Church Newsroom, “Church Updates Temple Recommend Interview Questions”, Ensign, January 2020

“Do you strive to be honest in all that you do?”

Old Testament, Exodus 20:15

“Thou shalt not bear false witness.”

Old Testament, Job 27:4-5

“My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.

God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.”

Old Testament, Proverbs 12:19-22

“The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.

Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy.

There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief.

Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight.”

Old Testament, Proverbs 20:7

“The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.”

Old Testament, Isaiah 63:8

“For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour.”

Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 9:34

“Wo unto the liar, for he shall be thrust down to hell.”

Book of Mormon, Alma 5:17

“Or do ye imagine to yourselves that ye can lie unto the Lord in that day, and say—Lord, our works have been righteous works upon the face of the earth—and that he will save you?”

Book of Mormon, Alma 16:18

“Now those priests who did go forth among the people did preach against all lyings, and deceivings, and envyings, and strifes, and malice, and revilings, and stealing, robbing, plundering, murdering, committing adultery, and all manner of lasciviousness, crying that these things ought not so to be.”

Doctrine and Covenants 42:21

“Thou shalt not lie; he that lieth and will not repent shall be cast out.”

Doctrine and Covenants 51:9

“And let every man deal honestly, and be alike among this people, and receive alike, that ye may be one, even as I have commanded you.”

Doctrine and Covenants 98:10

“Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil.”

Pearl of Great Price, Articles of Faith 1:13

“We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men.”

Gospel Topics, “Honesty,” Gospel Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 

“To be honest means to be sincere, truthful, and without deceit at all times.”

“Being honest often requires courage and sacrifice, especially when others try to persuade us to justify dishonest behavior. If we find ourselves in such a situation, we can remember that the lasting peace that comes from being honest is more valuable than the momentary relief of following the crowd.”

“If we are dishonest in our words or actions, we hurt ourselves and often hurt others as well.”

“We may find that we have damaged relationships with family members and friends and that people no longer trust us.”

Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Chapter 6: “Seek Christlike Attributes”, Handbooks and Callings, Mission Callings, Gospel Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 

“When you have integrity, you understand that there is right and wrong and that there is absolute truth—God’s truth. You use your agency to choose according to God’s truth, and you promptly repent when you do not. What you choose to think—and what you do when you believe no one is watching—is a strong measure of your integrity.”

“Integrity includes being honest with God, yourself, your leaders, and others. You do not lie, steal, cheat, or deceive. When you do something wrong, you accept responsibility and repent instead of trying to justify or rationalize it.”

Gospel Principles, Chapter 31: Honesty, Gospel Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 

“When we speak untruths, we are guilty of lying. We can also intentionally deceive others by a gesture or a look, by silence, or by telling only part of the truth. Whenever we lead people in any way to believe something that is not true, we are not being honest. The Lord is not pleased with such dishonesty, and we will have to account for our lies.”

“Honest people will recognize Satan’s temptations and will speak the whole truth, even if it seems to be to their disadvantage.”

“People use many excuses for being dishonest. People lie to protect themselves and to have others think well of them.”

“These excuses and many more are given as reasons for dishonesty. To the Lord, there are no acceptable reasons. When we excuse ourselves, we cheat ourselves and the Spirit of God ceases to be with us. We become more and more unrighteous.”

Brigham Young, in “Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young,” 1997, p. 293

“If we accept salvation on the terms it is offered to us, we have got to be honest in every thought, in our reflections, in our meditations, in our private circles, in our deals, in our declarations, and in every act of our lives.”

Howard W. Hunter, “Basic Concepts of Honesty,” Ensign, February 1978

“Is there any difference in principle between a little white lie and the perjury of a witness in a court of law or before a congressional investigation committee under oath? Are there really degrees of dishonesty, depending upon whether or not the subject is great or small? I know our criminal codes distinguish between petty theft and grand theft. The penalty attached to grand theft is much more severe than in the case of petty theft. Consider for a moment, is there really any difference between the two, in basic principle? Scripture is replete with admonitions to be honest, and commandments are myriad to the effect that we should be honest. We think of them in bold type: THOU SHALT NOT—thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness; thou shalt not covet.”

Gordon B. Hinckley, “We Believe in Being Honest,” Ensign, October 1990

“Some may regard the quality of character known as honesty to be a most ordinary subject. But I believe it to be the very essence of the gospel. Without honesty, our lives and the fabric of our society will disintegrate into ugliness and chaos.”

“Are you not acquainted with instances of reputations damaged, of hearts broken, of careers destroyed by the lying tongues of those who have borne false witness?”

“How rare a gem, how precious a jewel is the man or woman in whom there is neither guile nor deception nor falsehood!”

“We cannot be less than honest, we cannot be less than true, we cannot be less than virtuous if we are to keep sacred the trust given us.”

Thomas S. Monson, “Guideposts for Life’s Journey,” Spring 2008, Y Magazine, Brigham Young University

“The power to lead is indeed the power to mislead; and the power to mislead is the power to destroy.”

Elder Jörg Klebingat, “I Will Not Remove Mine Integrity from Me: Personal Honesty and Integrity,” Area Presidency Message, Liahona, January 2022

“We cannot be honest and tell a lie at the same time. It is either the one or the other.”

“Telling so-called ‘little lies’ is still being dishonest. ‘A half-truth is a whole lie,’ teaches a Jewish proverb. We may think that it is okay to lie a little at work or on the street if we are honest in our families and at church. But every time we are dishonest, we are really guilty of two lies: the lie we tell others and the lie we tell ourselves to justify it.”

“Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, the perfect example of honesty and integrity, the one we should strive to emulate. If our thoughts and desires are focused on Him, we cannot lie, we will not lie. Before telling a lie, we must first forget about Him and overrule a number of warnings from the Holy Ghost that what we are about to say or do is wrong.”

“Agreeing with another person to deceive or mislead others is a form of secret combination which can destroy us spiritually unless we sincerely repent.”

Old Testament, Numbers 23:19

“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”

Book of Mormon, Enos 1:6

“And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away.”

Book of Mormon, Ether 3:12

“And he answered: Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie.”

Doctrine and Covenants 1:31

“For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.”

Doctrine and Covenants 10:22-25

“Satan stirreth them up, that he may lead their souls to destruction.

Yea, he saith unto them: Deceive and lie in wait to catch, that ye may destroy; behold, this is no harm. And thus he flattereth them, and telleth them that it is no sin to lie.”

Doctrine and Covenants 62:6

“I, the Lord, promise the faithful and cannot lie.”

Doctrine and Covenants 129:7

“It is contrary to the order of heaven for a just man to deceive.”

Pearl of Great Price, Abraham 2:22-25

“And it came to pass when I was come near to enter into Egypt, the Lord said unto me: Behold, Sarai, thy wife, is a very fair woman to look upon;

Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see her, they will say—She is his wife; and they will kill you, but they will save her alive; therefore see that ye do on this wise:

Let her say unto the Egyptians, she is thy sister, and thy soul shall live.

And it came to pass that I, Abraham, told Sarai, my wife, all that the Lord had said unto me—Therefore say unto them, I pray thee, thou art my sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake, and my soul shall live because of thee.”

Marion G. Romney, “We Believe in Being Honest,” General Conference, October 1976

“Lying is so reprehensible that the Lord Himself cannot lie.”

“Satan, as a matter of fact, was and is the father of all lies.”

“Not only is it impossible for God to lie, but He hates lying.”

Dallin H. Oaks, “Gospel Teachings About Lying,” 12 September 1993, BYU Fireside Address, Brigham Young University

“Some have suggested that it is morally permissible to lie to promote a good cause. For example, some Mormons have taught or implied that lying is okay if you are lying for the Lord… As far as concerns our own church and culture, the most common allegations of lying for the Lord swirl around the initiation, practice, and discontinuance of polygamy. The whole experience with polygamy was a fertile field for deception. It is not difficult for historians to quote LDS leaders and members in statements justifying, denying, or deploring deception in furtherance of this religious practice.

My heart breaks when I read of circumstances in which wives and children were presented with the terrible choice of lying about the whereabouts or existence of a husband or father on the one hand or telling the truth and seeing him go to jail on the other. These were not academic dilemmas. A father in jail took food off the table and fuel from the hearth. Those hard choices involved collisions between such fundamental emotions and needs as a commitment to the truth versus the need for loving companionship and relief from cold and hunger. My heart also goes out to the Church leaders who were squeezed between their devotion to the truth and their devotion to their wives and children and to one another. To tell the truth could mean to betray a confidence or a cause or to send a brother to prison. There is no academic exercise in that choice!

I will not judge them. That judgment belongs to the Lord, who knows all of the circumstances and the hearts of the actors, a level of comprehension and wisdom not approached by even the most knowledgeable historians.”

Brigham Young, “The Gospel Like a Net Cast Into the Sea,” Journal of Discourses, Volume 4, Discourse 15 

“We have the greatest and smoothest liars in the world, the cunningest and most adroit thieves, and any other shade of character that you can mention.”

Russell M. Nelson, “The Love and Laws of God,” 17 September 2019, Speeches, Brigham Young University

“We may not always tell people what they want to hear. Prophets are rarely popular. But we will always teach the truth!”

Old Testament, Job 34:21-22

“For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings.

There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.”

Old Testament, Jeremiah 23:24

“Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.”

Old Testament, Proverbs 28:13

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

New Testament, Luke 11:33

“No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.”

New Testament, 2 Corinthians 4:1-2

“Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;

But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”

New Testament, John 3:19-20

“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.”

Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 31:13

“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost.”

Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 27:27

“And wo unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord! And their works are in the dark; and they say: Who seeth us, and who knoweth us? And they also say: Surely, your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay. But behold, I will show unto them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that I know all their works. For shall the work say of him that made it, he made me not? Or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, he had no understanding?”

Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 28:9

“Yea, and there shall be many which shall teach after this manner, false and vain and foolish doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their hearts, and shall seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord; and their works shall be in the dark.”

Book of Mormon, Alma 39:8

“But behold, ye cannot hide your crimes from God; and except ye repent they will stand as a testimony against you at the last day.”

Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 12:14

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the light of this people. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.”

Book of Mormon, Mormon 5:8

“But I, knowing that these things must surely be made known, and that all things which are hid must be revealed upon the house-tops.”

Book of Mormon, Ether 8:19

“For the Lord worketh not in secret combinations.”

Doctrine and Covenants 1:3

“And the rebellious shall be pierced with much sorrow; for their iniquities shall be spoken upon the housetops, and their secret acts shall be revealed.”

Doctrine and Covenants 1:25

“And inasmuch as they erred it might be made known.”

Doctrine and Covenants 121:37

“When we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.”

Doctrine and Covenants 127:9

“And again, let all the records be had in order, that they may be put in the archives of my holy temple, to be held in remembrance from generation to generation, saith the Lord of Hosts.”

Pearl of Great Price, Moses 1:23

“And now of this thing Moses bore record; but because of wickedness it is not had among the children of men.”

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “On Being Genuine,” General Conference, April 2015

“The term “Potemkin village” has entered the world’s vocabulary. It now refers to any attempt to make others believe we are better than we really are. It is part of human nature to want to look our best. It is why many of us work so hard on the exterior of our homes and why our young Aaronic Priesthood brethren make sure every hair is in place, just in case they run into that special someone. There is nothing wrong with shining our shoes, smelling our best, or even hiding the dirty dishes before the home teachers arrive. However, when taken to extremes, this desire to impress can shift from useful to deceitful.”

“The Savior was understanding and compassionate with sinners whose hearts were humble and sincere. But He rose up in righteous anger against hypocrites like the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees—those who tried to appear righteous in order to win the praise, influence, and wealth of the world, all the while oppressing the people they should have been blessing.”

“In some cases, we may simply have lost our focus on the essence of the gospel, mistaking the “form of godliness” for the “power thereof.” This is especially dangerous when we direct our outward expressions of discipleship to impress others for personal gain or influence. It is then that we are at risk of entering into Pharisee territory, and it is high time to examine our hearts to make immediate course corrections.”

“We come to church not to hide our problems but to heal them.”

D. Todd Christofferson, “Truth Endures,” 26 January 2018, CES Address, Salt Lake Tabernacle, Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University

“If we could erase the law, or truth, as those fighting against conscience are trying to do, we could indeed get rid of guilt or punishment or misery.”

“Obviously, the idea of erasing or eliminating truth is nonsense.”

Patrick Kearon, “He Is Risen with Healing in His Wings,” General Conference, April 2022

“Those who abuse and who seek to hide their grievous sins may get away with it for a time. But the Lord, who sees all, knows the deeds and the thoughts and intents of the heart. He is a God of justice, and His divine justice will be served.”

Scott D. Whiting, “Beware the Second Temptation,” General Conference, April 2025

“Many patterns in human behavior seem to be common in the natural man—the desire to fit in, the desire to prove oneself, the fear of missing out, and the compelling need to hide so we avoid consequences. It is this final behavior I will focus on today—hiding after we do something that we should not.”

“But by partaking of the fruit, they had transgressed the law—a law given them directly from the Father. The resulting and crushing understanding of good and evil must have left them in anguish when they heard the voice of the Father announcing His return to the garden. They realized they were naked, for they were indeed without clothing, having lived in a state of innocence. But perhaps more painful than their being without clothing in that moment, they were now exposed for their transgression. They were defenseless and vulnerable. They were naked in every sense of the word.

Ever the opportunist, Lucifer, knowing their exposed and weakened state, tempted them yet again—this time to hide from God.

This temptation—I will call it the “second temptation”—is the temptation that may bring the greatest consequence if we succumb. Surely, to avoid all first temptations to break God’s law is optimal, but we know that all will succumb to a variety of first temptations here on earth. As we progress in our maturity and understanding, we hope that our strength to avoid first temptations will continually improve as we strive to become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Some might attempt to hide from God because they don’t want to be discovered or exposed, and they feel shame or guilt. However, numerous scriptures teach us that hiding from God is impossible.”

“Beware this second temptation! Follow the counsel of prophets both ancient and modern and know that you cannot hide from a loving Father.”

John Taylor, “The Interest of Humanity Should Be Observed,” 2 March 1879, Journal of Discourses

“I think a full, free talk is frequently of great use; we want nothing secret nor underhanded, and I for one want no association with things that cannot be talked about and will not bear investigation.”

Hugh B. Brown, “An Eternal Quest—Freedom of the Mind,” 13 May 1969, Speeches, Brigham Young University 

“There are forces at work in our society today which degrade an intellectual quest for knowledge. These forces are nothing new. They have always been powerful. They are anti-intellectual.”

“Whether you are in the field of economics or political science, history or the behavioral sciences, continue your search for truth. And maintain humility sufficient to be able to revise your hypotheses as new truth comes to you by means of the spirit or the mind.”

Boyd K. Packer to D. Michael Quinn, in “Pillars of My Faith,” 1976, published 1994.

"I have a hard time with historians because they idolize the truth. The truth is not uplifting; it destroys. I could tell most of the secretaries in the church office building that they are ugly and fat. That would be the truth, but it would hurt and destroy them. Historians should tell only that part of the truth that is inspiring and uplifting.”

Ezra Taft Benson, “God’s Hand in Our Nation’s History,” 28 March 1977, Speeches, Brigham Young University

“I know the philosophy behind this practice—'to tell it as it is.’ All too often those who subscribe to this philosophy are not hampered by too many facts. When will we awaken to the fact that the defamation of our dead heroes only serves to undermine faith in the principles for which they stood, and the institutions which they established? Some have termed this practice as ‘historical realism’ or moderately call it ‘debunking.’ I call it slander and defamation. I repeat, those who are guilty of it in their writing or teaching will answer to a higher tribunal.”

Boyd K. Packer to D. Michael Quinn, in “Pillars of My Faith,” 1976, published 1994.

"The truth is not uplifting; it destroys.”

“Historians should tell only that part of the truth that is inspiring and uplifting.”

Boyd K. Packer, “The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect,” 22 August 1981, Doctrine and Covenants and Church History Symposium, Brigham Young University

“Church history can be so very interesting and so inspiring as to be a very powerful tool indeed for building faith. If not properly written or properly taught, it may be a faith destroyer.”

“There is a temptation for the writer or the teacher of Church history to want to tell everything, whether it is worthy or faith promoting or not. Some things that are true are not very useful.”

“The writer or the teacher who has an exaggerated loyalty to the theory that everything must be told is laying a foundation for his own judgment. He should not complain if one day he himself receives as he has given. Perhaps that is what is contemplated in having one’s sins preached from the housetops.”

“The scriptures teach emphatically that we must give milk before meat. The Lord made it very clear that some things are to be taught selectively, and some things are to be given only to those who are worthy. It matters very much not only what we are told but when we are told it. Be careful that you build faith rather than destroy it.”

“That historian or scholar who delights in pointing out the weakness and frailties of present or past leaders destroys faith. A destroyer of faith—particularly one within the Church, and more particularly one who is employed specifically to build faith—places himself in great spiritual jeopardy. He is serving the wrong master, and unless he repents, he will not be among the faithful in the eternities.”

“If that one is a member of the Church, he has broken his covenants and will be accountable. After all of the tomorrows of mortality have been finished, he will not stand where he might have stood.”

“Those of you who are employed by the Church have a special responsibility to build faith, not destroy it. If you do not do that, but in fact accommodate the enemy, who is the destroyer of faith, you become in that sense a traitor to the cause you have made covenants to protect.”

“There have always been, and we have among us today, those who seek entrance to restricted libraries and files to secretly copy material and steal it away in hopes of finding some detail that has not as yet been published.”

“You do not do well to see that it is disseminated. It may be read by those not mature enough for ‘advanced history,’ and a testimony in seedling stage may be crushed.”

Dallin H. Oaks, “Reading Church History,” 16 August 1985, CES Doctrine and Covenants Symposium, Brigham Young University

“The fact that something is true is not always a justification for communicating it.”

“Some things that are true are not edifying or appropriate to communicate. Readers of history and biography should ponder that moral reality as part of their effort to understand the significance of what they read.”

Russell M. Nelson, “Truth—and More,” Ensign, January 1986

“I do not decry the revealing of negative information per se. A prosecutor who uncovers an embezzlement combines both truth and justice. A journalist who rightly reports betrayal of official trust combines truth with righteousness. Physicians who determined that old-fashioned ‘blood-letting’ did more harm than good strengthened truth with light.”

“We now live in a season in which some self-serving historians grovel for ‘truth’ that would defame the dead and the defenseless. Some may be tempted to undermine what is sacred to others, or diminish the esteem of honored names, or demean the efforts of revered individuals. They seem to forget that the greatness of the very lives they examine is what endows the historian’s work with any interest.”

“If an historic character has made a great contribution to country and society, and if his name and his deeds have been used over the generations to foster high ideals of character and service, what good is to be accomplished by digging out of the past and exploiting weaknesses, and perhaps a generous contemporary public forgave?”

“Extortion by threat of disclosing truth is labelled ‘blackmail.’ Is sordid disclosure for personal attention or financial gain not closely related?”

“Any who are tempted to rake through the annals of history, to use truth unrighteously, or to dig up ‘facts’ with the intent to defame or destroy, should hearken to this warning.”

Dallin H. Oaks, “Criticism,” Ensign, February 1987

“One who focuses on faults, though they be true, tears down a brother or a sister. The virtues of patience, brotherly kindness, mutual respect, loyalty, and good manners all rest to some degree on the principle that even though something is true, we are not necessarily justified in communicating it to any and all persons at any and all times. The use of truth should also be constrained by the principle of unity. One who focuses on faults, though they be true, fosters dissensions and divisions among fellow Church members in the body of Christ.”

Howard W. Hunter, in Devery S. Anderson "A History of Dialogue, Part Two: Struggle Toward Maturity, 1971–1982," Summer 2000, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. Volume 33, Article 2, p. 1–96

“The Church is mature enough that our history should be honest.”

Leonard J. Arrington, in Devery S. Anderson "A History of Dialogue, Part Two: Struggle Toward Maturity, 1971–1982," Summer 2000, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. Volume 33, Article 2, p. 1–96

“[Hunter] did not believe in suppressing information, hiding documents, or concealing or withholding documents for "screening." He thought we should publish the documents of our history. ... He thought it in our best interest to encourage scholars—to help and cooperate with them in doing honest research.”

Gordon B. Hinckley, “Pres. Hinckley answers myriad questions about the LDS Church,” 25 December 2005, Deseret News

“Well, we have nothing to hide. Our history is an open book. They may find what they are looking for, but the fact is the history of the church is clear and open and leads to faith and strength and virtues.”

Steven E. Snow, Church Historian and Recorder, “Start with Faith: A Conversation with Elder Steven E. Snow,” Religious Educator Magazine, 2013, Brigham Young University

“My view is that being open about our history solves a whole lot more problems than it creates. We might not have all the answers, but if we are open (and we now have pretty remarkable transparency), then I think in the long run that will serve us well. I think in the past there was a tendency to keep a lot of the records closed or at least not give access to information. But the world has changed in the last generation with the access to information on the Internet, we can't continue that pattern; I think we need to continue to be more open.“

Richard Bushman, “Transcript of Claudia and Richard Bushman’s Remarks at Faith Again,” 12 June 2016, Medium

“I think for the Church to remain strong it has to reconstruct its narrative. The dominant narrative is not true. It can’t be sustained. The Church has to absorb all this new information or it will be on very shaky grounds, and that’s what it’s trying to do. And they’ll be a strain for a lot of people, older people especially. But I think it has to change. Elder Packer had the sense of ‘protecting the little people.’ He felt like the scholars were an enemy to his faith, and that of the grandmothers living in Sanpete County. That was a very lovely pastoral image. But the price of protecting the grandmothers was the loss of the grandsons. They got a story that didn’t work. So we’ve just had to change our narrative.”

Joseph Smith, “History, 1838–1856,” Volume C-1 Addenda, p. 20, The Joseph Smith Papers

“I charged the Saints not to follow the example of the adversary in accusing the brethren, and said ‘if you do not accuse each other God will not accuse you. If you have no accuser you will enter heaven; and if you will follow the Revelations and instructions which God gives you through me, I will take you into heaven as my back load. If you will not accuse me, I will not accuse you. If you will throw a cloak of charity over my sins, I will over yours— for charity covereth a multitude of sins.”

Joseph Smith to Emma Smith, in “Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith,” by Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, p. 115

“There is another error which opens a door for the adversary to enter. As females possess refined feelings and sensitiveness, they are also subject to an overmuch zeal which must ever prove dangerous, and cause them to be rigid in a religious capacity. You should be arm’d with mercy notwithstanding the iniquity among us… Put a double watch over the tongue… You should chasten and reprove and keep it all in silence, not even mention them again. One request to the Prest. and society, that you search yourselves—the tongue is an unruly member—hold your tongues about things of no moment. A little tale will set the world on fire. At this time the truth on the guilty should not be told openly—Strange as this may seem, yet this is policy. We must use precaution in bringing sinners to justice lest in exposing these heinous sins, we draw the indignation of a gentile world upon us (and to their imagination justly, too).”

Joseph Smith, Letter to Newel K., Elizabeth Ann Smith, and Sarah Ann Whitney, 18 August 1842, Joseph Smith Papers, JSP, D10:436–440

"The only thing to be careful of is to find out when Emma comes, then you cannot be safe, but when she is not here, there is the most perfect safety… Burn this letter as soon as you read it."

George W. Robinson, “To James Arlington Bennet,” 27 July 1842, in Bennett, “History of the Saints,” p. 246

“She left him with disgust, and came home and told her father of the transaction; upon which Smith was sent for. He came. She told the tale in the presence of all the family, and to Smith's face. I was present. Smith attempted to deny it at first, and face her down with the lie; but she told the facts with so much earnestness, and the fact of a letter being present, which he had caused to be written to her, on the same subject, the day after the attempt made on her virtue, breathing the same spirit, and which he had fondly hoped was destroyed,--all came with such force that he could not withstand the testimony; and he then and there acknowledged that every word of Miss Higdon's testimony was true.”

Emily D. P. Young, “Diary and Reminiscences,” February 1874, pg. 1

“When I was eighteen years or nineteen old Joseph said to me one day, “Emily, if you will not betray me, I will tell you something for your benefit.” Of course I would keep his secret, but no opportunity offered for some time, to say anything to me. As I was passing through the room where he sat alone, he asked me I would burn it if he would write me a letter. As I felt very anxious to know what he had to tell me, I promised to do as he wished, and left the room. I began to think that was not the proper thing for me to do, and I was about as miserable as I would ever wish to be, for a short time.” 

Charles W. Penrose, “To John Taylor,” 1877, Salt Lake City, Utah, First Presidency (John Taylor) Correspondence, Church History Catalog, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“If the members of the Church who would vote on the Constitution question were quietly informed as to its effects and given to understand it as a political and not a Church question, and that it would not interfere with their standing as Latter-day Saints, it would soon be comprehended in its true light. So far from being a subterfuge, it would relieve our people from the endless subterfuges and prevarications which our present condition imposes, and which threaten to make our rising generation a race of deceivers.”

Joseph Smith, “President Joseph Smith’s Journal,” Saturday June 1, 1844

“Met George J. Adams, and paid him $50. Then went to John P. Greene’s, and paid him and another brother $200. Drank a glass of beer at Moessers. Called at William Clayton’s, while Dr. Richards and O.P. Rockwell called at the Doctor’s new house.”

Joseph Smith, “History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” Volume 6, 1902

“Met George J. Adams, and paid him $50. Then went to John P. Greene’s, and paid him and another brother $200. Called at William Clayton’s, while Dr. Richards and Orrin P. Rockwell called at the doctor’s new house.”

Matthias Cowley, “Minutes of a Meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles,” 10 May 1911, 10:30 AM, Salt Lake Temple

“I am not dishonest and not a liar and have always been true to the work and to the brethren. I have always been true and faithful myself. We have always been taught that when the brethren were in a tight place that it would not be amiss to lie to help them out.”

Bruce R. McConkie, “The Foolishness of Teaching,” in The Voice of My Servants, Apostolic Messages on Teaching, Learning, and Scripture, Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University

“You talk about teaching false doctrine and being damned. Here is a list of false doctrines that if someone teaches he will be damned. And there is not one of these that I have ever known to be taught in the Church, but I am giving you the list for a perspective because of what will follow. Teach that God is a spirit, the sectarian trinity. Teach that salvation comes by grace alone, without works. Teach original guilt, or birth sin, as they express it. Teach infant baptism. Teach predestination. Teach that revelation and gifts and miracles have ceased. Teach the Adam-God theory. (That does apply in the Church.) Teach that we should practice plural marriage today. Now any of those are doctrines that damn.”

Bruce R. McConkie, “Correspondence to Eugene England,” 9 February 1981, in Bruce R. McConkie: Highlights from His Life and Teachings

“As it happens, I am a great admirer of Brigham Young and a great believer in his doctrinal presentations. He was called of God. He was guided by the Holy Spirit in his teachings in general. He was a mighty prophet. He led Israel the way the Lord wanted his people led. He built on the foundation laid by the Prophet Joseph. He completed his work and has gone on to eternal exaltation.

Yes, President Young did teach that Adam was the father of our Spirits, and all the related things that the cultists ascribe to him. This, however, is not true. He expressed views that are out of harmony with the gospel.

I think you can give me credit for having a knowledge of the quotations from Brigham Young relative to Adam, and of knowing what he taught under the subject that has become known as the Adam God Theory.

I do not know all of the providences of the Lord, but I do know that he permits false doctrine to be taught in and out of the Church and that such teaching is part of the sifting process of mortality.

One of the side effects of preaching contrary to what the Brethren preach is to get a spirit of rebellion growing up in your heart. This sort of thing cankers the soul spiritually. It drives people out of the Church. It weakens their faith. All of us need all of the faith and strength and spiritual stability we can get to maintain our positions in the Church.

You will remain silent on those where differences exist between you and the Brethren. This is the course of safety. I advise you to pursue it. If you do not, perils lie ahead. It is not too often in this day that any of us are told plainly and bluntly what out to be.”

Leonard Arrington, “Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought”, Spring 1966, p. 26

“It is unfortunate for the cause of Mormon history that the Church Historian's Library, which is in the possession of virtually all of the diaries of leading Mormons, has not seen fit to publish these diaries or to permit qualified historians to use them without restriction.”

Lavina Fielding Anderson, “The LDS Intellectual Community and Church Leadership: A Contemporary Chronology,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Volume 26, No. 1

“18 November 1981. The Seventh East Press publishes D. Michael Quinn’s 4 November address to Phi Alpha Theta, the BYU student history association. He responds point by point to Elder Packer’s address, warning that ‘a history which makes LDS leaders flawless and benignly angelic . . . borders on idolatry.’”

“25 January 1982. The First Presidency writes Leonard J. Arrington a letter extending him an ‘honorable release’ both as Church Historian and as director of the History Division. Elder Durham is set apart as Church Historian privately on 8 February 1982. Neither Leonard’s release nor Elder Durham’s appointment is announced at April conference, although President Hinckley says, ‘Elder G. Homer Durham, a member of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy and the Church Historian who, if I remember correctly, was born in Parowan, has now addressed us.’”

“15 February 1982. A story by Kenneth L. Woodward, religion editor of Newsweek, reports the Packer/Quinn conflict, pointing out that Quinn ‘violated the Mormon taboo that proscribes the faithful from publicly criticizing ‘the Lord’s Anointed’ by name.’ Elder Packer’s address, originally scheduled to appear in the February issue of the Ensign, is withdrawn[26] but is later published in Brigham Young University Studies.”

“April 1985. D. Michael Quinn’s hundred-page article, “LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages, 1890-1904,” appears in Dialogue. It definitively identifies a significant number of general authorities as marrying, performing marriages, and authorizing the marriages of others in polygamy after the Manifesto of September 1890. Even though Michael had informed general authorities as early as 1979 of his research and received authorization from Elder G. Homer Durham as late as January 1985 to examine First Presidency materials, Elder James M. Paramore, acting on instructions from three unnamed apostles, orders Michael’s stake president to confiscate his temple recommend. He further instructs the stake president to tell Michael that this action is “a local decision.” The stake president agrees to hold the interview, refuses to lie about the source of the instructions, and warns Michael that the instructions to confiscate his temple recommend might constitute a “back-door effort” to have him fired from BYU, since temple-worthiness is a prerequisite for church employment. He tells Michael “to tell BYU officials that I had a temple recommend and not to volunteer that it was in his desk drawer.” 

“9 June 1985. Bishoprics in Idaho, Utah, and Arizona receive telephoned instructions from church headquarters early Sunday morning not to invite Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, co-authors of a biography on Emma Smith, to speak on historical topics in church meetings. Neither Linda nor Val is officially informed of this decision. At their own request Linda and Jack meet with Elders Neal A. Maxwell and Dallin H. Oaks, who tell her that “some aspects of the portrayal of Joseph Smith” are the problem. The month before, the book has won the best book award from the Mormon History Association and the John Whitmer Historical Association. It later co-wins the prestigious $10,000 Evans Biography Award, sharing the honor with Richard L. Bushman. BYU president and future general authority Jeffrey R. Holland presents the award.”

“30 April 1992. BYU announces a draft of a policy on academic freedom which states: “Academic freedom must include not only the institution’s freedom to claim a religious identity but also the individual’s freedom to ask genuine, even difficult questions. . . . Freedom of thought, belief, inquiry, and expression are crucial no less to the sacred than to the secular quest for truth.” It also specifies “reasonable limitations” on academic freedom to prevent behavior that “seriously and adversely affects the university mission or The Church.” Examples of restricted behavior fall in three categories. The behavior or expression (1) “contradicts fundamental Church doctrines or opposes, rather than merely discusses, official policies of the Church; (2) attacks or derides the Church or its leaders; and (3) violates the Honor Code because the behavior or expression is dishonest, illegal, unchaste, profane, or unduly disrespectful of others.”

“16 August 1992. David Knowlton and Linda King Newell appear on the weekly program Utah 1992 (KXVX, Channel 4, Salt Lake City), moderated by Chris Vanocur and Paul Murphy. In response to questions, Linda relates the story of the banning of the Emma biography and David describes his encounters with his stake president. David asserts that the practice of keeping secret files “doesn’t belong in a church that purports to represent Jesus Christ I’m ashamed, frankly, of a church that doesn’t want to tell the truth. I’m ashamed of institutional lying.”

“May 1982. Michael Quinn’s stake presidency informs him that five former bishops have recommended him as the new bishop for his ward but that ‘Apostle Mark E. Petersen has blocked the appointment.’ Elder Petersen asks the stake presidency, ‘Why is Michael Quinn in league with anti-Mormons?’ apparently referring to the unauthorized publication of his address to Phi Alpha Theta by Jerald and Sandra Tanner.”

“Sunday, 22 May 1983. Dawn Tracy publishes an article in the Provo Daily Herald reporting that she talked to fourteen[36] Mormon writers in four states who “had been questioned” by local ecclesiastical leaders. All had contributed to Dialogue, Sunstone, or the Seventh East Press. Roy Doxey, former BYU dean of religious education, says that Apostle Mark E. Petersen “ordered the investigations.” Elder Petersen, whose assignment has long been the investigation and suppression of fundamentalist Mormons, has apparently expanded his mandate to include other individuals whom he defines as enemies of the church. In 1962 he told a conference of seminary and Institute faculty, “In teaching the gospel there is no academic freedom…. There is only fundamental orthodox doctrine and truth.” Three of the writers who were investigated are faculty members at BYU. Jack Newell, co-editor of Dialogue, comments, “We are gravely concerned that the faith of any Latter-day Saint would be questioned including the basis of his or her commitment to legitimate scholarship and the free exchange of ideas.” Scott Faulring’s stake president chastised him for his writings but admitted he had never read the offending articles. This stake president also “warned him to be cautious in his writing” and refused to tell him “who asked him to talk to me,” said Faulring. Gary James Bergera of Provo, also interviewed, commented: “My stake president told me that if the prophet told me to do something wrong, I would be blessed if I obeyed He said what I had written was anti-Mormon because it wasn’t uplifting.”

“We must speak up. We must stop keeping “bad” secrets when our church acts in an abusive way. We must share our stories and our pain. When we feel isolated, judged, and rejected, it is easy to give up, to allow ourselves to become marginalized, and to accept the devaluation as accurate. If we silence ourselves or allow others to silence us, we will deny the validity of our experience, undermine the foundations of authenticity in our personal spirituality, and impoverish our collective life as a faith community.

We must protest injustice, unrighteousness, and wrong. I pay my church the compliment of thinking that it espouses the ideals of justice and fairness. I am confused when leaders confiscate temple recommends of members who publicly praise the church’s actions. Blacklists, secret files, and intimidation violate my American sense of fair play and my legal expectation of due process. They violate the ideal that truth is best served by an open interchange, that disagreement can be both courteous and clarifying, and that differences are not automatically dangerous. Most importantly I am dismayed when the organization that teaches me to honor the truth and to act with integrity seems to violate those very principles in its behavior. I am bewildered and grieved when my church talks honorably from one script and acts ignobly from another.

We must protest, expose, and work against an internal espionage system that creates and maintains secret files on members of the church.”

Boyd Kirkland, “Building the Kingdom with Total Honesty,” Fall 1998, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Volume 31, No. 3

“I wrote a letter to President Spencer W. Kimball in the summer of 1980, asking why he, as well as Mark E. Petersen, Bruce R. McConkie, and other general authorities, had been so vocally denouncing the Adam-God doctrine, while at the same time denying that Brigham Young had been the source of the idea, when there was an abundance of good evidence to the contrary. [For example, President Kimball said in the 1976 general conference, “We warn you against the dissemination of doctrine which are not according to the scriptures and which are alleged to have been taught by some of the General Authorities of past generations.  Such, for instance, is the Adam-God theory.”] 

I pointed out that this approach created a double dilemma for church members aware of the facts: first, how a prophet (Brigham) could claim as revelation and promote to the church an idea deemed by later leaders to be a dangerous heresy: and, second, why later church leaders would dishonestly deny the true source of the “heresy,” claiming it originated with “enemies of the church.” 

“I indicated in [a letter to the First Presidency] letter, that I felt this dilemma was simply the result of a misunderstanding or lack of information on the part of the brethren. Later, I met with an informal committee answering to Mark E. Petersen, which had been set up to help members confronted with issues raised by fundamentalist Mormons (the Adam-God doctrine being one of the chief of these). The net result of my meetings with these people began to make me realize that Brother Petersen wasn’t acting out of ignorance of the facts regarding the Adam-God problem, and neither was Bro. McConkie.” 

“I still wondered about the extent of President Kimball’s knowledge of the subject, however. I suspected that my letter had never reached him. In February 1981, I met with Michael Watson, the secretary to the First Presidency. He was surprisingly candid with me, revealing that my letter had been forwarded to Mark E. Petersen. 

Brother Watson showed me a memo written by Brother Petersen to the First Presidency with his recommendations as to how to respond to me. He informed them that the issues I had raised were real, that Brigham Young had indeed taught these things, but that they could not acknowledge this lest I would “trap them” into saying this therefore meant Brigham was a false prophet. 

He therefore recommended that I be given a very circuitous response, evading the issue, which he volunteered to write. I asked Brother Watson, as well as members of the committee I had previously met with, how this approach would help people like myself who knew better? Wasn’t there concern that some might be dismayed and disillusioned by their church leaders’ lack of candor? 

Their response was very similar to President Hinckley’s statement mentioned earlier about losing a few through excommunication: they said, in essence, “If a few people lose their testimonies over this, so be it; it’s better than letting the true facts be known, and dealing with the probable wider negative consequences to the mission of the church.”

D. Michael Quinn, “150 Years of Truth and Consequences about Mormon History,” Sunstone, Feb 1992

“Church president Heber J. Grant also required B. H. Roberts to censor some documents in the seventh volume of the History of the Church. Elder Roberts was furious. "I desire, however, to take this occasion of disclaiming any responsibility for the mutilating of that very important part of President Young~ Manuscript," Roberts replied to President Grant in August 1932, "and also to say, that while you had the physical power of eliminating that passage from the History, I do not believe you had any moral right to do so."

“General authorities began taking direct action against historians. In May 1983 newspapers reported that Apostle Mark E. Petersen had instructed stake presidents to question historians and others who had contributed to Dialogue and SUNSTONE. In May1985, three apostles gave orders for my reluctant stake president to revoke my temple recommend due to my publication of "LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages,1890-1904" in Dialogue. In June, church headquarters instructed bishops in Utah, Idaho, and Arizona not to allow discussion in Relief Society or other Church meetings of Linda King Newell’s and Valeen Tippetts Avery’s biography, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith. In October 1985, Mark Hofmann killed two people with bombs as part of his elaborate scheme of using forged documents to manipulate the LDS hierarchy’s paranoia about Mormonism’s unconventional past.”

“In 1986, LDS Church Archives required all researchers to sign a form whose wording implied a retroactive right of censorship. Upon inquiry by archives personnel, Apostle Boyd K. Packer said that the form was intended to apply retroactively to my fifteen years of previous research in LDS Archives. I declined to sign the form and ceased manuscript research there.”

Tampa Bay Times, “Mormon Church Keeps Files on its Dissenters,” 15 August 1992

“The Mormon church sponsors a committee that gathers information on members who criticize the church and passes its findings on to local church leaders.

The existence of the committee was disclosed here last week during a meeting of liberal Mormons, and a church spokesman confirmed the report. The spokesman, Don Lefevre, told Religious News Service on Monday that the aim of the group, known as the Strengthening Church Members Committee, is to prevent members from making negative statements that hinder the progress of the Mormon church, officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

Lefevre said the committee neither makes judgments nor imposes penalties. "Its purpose is implied by the committee's name, to strengthen members in the church who may have a problem or may need counseling," Lefevre said. "It's really an attempt to help the individual."

Lefevre said the committee receives complaints from church members about other members who have made statements that "conceivably could do harm to the church." 

"What this committee does is hear the complaints and pass the information along to the person's ecclesiastical leader." Any discipline is "entirely up to the discretion of the local leaders," he said.”

Practice of Plural Marriage

Doctrine and Covenants (1835), Section 101, Statement on Marriage, circa August 1835

“Inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband, except in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again.”

Joseph Smith, “History of the Church, Vol. 6,” 26 May 1844, pg. 411

“What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one.”

Joseph Smith, Times and Seasons, October 1842

“All legal contracts of marriage made before a person is baptized into this church, should be held sacred and fulfilled. Inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband, except in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again.

We the undersigned members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and residents of the city of Nauvoo, persons of families do hereby certify and declare that we know of no other rule or system of marriage than the one publised from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and we give this certificate to show that Dr. J. C. Bennett’s “secret wife system” is a creature of his own make as we know of no such society in this place nor never did.

S[amuel] Bennett, N[ewel] K. Whitney, George Miller, Albert Pettey [Petty], Alpheus Cutler, Elias Higbee, Reynolds Cahoon, John Taylor, Wilson Law, E[benezer] Robinson, W[ilford] Woodruff, Aaron Johnson,

We, the undersigned members of the ladies’ relief society, and married females do certify and declare that we know of no system of marriage being practised in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints save the one contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and we give this certificate to the public to show that J. C. Bennett’s “secret wife system” is a disclosure of his own make.

Emma Smith, President,

Elizabeth Ann [Smith] Whitney, Counsellor,

Sarah M. [Kingsley] Cleveland, Counsellor,

Eliza R. Snow, Secretary

Mary C. Miller, Catharine Pettey [Catherine Petty Petty]

Lois [Lathrop] Cutler, Sarah [Ward] Higbee,

Thirza [Stiles] Cahoon, Phebe [Carter] Woodruff,

Ann [Standley] Hunter, Leonora [Cannon] Taylor,

Jane [Silverthorn] Law, Sarah [King] Hillman,

Sophia R. Marks, Rosannah [Robinson] Marks,

Polly Z. [Kelsey] Johnson, Angeline [Works] Robinson,

Abigail Works.”

Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith, pg. 144

“When she was approached on the topic by a fellow Relief Society member, she said that Joseph had told her to tell the sisters of the society that if any man, no matter who he was, undertook to talk such stuff to them in their houses, just to order him out at once, and if he did not go immediately, to take the tons or the broom and drive him out, for the whole idea was absolutely false and the doctrine an evil and unlawful thing.”

Brigham Young, “Corruption of the World”, Journal of Discourses 1:361, August 1, 1852

“Admit, for argument's sake, that the ‘Mormon’ Elders have more wives than one, yet our enemies never have proved it. If I had forty wives in the United States, they did not know it, and could not substantiate it, neither did I ask any lawyer, judge, or magistrate for them. I live above the law, and so do this people.”

Doctrine and Covenants, Official Declaration 1

“To Whom It May Concern: Press dispatches having been sent for political purposes, from Salt Lake City, which have been widely published, to the effect that the Utah Commission, in their recent report to the Secretary of the Interior, allege that plural marriages are still being solemnized and that forty or more such marriages have been contracted in Utah since last June or during the past year, also that in public discourses the leaders of the Church have taught, encouraged and urged the continuance of the practice of polygamy— I, therefore, as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, do hereby, in the most solemn manner, declare that these charges are false. We are not teaching polygamy or plural marriage, nor permitting any person to enter into its practice, and I deny that either forty or any other number of plural marriages have during that period been solemnized in our Temples or in any other place in the Territory.”

Joseph F. Smith, “Official Statement,” April 1904, Conference Report, p. 75

“Inasmuch as there are numerous reports in circulation that plural marriages have been entered into, contrary to the official declaration of President Woodruff of September 24, 1890, commonly called the manifesto, which was issued by President Woodruff, and adopted by the Church at its general conference, October 6, 1890, which forbade any marriages violative of the law of the land, I, Joseph F. Smith, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, hereby affirm and declare that no such marriages have been solemnized with the sanction, consent, or knowledge of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And I hereby announce that all such marriages are prohibited, and if any officer or member of the Church shall assume to solemnize or enter into any such marriage, he will be deemed in transgression against the Church, and will be liable to be dealt with according to the rules and regulations thereof and excommunicated therefrom. Joseph F. Smith, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Gospel Topics Essays, “The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage,” Church History, Gospel Library, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“New plural marriages were performed in the United States between 1890 and 1904.”

“The precise number of new plural marriages performed during these years, inside and outside the United States, is unknown.”

“In all, 8 of 19 members of the Quorum of the Twelve who served between 1890 and 1904 married new plural wives during those years, and these marriages are not represented on the ledger. These members include Brigham Young Jr., George Teasdale, John W. Taylor, Abraham H. Cannon, Marriner W. Merrill, Matthias F. Cowley, Abraham Owen Woodruff, and Rudger Clawson. It is alleged that President Wilford Woodruff married an additional plural wife in 1897, but the historical record makes this unclear.” Footnote 36

“The exact process by which these marriages were approved remains unclear. For a time, post-Manifesto plural marriages required the approval of a member of the First Presidency. There is no definitive evidence, however, that the decisions were made by the First Presidency as a whole; President Woodruff, for example, typically referred requests to allow new plural marriages to President Cannon for his personal consideration.”

“Church President Lorenzo Snow issued a statement clarifying that new plural marriages had ceased in the Church and that the Manifesto extended to all parts of the world, counsel he repeated in private. Even so, a small number of new plural marriages continued to be performed.”

“After Joseph F. Smith became Church President in 1901, a small number of new plural marriages were also performed during the early years of his administration.”

“One of the most aggressive proponents of new plural marriages, Apostle Matthias F. Cowley, listed the plural marriages he performed in a small notebook. The book contains 3 marriages for 1898, 4 for 1899, 9 for 1900, 20 for 1901, 18 for 1902, and 3 for 1903. (Cowley, Marriages Solemnized, 1898–1903.)” Footnote 42

“President Smith carefully distinguished between actions sanctioned by the Church and ratified in Church councils and conferences, and the actions undertaken by individual members of the Church. “There never has been a plural marriage by the consent or sanction or knowledge or approval of the church since the manifesto,” he testified.”

“In this legal setting, President Smith sought to protect the Church while stating the truth. His testimony conveyed a distinction Church leaders had long understood: the Manifesto removed the divine command for the Church collectively to sustain and defend plural marriage; it had not, up to this time, prohibited individuals from continuing to practice or perform plural marriage as a matter of religious conscience.”

“Contrary to direction, two Apostles, John W. Taylor and Matthias F. Cowley, continued to perform and encourage new plural marriages after the Second Manifesto.”

“Rudger Clawson, a member of the Twelve who married a plural wife in 1904, was not disciplined by Church authorities.” Footnote 50

“Many others quietly cohabited into the 1930s and beyond.”

Gordon B. Hinckley, Interview on Larry King, September 8, 1998

Larry King: “You condemn it [polygamy]?”

Hinckley: “I condemn it. Yes, as a practice, because I think it is not doctrinal.”

Joseph Smith, Letter to Nancy Rigdon, circa Mid-April 1842, Joseph Smith Papers, JSP, D9:413–418

“Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire. If we seek first the kingdom of God, all good things will be added. So with Solomon—first he asked wisdom, and God gave it him, and with it every desire of his heart, even things which might be considered abominable to all who do not understand the order of heaven only in part, but which, in reality, were right, because God gave and sanctioned by special revelation.”

Book of Mormon, Jacob 2:23-28

“But the word of God burdens me because of your grosser crimes. For behold, thus saith the Lord: This people begin to wax in iniquity; they understand not the scriptures, for they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms, because of the things which were written concerning David, and Solomon his son. 

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 suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old. 

Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none; 

For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts.”

Innocence of Joseph Smith

Doctrine and Covenants 135:7

“They were innocent of any crime, as they had often been proved before, and were only confined in jail by the conspiracy of traitors and wicked men; and their innocent blood on the floor of Carthage jail is a broad seal affixed to “Mormonism” that cannot be rejected by any court on earth, and their innocent blood on the escutcheon of the State of Illinois, with the broken faith of the State as pledged by the governor, is a witness to the truth of the everlasting gospel that all the world cannot impeach; and their innocent blood on the banner of liberty, and on the magna charta of the United States, is an ambassador for the religion of Jesus Christ, that will touch the hearts of honest men among all nations; and their innocent blood, with the innocent blood of all the martyrs under the altar that John saw, will cry unto the Lord of Hosts till he avenges that blood on the earth. Amen.”

Ordination of Black Members to the Priesthood

Doctrine and Covenants, Official Declaration 2 Introduction Heading

“Early in its history, Church leaders stopped conferring the priesthood on black males of African descent. Church records offer no clear insights into the origins of this practice.”

Matthew L. Harris, “Joseph Fielding Smith’s Evolving Views on Race: The Odyssey of a Mormon Apostle-President,” Dialogue, Articles/Essays – Volume 55, No. 3

“Smith fumbled on questions regarding Black priesthood ordination as well. When a well-intentioned Latter-day Saint asked him about Elijah Abel, an early Black Latter-day Saint priesthood holder, Smith noted that the “story that Joseph Smith [had] ordained a Negro and sent him on a mission is not true.” On another occasion, he informed a concerned Church member that there were actually two Elijah Abels in Nauvoo in the 1840s—one Black and one white. The white Elijah Abel held the priesthood, he stubbornly insisted. Assistant Church Historian Andrew Jenson stoked the controversy when he published a four-volume book entitled Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, in which he acknowledged that early Church leaders had conferred priesthood ordination on Abel. Smith claimed, without evidence, that Jenson was mistaken, and the apostle huffed that admitting Abel’s ordination had done “the Church a disservice that has turned out to plague us.”

Newell G Bringhurst, “Elijah Abel and the Changing Status of Blacks within Mormonism,” Dialogue, quoting Joseph Fielding Smith to Mrs. Floren S. Preece, January 18, 1955, S. George Ellsworth Papers, Utah State University, Logan

“By 1955 even this qualified view of Abel's place as a Mormon priesthood holder was denounced by Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith. In response to a private inquiry, Smith rejected Jenson's account of Abel, suggesting that there were two Elijah Abels in the early Church - one white and the other black. Jenson had confounded the "names and the work done by one man named Abel . . . with the name of the Negro who joined the Church in an early day.”

Joseph Fielding Smith, Correspondence to Joseph H. Henderson, April 10, 1963

“It is true that elders of the church laid hands on a Negro and blessed him ‘apparently’ with the Priesthood, but they could not give that which the Lord had denied. It is true that Elijah Abel was so ‘ordained.’ This was however before the matter had been submitted to the Prophet Joseph Smith. … It was afterwards that the Prophet Joseph Smith declared that the Negro was not to be ordained.”

Harold B. Lee, “Doing the Right Things for the Right Reasons,” April 19, 1961, BYU Speeches of the Year

“President Joseph F. Smith is quoted in a statement under the date of August 26, 1908, when he referred to Elijah Abel who was ordained a Seventy in the days of the Prophet and to whom was issued a Seventy’s certificate. This ordination, when found out, was declared null and void by the Prophet himself and so likewise by the next three presidents who succeeded the Prophet Joseph.”

John Taylor’s Revelation on Plural Marriage

First Presidency, "An Official Statement from the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," 17 June 1933, Deseret News, Church Section, p. 2–4

“It is alleged that on September 26-27, 1886, President John Taylor received a revelation from the Lord, the purported text of which is given in publications circulating apparently by or at the instance of this same organization.

As to this pretended revelation it should be said that the archives of the Church contain no such revelation; the archives contain no record of any such revelation, nor any evidence justifying a belief that any such revelation was ever given. From the personal knowledge of some of us, from the uniform and common recollection of the presiding quorums of the Church, from the absence in the Church archives of any evidence whatsoever justifying any belief that such a revelation was given, we are justified in affirming that no such revelation exists.”

Mark E. Peterson, “The Way of the Master,” 1974, Bookcraft, Salt Lake City, p. 57 

“To justify their own rebellion, certain recalcitrant brethren devised a scheme which they hoped would frustrate the stand of the Church on plural marriage. They concocted a false revelation, allegedly given to President John Taylor in 1886, in which pretended secret authority was given to continue plural marriages.”

Church History Catalog, “General Information, John Taylor revelation, 1886 September 27,” Call Number MS 34928, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“Revelation about the new and everlasting covenant as written by John Taylor. File includes John Taylor's 1886 handwritten copy and a handwritten copy by a Taylor family member. Also includes an 18 July 1933 memorandum from J. Reuben Clark Jr. about the provenance of the copy in John Taylor's handwriting, a 1909 typescript copy of the revelation by Joseph Fielding Smith, and additional typescript copies.”

Church Records, “John Taylor revelation,” 1886 September 27, Call Number MS 34928, Church History Catalog, p. 13

“John Taylor’s Revelation. File No One.”

Russel M. Nelson’s Flight

Russell M. Nelson, “Doors of Death,” General Conference, April 1992

“I remember vividly an experience I had as a passenger in a small two-propeller airplane. One of its engines suddenly burst open and caught on fire. The propeller of the flaming engine was starkly stilled. As we plummeted in a steep spiral dive toward the earth, I expected to die. Some of the passengers screamed in hysterical panic. 

Miraculously, the precipitous dive extinguished the flames. Then, by starting up the other engine, the pilot was able to stabilize the plane and bring us down safely. Throughout that ordeal, though I “knew” death was coming, my paramount feeling was that I was not afraid to die. 

I remember a sense of returning home to meet ancestors for whom I had done temple work. I remember my deep sense of gratitude that my sweetheart and I had been sealed eternally to each other and to our children, born and reared in the covenant. I realized that our marriage in the temple was my most important accomplishment. Honors bestowed upon me by men could not approach the inner peace provided by sealings performed in the house of the Lord. 

That harrowing experience consumed but a few minutes, yet my entire life flashed before my mind. Having had such rapid recall when facing death, I do not doubt the scriptural promise of “perfect remembrance” when facing judgment.”

Russell M. Nelson, “Men’s Hearts Shall Fail Them,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, YouTube

“I was in a small plane and all of the sudden the engine on the wing caught fire. It exploded and burning oil was poured all over the right side of the airplane and we started to dive toward the earth. We were spinning down to our death. Oh, this woman across the aisle, I just was so sorry for her. She was just absolutely uncontrollably hysterical. And I was calm. I was totally calm, even though I knew I was going down. I was ready to meet my maker. 

We didn’t crash. We didn’t die. The spiral dive extinguished the flame. The pilot got control and started the other engine up. We made an emergency landing out in a field. But I thought, through that experience, if you’ve got faith, you can handle difficulties knowing that with faith, you can handle difficulties knowing that with an eternal perspective that all will be well.”

Civil Aeronautics Board Reports, Volume 73, By United States. Civil Aeronautics Board, 1977. Page 1090, Sky West Airlines, Incident on November 11, 1976.

“Second incident occurred Nov 11 1976 involving Piper PA 31 N74985. Pilot experienced rough engine on scheduled flight between Salt Lake City and St George. 3 passengers on board. Engine was feathered and precautionary landing made at Delta Utah per instructions company manual. Investigation revealed cylinder base studs sheered. As result of occurrence Sky West changed maintenance procedures by checking torque studs at each 100 hour inspection. No damage to aircraft. No injuries to crew or passengers.”

Changes to Temple Ordinances

Dallin H. Oaks, “Introductory Message,” General Conference, April 2022

“The gospel of Jesus Christ does not change. Gospel doctrine does not change. Our personal covenants do not change.”

First Presidency, “First Presidency Releases Statement on Temples,” 2 January 2019, Church News

“Over these many centuries, details associated with temple work have been adjusted periodically, including language, methods of construction, communication, and record-keeping. Prophets have taught that there will be no end to such adjustments as directed by the Lord to His servants.”

Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith (1976), 308.

“Ordinances instituted in the heavens before the foundation of the world, in the priesthood, for the salvation of men, are not to be altered or changed. All must be saved on the same principles.”

Joseph Smith, “History, 1838–1856, volume C-1,” 2 November 1838 – 31 July 1842, addenda, p. 17, The Joseph Smith Papers

“The ordinances must be kept in the very way God has appointed, otherwise their Priesthood will prove a cursing instead of a blessing.”

John Taylor, “John Taylor revelation,” 1886 September 27, Call Number MS 34928, Church History Catalog

“Nevertheless, I the Lord do not change and my word and my covenants and my law do not.”

Peggy Fletcher Stack and David Noyce, “LDS Church changes temple ceremony; faithful feminists will see revisions and additions as a ‘leap forward’,” 2 January 2019, Salt Lake Tribune

“Faithful Latter-day Saints going to the temple on the first available day of the new year were greeted with sweeping changes in the ceremonies — more inclusive language, more gender equity, more lines for Mother Eve. And all in less time than before.

Attendees described the revisions as “empowering for women” and “healing” for those wounded by the previous wording.”

“One woman, who attended a temple ceremony in Philadelphia on Wednesday morning, was stunned by the elimination of many “sexist” elements.”

“And men and women make all the same covenants, or promises, to God, rather than separate ones. Women also no longer covenant to hearken to their husbands.”

“Richard Ostler was at the Jordan River Temple in South Jordan early Wednesday.

“I felt a wonderful spirit as I observed the changes,” Ostler said. “I thought of my dear women friends — some of whom have been uncomfortable with parts of the content — and how this will significantly improve the overall temple experience for them.”

Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Mormon Candidate,” Interview with John Sweeny, British Broadcasting Corporation 

“Sweeney: Let’s talk about Mitt Romney. (OK). The man who may well become the most powerful man on Earth. As a Mormon, in the Temple, I’ve been told, he would have sworn an oath to say that he would not pass on what happens in the Temple, lest he slit his throat. Is that true?

Holland: That’s not true. That’s not true. We do not have penalties in the Temple.

Sweeney: You used to?

Holland: We used to.

Sweeney: Therefore, he swore an oath saying, ‘I will not tell anyone about the secrets here lest I slit my throat.’

Holland: Well, the, the, the vow that was made, was regarding the ordinance, the ordinance of the Temple.

David John Buerger, “The Development of the Mormon Temple Endowment Ceremony,” 1987, Dialogue, Volume 20, No. 4

“A number of the endowment’s graphic penalties, all of which closely followed Masonic penalties’ wording, were moderated. For example, the penalties for revealing endowments included details of how they would be carried out (the tongue to be “torn out by its roots,” etc.).”

Acceptance of Slavery or Racism

Quentin L. Cook, “Hearts Knit in Righteousness and Unity,” General Conference, October 2020

“With respect to slavery, our scriptures had made it clear that no man should be in bondage to another.”

Alexander B. Morrison, “No More Strangers,” Ensign, September 2000 

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has from its beginnings stood strongly against racism in any of its malignant manifestations.”

Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Need for Greater Kindness,” General Conference, April 2006

“Racial strife still lifts its ugly head. I am advised that even right here among us there is some of this. I cannot understand how it can be.”

“Brethren, there is no basis for racial hatred among the priesthood of this Church.”

Doctrine and Covenants 134:12

“We believe it just to preach the gospel to the nations of the earth, and warn the righteous to save themselves from the corruption of the world; but we do not believe it right to interfere with bond-servants, neither preach the gospel to, nor baptize them contrary to the will and wish of their masters, nor to meddle with or influence them in the least to cause them to be dissatisfied with their situations in this life, thereby jeopardizing the lives of men; such interference we believe to be unlawful and unjust, and dangerous to the peace of every government allowing human beings to be held in servitude.”

Brigham Young, “Speech by Governor Young in Joint Session of the Legislature, giving counsel on a Bill in relation to African Slavery,” 23 January 1852, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, Reported by George D. Watt, in The Teachings of President Brigham Young, Volume 3, 1852-1854, Collier’s Publishing Co. October 1987

“I will remark with regard to Slavery, inasmuch as we believe in the Bible, inasmuch as we believe in the Ordinances of God, in the Priesthood and order and decrees of God, we must believe in Slavery. This colored race have been subjected to severe curses which they have in their families and their classes an in their various capacities brought upon themselves. And until the curse is removed by Him who placed it upon them, they must suffer under its consequences; I am not authorized to remove it. I am a firm believer in Slavery.”

“There are a many brethren in the South, a great amount of whose means is vested in slaves. Those servants want to come here with their masters; when they come here the Devil is raised. This one is talking, and that one is wondering. A strong abolitionist feeling has power over them, and they commence to whisper round their views upon the subject, saying, “Do you think it’s right? I am afraid it is not right.” I know it is right, and there should be a law made to have the slaves serve their masters, because they are not capable of ruling themselves.”

“I am firm in the belief that they ought to dwell in servitude.”

Brigham Young, “Governor Brigham Young’s Address before the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah upon Slavery,” 5 February 1852, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, Reported by George D. Watt and Wilford Woodruff, in The Teachings of President Brigham Young, Volume 3, 1852-1854, Collier’s Publishing Co. October 1987

“It is a great blessing to the seed of Adam to have the seed of Cain for servants.”

Brigham Young, “Message of Governor Brigham Young,” 2 July 1853, The Latter-day Saints Millennial Star, Volume 15, Number 27, p. 422

“And northern fanaticism learn to know that “Canaan” shall be servant of servants unto his brethren, and that there is but little merit in subverting the decrees of Providence, or substituting their own kindred spirit and flesh to perform the offices allotted by superior wisdom to the descendants of Cain.”

Brigham Young, “Interesting From the Mormons,”4 May 1855, The New York Herald, New York, p. 8, Library of Congress

“You must not think, from what I say, that I am opposed to slavery. No! The negro is damned, and is to serve his master till God choose to remove the curse of Ham.”

Brigham Young to Horace Greeley, in “An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco,” 1860, C.M. Saxton, Barker, and Co., p. 11-12

“H.G. - What is the position of your church with respect to slavery? 

B.Y. - We consider it of divine institution, and not to be abolished until the curse pronounced on Ham shall have been removed from his descendants. 

H.G. - Are any slaves now held in this territory? 

B.Y. - There are.”

Brigham Young, “The Persecutions of the Saints, Their Loyalty to the Constitution, The Mormon Battalion, The Laws of God Relative to the African Race, Remarks by President Brigham Young, Made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City,” March 8, 1863. Journal of Discourses, Volume 10, p. 110

“They have kindled the fire that is raging now from the north to the south, and from the south to the north. I am no abolitionist.”

Brigham Young, “Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City,” 9 October 1859, Journal of Discourses, Volume 7, p. 282-291

“You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind.”

Joseph Fielding Smith, “The Way to Perfection, Short Discourses on Gospel Themes,” 1931, Genealogical Society of Utah

“Is it not a reasonable belief, that the Lord would select the choice spirits to come through the better grades of nations? Moreover, is it not reasonable to believe that less worthy spirits would come through less favored lineage? Does this not account, in very large part, for the various grades of color and degrees of intelligence we find in the earth?”

“Not only was Cain called upon to suffer, but because of his wickedness he became the father of an inferior race. A curse was placed upon him and that curse has been continued through his lineage and must do so while time endures. Millions of souls have come into this world cursed with a black skin and have been denied the privilege of Priesthood and the fulness of the blessings of the Gospel. These are the descendants of Cain. Moreover, they have been made to feel their inferiority and have been separated from the rest of mankind from the beginning.”

“The Negro may be baptized and enter the church; and some of these unfortunate people have been baptized.”

Matthew L. Harris, Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality, Oxford University Press

“Recognizing its value, the First Presidency commissioned The Way of Perfection for study in the church’s adult Sunday School programs. In 1936, for example, the church devoted an entire year to Smith’s magnus opus, calling it “an advanced course in Gospel doctrines.” The manual carefully dissected each chapter, offering “study thoughts” or questions at the end of each section. As one might expect, the study questions for Smith’s teachings on race were the most controversial. After telling students that Cain was the “father of an inferior race,” a “servant of servants,” the manual asked members, “What portion of Cain’s curse was inherited by his posterity?”

Another question, just as pointed, asked, “How do we know the negro is descended from Cain through Ham?” Yet another asked readers to “[n]ame any great leaders this race has produced.” Perhaps the most dramatic directed, “Discuss the truth of the statement in the text, p. 101 that Cain ‘became the father of an inferior race.’” Ch. 1

Evan Pettit Wright, “Address Delivered by President Evan P. Wright at the Cape District Conference, Mowbray, C.P. South Africa,” 24 October 1952, in “A History of the South African Mission,” Period 3, 1944-1970, p. 421

“Individuals with Negroid blood have been born with social and other disabilities.”

Bruce R. McConkie, “Mormon Doctrine,” 1958, Bookcraft, Salt Lake City

“Racial degeneration, resulting in differences in appearance and spiritual aptitude, has arisen since the fall. We know the circumstances under which the posterity of Cain (and later of Ham) were cursed with what we call negroid racial characteristics.”

William Grant Bangerter, International Mission President, in “Beitler Diary,” 22 June 1978, MLH

“Don’t go baptize a lot of [Negroes]—we will turn into the Assembly of God Church. We want leaders; we want the church to be a white Church.”

William Grant Bangerter, International Mission President, "Bangerter Diary,” 28 September 1978, excerpts in “The History of the South American East Area Office of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, July 9, 1975, to December 27, 1978, Sao Paulo, Brazil”

“[Spencer W. Kimball] hoped that we would not fill up the Church with Black People.”

Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 5:21-23

“And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.

And thus saith the Lord God: I will cause that they shall be loathsome unto thy people, save they shall repent of their iniquities.

And cursed shall be the seed of him that mixeth with their seed; for they shall be cursed even with the same cursing. And the Lord spake it, and it was done.”

Book of Mormon, Alma 3:6-7

“And the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression and their rebellion against their brethren, who consisted of Nephi, Jacob, and Joseph, and Sam, who were just and holy men.

And their brethren sought to destroy them, therefore they were cursed; and the Lord God set a mark upon them, yea, upon Laman and Lemuel, and also the sons of Ishmael, and Ishmaelitish women.”

Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 2:14-16

“And it came to pass that those Lamanites who had united with the Nephites were numbered among the Nephites;

And their curse was taken from them, and their skin became white like unto the Nephites;

And their young men and their daughters became exceedingly fair, and they were numbered among the Nephites, and were called Nephites. And thus ended the thirteenth year.”

Pearl of Great Price, Moses 7:8, 22

“For behold, the Lord shall curse the land with much heat, and the barrenness thereof shall go forth forever; and there was a blackness came upon all the children of Canaan, that they were despised among all people.”

“And Enoch also beheld the residue of the people which were the sons of Adam; and they were a mixture of all the seed of Adam save it was the seed of Cain, for the seed of Cain were black, and had no place among them.”

Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

“At that point Joseph’s sympathy for the blacks began to waver. “Had I any thing to do with the Negro,” he said, voicing the view of many antislavery partisans, “I would confine them by strict Laws to their own Species [and] put them on a national Equalization.” Probably by “confinement to their own species” he meant no intermarriage. Joseph Smith was proud of his views.” Ch. 28

Deification of God and Man

Gordon B. Hinckley, in Don Lattin, “Musings of the Main Mormon,” 13 April 1997, San Francisco Chronicle

“Q: There are some significant differences in your beliefs. For instance, don’t Mormons believe that God was once a man?

A: I wouldn’t say that. There was a little couplet coined, “As man is, God once was. As God is, man may become.” Now that’s more of a couplet than anything else. That gets into some pretty deep theology that we don’t know very much about.”

Gordon B. Hinckley, in “Kingdom Come,” 4 August 1997, TIME Magazine

“On whether his church still holds that God the Father was once a man, he sounded uncertain, “I don’t know that we teach it. I don’t know that we emphasize it… I understand the philosophical background behind it, but I don’t know a lot about it, and I don’t think others know a lot about it.”

Gordon B. Hinckley, in Richard N. Ostler, “Letter response to Luke P. Wilson,” September 1997

“Q: … about that, God the Father was once a man as we were. This is something that Christian writers are always addressing. Is this the teaching of the church today, that God the Father was once a man like we are?

A: I don’t know that we teach it. I don’t know that we emphasize it. I haven’t heard it discussed for a long time in public discourse. I don’t know. I don’t know all the circumstances under which that statement was made. I understand the philosophical background behind it. But I don’t know a lot about it and I don’t know that others know a lot about it.”

Gordon B. Hinckley, “Drawing Nearer to the Lord,” General Conference, October 1997

“None of you need worry because you read something that was incompletely reported. You need not worry that I do not understand some matters of doctrine. I think I understand them thoroughly, and it is unfortunate that the reporting may not make this clear. I hope you will never look to the public press as the authority on the doctrines of the Church.”

Gordon B. Hinckley, “Don’t Drop the Ball,” General Conference, October 1994

“On the other hand, the whole design of the gospel is to lead us onward and upward to greater achievement, even, eventually, to godhood. This great possibility was enunciated by the Prophet Joseph Smith in the King Follet sermon and emphasized by President Lorenzo Snow. It is this grand and incomparable concept: As God now is, man may become!

Our enemies have criticized us for believing in this. Our reply is that this lofty concept in no way diminishes God the Eternal Father. He is the Almighty. He is the Creator and Governor of the universe. He is the greatest of all and will always be so. But just as any earthly father wishes for his sons and daughters every success in life, so I believe our Father in Heaven wishes for his children that they might approach him in stature and stand beside him resplendent in godly strength and wisdom.”

Joseph Smith, “Discourse, 7 April 1844, as Reported by Willard Richards,” The Joseph Smith Papers

“I will go back to the beginning before the world was, to show what kind of a being God is.”

“God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man.”

“It is necessary we should understand the character and being of God and how He came to be so; for I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see.

These ideas are incomprehensible to some, but they are simple. It is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God, and to know that we may converse with Him as one man converses with another, and that He was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ Himself did.”

“Here, then, is eternal life—to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation.”

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 3:93

“The Lord created you and me for the purpose of becoming Gods like Himself; when we have been proved in our present capacity, and been faithful with all things He puts into our possession. We are created, we are born for the express purpose of growing up from the low estate of manhood, to become Gods like unto our Father in heaven. That is the truth about it, just as it is. The Lord has organized mankind for the express purpose of increasing in that intelligence and truth, which is with God, until he is capable of creating worlds on worlds, and becoming Gods, even the sons of God.”

Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses 18:39

“There are a few individuals in this dispensation who will inherit celestial glory, and a few in other dispensations; but before they receive their exaltation they will have to pass through and submit to whatever dispensation God may decree. But for all this they will receive their reward-they will become Gods, they will inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities and powers through the endless ages of eternity, and to their increase there will be no end, and the heart of man has never conceived of the glory that is in store for the sons and daughters of God who keep the celestial law.”

Lorenzo Snow, in Eliza R. Snow, “Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow,” 1884, p. 46, and “The Teachings of Lorenzo Snow,” 1996

“As man now is, God once was: As God now is, man may be.”

Joseph F. Smith, “Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith,” p. 358

“Those who have been born unto God through obedience to the Gospel may by valiant devotion to righteousness obtain exaltation and even reach the status of Godhood.”

Spencer W. Kimball, “Faith Precedes the Miracle,” p. 83

“There have been long periods of history when the total truth was not immediately available to the inhabitants of the earth. But in our day, the whole eternal program is here and can carry men to exaltation and eternal life all the way to Godhood.”

Doctrine and Covenants 132:20-23

“Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them.”

Old Testament, Isaiah 43:10 

“Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.”

Old Testament, Isaiah 44: 6-8

“Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.

And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them.

Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.”

Old Testament, Psalm 82:6

“I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.”

New Testament, Romans 8:16-17

“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”

New Testament, Revelation 3:21

“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”

Church Newsroom, “Frequently Asked Questions,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“Do Latter-day Saints believe that they will “get their own planet”?

No. This idea is not taught in Latter-day Saint scripture, nor is it a doctrine of the Church. This misunderstanding stems from speculative comments unreflective of scriptural doctrine.”

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 15:137

“We cannot receive, while in the flesh, the keys to form and fashion kingdoms and to organize matter, for they are beyond our capacity and calling, beyond this world. In the resurrection, men who have been faithful and diligent in all things in the flesh, have kept their first and second estate, and are worthy to be crowned Gods, even the Sons of God, will be ordained to organize matter. 

How much matter do you suppose there is between here and some of the fixed stars which we can see? Enough to frame many, very many millions of such earths as this, yet it is now so diffused, clear and pure, that we look through it and behold the stars. Yet the matter is there.”

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 17:143

“We shall go on from one step to another, reaching forth into the eternities until we become like the Gods, and shall be able to frame for ourselves, by the behest and command of the Almighty. All those who are counted worthy to be exalted and to become Gods, even the sons of God, will go forth and have earths and worlds like those who framed this and millions on millions of others.”

Joseph Fielding Smith, “Doctrines of Salvation,” Compiled by Bruce R. McConkie, 1956. Bookcraft

“To become like him we must have all the powers of godhood; thus a man and his wife when glorified will have spirit children who eventually will go on an earth like this one we are on and pass through the same kind of experiences, being subject to mortal conditions, and if faithful, then they also will receive the fullness of exaltation and partake of the same blessings.There is no end to this development; it will go on forever. We will become Gods and have jurisdiction over worlds, and these worlds will be peopled by our own offspring.”

Spencer W. Kimball, “The Privilege of Holding the Priesthood,” General Conference, October 1975

“Brethren, 225,000 of you are here tonight. I suppose 225,000 of you may become gods. There seems to be plenty of space out there in the universe. And the Lord has proved that he knows how to do it. I think he could make, or probably have us help make, worlds for all of us, for every one of us 225,000.

Just think of the possibilities, the potential. Every little boy that has just been born becomes an heir to this glorious, glorious program. When he is grown, he meets a lovely woman; they are married in the holy temple. They live all the commandments of the Lord. They keep themselves clean. And then they become sons of God, and they go forward with their great program—they go beyond the angels, beyond the angels and the gods that are waiting there. They go to their exaltation.”

Russell M. Nelson, “Four Gifts That Jesus Christ Offers to You,” Christmas Devotional, December 2018

“Eternal life is the kind and quality of life that Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son live. When the Father offers us everlasting life, He is saying in essence, “If you choose to follow my Son—if your desire is really to become more like Him—then in time you may live as we live and preside over worlds and kingdoms as we do.”

Hiding History

Elder M. Russell Ballard, “YA Face to Face with Elder Oaks and Elder Ballard,” YA Face to Face Events, November 19, 2017, Young Adults, Gospel Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 

“It’s this idea that the Church is hiding something, which we would have to say as two apostles that have covered the world and know the history of the Church and know the integrity of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve from the beginning of time–there has been no attempt on the part, in any way, of the Church leaders trying to hide anything from anybody.”

“So, just trust us wherever you are in the world. And you share this message with anyone else who raises the question about the Church not being transparent. We’re as transparent as we know how to be in telling the truth. We have to do that. That’s the Lord’s way.”

Boyd K. Packer, “The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect,” 22 August 1981, Doctrine and Covenants and Church History Symposium, Brigham Young University

“That historian or scholar who delights in pointing out the weakness and frailties of present or past leaders destroys faith. A destroyer of faith—particularly one within the Church, and more particularly one who is employed specifically to build faith—places himself in great spiritual jeopardy. He is serving the wrong master, and unless he repents, he will not be among the faithful in the eternities.”

“If that one is a member of the Church, he has broken his covenants and will be accountable. After all of the tomorrows of mortality have been finished, he will not stand where he might have stood.”

“You do not do well to see that it is disseminated.”

Russell M. Nelson, “Truth—and More,” Ensign, January 1986

“Any who are tempted to rake through the annals of history, to use truth unrighteously, or to dig up ‘facts’ with the intent to defame or destroy, should hearken to this warning.”

Dallin H. Oaks, “Criticism,” Ensign, February 1987

“Even though something is true, we are not necessarily justified in communicating it to any and all persons at any and all times. The use of truth should also be constrained by the principle of unity.”

Church Finances

Jeffrey R. Holland, “Mormonism 101” Harvard Law School, March 20, 2012

“Institutionally, not a single dollar, not one red cent, of money from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints went into Proposition 8, or any other comparable proposition that I know of.”

Deseret News, “LDS Church spent about $190,000 on Prop. 8 campaign,” 2 February 2009

“The Mormon church has revealed in a campaign filing that the church spent nearly $190,000 to help pass Proposition 8, the November ballot measure that banned gay marriage in California. The disclosure comes amid an investigation by the state's campaign watchdog agency into whether The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints violated state laws by not fully disclosing its involvement during the campaign.

While many church members had donated directly to the Yes on 8 campaign — some estimates of Mormon giving range as high as $20 million — the church itself had previously reported little direct campaign activity.

But in the filing made Friday, the Mormon church reported thousands in travel expenses, such as airline tickets, hotel rooms and car rentals for the campaign. The church also reported $96,849.31 worth of "compensated staff time" — hours that church employees spent working to pass the same-sex marriage ban. Roman Porter, executive director of the FPPC, confirmed that the agency was investigating the complaint against the church but declined comment on specifics.”

“Jeff Flint, a strategist for the Yes on 8 campaign, downplayed the latest financial filing that details the Mormon church's efforts to ban gay marriage. "I don't think anybody beyond rabid opponents of Proposition 8 will consider it newsworthy to find out that leaders of the Mormon church spent time on the campaign," Flint said. He noted that the church was both public and vocal about its support for the same-sex marriage ban.”

“All told, Proposition 8 was the most expensive ballot fight last November. It is considered the most expensive campaign over a social issue in history.”

Church Newsroom, “Media Reports on Proposition 8 Filing Uninformed,” 4 February 2009, Salt Lake City, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was part of a coalition of other faiths and organizations which worked together to pass Proposition 8, which defines marriage as being between a man and a woman.”

“The Church’s donations were all in-kind and included travel expenses, compensated staff time and audiovisual production services.”

“Grand Total: $189,903.58.”

Cal-Access, Campaign Finance: ProtectMarriage.com - Yes on 8, “Contributions Received”, All Contributions, 2007 through 2008, Campaign & Lobbying, Secretary of State, California

“Name of Contributor, Amount, Transaction Date, Filed Date, Transaction Number

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, $19,831.40, 6/23/2008, 2/4/2009, 1350174 - NON133242

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, $639.74, 9/5/2008, 6/22/2011, 1364931 - NON137003

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, $504.70, 9/8/2008, 6/22/2011, 1364931 - NON137004

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, $624.72, 10/1/2008, 6/15/2011, 1369259 - NON137019

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, $8,325.00, 10/2/2008, 6/15/2011, 1369259 - NON137006

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, $9,265.83, 10/3/2008, 6/15/2011, 1369259 - NON137005

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, $222.77, 10/4/2008, 6/15/2011, 1369259 - NON137007

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, $6,875.00, 10/6/2008, 6/15/2011, 1369259 - NON137008

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, $1,119.00, 10/7/2008, 6/15/2011, 1369259 - NON137009

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, $2,781.89, 10/8/2008, 6/15/2011, 1369259 - NON137010

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, $5,505.62, 10/9/2008, 6/15/2011, 1369259 - NON137011

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, $6,338.93, 10/10/2008, 6/15/2011, 1369259 - NON137012

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, $2,913.94, 10/15/2008, 6/15/2011, 1369259 - NON137013

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, $700.00, 10/16/2008, 6/15/2011, 1369259 - NON137014

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, $2,078.97, 10/24/2008, 6/16/2011, 1396394 - NON137015

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, $333.00, 10/29/2008, 6/16/2011, 1396394 - NON137016

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, $2,531.20, 10/31/2008, 6/16/2011, 1396394 - NON137017

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, $119,311.87, 11/4/2008, 6/16/2011, 1396394 - NON137018

Total = $189,903.58”

Thomas S. Monson, “Our Sacred Priesthood Trust,” General Conference, April 2006

“I answered that the Church is not wealthy but that we follow the ancient biblical principle of tithing, which principle is reemphasized in our modern scripture. I explained also that our Church has no paid ministry and indicated that these were two reasons why we were able to build the buildings then under way, including the beautiful temple at Freiberg.”

Niel L. Andersen, “Elder Andersen meets with Zimbabwe's Vice President Mohadi, Pledges Support,” 9 December 2018, Harare, Zimbabwe, News Release, Newsroom, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“We are not a wealthy people but we are good people, and we share what we have.”

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, “SEC Charges The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Its Investment Management Company for Disclosure Failures and Misstated Filings,” 21 February 2023, Press Release, Washington D.C.

“The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Ensign Peak Advisers Inc., a non-profit entity operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to manage the Church’s investments, for failing to file forms that would have disclosed the Church’s equity investments, and for instead filing forms for shell companies that obscured the Church’s portfolio and misstated Ensign Peak’s control over the Church’s investment decisions. The SEC also announced charges against the Church for causing these violations. To settle the charges, Ensign Peak agreed to pay a $4 million penalty and the Church agreed to pay a $1 million penalty.

The SEC’s order finds that, from 1997 through 2019, Ensign Peak failed to file Forms 13F, the forms on which investment managers are required to disclose the value of certain securities they manage. According to the order, the Church was concerned that disclosure of its portfolio, which by 2018 grew to approximately $32 billion, would lead to negative consequences. To obscure the amount of the Church’s portfolio, and with the Church’s knowledge and approval, Ensign Peak created thirteen shell LLCs, ostensibly with locations throughout the U.S., and filed Forms 13F in the names of these LLCs rather than in Ensign Peak’s name. The order finds that Ensign Peak maintained investment discretion over all relevant securities, that it controlled the shell companies, and that it directed nominee “business managers,” most of whom were employed by the Church, to sign the Commission filings. The shell LLCs’ Forms 13F misstated, among other things, that the LLCs had sole investment and voting discretion over the securities. In reality, the SEC’s order finds, Ensign Peak retained control over all investment and voting decisions.

“We allege that the LDS Church’s investment manager, with the Church’s knowledge, went to great lengths to avoid disclosing the Church’s investments, depriving the Commission and the investing public of accurate market information,” said Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “The requirement to file timely and accurate information on Forms 13F applies to all institutional investment managers, including non-profit and charitable organizations.”

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, “Administrative Proceeding, In the Matter of Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc., and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” 21 February 2023, File No. 3-21306, Release No. 96951

“Ensign Peak was responsible for designating the Clone LLCs’ Business Managers, many of whom were Church employees. Business Managers were selected because they had common names and a limited presence on social media, and were therefore less likely to be publicly connected to Ensign Peak or the Church. Ensign Peak provided the Business Managers very limited information about the Clone LLCs or why they were created.”

“Each Clone LLC was given an address outside of Utah although none of them conducted any business at those locations other than the receipt of mail. Ensign Peak chose multiple locations across the country for these purported offices to create the impression that the Clone LLCs conducted business operations throughout the U.S., making it more difficult to trace the Clone LLCs back to Ensign Peak or the Church.”

“Each Clone LLC was also assigned a local phone number that would go directly to voicemail. An Ensign Peak senior manager instructed a Business Manager of one of the Clone LLCs to notify him of all voicemails from regulatory agencies to any of the Clone LLCs, but to delete all others.”

Boyd K. Packer, “Follow the Brethren,” Liahona, September 1979

“In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints there is no paid ministry, no professional clergy, as is common in other churches.”

Dallin H. Oaks, “Sacrifice,” General Conference, April 2012

“We have no professionally trained and salaried clergy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Gary B. Porter to Bruce D. Porter, “Living Allowance Increase Letter,” 2014

“In accordance with approved procedures, the annual General Authority base living allowance has been increased from $116,400 to $120,000. This will begin with your paycheck issued on January 10, 2014 (pay period 1).”

“Learn More About the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” as of 2025, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“Do General Authorities get paid?

“General Authorities leave their careers when they are called into full time Church service. When they do so, they are given a living allowance which enables them to focus all of their time on serving in the Church.”

Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Condition of the Church,” General Conference, April 2003

“The Church owns most of the ground on which this mall stands. The owners of the buildings have expressed a desire to sell. The property needs very extensive and expensive renovation. We have felt it imperative to do something to revitalize this area. But I wish to give the entire Church the assurance that tithing funds have not and will not be used to acquire this property. Nor will they be used in developing it for commercial purposes.”

Conversion Therapy

Dallin H. Oaks, Q&A Session, University of Virginia, 12 November 2021, “Dallin H. Oaks | University of Virginia Q&A Session **FULL VERSION** (electroshock therapy at BYU),” YouTube

“Let me say about electric shock treatments at BYU: When I became president at BYU that had been discontinued earlier, and never went on under my administration.”

Peggy Fletcher Stack, “Dallin Oaks says shock therapy of gays didn’t happen at BYU while he was president. Records show otherwise,” 16 November 2021, Salt Lake Tribune

“Oaks categorically denied that BYU had used electroshock therapies on gay students during his tenure from 1971 to 1980.”

“According to researcher Gregory Prince and others, that statement is demonstrably false.”

“In his 2019 book, “Gay Rights and the Mormon Church: Intended Actions, Unintended Consequences,” Prince cites “university-approved” research in 1976 by then-BYU graduate student Max McBride with 14 gay subjects. The male subjects were hooked up to monitors that measured their arousal when shown photos of nude men or women.

If the subject “experienced sexual arousal from a photograph of a nude male, he would receive a shock in the bicep,” Prince reported about the McBride research. “A gradual increase of voltage upon repeated arousals was to serve as a negative feedback stimulus that would, according to the hypothesis, ‘reorient’ him from homosexual to heterosexual, whereupon photographs of nude females were supposed to elicit sexual arousal.”

“At the time, Cameron hoped it would alter his same-sex attraction, the newspaper said. “Instead, the psychological and emotional wounds nearly crippled him.”

The Utah-based faith has since backed away from such therapies and other attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation.

Oaks declined to comment on the discrepancy between his memory and the research, church spokesperson Doug Andersen said Monday. The church representative then pointed to the faith’s 2016 public statement — reinforced several years later — about so-called conversion therapy.

“The church denounces any therapy, including conversion and reparative therapies,” it stated, “that subjects an individual to abusive practices, not only in Utah, but throughout the world.”

ABC News, “Mormon 'Gay Cure' Study Used Electric Shocks Against Homosexual Feelings,” 28 March 2011

“John Cameron said he was a naive and devout Mormon who felt "out of sync" with the world, when he volunteered to be part of a study of "electric aversion therapy" in 1976 at Utah's Brigham Young University.

Twice a week for six months, he jolted himself with painful shocks to the penis to rid himself of his attraction to men.

"I kept trying to fight it, praying and fasting and abstaining and being the best person I could," said Cameron, now a 59-year-old playwright and head of the acting program at the University of Iowa.

"I was never actively gay, never had any encounters with men -- never had moments when I failed and actually had sex with other men," he said.

But his undercurrent of feelings put him in direct conflict with the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints (LDS) and its principles.”

“The 1976 study at Brigham Young, "Effect of Visual Stimuli in Electric Aversion Therapy," was written by Max Ford McBride, then a graduate student in the psychology department.

"I thought he was my savior," said Cameron, who enrolled with 13 other willing subjects, all Mormons who thought they might be gay, for a three- to six-month course of therapy.

A mercury-filled tube was placed around the base of his penis to measure the level of stimulation he experienced when viewing nude images of men and women.

Shocks, given in three 10-second intervals, were then administered in conjunction with certain images.”

“And those weren't the only attempted cures that were used in that era. Others allege they were given chemical compounds, which were administered through an IV and caused subjects to vomit when they were stimulated.”

Connell O’Donovan, “The Abominable and Detestable Crime against Nature: A Brief History of Homosexuality and Mormonism, 1840-1980,” Chapter 7, in Corcoran, Brent (ed.). “Multiply and Replenish: Mormon Essays on Sex and Family,” Salt Lake City, Signature Books.

“On 21 May 1959 BYU president Ernest L. Wilkinson met with the executive committee of the board of trustees. He asked the committee “whether the Dean of Students should send questionnaires to bishops asking whether students had a propensity for stealing or immorality or anything of that kind,” effectively violating the confidentiality of the confessional; and wondered about “the growing problem in our society of homosexuality.” Wilkinson recorded that “these two problems interested the Brethren very, very much,” and that church president David O. McKay had recently voiced “his view [that] homosexuality was worse than immorality; that it is a filthy and unnatural habit.” Wilkinson was instructed that unless the homosexual student was “really repentant and immediately working out their problems,” the school “should suspend them.” Administrators then wondered if they should record on transcripts that the student had been expelled for homosexuality. The executive committee recommended avoiding the possibility of law suits. Wilkinson was also told to come up with a “better plan to find out from bishops the information requested by the Dean of Students.” Although progress on Wilkinson’s questionnaire was temporarily halted, he would eventually receive permission to implement it.

On 12 September 1962 Wilkinson met with the school’s general counsel, Clyde Sandgren, the new Dean of Students, Elliott Cameron, and apostles Spencer Kimball and Mark Peterson “on the question of homosexuals who might possibly be a part of our student body.” They decided that the number of homosexuals on campus was “a very small percentage of the whole” and therefore administrators “ought not to dignify it by meeting with the men or women of the university [in a public setting] but handle each case on its own.” They then worked out a cooperative plan whereby Mormon general authorities and other church administrators would give BYU information they obtained about homosexuality on campus, and BYU would give church administrators information. They decided “as a general policy that no one will be admitted as a student at the B.Y.U. whom we have convincing evidence is a homosexual.”

Apparently BYU found more homosexuals than initially anticipated. First, Apostle Kimball felt compelled to condemn homosexuality in his “Love versus Lust” address to the assembled student body on 5 January 1965. Then in the fall of that year Wilkinson went public with anti-Gay policies during an address to the student body. As part of the speech, Wilkinson indicated that BYU did not intend “to admit to our campus any homosexuals. If any of you have this tendency and have not completely abandoned it may I suggest that you leave the university immediately after this assembly and if you will be honest enough to let us know the reason, we will voluntarily refund your tuition. We do not want others on this campus to be contaminated by your presence.” By resorting to the metaphor of viral contagion, Wilkinson voiced his own—and presumably others’—fear of the “homosexual within.”

Finally in 1967 Wilkinson received permission to ask Mormon bishops at BYU to provide the BYU Standards Office with lists of students who were “inactive in the church” or who had confessed to “not living the standards of the church.” The number of students visiting the Standards Office subsequently rose dramatically. The first year of the new policy, Standards counselled seventy-two students who were “suspected of homosexual activity.” The discovery spurred the university into action in which security files were kept on suspected Gay students, student spying was encouraged, and suspensions/expulsions increased significantly. One student, suspended from the university on suspicion of homosexuality, was taken to court by BYU for trespassing when he was spotted on campus after his suspension. Even prospective teachers at the Language Training Mission on BYU campus had to be interviewed by a general authority, because a “homosexual ring” had seemingly infiltrated the campus. Church leaders wanted to be assured that no Lesbians or Gay men were teaching missionaries at the language school.

In 1969 the board of trustees ruled that Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual students “would not be admitted or retained at BYU without approval from the General Authorities.” Three years later Apostle Marvin J. Ashton was asked by trustees to help further define a policy on homosexuals at BYU because the new president of the university, Dallin Oaks, was concerned about what to do with students or school personnel who were not overtly homosexual. Six months later trustees ruled that those who were not “overt and active homosexuals” could remain at the university’s discretion and upon recommendation by the “ecclesiastical leader having jurisdiction over the case.” However, those who were “overt and active” would still be automatically expelled unless a general authority recommended otherwise. In early 1978, Gerald Dye, the chair of University Standards reported what the “set process” was for “homosexual students referred to Standards” for counseling.”

“‘Standards also acts as an intermediary between the student who remains and counseling services. Students who remain are required to undergo therapy.’”

“Although therapy was required, Dye promised that “no student working through Standards will ever undergo aversion therapy.” Electroshock and vomiting aversion therapies were nonetheless used in special cases.”

“Gay journalist and former LDS missionary Robert McQueen recounted the stories of five Gay men he had known at BYU who were caught in this “purge,” coerced into aversive therapies, expelled from BYU, exposed by church officials, and excommunicated. Each one of the five killed himself rather than face the oppression and bigotry of family, church, and society.

BYU and church officials grew so alarmed that in 1976 they established an Institute for Studies in Values and Human Behavior on campus, with psychology professor Allen Bergin as director.123 The institute was to produce a manuscript “which would set forth significant empirical evidence in support of the Church’s position on homosexuality.”

“Anti-Gay papers and research conducted, sponsored, or supported by the institute included Elizabeth C. James’s 1976 Ph.D. dissertation, “Treatment of Homosexuality: A Reanalysis and Synthesis Outcome Studies,” Bergin’s 1979 paper, “Bringing the Restoration to the Academic World: Clinical Psychology as a Test Case,” Ed D. Lauritzen’s 1979 paper, “The Role of the Father in Male Homosexuality,” and possibly Max Ford McBride’s 1976 dissertation at BYU, “Effect of Visual Stimuli in Electric Aversion Therapy.” McBride used fourteen Gay male subjects to determine if using photographs of nude men and women from Playgirl- and Playboy-type magazines was helpful in electroshock therapy.”

Gentile Pictures, “Legacies,” 1996, BYU Electroshock Documentary, Gay Conversion Therapy Program, Latter Gay Stories, 25 March 2020, YouTube

Rocky: “I came out to my seminary teacher. I thought that he would be really fair and a friend. I felt more like he was a friend that I could go to with a problem, like he could help me. Had I known what I know now, I wouldn’t have done that. I mean, he tried really hard, but basically all he did was turn me over to the wolves. And he immediately contacted my bishop, and my bishop contacted my stake president, and thus it all started. My journey into the belly of the beast, ten years of negotiating my way through the Mormon church’s torturous program, for reorienting, or curing homosexuals. Turning us, trying to turn us, into heterosexuals.”

1978 - Ray: “It was my junior year at BYU and of course you want to do, it was almost like being an apprentice or learning how to treat patients. And one of the things that we could do, we could volunteer for it, was to do the electroshock therapy for people who wanted to change their sexual orientation. And at the time, of course, I knew that I was gay, I had experiences and everything. And I had no desire myself, to change my orientation, however I thought it was really interesting that there were people that did. And I was very closeted at the time, even though I did have a lover at the time, I was really closeted. And so we did the “therapy” as we referred to it in the basement of the Smith Family Living Center on the BYU campus. 

A lot of time, like BYU security would catch people, like in compromising positions or whatever and they had the choice of either being kicked out of school and their families called and informed about what they had done, or they could undergo this therapy. And so we had quite a few people who were going through it. 

And then there were other people who felt like so much guilt, over their sexuality, or had been promised that if they underwent this therapy, that they’d be able to marry, and have children, and they would just be “turned” away. Of course, they had to have the desire to change. Therefore, if the therapy failed, then it was always their fault, because they didn’t have enough desire to change. 

But anyway, they would come in, usually three times a week. I would be behind a glass one way mirror, quite a large mirror. I’d be sitting behind there, and they would be on the other side of that, and they had the choice. They could look at pornographic magazines, or we would show videos up on the wall. And we would tape electrodes to their groin,  and about three or four inches down from that on their thigh, and we would also tape up on their chest. And we taped somewhere else, too, I think it was up close to the armpit. And then we had another machine that would monitor their breathing, and their heartrate. And what we would do is we would let them look at this stuff and if they were looking at homosexual pornographic material we would wait until we could tell a difference in their heartrate. 

We had a dial that we turned, and that would determine the amount of current that would go into the shock. And if they were a new patient, then the current would be very low. And we would wait until we saw that they were getting aroused, and then we would push a button and the voltage would go into the wire. And from the reaction that I saw, and also the muscle spasms that went on, I’m sure that it was painful. And then after we did that, then the movies would automatically switch over, and we would show a man and a woman having sex, and we would play very soothing music in the background to try to get the mind to relate to that.

When we got into the higher voltage with the people who had been doing it longer, you could see burn marks on the skin, and quite often, they would also throw up during the therapy.”   

“We had several people who committed suicide during the therapy. We had three different people who hung themselves in the Harris Fine Arts Center from the balcony. If you die of a suicide, I mean, you’re going to be punished eternally anyway, and if you die while you’re still homosexual, you’re going to be punished eternally anyway. God’ll get you good if you don’t follow the rule.”

Old Testament, Ezekiel 22:11-13

“And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour’s wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God. Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee.”

Old Testament, Deuteronomy 11:16

“Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them.”

Old Testament, Psalm 101:7

“He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.”

Old Testament, Isaiah 5:20

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

Old Testament, Jeremiah 14:14

“Then the Lord said unto me, the prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.”

Old Testament, Jeremiah 27:15

“For I have not sent them, saith the Lord, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.”

Old Testament, Jeremiah 29:9

“For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the Lord.”

New Testament, Matthew 24:4

“And Jesus answered and said unto them, take heed that no man deceive you.”

New Testament, Matthew 24:24

“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”

New Testament, Romans 16:17-18

“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.“

New Testament, 2 Corinthians 11:13

“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.”

New Testament, Ephesians 4:14

“That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.”

New Testament, Ephesians 5:6

“Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.”

New Testament, 2 Timothy 3:13

“But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”

New Testament, Romans 1:22-25

“Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man,… who changed the truth of God into a lie.”

Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 16:2

“And it came to pass that I said unto them that I knew that I had spoken hard things against the wicked, according to the truth; and the righteous have I justified, and testified that they should be lifted up at the last day; wherefore, the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center.”

Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 9:40

“Do not say that I have spoken hard things against you; for if ye do, ye will revile against the truth; for I have spoken the words of your Maker. I know that the words of truth are hard against all uncleanness; but the righteous fear them not, for they love the truth and are not shaken.”

Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 26:20-22

“And the Gentiles are lifted up in the pride of their eyes, and have stumbled, because of the greatness of their stumbling block, that they have built up many churches; nevertheless, they put down the power and miracles of God, and preach up unto themselves their own wisdom and their own learning, that they may get gain and grind upon the face of the poor. 

And there are many churches built up which cause envyings, and strifes, and malice. 

And there are also secret combinations, even as in times of old, according to the combinations of the devil, for he is the founder of all these things; yea, the founder of murder, and works of darkness; yea, and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever.”

Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 28:15

“And all those who preach false doctrines, and all those who commit whoredoms, and pervert the right way of the Lord, wo, wo, wo be unto them, saith the Lord God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to hell!”

Book of Mormon, Jacob 4:13

“Behold, my brethren, he that prophesieth, let him prophesy to the understanding of men; for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls.”

Book of Mormon, Mosiah 11:7

“Yea, and they also became idolatrous, because they were deceived by the vain and flattering words of the king and priests; for they did speak flattering things unto them.”

Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 21:19

“And it shall come to pass that all lyings, and deceivings, and envyings, and strifes, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, shall be done away.”

Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 30:2

“Turn, all ye Gentiles, from your wicked ways; and repent of your evil doings, of your lyings and deceivings, and of your whoredoms, and of your secret abominations.”

Book of Mormon, Mormon 8:40 

“Yea, why do ye build up your secret abominations to get gain?”

Doctrine and Covenants 10:28

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, wo be unto him that lieth to deceive because he supposeth that another lieth to deceive, for such are not exempt from the justice of God.”

Doctrine and Covenants 50:4

“Behold, I, the Lord, have looked upon you, and have seen abominations in the church that profess my name.”

Doctrine and Covenants 50:6

“But wo unto them that are deceivers and hypocrites, for, thus saith the Lord, I will bring them to judgment.”

Doctrine and Covenants 63:17

“Wherefore, I, the Lord, have said that the fearful, and the unbelieving, and all liars, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, and the whoremonger, and the sorcerer, shall have their part in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Doctrine and Covenants 64:39

“And liars and hypocrites shall be proved by them, and they who are not apostles and prophets shall be known.”

Pearl of Great Price, Moses 4:4

“And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice.“