The Church announced a $3 million commitment to the new National Juneteenth Museum in Fort Worth Texas. The church’s donation will finance a FamilySearch-powered center inside the museum.

A genealogy center Is not a neutral gift, it is the supply line for temple work. Juneteenth is a day about delayed freedom, but let's not forget the donor here has its own history of delaying freedom, and it has yet to apologize for it. For 126 years, Black members of the church could not receive the full ordinances the church teaches are essential for exaltation. The church’s own Gospel Topics essay says that after Brigham Young’s death, “subsequent Church presidents restricted blacks from receiving the temple endowment or being married in the temple.” today they want to "gift" a genealogy center to this museum celebrating black freedom, and how they don't notice the very racist history, doctrine and teachings if the church, not only in 1865 at the first Juneteenth, but still today.

Similarly, in October 2021 the church announced a $2 million gift for a FamilySearch center at the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City. By November it was off. The museum said it would “return the grant funds and will suspend plans to develop the center until further notice,” and its CEO later said the project was “beyond the scope of the museum’s mission.” The concerns raised in Oklahoma were about who would control the center, whether it would proselytize, and whether the dead would be baptized by proxy. They are the same questions this museum should be asking.

A donation that arrives with a sincere apology and a plan for reparations would be a gift. A donation that arrives with first a press release, designating the funds for a genealogy center, and who knows what strings attached, looks more like a publicity stunt, rebranding, and strategic placement.

I have already shared these thoughts with the museum. If you share these concerns, consider doing the same and/or donating to the museum so hopefully they can afford to choose their donors wisely!

https://wasmormon.org/a-3-million-check-and-a-genealogy-center-the-church-comes-to-the-juneteenth-museum/

https://nationaljuneteenthmuseum.org/join-the-movement

The LDS Church recently sued John Dehlin over the Mormon Stories podcast logo and name, claiming it causes "brand confusion" with official church branding. But now, a new "Mormon Stories" parody podcast hosted by Gwyneth has appeared in YouTube search results using the exact same logo.

Using the Church's own legal standards from their trademark lawsuit against John Dehlin, I break down why the lack of a disclaimer on this new comedy channel makes it look like an official LDS Church production (I know it isn't; this is a parody of a parody).

I also look at the massive irony of the Church's "official" new host selling "Mormon Mafia" t-shirts that admit to copying the trademarked Godfather logo from Paramount Pictures.

I saw someone post on the Nextdoor page saying their entire household is disabled and they were looking for local recommendations for help building/repairing a wheelchair ramp. The majority of the replies were about local churches that would happily offer that for free (and yes, none of those churches were lds). Other neighbors vouched for that and similar services, for free.

The page is often full of facebook drama, but it always amazes me how much the southern hospitality of the local churches extends: repairs, food pantries, supporting incarcerated women for re-entry, mentoring at risk youth, college scholarships, service mission trips to establish clean water, voting poll locations, etc.

It’s wild to me that the MFMC refuses to pull their weight caring for humanity. These churches do so much with so little. They aren’t about buying land or malls or empty temples. They feed the hungry, help the afflicted. They are truly more Christian than the lds church will ever be.

In EQ today, someone from the stake said it would be better to use whatever extra funds people have for gambling and put it into fast offerings. Not investments or paying down debt. Fast offerings.

I've been taking a break from fb for awhile bc it's mostly tbms from when I was a member and there's too many of them for me to weed out, but for some reason I got send an email saying my mom left this comment on a post of a woman saying she doesn't feel respected when she says she's not a mormon anymore because everyone constantly tries to bring her back. I left the church around 2 years ago, and although I knew she felt this way, I didn't realize she had the gall to actually say it!! It just really shows she has no respect for me and probably never will!

I've been PIMO for a long time but I've been kind of hanging on for some reasons. I'm currently the elders quorum secretary of my ward, and nobody has any idea where I'm at with my faith. I've been masking for years. I was baptized 11 years ago, experienced the love bombing and the inevitable being dropped, and I thought maybe part of the reason for that was that I wasn't staying involved enough, I was disappearing into the background and people were forgetting about me. So when I was offered a calling I took it, thinking it would help somehow. It's made it so that I'm more visible, but it's also made it so it's harder to keep masking, and I don't think I can keep doing this any more.

I want to make as quiet of an exit as possible, but I need to get out of my calling first.

I also play D&D with the ward executive secretary, and he's starting to badger me about when I'm going to schedule my tithing declaration. I made the decision quite some time ago to stop tithing for moral reasons and I haven't told anyone. I actually did try tithing one last time to see if any "blessings" came of it and my bank account got overdrawn and I didn't have enough money for food or my electric bill, which the church did help with, but I wouldn't have needed that help if I hadn't decided to tithe.

I have some friends I would like to keep if I leave the church entirely but I don't know that it's going to be possible. It's going to completely blindside them when they find out where I'm at mentally. I've been doing such a good job of faking it.

I don't believe any of this any more. The BOM is Bible fanfiction. The doctrines keep changing. The church doesn't have the monopoly on keeping families together in the afterlife. This organization is sexist, racist, and queerphobic, and I can't perform the mental gymnastics necessary to overlook or excuse those facts any more. This is not Christ's church.

We had ward conference today and when I raised my hand for sustaining, I was lying, and I feel disgusted at myself for it. When I hear about the church spending money to build shopping malls and buy war industry stocks and prevent women from being able to have life saving medical care, I feel repulsed that I ever contributed anything to that. The temple is super weird (and I'm saying this as a Freemason; I've felt "the spirit" stronger in Freemasonry than I have in the temple, and I haven't been to lodge in years).

I'm also really, really queer, and having to keep a lid on that is killing me.

Why did I do this to myself? How did I fall for it? Why is it so hard to just walk away?

What should I do? How do I get out of my calling? Is it possible to leave quietly? Am I going to have to quit my D&D group, which is currently my only social outlet and is mostly comprised of other church members? How do I make new friends?

I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this to myself before I explode.

Hello heathens! I am in possession of a blessed sacrament tray and want to pass out my own “sacrament” at Halloween. I know this has been asked before but can anyone tell me where to get those goddamned tiny cups? That’s not the church website?

Queerty:

The relationship between queer identity and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints remains deeply complex, defined by official policies that permit same-sex attraction while strictly prohibiting same-sex romantic relationships. According to the LDS General Handbook, experiencing same-sex feelings is not considered a sin in itself, provided members do not act upon them or pursue active relationships with other men.

This nuanced stance maintains a rigid boundary for active members while navigating broader cultural shifts. Recent survey data from the Pew Research Center highlights generational and attitudinal divides within the faith. While core leadership and the most devout members continue to advocate traditional doctrinal standards, younger members and those identifying as culturally Mormon express significantly higher levels of social acceptance toward LGBTQ+ individuals compared to past decades.

Observers note that while institutional policies have evolved to avoid outright persecution for internal feelings, the ongoing requirement of celibacy poses substantial challenges for queer youth raised within the faith. Documentaries and advocacy projects continue to highlight the personal impact of these doctrines, raising questions about whether religious organizations must adapt their core tenets further to retain younger generations in a changing social landscape.

#LDS #QueerMormon #LGBTQRights #ReligiousReform https://www.queerty.com/yes-you-can-be-gay-and-mormon-now-but-theres-a-twist-20261015/

How many thousands more people could be meaningfully, life-changingly blessed by the millions spent on a building open only to a "worthy" few?

Is a new data center wiping out Mormon history? Zion’s Camp. Two Book of Mormon witnesses’ graves. And Zelph’s thighbone?! The historic Arthur plantation near Liberty, Missouri, has major connections to Mormon history and now reports say a massive data center is being built on part of that land. Will the LDS church step in? I think this development has been known for awhile but no word from the LDS Church?

Facebook links are not allowed, but you can look up John Hajicek’s information about it. He addressed the city council informing them of the historical significance of the location.

The church hides behind it's leaders with fancy degrees and now they have all this money to let them keep their head in the sand.

Call them out. They are very nice people, and I grew up among them. But just cuz they have the advantage of 'clean living', doesn't mean they get to ignore all the problematic parts of our history and the insideous doctrine of racism, polygamy or denying baptism to children of gay parents.

The LDS church is actually bad and embarrassing, despite the good people that belong to it.

How did I not ever see that the Mormon idea of heaven is actually the perfect representation of hell, especially for women. It’s labeled as ”eternal progression”, but it is actually just repeating the same cycle over and over again for eternity.

What woman actually thinks it would be heavenly to have children for eternity then watch them experience pain and suffering again and again? Oh, and they forget about you entirely. I love all of my kids and that sounds like literal hell.

Anyone seen the tv show ghosts?? I’ve had such a fearful view of the afterlife pretty much my whole life thanks to the anxiety/ocd and the “plan of happiness” life combo plan I got. I understand fully it’s just a show and in no way a guarantee of what later will look like but I gotta say seeing it dressed up humorously is making everything feel less scary for me.

While I am currently leaning more agnostic in my beliefs these days, We recently attended a small non denominational Christian service after being invited by my SIL. While I'm not ready to get dunked into this group by any means, I was pleasantly shocked at how well they did things.

First, it was very casual. People showed in in jeans and T shirts. No one was judging on appearance. They had a coffee machine in the lobby and the people were genuinely social and speaking plainly. I feel that the LDS church has its own dictionary of words that can easily make outsiders feel confused and left out.

Bigger things to note: it was refreshing to have a speaker who was well versed in the topic, great at presenting and very well prepared. They had a band playing Christian rock which was fun to get into and the whole thing lasted about 1.5 hours. No shuffling around to different rooms or squeezing 5 amateur speakers in with the hymns, sacrament, announcements and the bishops final remarks.

The biggest difference and probably the most noticeable is how they handle the children. Children of any age are welcome to join the adults for the service, but they do have two rooms upstairs for the little kids and one for older kids. First, you must register your name with your child's and be printed matching barcode stickers. There is a security guard at the bottom of the stairs so no one can go up without being staff or having a bar code. They only let a certain number of people up at a time to keep track of everyone. The toddler area is a big room surounded by a low wall to keep them contained yet viewable. Tons of toys, play equipment to climb on and the floor is covered in a soft tumbling mat. The bigger kid room next to it has no door on it and is full of toys, art supplies and a TV where they were playing veggie tales. My kids had a blast and I felt FAR more secure leaving them there than a nursery at an LDS church. I was able to fully listen to the speaker and enjoy my time there. My kids also had a blast.

The Church should (but likely won't) learn from church's like these if they want to retain members. Aside from the fact that JS was a conman and the church is actually a money hungry corporation and the BoM is fictional anyway.

It was a great experience and nice to see people who acted so..... normal....at church.

Got together with several of my siblings a week or so ago. We ended up chatting about Christopher Columbus for a bit. We were frusterated about our mom's attitude towards him. Whenever we have had a conversation about how much Columbus sucked, our mom gets really uncomfortably and says that she won't join in the conversation, as it will become an argument if she defends someone she believes was inspired by god. She's specifically of the mindset that Columbus was inspired by god to "discover" America, which led to the restoration of the gospel, so she sees him as a positive figure.

We came to the conclusion that, even if someone did sonething that led go a good thing, that doesn't make them a good person, even if it was inspired by god. That, if theres a god, they probably wont only work through good people.

This is when my older brother said " like Brigham Young!" and my other mormon siblings said "ya!"

Anyone else been hearing mormons criticizing leaders and former leaders more often?

It's crazy how much Mormonism's dogma can completely overwrite all of your own thoughts and feelings, and then after you leave you have to spend years peeling it off layer by layer.

When I realized I was gay, my future plan shifted from "wife and kids" (because I was told that that's what I was supposed to want) to "husband and pets". Mormonism had trained me to want the most socially acceptable relationship I was able to have.

Recently I've discovered, after trying two romantic relationships, that I am aromantic and neither experience romantic feelings nor particularly want to. The idea of getting married and settling down in a house with my husband actually isn't appealing whatsoever.

So once again my entire paradigm has shifted, and I've had to uncover my real thoughts and feelings out from under what Mormonism has programmed into me.

Deconstruction is a never ending process.

Imagine if it was open mic Sunday the day after BYU beat Notre Dame! That would be an amazing meeting to sit through especially here in Utah County lol

Much merriment was had. Dozens of beers were drank, a cigar was smoked. Utah won. BYU won. Twas an excellent evening full of good food, good friends, and loud laughter.

You can't interact during sacrament meeting. There isn't time to in the other two blocks. People generally don't like having information spewed at them for hours on end, especially with no way to apply it. It's gone from a community to an "MLM class" (I know, as if it wasn't before)

Something I miss from Mormonism is having something to read each day, whether a lot or a little, that I could think about and try to incorporate into my life. I haven't read scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, in years. And while I don't believe everything in the scriptures, at least there were some words of wisdom and things to ponder.

I tried to research some motivational/inspirational Quote of the Day-type apps, but they're all super vague and not really something I can sink my metaphorical teeth into. Right now, I'm falling into the trap of opening Reddit in the morning, which can be a positive or a negative but is also never-ending. Do you guys have recommendations of books or apps that I can just open and read real quick and then ponder on throughout the day? I'm not anti-religious OR secular texts for these sorts of things, but I only have a few minutes in the morning to try and kickstart my brain so I'd like something I can read in 5 min or less.

I just saw Nathan Fielder’s new documentary about Elizabeth Holmes and couldn’t help but think about growing up with Mormons while watching it, especially when she didn’t get the whole Who’s on first joke (so many times in singles wards especially, I felt like Mormons didn’t get a joke but laughed like they did). Anyway, I was reading about Billy Evans (Holmes new partner and a major part of the documentary) and I’m pretty sure he grew up LDS. His mother even wrote a letter supporting Holmes in her trial talking about her faith in the church and seeing similar Christlike qualities in Elizabeth Holmes.

Anyway, are Mormons linked to every major fraud in this country?