan of Jon Stewart, though I am. I was also excited to hear from a Mormon feminist who is still active in the church and for others to hear from her. Sometimes it seems that the only Mormons who get air time are men who are active... Read more

Political anti-Mormonism was a real force in late nineteenth-century America.  Commentators across the country denounced Mormonism as “the octopus of our political life” and as being distinctly “un-American.”  Every level of the federal government weighed in.  The Supreme Court ruled against Mormon polygamy in the Reynolds v. U.S. decision in 1879, and Congress passed anti-polygamy legislation in 1862, 1874, 1882, and 1887, all of which was accompanied with strident anti-Mormon sentiment.  Anti-Mormonism also captivated the White House, as every president... Read more