u/AccomplishedBat9069

In a YouTube interview with Mykelti Padron in the episode "Mormon Polygamy Didn't Start The Way You Were Told" historian Benjamin Park discusses many topics, including Nauvoo polygamy, fundamentalist LDS groups and growth issues with the current LDS church. Lots of interesting information about Mormon history in this interview! One correction to the stats cited by Prof. Park when discussing LDS growth issues at the end of this clip: Pew Research data from 2007 and 2023-24 indicate the percentage of survey respondents in the US indicating that they were LDS was 2%. Parks says that current data indicate the percentage of the US as LDS as .9%. The .9% figure actually comes from the 2025 Cooperative Election Study, which uses different methodology from the Pew study. Normal caveats about survey sampling, error rates and survey methodology apply, so one should be be cautious when drawing conclusions about trends when comparing the two different studies. The full podcast is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb68p5jOE3A

I just can't even.....

Another questionable use of tithing dollars for entertainment and distraction purpose of the busloads of kids on church history field trips and the TBMs doing summer vacation trips to Nauvoo.

Given Amanda's sentencing, she probably won't be making the Cody open house. I wonder if she will face disfellowship or excommunication for her actions.

And "church leader" and family friend (who is a physician!) testifies on behalf of the perpetrator, argues that the church had nothing to do with it.

As quoted from the Powell Tribune article:

"Dr. Adam Peters — a family friend, children’s physician and leader at [Jimmy] Parks’ church — recalled Parks helping with service projects in the community and described him as someone who’s always been “really nice.”

“I don’t know what happened behind closed doors or whatever. I can’t say anything there. I have no witness there,” Peters told the court, “but what I can say is that when I was with Jimmy, I did not see violent tendencies. I saw a guy who was a friend — and he has been a friend.”

He also made a point of rebutting any suggestion that their church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, would attempt to cover up any abuse. Peters said the church has strict policies that require any abuse to be reported to authorities and that, regardless of his continued assertion of innocence, Parks would never be allowed to work with youth at the church again."

Peters added that, “I would never try to cover up [for] someone who was a sex offender against a child. Period.” 

Peters also referenced the views of Amanda Parks, who has since filed for divorce from Jimmy.

“Amanda’s not real happy with Jimmy, but Amanda still thinks he’s innocent,” Peters told the district court. “That’s really important.”

https://www.powelltribune.com/stories/cody-man-gets-30-years-for-sexually-abusing-teen,176688

What are your reactions to this FB post? I wonder how Ex-Mos and TBMs feel about this!

In a 2-hour interview with Joe from the YouTube channel "Unsolicited Advice", Atheist church auditor Jared Smith from Heliocentric discusses various religious topics, including Mormonism and the Book of Mormon. The entire podcast episode is worth a listen! Regarding the LDS church and the Book of Mormon, Jared provides some great quotes and makes a few good points.

One statement in this clip that might be controversial among Ex-Mos: Jared says his ex-mormon friends have encouraged him to re-read the BoM because they find that there is some richness and depth to the BoM (?Who is saying this?) :)

In a November 2025 presentation for the BYU series "Faith and Cookies," LDS Church historian Keith Ereksen replicates his epic fail performance from the Missouri Far West "history rescue" presentation of January 2025. Prepare to cringe and be enraged.

The first part of the November 2025 presentation (which is provided in its entirety on the BYU web site) is actually quite interesting, as Keith recycles jokes from the widely ridiculed Far West Missouri stake presentation and provides a brief overview of the history of church finances. Good job on this part, Keith!

Where Ereksen goes into lands of deception and misdirection is near the end of the video, as shown in this excerpt, where he tries to answer the question "Why isn't the Church more open about its finances; what is it hiding?"

The analogies Ereksen gives in his "answer" are completely off-topic and ridiculous. First, Ereksen argues that if the church were to be 100% transparent it would be like "... You pay your tithing. We have your bank account information. Let's start there." (!!?!) No, Keith, this is a horrible example. We are not talking about a member's personal finances. We are talking about responsible and public accountability of tithing dollars and donations.

Even worse, in arguing for non-financial transparency, Ereksen actually goes on with an even worse example: "We have the address for all of these millions of children under the age of 14. We could put that our so pedophiles know where to..." Again, this is irrelevant to the topic of the presentation.

Ereksen argues that non-transparency in many countries is required to protect the privacy of individuals. He fails to explain in any way how this is related to church purchases, investments, and expenditures. This is an irrelevant tangent.

Ereksen explains "the categories" of expenditures where some numbers are disclosed, and does indicate that U.S. stock holdings are disclosed quarterly. (But, he fails to say anything about holdings outside of the US, or the church's VAST property holdings. He fails to say anything about total tithing dollars received or salaries paid to general authorities.)

In an interesting but ultimately empty argument, Ereksen argues that the church auditing process ensures that all finances are dealt with ethically. He relates his personal experience as serving as a local/stake church auditor as evidence for corporate HQ church financial transparency. This is a completely phony example of church transparency.

NO, Keith, local ward auditing does not represent accountability regarding LDS church corporation finances. The members don't care if a ward is spending $20 on office supplies . What members are entitled to know is how the BILLIONS of dollars are being spent or hoarded. And the reason the church does not want to provide this information is that they don't want members giving opinions on how the money should be spent, and they don't want to defend their previous decisions about spending money.

At the end of the video Ereksen gives a tease about discussing the SEC scandal. This information is provided in an article (including points made in the BYU Talk) which is published in BYU Studies Volume 64(4). Worth a read to see one argument, however flawed it is.

Finally, what Ereksen omits from his talk or paper is any mention at all of the Widow's Mite report, and the need for it to exist at all. It's very troubling.

The next regular meeting of the American Fork City Council will be Tuesday, June 23 at 7 p.m. Mountain Time. It will be interesting to see if there are additional public comments regarding the conduct of the AF Police force.

Look at the description of the Mormon Stories web archive in the LDS Church History library online catalog. Seems like the library staff and all of the patrons using this archive would not be confused at all that the MS podcast is not affiliated with the LDS Church. The holdings of the Library also include a letter related to John's excommunication (!) a copy of his Ph.D. dissertation, publications derived from John's dissertation, radio interviews and an archive of John's interview with Rick Bennett (Gospel Tangents).

In the latest Youtube video from her excellent Girlscamp podcast, Hayley Rawle talks with Alyssa Grenfell about the paradoxical, confusing, and everchanging set of Mormon rules. The entire episode is great. As part of a discussion about the Word of Wisdom and the changing rules about caffeinated beverages, in this clip, Alyssa and Hayley discuss the fact that the PCC in Hawaii serves coffee!