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.
The rot of racism
They have published pleas for racial harmony on news websites. They have preached against prejudice from pulpits. They have partnered with leading civil rights organizations.
But could and should high-level church leaders, led by President Russell Nelson, do more to truly, in the words of his top counselor, Dallin Oaks, “root out racism”?
Exponent II blogger Mimi offers these steps — from the top down to the bottom up — for removing the sin of racism from the faith’s ranks:
• The church, as an institution, should apologize for its former priesthood/temple ban against Black Latter-day Saints. Besides helping “Black members feel heard/seen,” she writes, “it also might help the old white men in Sunday school to recognize that the church hasn’t always been perfect.”
• Leaders should name more members of color to high-level church positions.
• Local leaders should “call out and talk about” racism. “The subject,” Mimi argues, “could become less taboo, and we could try to get to the root of it.”
• Individual Latter-day Saints should cast aside their fears of “backlash” and discuss such bigotry openly. “Backlash hurts because it’s hard to realize that the people in your community are racist,” the blogger states, “but I do think those little comments will eventually help create change.”
The latest ‘Mormon Land’ podcast: The temple gambit
(The Salt Lake Tribune; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Church President Russell M. Nelson, center, surrounded by newly constructed temples in Utah, Wyoming and Argentina.
President Nelson is betting big that the temple-building boom will cement more members in the faith. Historian Benjamin Park, author of “American Zion: A New History of Mormonism,” discusses the church’s temple blitz — how it compares to the past, what it means in the present, and what it may portend for the future.
Listen to the podcast.
Trump team fumbles LDS outreach
(Rick Bowmer | AP) President Donald Trump stands with Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, in 2017. The Trump campaign has been courting Latter-day Saint voters in battleground states.
Here are some words of wisdom for Donald Trump’s campaign as it courts members in vital swing states like Arizona and Nevada:
First, don’t sell “Latter-day Saints for Trump” coffee mugs or koozies. (They’re not the best fit for the java-shunning, teetotaling faithful.)
Second, don’t stage a canvassing event on General Conference weekend. (You’re bound to be upstaged by guys named Nelson, Oaks and Uchtdorf and women named Freeman, Yee and Browning.)
Third, don’t schedule a Mormon-themed rally on a Sunday. (Just give it a rest like many devout Latter-day Saints do on their Sabbath.)
The Republican presidential nominee’s camp committed those missteps and a few other head-scratchers in their outreach to Latter-day Saint voters — as documented this week by The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins.
Sermon near the mount
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Brazilian apostle Ulisses Soares speaks near the iconic statue Cristo Redentor, Christ the Redeemer, in Rio de Janeiro. The recording of his remarks were part of the October 2024 Youth Worldwide Broadcast. Photo is a screenshot from the broadcast.
In the shadow of Rio de Janeiro’s famed Christ the Redeemer statue, Brazilian apostle Ulisses Soares encouraged young Latter-day Saints to be “beacons of hope and examples of Christlike love” in a worldwide broadcast Sunday.
“This magnificent work of art is a reminder to us all that Jesus Christ and his gospel are not meant to be hidden under a bushel,” Soares said of the 98-foot-tall hillside landmark. “Rather, like the statue, Jesus Christ and his gospel are set on a hill where they cannot be hid.”
In addition, the website, album and poster are out for the 2025 youth theme: Look Unto Christ.
From The Tribune
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jared Oaks, the musical director for Ballet West, rehearses with the orchestra in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024.
• Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, warns the gay grandson of apostle Dallin Oaks, creates “an environment ripe for violence.”
• Church leaders have repeatedly encouraged members to be civil. Is it working in this presidential election?
• President Nelson is scheduled to dedicate the Deseret Peak Temple on Nov. 10.
The single-spired, three-story, 72,000-square-foot edifice in Tooele will be the faith’s 200th operating temple worldwide and one of 31 existing or planned Utah temples.
(Randy Hulme) This choir, which consists of singers from an array of Christian faiths, regularly performs in the Hyde Park Latter-day Saint meetinghouse in addition to other churches around the community.
• From Chicago to Memphis to Provo, Latter-day Saint congregations are strengthening ties to their surrounding communities.
• Tribune guest columnist Eli McCann is a brand-new dad, and, oh baby, is it exhausting — and exhilarating.
(Natalie Green) This drawing by Natalie Green depicts Eli McCann's expanded family.
