The Mormon Land newsletter is The Salt Lake Tribune’s weekly highlight reel of news in and about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Join us on Patreon and receive the full newsletter, podcast transcripts and access to all of our religion content — for as little as $3 a month.
Wedded to June
Traditionally, June is the marrying month, the ideal time for couples to tie the knot, get hitched and say “I do.”
As in many cultures, marriage is a big deal for Latter-day Saints, made even bigger by their theology. Members believe that a woman and a man who marry, or are “sealed,” in a temple can be wife and husband forever. In fact, such eternal unions are seen as the afterlife ticket to living with God. So, for faithful Latter-day Saints, marriages aren’t so much matches made in heaven but rather matches made for heaven. (Single people who never have the chance to marry in mortality are promised that the opportunity will come to them after death.)
Given this emphasis, here are some past Tribune stories and “Mormon Land” podcasts about Latter-day Saint marriages (be they civil, temple, same-sex, plural or whatever):
• Temple weddings can leave some family members sitting on the outside, hurting inside.
• The church changes its policy about civil ceremonies and temple sealings, making way for more family members to be part of weddings.
• Latter-day Saint leaders no longer can perform civil marriages between nonmembers.
• Stop delaying marriage, apostle Dallin Oaks urges members.
• How couples can build a marriage like God’s.
• Latter-day Saints are talking more about Heavenly Mother, and that’s where the debates and divisions begin.
• Is this the Latter-day Saint idea of heaven? Sex — and pregnancy — forever?
(Illustration by Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
• Finding love in today’s Latter-day Saint dating scene.
• How modern Latter-day Saint men view marriage, divorce, sex and more.
• What a newlywed learned about marriage on a yearlong backpacking honeymoon.
• Church founder Joseph Smith married teens, other men’s wives.
• Polygamy lives on in temples, spurring agony, angst and a key question: Who will be married to whom in heaven?
• Oaks says the church won’t retreat on man-woman marriage.
• In a stunning move, the church gives its blessing to a bill that recognizes same-sex marriage.
• A Latter-day Saint scholar sees a path for same-sex temple sealings.
The latest ‘Mormon Land’ podcast: LDS 101 for evangelicals
(Courtesy of Jeff McCullough) Pastor Jeff McCullough's YouTube channel has amassed 60,000 subscribers and nearly 7 million views.
A pastor who calls himself a “recovering Mormon basher” discusses his popular Hello Saints YouTube channel, which explores Mormonism, and is designed to build bridges between Latter-day Saints and evangelical Christians.
Listen to the podcast.
A first in Africa
Malawi has its first stake, or cluster of Latter-day Saint congregations.
The southeastern African nation of more than 4,700 members struggled for many years to retain converts and develop leaders, independent researcher Matt Martinich reports at ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com, but “much progress has occurred in the past decade with the church’s growth [Malawi’s Latter-day Saint population shot up by 23% last year] and stability. … There is likely to be significant growth in the country in the near future.”
In addition, Martinich notes, the translation of the faith’s signature scripture, the Book of Mormon, in the country’s primary Bantu language of Chichewa is almost finished.
From The Tribune
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Then-President Donald Trump shakes the hand of Henry B. Eyring in 2017 during a visit to Welfare Square.
• Most Latter-day Saints (59%) view Donald Trump’s actions — detailed in his recent felony convictions — as immoral, according to a recent survey. Nearly as many (57%), however, don’t believe the former president committed a crime. At the same time, 13% say they may now go shopping for a different candidate.
• Nearing his death, apostle Hugh Brown pleaded with then-church President Spencer Kimball to lift the priesthood/temple ban against Black members. Kimball obliged a couple of years later. Read excerpts from — or relisten to — last week’s “Mormon Land” podcast.
• In a stepped-up global initiative led by the Relief Society, the church is supplying $55.8 million and teaming up with eight international aid groups to improve the health of women and children.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Relief Society General President Camille Johnson holds radishes as she speaks with women at a garden in Chimaltenango, Guatemala, on May 31, 2024. President Johnson visited Guatemala to observe some of the work initiated by the church to help women and children.
• Latter-day Saint women need a platform where they can safely and freely speak out about the church, Tribune guest columnist Natalie Brown says, and too often the internet is not such a place.
• Members suffer from a bit of a “certainty bias,” says David Ostler, a former bishop and mission president, that can get in the way when interacting with others. Read our Q&A with Ostler about his new book, “Healing Our Divides: Answering the Savior’s Call to Be Peacemakers.”
• Officers from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Mormon Women for Ethical Government visited the U.S.-Mexico border. See what they discovered and why they maintain all sides in the immigration debate need to be more compassionate.
• This week’s Mormon History Association conference features some intriguing topics from an intriguing locale: Kirtland, Ohio.
