Lucifer's Lantern

The “Locating Members” page on the church’s Tech Wiki, now removed from the public site, explains that when a member moves without providing a new address, local leaders are expected to try to find out where that person went. The responsibility usually falls to the ward clerk, working under the direction of the bishop. The record isn’t automatically dropped just because attendance stops.  The full set of instructions is found below, but first, here are some points you need to consider about the religion systematically tracking down "lost" members. Form provided by the wiki First, the system does not recognize disengagement as a valid outcome. The wiki makes clear that when someone stops attending or moves without updating records, the organization treats this as missing data, not a personal decision. Silence is interpreted as a problem to solve. That alone creates an unhealthy dynamic because it removes a person’s ability to quietly exit. Second, the responsibility is instit...

 One of the stranger ironies in Mormon history is this. The Book of Mormon outright condemns Polygamy with only one exception. And it does so in some of the strongest language found anywhere in LDS scripture. This is striking given that the church later became publicly defined by the very practice the book denounces. The clearest statement appears in Jacob 2. The prophet Jacob addresses his people and accuses them of committing “whoredoms” and “abominations” by taking more than one wife. He explicitly ties this behavior to immorality and broken hearts. The passage does not hedge or soften its language. It is blunt.  Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord. Wherefore, thus saith the Lord: I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of mine arm, that I might raise up unto me a righteous branch, from the fruit of the loins of Joseph. Wherefore, I, the Lord God, will not suffe...

In 2012, Jeremy Runnells was struggling with questions about LDS history that he couldn’t reconcile with what he had learned growing up. He had served a mission, gone to BYU, and lived his life inside of Mormonism, but the sources he was reading didn’t line up with the version he’d been taught. When he spoke with a Church Educational System director about it, he was asked to write his concerns in one place so they could review them together. He sat down and did exactly that. He pulled notes, checked references, and laid out the issues in a document that ended up more than eighty pages long. He sent it back expecting a follow-up. The follow-up never came. That unanswered list of questions eventually became known online as the CES Letter. In April 2013, he shared his document to reddit on r/exmormon under the title “Letter to a CES Director.” The file spread fast because it pulled together problems that members usually encounter one at a time. Runnells later said he wrote it to underst...

People keep asking whether Mormons are Christian, as if that’s the issue that matters. It’s not. Mormons love this question since its probably one of the tamest aspects of the faith to question. The other day I was reading some comments on an online post that was debating the issue of whether or not Mormons were Christian, and this interaction caught my eye. One individual declared that the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) “never were and never will be Mormon.”  Now, I can't imagine that many Mormons will share this same sentiment, considering that the FLDS church literally emerged from the exact same roots as the Utah church. But this interaction ironically demonstrates the exact same mindset that other Christians have about Mormons. Some Christians don’t consider Mormons Christian because Latter-day Saint teachings reject key doctrines established by early Christian creeds, like the Trinity, original sin, and the belief that Go...

     The word “cult” usually brings to mind the most destructive examples of control, where people lose their freedom, identity, or even their lives. That harm is real and should never be minimized. But the psychology behind those groups does not appear only in the extremes.       The same methods of influence exist in more common institutions too, but often differ in intensity. Religion, politics, and corporate systems all use similar tools to shape belief and loyalty. Mormonism belongs on that spectrum, not because it is as harmful as the worst examples, but because it relies on many of the same patterns of authority and conformity.      One way to see this clearly is through the BITE Model of Authoritarian Control. The model, created by Steven Hassan, outlines how groups shape members through four areas of influence: B ehavior I nformation T hought E motion.       Each form of control helps a system maintain stabil...