Lucifer's Lantern

Members of the Mormon church are expected to give ten percent of their income as tithing. It’s treated as a basic requirement of faithful membership. But even though members contribute a significant portion of their earnings, they aren’t given a clear accounting of how that money is used.  The Utah church does not release detailed budgets, financial reports, or yearly accounting. Members of the church donate fully on trust, without the kind of transparency they would expect from almost any other major charitable organization. Ensign Peak This lack of transparency became harder to overlook during the Ensign Peak investigation. For years the church separated its investment funds into thirteen shell companies and failed to fulfill federal reporting requirements.  The SEC found that this structure used by the church was designed to conceal the true size and unity of Ensign Peak’s holdings.   Per the SEC's 2023 report: " The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced c...

There is a very distinct moral rhythm that drives the entire storyline of the Book of Mormon. This is often referred to within the church as the “pride cycle.”     It goes something like this: When the people remember God, they live peacefully and prosper. Their obedience brings material success and national stability. Then, wealth and comfort begin to shift their focus. Pride replaces gratitude. The people start to divide into social classes, persecute the poor, and boast of their own strength. As pride spreads, the society grows corrupt. Prophets warn them to repent, but their voices are ignored or mocked. Eventually, destruction comes through war, famine, or internal collapse. Suffering drives the people to humility. They remember God again, repent, and the Lord blesses them with peace and prosperity. Then the cycle restarts. This pattern is repeated continually from the beginning of the Book of Mormon and is claimed to be the direct result of covenant with God. That when ...

Sexual abuse within religion is not limited to one faith or one culture. It appears in churches, temples, synagogues, and mosques around the world.  The same systems that promise moral direction and community can also aid abusers in hiding their wrongdoing. When power is concentrated in spiritual authority, questioning leaders can feel like questioning God. That fear keeps many victims silent for years. Across history, investigations have revealed deep problems in multiple religious institutions. The Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others have faced reports of abuse and cover-ups. The pattern is painfully consistent across the board. Allegations are dismissed, offenders are quietly moved, and victims are told to stay quiet for the sake of the church’s reputation . Each time the truth surfaces, it raises the same questions: -How could this happen? -Who allowed it to continue? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is no...

This series looks back at how early critics of the church reacted to the rise of Mormonism. Some mocked it, others warned against it, and a few tried to make sense of it. Each post features a real historical excerpt and some quick context to show how critics viewed the new faith as it was unfolding. For this first article, we are going to look at one of the first known in-depth public criticisms of the Book of Mormon, which appeared before the book itself was publicly available.  On February 20, 1830, Cornelius Camden Blatchley, a New York physician and writer known for his skeptical views on organized religion, published an article titled “Caution Against the Golden Bible” in the New-York Telescope . Written only weeks before the Book of Mormon’s official release in March of that year. Most of his arguments are still being used to this day. The Complaints Presented by Blatchley He specifies reading the Title page as well as   pages 353–368 of the original Book of Morm...

 In a historic move described as both inspired and innovative, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has introduced what leaders are calling the “Celestial Line,” a new generation of temple garments woven entirely from what we can assume is spiritual matter and visible only to those with eyes of faith. “This is not about fashion,” one representative said. “It’s about faith. The garments are there whether you can see them or not. The unworthy may perceive nothing at all, but the faithful will feel them daily as a constant spiritual reminder of their sacred promises.” Members will no longer receive physical garments through distribution centers. Instead, worthiness will automatically activate the invisible attire following each temple recommend renewal. Leaders have emphasized that although these garments are unseen, their protection remains absolute. “If you are living right, you will never need to ask if you are wearing them. You will simply know.” (Artistic rendering o...

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 Book of Mormon seems obsessed about the concept of tradition – the teachings and ideals handed down from one generation to another. In the Bible, the concept only emerges in the Hellenistic period, where the Jewish world was preoccupied with recouping and guarding their beliefs from the surrounding Greco-Roman supremacy. It’s interesting that the later Gentile gospels of Luke and John don’t talk about tradition at all, while Matthew and Mark (the two Judaising Gospels) bring it up to assert that Jesus had the “right ideas” about what Judaism should look like. The primary focus for the term “tradition” is in reference to the culture war occurring between the Messianic Israelites in America known as “ Nephites, ” their apostate brethren, and the disenfranchised Lamanites. This seems to be distinct from the “ curse ” divinely appointed by God to those who abandon the Nephite civilization – it isn’t proclaimed to those secular Nephites who merely did not participate in the true ch...