Latest news with #Latter-daySaint
Axios
03-07-2025
- General
- Axios
When Thomas Jefferson and enslaved Sally Hemings were "sealed" in a Mormon marriage ceremony
Almost 35 years ago, Sally Hemings and her enslaver Thomas Jefferson were reportedly sealed in posthumous marriage in a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is Old News, Fourth of July edition. Why it mattered: Hemings' relationship with Jefferson — the father of at least six of her children — has long been a point of historical debate. The term "power imbalance" understates the problems around consent between an enslaved person and their owner. Hemings was legally Jefferson's property and would have had no recognized right to refuse his sexual advances — even if she was his " paramour." Hemings was 16 when she first became pregnant; Jefferson was 46. What happened: In 2012, Slate reported that the church confirmed Hemings and Jefferson were posthumously "sealed" — a Mormon marriage rite that allows couples to stay connected eternally, per the faith's teachings. The ceremony occurred in 1991 in the Mesa, Arizona, temple, Slate reported. How it works: Church procedures allow Latter-day Saints to perform baptisms, sealings and other ordinances or ceremonies by proxy for people who did not participate when they were alive. Typically, these rites are performed by church members on behalf of their own ancestors, to allow families to reunite after death under the church's teachings. The intrigue:"In the spirit world, deceased persons can choose to accept or reject ordinances that have been performed for them," the church writes. That means, per church teachings, Hemings would at least be able to opt out of the connection to Jefferson in the afterlife. Context: Slate's report emerged shortly after the church threatened to suspend members' access to its massive genealogical databases if they performed proxy ordinances for Holocaust victims. A month earlier, a member had baptized Anne Frank at a temple in the Dominican Republic. For years, Holocaust survivors and descendants of victims decried the practice, while Latter-day Saint leaders tried to modify its record-creation protocols to prevent members from taking non-Mormon names into their own hands. The latest: The church did not respond to Axios' query as to whether the posthumous sealing of Hemings and Jefferson was still documented or considered valid. Previously in Old News
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
BYU system has added 100,000 students since 2000
This article was first published in the ChurchBeat newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Wednesday night. WASHINGTON — Startling data about BYU and its sister schools jumped out Monday during a panel discussion at a convening of 52 presidents of the ACE Commission on Faith-based Colleges and Universities. The panel included the presidents of Notre Dame, Yeshiva, Taylor and Lipscomb and was led by Elder Clark G. Gilbert, church commissioner of education for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Elder Gilbert, who is also a General Authority Seventy, and others expressed frustration with journalists who write what two university presidents described as clickbait stories focused on the closures of small, underfunded faith-based colleges. 'Since 2000, the network of BYU schools has grown by almost 100,000 students,' Elder Gilbert said, 'and yet all I read is, 'Faith-based schools are closing.'' The point was that despite some closures of smaller, faith-based colleges and universities, enrollment in that sector isn't shrinking. Far from it. In fact, enrollment growth in the faith sector as a whole is outpacing enrollment growth nationally. The growth in Latter-day Saint education is not surprising. The Deseret News reported in a November article that the Church of Jesus Christ provided education for nearly 1 million students in 2024, including high school students in seminary programs and college students in institute programs. But 100,000 students in 20 years is a remarkable increase that comes with two important notes. First, BYU regularly reports its enrollment of daytime undergraduate students. Elder Gilbert's statement was for a larger group, an unduplicated headcount of matriculated students. That means they included all students accepted into degree programs, including those taking night classes or online courses at BYU, BYU-Idaho, BYU-Hawaii, Ensign College and BYU-PW. Second, most church members will correctly anticipate that the vast bulk of the enrollment growth comes from BYU-Pathway Worldwide, which didn't exist in 2000. BYU-PW has gone from 458 students in 2009 to more than 80,000 this year, according to a statement by BYU-PW President Brian Ashton in April. Still, BYU and every other school in the church network is serving significantly more students than they did in 2000. And in all, they served more than 147,000 students as of last fall, a major increase from more than 50,000 in 2000. School presidents celebrate the value of faith-based higher education (June 9) President Russell M. Nelson dedicated the Syracuse Utah Temple on Sunday, the second temple he has dedicated as a 100-year-old. He said, 'This is the Lord's house. It is filled with his power. Those who live his higher laws have access to his higher power. God's power helps us to grow from the trials of life, rather than be defeated by them. God's power also helps us to withstand temptations with joy in our hearts.' Read President Nelson's dedicatory prayer setting aside the temple as a place of peace and personal revelation here. Relief Society President Camille Johnson announced that the church added a $63.4 million donation to its Global Initiative to Improve the Well-being of Women and Children. Coupled with last year's initial announcement of $55.8 million, the church now has provided more than $119 million to the effort. President Elaine L. Jack, who served as the 12th general president of the Relief Society from 1990-97, died Tuesday, June 10, 2025. She was 97. Elder Gary E. Stevenson is on a ministry trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. In Uruguay, he spoke to church members and met with Uruguay Vice President Carolina Cosse and Catholic Cardinal Daniel Sturla. Elder Stevenson also spoke to Latter-day Saint U.S. Air Force Academy graduates at a baccalaureate service on Memorial Day weekend. The Church News published a new story detailing Elder David A. Bednar's ministry trip in May to Australia, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji. Sister Kristin M. Yee, second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, and Sister Andrea M. Spannaus, second counselor in the Young Women general presidency, visited Brazil and met with church members and visited places that have received church humanitarian aid funds. Read about their 10-day ministry here. The Church News provided a new story this week about Primary General President Susan H. Porter's May trip to Cambodia, Thailand, Taiwan and Laos. There is also a new story about Elder Patrick Kearon's 10-day ministry trip to the Philippines, where he stopped in Caloocan, Manila, Davao and Cebu. Mobile temple recommends are now available worldwide. Learn how they work. The church released renderings for new temples in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Chihuahua, Mexico. See them and read about the site location for one here. Read about the real surprise in the Supreme Court's approach to religious freedom. The BYU women's soccer team is in New Zealand to serve and build relationships for two weeks in Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington. The players kicked off their trip by visiting the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Center in Auckland, where they practiced dribbling, passing and other ball-handling skills with refugee youth. I've always loved the knuckleball. As a kid, I played baseball in the Wilbur Wood league in the Boston suburbs, named for a knuckleballer from the region. As a dad, I took my kids out to the bullpen in Anaheim, California, to marvel at Tim Wakefield's knuckleball when he warmed up to pitch for the Red Sox against the Angels. Well, now a new knuckleballer is knocking on the doors of the major leagues and he's thrown the fastest knuckleball in history.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Are Latter-day Saints shifting left? Here's what the data shows
An analysis of the 2024 presidential election found that politically moderate and younger Latter-day Saints have 'warmed up' to President Donald Trump after swinging away from the Republican candidate in 2016 and 2020. The Republican rebound among young and moderate voters goes against some predictions of a permanent Latter-day Saint shift toward the Democratic Party during the Trump era, according to a comparison of election data published Monday by political scientist Ryan Burge. 'There's nothing here that says that the LDS vote is trending to the left,' Burge told the Deseret News. 'You can't look at the data and make that claim.' Trump's initial lackluster showing among Latter-day Saints in 2016 has largely been reversed, Burge shows, with moderate voters moving 15 percentage points toward Trump since 2020, and younger voters jumping 25 points back his direction. Much has been made of Latter-day Saints' lukewarm reception of Trump in 2016. That year, Trump received just 52% of the Latter-day Saint vote — down 30 percentage points from Mitt Romney in 2012, and 20 points from John McCain in 2008. The drop was mostly caused by Trump's bid pushing 26% of Latter-day Saint voters toward third-party candidate Evan McMullin, Burge said, while 22% voted for Hillary Clinton. But with no viable third-party alternative in 2020 and 2024, Trump's vote share among Latter-day Saints surged, resulting in identical results both times: with 66% of Latter-day Saints voting for Trump, and 30% for his opponent. 'I think most of the hesitancy people had about Trump went away,' Burge said. Burge's calculations are based on the latest data from the Cooperative Election Study, an election-year poll that surveyed 144,500 people from 2022 to 2024, including 1,600 self-identified Latter-day Saints. Taking a deeper look at the Latter-day Saint data reveals multiple transformations occurring simultaneously within one of the most religiously and civically active demographics in the United States. While Latter-day Saint voters continue to lean heavily Republican, Trump's rise to the top of conservative politics has contributed to real changes in Latter-day Saint political identification. Republican Party affiliation among Latter-day Saints fell from around 75% before Trump, to 64% in 2016, 62% in 2020 and 58% in 2024. Democratic affiliation, on the other hand, increased by 9 points, to 25%, and the percentage of independents doubled to 17%, during the same time period. Meanwhile, the share of Latter-day Saints who identify as 'conservative' fell from 61% to 50%, leading to an increase in self-described 'moderates' from 30% to 38%. But, as can be seen in the overall Latter-day Saint vote, these shifts have not translated to the ballot box. Trump's performance among Latter-day Saints has actually improved, paradoxically, as some voters attempt to distance themselves from certain conservative labels, Burge said. In 2016, 64% of Latter-day Saint voters identified as Republicans, and 61% as conservative, but Trump received around 50% of their vote. In 2024, GOP affiliation had fallen to 58%, and conservative identity to 50%, but Trump netted 66% of the Latter-day Saint vote. These crosscurrents could represent a desire among a substantial portion of Latter-day Saints to remain independent from 'the whole MAGA movement,' Burge said, even if they can't stomach the Democratic alternative and still vote for Trump. 'A lot of people want to say they're ideologically moderate but if you actually look at the way those groups vote, it's almost always leaning to what the larger group does,' Burge said. 'A vote's a binary choice, you don't get to stand in the middle on that.' Opposing pressures among the Latter-day Saint electorate have created a genuine 'swing voting bloc' among moderates, according to Burge. In 2020, moderate Latter-day Saints favored Joe Biden over Trump by 27 points, with nearly 60% voting Democrat. In 2024, however, moderate Latter-day Saints were split down the middle between Trump and Kamala Harris. Many of these swing voters appear to be those who came of age amid Trump's dominance in American politics. Less than one-third, 31%, of Latter-day Saint voters age 18-35 cast their ballot for Trump in 2020. But in 2024, Trump received support from 56% of young Latter-day Saints. The flip among young and moderate Latter-day Saint voters likely has something to do with tribal identities, and voters wanting to fit in with their community, Burge said, pointing out that 75% of Latter-day Saints over 50 voted for Trump in 2024. What's more, the relatively small gap in partisan affiliation among the youngest Latter-day Saint voters — with about 50% identifying as Republican and 35% as Democrat — is likely to grow over time because voters tend to become more conservative as they age, Burge said. But the increase in support for Trump among young Latter-day Saints might also reflect a process of self-selection, according to Burge. Politics has a greater impact on religious loyalties than many people would like to admit, Burge said, and some young people who leave the Republican Party because of Trump may also leave The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for linking or overlapping reasons. 'People are drawn to or from religious groups based on their political persuasion,' Burge said. 'What you're really seeing with the 18-35-year-old group of young LDS is the true believers because they're still identifying as LDS.' The church has issued statements declaring itself strictly 'neutral in matters of party politics.' The general handbook says, 'The Church does not endorse any political party or candidate. Nor does it advise members how to vote.' The church encourages its members to 'engage in the political process in an informed and civil manner, respecting the fact that members of the church come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences and may have differences of opinion in partisan political matters.'
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Are Latter-day Saints shifting left? Here's what the data shows
An analysis of the 2024 presidential election found that politically moderate and younger Latter-day Saints have 'warmed up' to President Donald Trump after swinging away from the Republican candidate in 2016 and 2020. The Republican rebound among young and moderate voters goes against some predictions of a permanent Latter-day Saint shift toward the Democratic Party during the Trump era, according to a comparison of election data published Monday by political scientist Ryan Burge. 'There's nothing here that says that the LDS vote is trending to the left,' Burge told the Deseret News. 'You can't look at the data and make that claim.' Trump's initial lackluster showing among Latter-day Saints in 2016 has largely been reversed, Burge shows, with moderate voters moving 15 percentage points toward Trump since 2020, and younger voters jumping 25 points back his direction. Much has been made of Latter-day Saints' lukewarm reception of Trump in 2016. That year, Trump received just 52% of the Latter-day Saint vote — down 30 percentage points from Mitt Romney in 2012, and 20 points from John McCain in 2008. The drop was mostly caused by Trump's bid pushing 26% of Latter-day Saint voters toward third-party candidate Evan McMullin, Burge said, while 22% voted for Hillary Clinton. But with no viable third-party alternative in 2020 and 2024, Trump's vote share among Latter-day Saints surged, resulting in identical results both times: with 66% of Latter-day Saints voting for Trump, and 30% for his opponent. 'I think most of the hesitancy people had about Trump went away,' Burge said. Burge's calculations are based on the latest data from the Cooperative Election Study, an election-year poll that surveyed 144,500 people from 2022 to 2024, including 1,600 self-identified Latter-day Saints. Taking a deeper look at the Latter-day Saint data reveals multiple transformations occurring simultaneously within one of the most religiously and civically active demographics in the United States. While Latter-day Saint voters continue to lean heavily Republican, Trump's rise to the top of conservative politics has contributed to real changes in Latter-day Saint political identification. Republican Party affiliation among Latter-day Saints fell from around 75% before Trump, to 64% in 2016, 62% in 2020 and 58% in 2024. Democratic affiliation, on the other hand, increased by 9 points, to 25%, and the percentage of independents doubled to 17%, during the same time period. Meanwhile, the share of Latter-day Saints who identify as 'conservative' fell from 61% to 50%, leading to an increase in self-described 'moderates' from 30% to 38%. But, as can be seen in the overall Latter-day Saint vote, these shifts have not translated to the ballot box. Trump's performance among Latter-day Saints has actually improved, paradoxically, as some voters attempt to distance themselves from certain conservative labels, Burge said. In 2016, 64% of Latter-day Saint voters identified as Republicans, and 61% as conservative, but Trump received around 50% of their vote. In 2024, GOP affiliation had fallen to 58%, and conservative identity to 50%, but Trump netted 66% of the Latter-day Saint vote. These crosscurrents could represent a desire among a substantial portion of Latter-day Saints to remain independent from 'the whole MAGA movement,' Burge said, even if they can't stomach the Democratic alternative and still vote for Trump. 'A lot of people want to say they're ideologically moderate but if you actually look at the way those groups vote, it's almost always leaning to what the larger group does,' Burge said. 'A vote's a binary choice, you don't get to stand in the middle on that.' Opposing pressures among the Latter-day Saint electorate have created a genuine 'swing voting bloc' among moderates, according to Burge. In 2020, moderate Latter-day Saints favored Joe Biden over Trump by 27 points, with nearly 60% voting Democrat. In 2024, however, moderate Latter-day Saints were split down the middle between Trump and Kamala Harris. Many of these swing voters appear to be those who came of age amid Trump's dominance in American politics. Less than one-third, 31%, of Latter-day Saint voters age 18-35 cast their ballot for Trump in 2020. But in 2024, Trump received support from 56% of young Latter-day Saints. The flip among young and moderate Latter-day Saint voters likely has something to do with tribal identities, and voters wanting to fit in with their community, Burge said, pointing out that 75% of Latter-day Saints over 50 voted for Trump in 2024. What's more, the relatively small gap in partisan affiliation among the youngest Latter-day Saint voters — with about 50% identifying as Republican and 35% as Democrat — is likely to grow over time because voters tend to become more conservative as they age, Burge said. But the increase in support for Trump among young Latter-day Saints might also reflect a process of self-selection, according to Burge. Politics has a greater impact on religious loyalties than many people would like to admit, Burge said, and some young people who leave the Republican Party because of Trump may also leave The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for linking or overlapping reasons. 'People are drawn to or from religious groups based on their political persuasion,' Burge said. 'What you're really seeing with the 18-35-year-old group of young LDS is the true believers because they're still identifying as LDS.' The church has issued statements declaring itself strictly 'neutral in matters of party politics.' The general handbook says, 'The Church does not endorse any political party or candidate. Nor does it advise members how to vote.' The church encourages its members to 'engage in the political process in an informed and civil manner, respecting the fact that members of the church come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences and may have differences of opinion in partisan political matters.'
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Religion, finances and violence: Latter-day Saint leaders provide answers to key questions
This article was first published in the ChurchBeat newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Wednesday night. Latter-day Saint leaders recently released new resources providing additional transparency through answers to important questions. The information can be found in three new Gospel Topics and Questions pages on The pages on church finances, religion vs. violence and temples provide a broad look at important issues ranging from the use of tithing funds and other donations, doctrines and policies about violence and what happens inside temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Here's what is new and how the information can help church members and others. A new Gospel Topics page called Church Financial Administration will be of keen interest to many people, as much for the graphics included as for the information provided. Nearly all of the financial information has been reported in the past by the Deseret News, from the fact that the church annually spends $1 billion on education to its different reserve funds where it sets aside money for future needs. The page answers 10 questions like: Do church leaders receive financial support? Answer: Yes, members of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the General Authority Seventies and the Presiding Bishopric receive a modest living allowance and insurance benefits so they can devote all their time to serving the Lord. Does the church pay taxes? Answer: Yes, the church and its affiliated entities pay various income, property, sales and value-added taxes. Why does the church spend so much on temples? Answer: Because they are houses of the Lord and the only places where people can make and receive covenants and ordinances that bind them and their families to God. So what is new in the finance Gospel Topics page? What is most visible are the new and easy to share graphics. Also, a news release that accompanied the release of the pages shared a graphic about the 19,000 locations where the church's 31,000 congregations worship each Sunday. 'The church spends hundreds of millions of dollars for meetinghouses each year,' the graphic says, representing the first time the church has provided a ballpark figure for meetinghouse costs. The news release also shared eight other graphics about church finances. A new page titled Religion vs. Violence openly discusses the Mountain Meadows Massacre ('the most tragic event in Latter-day Saint history') and blood atonement ('not a doctrine of the church'). The page poses and answers 11 questions, including: Are religious people more likely to be violent? Answer: No, 'most often, religious beliefs lead people to behave unselfishly and promote peaceful solutions to the world's problems.' How do we make sense of instances of violence in the scriptures? Answer: 'They should never be used to justify violence in the present.' The overall message of the page mirrors the peacemaking teachings of Jesus Christ, President Russell M. Nelson and others, including President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency, who called violence 'a terrible and inexcusable departure from Christian teaching and conduct.' The new Gospel Topics page about temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also answers 11 questions. The page could be helpful both to church members trying to answer questions about temples, temple worship and temple ordinances and to those unfamiliar with them. It provides a good, one-stop location for information on the covenants made in temples and much more. Other questions include: Why have there been some adjustments to temple procedures and ceremonies over time? Answer: Joseph Smith made adjustments to temple ceremonies from the church's beginnings and that has continued over the 195-year history 'as prophets have sought the Lord's guidance about the best way to explain and take the blessings of the temple to the Lord's children.' How does the temple endowment ceremony compare to Masonic rituals? Answer: 'There are some similarities between the teaching style and outward forms of Masonic ritual and the endowment, the substance and purpose of the two ceremonies are completely different.' That answer includes a link to the Church History Topics page on Masonry, and such links are provided in several places in all three of the new Gospel Topics pages. 'We're a partner to the cause': Church of Jesus Christ donates to center for child abuse survivors (May 23) Elder Ronald A. Rasband dedicated the Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple on Sunday. It is the first temple in the country and the church's 205th temple overall. Read the dedicatory prayer here. Elder Quentin L. Cook is on an eight-day ministry in the church's Europe North Area. In England, he said 'The Savior accomplished everything we need.' Elder Patrick Kearon joined a Catholic cardinal in ministering to parolees in the Philippines. Church leaders broke ground for the Benin City Nigeria Temple. The First Presidency announced the groundbreaking for the Vancouver Washington Temple, which isn't far from where I graduated from high school. Latter-day Saints now can choose between a mobile or printed temple recommend. The church used solar-powered desalination plants to provide clean drinking water to villages on five islands in Kiribati, with help to additional islands planned. A new sign honors the people of Quincy, Illinois, for sheltering Latter-day Saint pioneers expelled from Missouri in the winter of 1838-39. We're in the middle of a historic upheaval in sports. A new article shows how Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals are changing both the NFL and NBA, as well as college sports. Last month, only 69 underclassmen took part in the NFL Draft, down from 128 in 2021. Next month, only 106 players will be part of the NBA draft, down from 363 in 2021. More are staying in college because NIL money is more stable than draft position. While Provo, Rexburg, Laie and Salt Lake City — homes to BYU, BYU-Idaho, BYU-Hawaii and Ensign College — are all booming along with the enrollments at those schools, falling student enrollment at many public schools is busting many American towns. Demographics are part of the problem, as U.S. births peaked at 4.3 million in 2007 and have been falling almost every year since. The doors have closed at 242 institutions that issue college degrees in the past decade, according to the Hechinger Report. Also, more students are calculating that tuition prices and the opportunity cost of lost work years aren't it. The phenomenon is mostly striking regional state colleges and universities, according to the Wall Street Journal (paywall). It's pretty stats-heavy, but I enjoyed this look at whether Mike Trout or Mookie Betts is the best player of their generation.
