Mormon truth claims, argued in publichttps://latterdayskeptics.com/2026-09-21T00:00:00Ztag:latterdayskeptics,2026-09-21:7855372352026-09-21T00:00:00Z

DNA and Lamanite ancestry: Revised. The Late War and pseudo-biblical sources: Revised. KJV dependence, Deutero-Isaiah and Adam Clarke: Revised. The prophetic track record: failed predictions and reversed teachings: Revised. Church finances: Ensign Peak and the SEC order: Revised. DNA and Native American origins: Revised. Archaeology and the absence of Nephite remains: Revised. Nahom and the Arabian journey: Revised. The positive 'evidences' apologists lead with: Revised. Treasure seeking, the seer stone and the 1826 hearing: Revised. The problem of evil under a finite God: Revised.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2026-09-16:20544438082026-09-16T00:00:00Z

The LDS Discussions series on Mormon Stories continued through 2026: Pt. 79 on a Book of Abraham apologetic appealing to ancient Jewish traditions (22 July), Pt. 80 'Mormon Church Guilty of Securities Fraud' (31 July), Pt. 81 'The History of Tithing' (19 August), Pt. 82 on Nauvoo land deeds and polygamy (26 August) and Pt. 83 on tithing (16 September). The ldsdiscussions.com essays themselves showed no dated updates after about 2021 when checked. Shows which topics the skeptics' side is actively working in 2026 (finances, tithing, polygamy denial, Book of Abraham). Note that 'guilty of securit

tag:latterdayskeptics,2026-09-01:70922402302026-09-01T00:00:00Z

The project's news page reports that on 26 May 2026 the content of Documents, Volume 15 went online, so that all print-volume content now appears on the website, and that on 1 September 2026 it completed the Financial Records series (a Kirtland store daybook) and added 127 Nauvoo municipal documents. A March 2026 release added William Clayton's agent papers and Maid of Iowa records. As of September 2026 the full corpus, including financial, legal and municipal records relevant to the Kirtland bank, Nauvoo land dealings and the Expositor, is free online. Citations should link to it directly.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2026-08-31:37688792712026-08-31T00:00:00Z

Four post-SEC-order class actions filed in Utah, California, Tennessee and Washington (plaintiffs including Daniel Chappell, Masen Christensen, John Oaks and Laura Gaddy) were consolidated before Judge Shelby, who dismissed them in April 2025 as filed after the three-year limitations period. On 31 August 2026 a Tenth Circuit panel unanimously affirmed, writing that it saw 'no reversible error'. As of September 2026 every tithing-fraud suit against the Church has failed, on limitations, evidence or church-autonomy grounds.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2026-08-23:34272188662026-08-23T00:00:00Z

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that a full annotated edition of William Clayton's diaries is due from Yale University Press in 2027, overseen by the Church History Department (Matthew Grow, Matthew McBride). Clayton's 12 July 1843 entry records Joseph dictating what became D&C 132. Grow said there is clear evidence Joseph and others practiced plural marriage before the revelation was written down. The long-restricted Clayton journals are the single best contemporaneous source for Nauvoo polygamy. Official publication ends a standing transparency complaint and undercuts the 'Joseph was a monoga

tag:latterdayskeptics,2026-08:43172691932026-08-01T00:00:00Z

Ensign Peak's consolidated Form 13F filings show disclosed US-listed holdings of about US$44.4 billion at Q4 2022, US$50.5 billion at Q4 2023, US$56.3 billion at Q4 2024, US$56.6 billion at Q4 2025, US$53.7 billion at Q1 2026 and US$60.8 billion at Q2 2026, across roughly 1,700 positions. A 13F covers only US-listed equities and similar securities, not bonds, private holdings, foreign assets, real estate or operating businesses. The one audited-by-law number in the wealth debate; useful floor against which estimates such as $231B must be explained.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2026-07-28:78473589642026-07-28T00:00:00Z

FLOODLIT reports that on 28 July 2026 a Tenth Circuit panel (Judge Gregory Phillips writing) reversed the district court and held that ambiguous 'occurrence' language must be read in favor of coverage, reviving the Church's claim against two insurers. Filings put the Church's costs in the West Virginia Jensen case at about US$60 million (US$32 million settlement plus US$27 million in legal costs), and the Church seeks roughly US$90 million in total. Keeps detailed abuse-case cost data flowing into the public record, and shows the Church arguing that the abuse stemmed from a single institutiona

tag:latterdayskeptics,2026-05-15:57876685632026-05-15T00:00:00Z

Mormon Stories built a serial walk-through of Joseph Smith's life with Yale-published biographer John G. Turner, reaching Part 41 ('The Aftermath of Joseph Smith's Murder') on 15 May 2026, with episodes on Nauvoo polygamy, the second anointing and the Council of Fifty kingship. A stand-alone episode, 'Responding to Joseph Smith Polygamy Deniers' (20 February 2026), features Turner as well. The leading skeptics' podcast now anchors its history content in a non-LDS academic biographer rather than ex-Mormon commentators, which raises the evidentiary floor of the skeptics' case.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2026-04-06:46817611682026-04-06T00:00:00Z

Jana Riess noted that while the Church reported record converts, the Cooperative Election Study found Americans identifying as LDS fell below 1% (0.9%) for the first time in 2025, roughly half the level of two decades earlier and about half the share implied by Church rolls. She attributes convert growth partly to a general uptick in religion and to social-media advertising with generic Christian messaging, and flags weak convert retention. The honest picture is two-sided: growth abroad and in convert counts, attrition in US self-identification.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2026-04-04:69696660102026-04-04T00:00:00Z

Oaks's April 2026 conference address 'Alive in Christ' centered on the resurrection, loving adversaries and peacemaking, urging members to 'follow Him by forgoing contention and by using the language and methods of peacemakers'. It did not address doubt, history or policy. Baseline for what the current prophet teaches: through September 2026 Oaks has announced no major doctrinal or policy reversal.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2026-04-04:87229225622026-04-04T00:00:00Z

The Church reported 17,887,212 members at 31 December 2025 (up 377,431), 385,490 convert baptisms (about 25% above 2024's 308,682 and the highest ever), 91,835 new children of record, 3,695 stakes, 32,046 wards and branches, 78,596 full-time teaching missionaries and 204 operating temples. Convert growth has clearly accelerated since 2023, mostly outside the US; 'the Church is shrinking' is false globally.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2026-04-04:28272346122026-04-04T00:00:00Z

In his first conference talk as an apostle, Gilbert listed reasons people step away (not feeling they belong or measure up, doubts and faith issues, family tradition, seeking happiness elsewhere), told them 'You don't have to be perfect to be in this Church', advised starting from what one still believes, and asked members for patient love. In the same conference Michael John U. Teh's 'Follow the Prophet; He Knows the Way' presented prophets as watchmen who see ahead, with no discussion of fallibility or disagreement. The Oaks-era message to leavers is invitational and frames departure as abou

tag:latterdayskeptics,2026-03-10:84953029422026-03-10T00:00:00Z

The 2025 Caring for Those in Need report lists US$1.58 billion in expenditures, an average of US$4.3 million a day and more than the year before, across 196 countries and territories, 3,514 humanitarian projects and 7.4 million volunteer hours, which are not counted in the dollar total. The figure combines welfare, fast-offering aid, self-reliance and humanitarian work. The annual number is the Church's main rebuttal to the 'hoarding' critique. Critics note it is a small fraction of estimated annual investment returns and bundles member fast offerings and in-kind values.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2026-02-12:38653823432026-02-12T00:00:00Z

Oaks called Clark G. Gilbert, 55, a General Authority Seventy, Commissioner of Church Education since August 2021 and former BYU-Idaho president, on 11 February 2026; he was ordained the next day, filling Holland's seat as Oaks's second apostolic call. The Salt Lake Tribune called it a controversial pick and quoted a historian saying it may be the most consequential apostolic appointment in the modern church. Gilbert ran the Church Educational System, the institution the CES Letter is addressed to, during a period of tighter orthodoxy expectations for BYU faculty. His elevation signals the Oak

tag:latterdayskeptics,2026-01-08:4869976292026-01-08T00:00:00Z

With Eyring (senior apostle after Oaks) serving in the First Presidency, Uchtdorf was set apart as Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve on 8 January 2026, putting him second in line for the presidency after Eyring. Uchtdorf is the author of the 2013 'mistakes have been made' and 'doubt your doubts' talk; his seniority matters for where official candour may go next.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2026-01:11312902402026-01-01T00:00:00Z

The anonymous Widow's Mite Report's 2025 year-end update publishes estimates of roughly US$231 billion in Church investment reserves and about US$320 billion in total assets, with about 72% in financial investments, more than 2.3 million acres of US land, and General Authority compensation of about US$200,000 a year. These are the group's modeled estimates from 13F filings, property records and leaked data, not audited figures. The most-cited independent wealth estimate; should always be labeled an estimate and paired with the hard 13F numbers.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2026:47688199312026-01T00:00:00Z

A 2026 General Handbook update states that temple ordinances are received according to a person's biological sex at birth, extending the 2024 handbook restrictions; newly called apostles also addressed same-sex marriage and the Family Proclamation in interviews. The wording here follows secondary coverage rather than the Handbook text. Indicates that the Oaks presidency is continuing the 2024 tightening on gender identity.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2025-12-27:67555745482025-12-27T00:00:00Z

Holland, president of the Quorum of the Twelve since 14 October 2025 and an apostle since 1994, died of complications of kidney disease. He was next in line for the presidency. Holland was the leadership's most quoted voice on doubt ('Lord, I believe'), on the Book of Mormon's authenticity, and the 2021 BYU 'musket fire' speech.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2025-12-15:26266637762025-12-15T00:00:00Z

Pew's 15 December 2025 report found 54% of Americans raised Latter-day Saint still identify as such, below Protestants (70%) and Catholics (57%); 11% now identify as Protestant. BYU's Justin Dyer replied in the Deseret News that retention has declined since the 1980s, but that Latter-day Saints rank highest of any major tradition once retention is measured together with regular attendance; he read the trend against the 2025 Cooperative Election Study, which puts the Latter-day Saint share of US adults at 0.9%, down from 1.9% in 2010. Retention has fallen from earlier Pew readings, and both the

tag:latterdayskeptics,2025-11-06:72945620042025-11-06T00:00:00Z

Gérald Caussé, Presiding Bishop from 9 October 2015 and the officer who oversaw Church finances through the Ensign Peak whistleblower and SEC episodes, was called to the Quorum of the Twelve on 6 November 2025, filling the vacancy created by Nelson's death and the First Presidency reorganization. W. Christopher Waddell succeeded him as Presiding Bishop. The executive most associated with the Church's financial stewardship and its public defense of reserves is now an apostle.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2025-11:80008334782025-11-01T00:00:00Z

In the 2025 Doctrine and Covenants year, sections 129-132 fell in mid-November. The seminary teacher manual's Lesson 141 calls monogamy God's 'standing law of marriage' with plural marriage a commanded exception, says Joseph married multiple wives, recounts the angel with a drawn sword, calls Emma's experience an excruciating ordeal, distinguishes 'primary' questions (is Joseph a prophet?) from 'secondary' ones, and points students to the Gospel Topics essay. FAIR and Scripture Central produced companion material. Shows the current teaching posture: plural marriage is taught as a commanded exc

tag:latterdayskeptics,2025-10-14:95389915752025-10-14T00:00:00Z

After presiding over the October 2025 general conference as president of the Twelve, Oaks, aged 93, was announced as Church president on 14 October 2025 with Henry B. Eyring and D. Todd Christofferson as counselors; Jeffrey R. Holland became president of the Twelve. Oaks said, 'There is much to be done, for our ministry is a ministry to all the children of God on the face of the earth.' Oaks, a former Utah Supreme Court justice, is the author of many statements critics quote (on criticism of leaders, apologies, religious freedom, LGBTQ issues). He is now the prophet whose words define current

tag:latterdayskeptics,2025-10-10:22075051432025-10-10T00:00:00Z

Washington's SB 5375 (signed May 2025) made clergy mandatory reporters with no exception for confession. After Catholic and Orthodox clergy sued and a federal judge blocked that part in July 2025, the state agreed in October 2025 that clergy remain mandatory reporters but need not report what they learn in confession or a sacred rite. Sets the national template: clergy-penitent privilege, the basis of the Church's help-line defense, survives the strongest legislative challenge so far.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2025-10-05:93516851152025-10-05T00:00:00Z

Presiding over the October 2025 conference a week after Nelson's death, Oaks did not announce any new temples, ending a run of announcements at every Nelson-era conference. Other notable talks included Gerrit Gong urging members to welcome migrants and Gary Stevenson on peacemaking after the Michigan attack. First concrete sign of an Oaks-era change in emphasis: consolidation of the 170-plus temples still unbuilt rather than further expansion.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2025-09-28:10397277802025-09-28T00:00:00Z

On 28 September 2025 a man rammed a truck into a Latter-day Saint meetinghouse in Grand Blanc Township during Sunday services, opened fire and set the building ablaze; at least four people were killed and eight wounded, and police shot the attacker, Thomas Jacob Sanford, dead. The FBI treated the attack as targeted violence; no motive had been determined. Context for the tone of any critical site: members were attacked at worship. A responsible resource separates criticism of truth claims from hostility toward members.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2025-09-27:26705537642025-09-27T00:00:00Z

The 17th Church president died at home in Salt Lake City on 27 September 2025, aged 101, the oldest president in the Church's history. His presidency (from January 2018) brought the 'Mormon' name campaign, two-hour church, repeated temple-ceremony revisions and 200 temple announcements. Anything written before October 2025 that says 'President Nelson' is stale.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2025-08-26:90022412482025-08-26T00:00:00Z

Laura Gaddy's putative class action, with co-plaintiffs Small and Harris, alleged the Church misrepresented its history (for example, translation artwork) and misused tithing, including civil RICO claims. Judge Robert J. Shelby dismissed it in the District of Utah. On 26 August 2025 a Tenth Circuit panel of Judges Hartz, Phillips and Eid, in an opinion by Judge Eid, affirmed: the church autonomy doctrine bars claims that would require a court to decide the truth or falsity of religious belief, and the tithing claims failed because the plaintiffs did not adequately plead that the Church's state

tag:latterdayskeptics,2025-08-06:74203236482025-08-06T00:00:00Z

FAIR's conference at Thanksgiving Point, Lehi (6-8 August 2025) featured a keynote by Aaron Sherinian of the Church Communication Department and sessions on gender equality, child protection and the abuse help line, apologetics for younger audiences, women defending the faith online, spiritual silence, Brigham Young and slavery, and 'plate math' for the gold plates. A snapshot of what apologists think needs defending in 2025: women, race, the physical plates and online influencers.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2025-07-31:85503860472025-07-31T00:00:00Z

Published 31 July 2025. The translation page says Joseph used the interpreters and 'a small brown stone', that the two 'could apparently be used interchangeably', that he sometimes 'looked at a seer stone in a hat', that the text came by revelation since conventional translation was impossible, and that twentieth-century art showed only the interpreters because 'memory of the seer stones faded'. The plural-marriage page says Joseph 'introduced the practice, not Brigham Young', was 'sealed to over 30 women', and that no scripture makes plural marriage a requirement for exaltation; it gives no a

tag:latterdayskeptics,2025-07-29:74132853162025-07-29T00:00:00Z

A three-judge Arizona Court of Appeals panel held that a jury could find bishops learned of Paul Adams's abuse outside privileged confession, for example when he admitted it to his wife in the bishop's presence and at his excommunication hearing, and that he may have waived the privilege. The case returns to Cochise County Superior Court; the Church said it would seek Arizona Supreme Court review. Reverses the practical effect of the 2023 privilege win; as of September 2026 the help-line case is headed toward a jury.

tag:latterdayskeptics,2025-07:12498759142025-07-01T00:00:00Z

A lay movement argues Joseph never practiced polygamy and that Brigham Young's circle fabricated or altered D&C 132; Wheat and Tares names Denver Snuffer, Rock Waterman, Michelle Stone ('132 Problems'), Gwendolyn Wayne and Jeremy Hoopes, and notes the argument revives the old RLDS position. Believing outlets have answered it: From the Desk published a rebuttal interview with Mark Tensmeyer in January 2025, Meridian Magazine followed in May 2026, and the Church's July 2025 plural-marriage page reaffirmed that Joseph practiced plural marriage. A new fault line inside believing Mormonism: the Chu