The Mormon Land newsletter is The Salt Lake Tribune’s weekly highlight reel of news in and about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Join us on Patreon and receive the full newsletter, podcast transcripts and access to all of our religion content.
‘We the (nonpartisan) people’
The church’s Utah Area leaders are taking a page, er, better make that “parchment,” from their predecessors’ playbook by urging Latter-day Saint congregations to celebrate the U.S. Constitution this month.
“We encourage wards and stakes in the Utah Area to recognize Constitution Day [Sept. 17] and to sponsor patriotic events as you feel appropriate,” the new three-member presidency, led by general authority Seventy Brian Taylor, wrote in a July 22 letter.
Unlike the previous presidency, though, the current leadership is not promoting a group called “Why I Love America.” In 2023, connections to that nonprofit organization — which has been pegged with some far-right ties — drew criticism.
Instead, this Utah Area Presidency pointed to senior apostle Dallin Oaks’ 2021 General Conference sermon on the nation’s nearly 238-year-old founding document as a potential resource.
“Our belief in divine inspiration gives Latter-day Saints a unique responsibility to uphold and defend the United States Constitution and principles of constitutionalism wherever we live,” Oaks, first counselor in the governing First Presidency and a former Utah Supreme Court justice, preached at the time. “We should trust in the Lord and be positive about this nation’s future.”
The Utah Area letter also reminded local lay leaders of the First Presidency’s 2023 statement on political neutrality.
“Political choices and affiliations,” church President Russell Nelson and his counselors wrote then, “should not be the subject of any teaching or advocating in church settings.”
The latest ‘Mormon Land’ podcast: President Nelson at 101
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) President Russell M. Nelson gathers in the Church Administration Building with wife Wendy and other family members on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, ahead of his 101st birthday on Tuesday.
With President Russell Nelson’s 101st birthday, we review his life, leadership and legacy with noted Latter-day Saint historian Kathleen Flake.
Listen to the podcast.
TikTok tit for tat
The hashtag #exmo is ex-panding.
“Negative videos about the church vastly outnumber positive ones on social media,” The Wall Street Journal recently said of the TikTok offensive ex-Latter-day Saint influencers have launched against their former faith.
“When your content is all about problems with the church,” a 20-year-old who left the pews after finding #exmo posts online told the newspaper, “it’s kind of hard to dismiss it.”
Latter-day Saint leaders are fighting back, in a way, by enlisting their own army of pro-church influencers.
Seeking healing in Lesotho
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Primary General President Susan H. Porter visits with Mapule Takane and her mother near Maseru, Lesotho, on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. The Primary president offered a picture of Jesus Christ, along with a message from church President Russell M. Nelson and leaders of the women’s organizations, for Mapule and other survivors of the minibus accident, which occurred June 21, 2025.
Latter-day Saints in Lesotho mourning the loss of teenage girls and church leaders in a multivehicle crash this summer received a visit last week from two of the faith’s top female leaders.
President Susan Porter, global leader of the children’s Primary, and J. Anette Dennis, a counselor in the worldwide women’s Relief Society, went to Maseru and Maputsoe to comfort survivors and the victims’ loved ones.
“I used to struggle with them [the congregation’s girls] not reading their scriptures,” Young Women leader Mapule Takane, who is still recovering from her injuries, said in a news release. “But now they are telling me that they read their scriptures. I think that was like the special thing that happened. … Their faith increased, like 10 times, because of that experience.”
Saying no to nukes
(J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah) MX missile protesters demonstrate at the Utah Capitol in this undated photo. The church's governing First Presidency denounced plans to deploy the weapons in the West Desert.
Forty-four years ago, then-church President Spencer Kimball and his counselors stemmed the tide of a Cold War showdown by opposing U.S. plans for basing the MX nuclear missile system in Utah.
“We repeat our warnings against the terrifying arms race in which the nations of the Earth are presently engaged,” they wrote. “We deplore in particular the building of vast arsenals of nuclear weaponry.”
Inkstick Media revisited that moment recently by exploring the efforts of the University of Utah law professor who is credited with persuading the church leaders to fight against the weapons scheme.
From The Tribune
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) The Beehive Clothing facility in Salt Lake City, where garments are manufactured.
• The church has imposed new limits on the purchase of sleeveless garments even as the U.S. rollout draws near.
• Untrue rumors about celebrities who grew up as Latter-day Saints are as rampant in Mormon (and anti-Mormon) culture as green Jell-O (and red wine), writes Tribune guest columnist Eli McCann. And see how former U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney acknowledged misreading McCann’s commentary.
• In Time magazine, church President Russell Nelson shares his 101st birthday wish for the world.
(Brigham Young University) Latter-day Saint convert and filmmaker Jose Oliveira, speaking at a screening of his movie at BYU in 2022, has died.
• Latter-day Saint cinema’s “unknown giant” has died.
• A first edition Book of Mormon sold for well into six figures at an auction.
• A “war over morality” looms, according to Hulu, in Season 3 “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” In addition, two of the women will also appear on “Dancing With the Stars.”
(Natalie Cass | Disney) The cast members of "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" — from left to right: Jennifer Affleck, Miranda McWhorter, Layla Taylor, Demi Engemann, Mayci Neeley, Jessi Ngatikaura, Mikayla Matthews, Whitney Leavitt and Taylor Frankie Paul — are scheduled to return for Season 3.