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On many occasions spanning over a century, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) have taught that suicide is against the will of God, though, Church teachings on suicide have changed through the years. [1] As of 2013 the LDS Church opposes physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. [2]
One of the earliest recorded explicit mentions by a top church leader was by George Q. Cannon in the First Presidency who stated in an 1893 editorial to LDS youth that "Every member of the Church should be made to understand that it is a dreadful sin to take one’s own life. It is self-murder ...." [3] He echoed this stating, "They who do so are guilty of murder, self-murder it is true ... no one can destroy so precious a gift as that of life without incurring a severe penalty." [4] [5] [1] Cannon recorded that the First Presidency decided those who died by suicide would not receive an honorable burial in their LDS temple robes as was customary for endowed members. [6] This policy is no longer in effect, and current LDS policy is that "The family, in consultation with the bishop, determines the place and nature of a funeral service for a person who has died under such circumstances. Church facilities may be used. If the person was endowed, he or she may be buried in temple clothing.” [7]
In 1987 the apostle M. Russell Ballard also stated that "We cannot measure these particular spiritual experiences [of those who have died by suicide], of course. We do not know the extent to which the door is open for these particular people to grow and develop in righteousness until they possibly receive the blessings of exaltation. They committed a very serious sin, and some consequences of it may remain with them throughout eternity. Only our Father in Heaven knows the full answer to the questions our hearts ask regarding those who take their own lives.." [8]
Church seventy Bruce R. McConkie wrote in his highly influential and doctrinally occasionally-controversial LDS bestseller [9] [10] [11] : 16 Mormon Doctrine that "Suicide is murder, pure and simple, and murderers are damned." [12] : 12 [13] [14] In the second edition of the book, McConkie updated the entry to say "Obviously persons subject to great stresses may lose control of themselves and become mentally clouded to the point that they are no longer accountable for their acts. Such are not to be condemned for taking their own lives. It should also be remembered that judgment is the Lord's; he knows the thoughts, intents, and abilities of men; and he in his infinite wisdom will make all things right in due course." [15] [16]
In the 2011 LDS Beliefs: A Doctrinal Reference published by the church, the section on suicide called it "self-murder" and stated that, "modern prophets and apostles have likewise spoken clearly about the seriousness of murder, including self-murder and the severity of consequences associated therewith." It also says "Because we do not understand all the circumstances surrounding someone’s suicide, the level of the person’s accountability, and the penalty that the Lord, in his infinite love and wisdom, may see fit to inflict upon the person, we must avoid judgment. Regardless of those circumstances and the Lord’s divinely imposed punishment, followers of Christ are to be loving and compassionate to those who are hurt by a loved one’s act of suicide. They are real victims themselves. Therefore, nothing in our comments or actions should inflict additional pain or add to the heavy emotional burdens they already bear. " [17]
In 2018, the apostle Dale G. Renlund said, "There's an old sectarian notion that suicide is a sin and that someone who commits suicide is banished to hell forever. That is totally false. I believe the vast majority of cases will find that these individuals have lived heroic lives and that that suicide will not be a defining characteristic of their eternities." [18] [19]
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In June 2016 the church published its official Mental Health website [20] followed shortly in September 2016 by its official Preventing Suicide website. [21] In April 2018, the LDS Church donated $150,000 to the state of Utah to aid in suicide prevention. [22] In July 2018, the LDS Church donated $25,000 to the LGBT advocacy group Affirmation: LGBT Mormons, Families & Friends to aid in worldwide suicide prevention training. [18] [23]
The LDS Church released a statement through spokesman Dale Jones on 28 January 2016 mourning the reported suicides of 32 LGBT Mormons. Leaders and members are instructed to "reach out in an active, compassionate way to all, especially to adolescents who feel estranged or alone," according to the press release." [24] [25] On 9 February 2016 when apostle Dallin H. Oaks was asked about church leaders and members' responsibility for the treatment of LGBT individuals that may have precipitated in suicides he stated "that's a question that will be answered on judgment day" and that "nobody is sadder about a case like that than I am." [26]
During the history of the Latter Day Saint movement, the relationship between Black people and Mormonism has included enslavement, exclusion and inclusion, and official and unofficial discrimination. Black people have been involved with the Latter Day Saint movement since its inception in the 1830s. Their experiences have varied widely, depending on the denomination within Mormonism and the time of their involvement. From the mid-1800s to 1978, Mormonism's largest denomination – the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – barred Black women and men from participating in the ordinances of its temples necessary for the highest level of salvation, prevented most men of Black African descent from being ordained into the church's lay, all-male priesthood, supported racial segregation in its communities and schools, taught that righteous Black people would be made white after death, and opposed interracial marriage. The temple and priesthood racial restrictions were lifted by church leaders in 1978. In 2013, the church disavowed its previous teachings on race for the first time.
Joseph Fielding Smith Jr. was an American religious leader and writer who served as the tenth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1970 until his death in 1972. He was the son of former church president Joseph F. Smith and the great-nephew of Church founder Joseph Smith.
Bruce Redd McConkie was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1972 until his death. McConkie was a member of the First Council of the Seventy of the LDS Church from 1946 until his calling to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Blood atonement was a practice in the history of Mormonism still adhered to by some fundamentalist splinter groups, under which the atonement of Jesus does not redeem an eternal sin. To atone for an eternal sin, the sinner should be killed in a way that allows his blood to be shed upon the ground as a sacrificial offering, so he does not become a son of perdition. The largest Mormon denomination, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has denied the validity of the doctrine since 1889 with early church leaders referring to it as a "fiction" and later church leaders referring to it as a "theoretical principle" that had never been implemented in the LDS Church.
Joseph Fielding McConkie was a professor of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University (BYU) and an author or co-author of over 25 books.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that Adam and Eve were the first man and the first woman to live on the earth and that their fall was an essential step in the plan of salvation. Adam in particular is a central figure in Mormon cosmology.
Mormon Doctrine is an encyclopedic work written in 1958 by Bruce R. McConkie, a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was intended primarily for a Latter-day Saint audience and has been used as a reference book by church members because of its comprehensive nature, and was a highly influential all-time bestseller in the LDS community. It was viewed by many members both then and now as representing official doctrine despite never being endorsed by the church. It has been both heavily criticized by some church leaders and members and well regarded by others. After the book's first edition was removed from publication at the instruction of the church's First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, corrections were made in subsequent editions. The book went through three editions but has been out of print since 2010.
The history of the Latter Day Saint movement includes numerous instances of violence. Mormons faced significant persecution in the early 19th century, including instances of forced displacement and mob violence in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. Notably, the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, was shot and killed alongside his brother, Hyrum Smith, in Carthage, Illinois in 1844, while Smith was in jail awaiting trial on charges of treason and inciting a riot.
The 1978 Declaration on Priesthood was an announcement by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that reversed a long-standing policy excluding men of Black African descent from ordination to the denomination's priesthood and both Black men and women from priesthood ordinances in the temple. Leaders stated it was a revelation from God.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints takes no official position on whether or not biological evolution has occurred, nor on the validity of the modern evolutionary synthesis as a scientific theory. In the twentieth century, the First Presidency of the LDS Church published doctrinal statements on the origin of man and creation. In addition, individual leaders of the church have expressed a variety of personal opinions on evolution, many of which have affected the beliefs and perceptions of Latter-day Saints.
George Wendell Pace was an American professor of religion at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. He was a popular writer and speaker on religion in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and part of a public criticism voiced by Apostle Bruce R. McConkie in 1982.
Dale Gunnar Renlund is an American religious leader and former cardiologist who serves in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has been a general authority of the church since 2009. Currently, he is the twelfth most senior apostle in the church.
From 1852 to 1978, temple and priesthood policies in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints prohibited both Black women and men from temple ordinances and ordination in the all-male priesthood. In 1978, the church's highest governing body, the First Presidency, declared in the "Official Declaration 2" statement, that the restriction had been lifted. Between 1830 and 1852, a few Black men had been ordained to the Mormon priesthood in the Latter Day Saint movement, under Joseph Smith.
In society at large, LGBT individuals, especially youth, are at a higher risk of depression, anxiety, and suicide. Though causes of mental health risk are complex, one often cited reason for these higher risks is minority stress stemming from societal anti-LGBT biases and stigma, rejection, and internalized homophobia.
In the past, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have consistently opposed marriages between members of different ethnicities, though interracial marriage is no longer considered a sin. In 1977, apostle Boyd K. Packer publicly stated that "[w]e've always counseled in the Church for our Mexican members to marry Mexicans, our Japanese members to marry Japanese, our Caucasians to marry Caucasians, our Polynesian members to marry Polynesians. ... The counsel has been wise." Nearly every decade for over a century—beginning with the church's formation in the 1830s until the 1970s—has seen some denunciations of interracial marriages (miscegenation), with most statements focusing on Black–White marriages. Church president Brigham Young taught on multiple occasions that Black–White marriage merited death for the couple and their children.
This is a timeline of LGBT Mormon history in the 1950s, part of a series of timelines consisting of events, publications, and speeches about LGBTQ+ individuals, topics around sexual orientation and gender minorities, and the community of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although the historical record is often scarce, evidence points to queer individuals having existed in the Mormon community since its beginnings. However, top LDS leaders only started regularly addressing queer topics in public in the late 1950s. Since 1970, the LDS Church has had at least one official publication or speech from a high-ranking leader referencing LGBT topics every year, and a greater number of LGBT Mormon and former Mormon individuals have received media coverage.
This is a timeline of LGBT Mormon history in the 1980s, part of a series of timelines consisting of events, publications, and speeches about LGBTQ+ individuals, topics around sexual orientation and gender minorities, and the community of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although the historical record is often scarce, evidence points to queer individuals having existed in the Mormon community since its beginnings. However, top LDS leaders only started regularly addressing queer topics in public in the late 1950s. Since 1970, the LDS Church has had at least one official publication or speech from a high-ranking leader referencing LGBT topics every year, and a greater number of LGBT Mormon and former Mormon individuals have received media coverage.
Views on birth control in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have changed over the course of the church's history. Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have gone from historically condemning the use of any birth control as sinful, to allowing it in the present day. LDS leaders regularly spoke out against birth control into the 1970s, and gradually in the 1980s and 1990s, leaders stopped overtly teaching against it.
Homosexuality has been publicly discussed by top leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints —Mormonism's largest denomination—since the late 1800s. The frequency of teachings on same-sex sexual activity increased starting in the late 1950s. Most discussion focuses on male homosexuality and rarely mentions lesbianism or bisexuality. Below is a timeline of notable speeches, publications, and policies in the LDS church on the topic of homosexuality.
Evolution has been publicly discussed since the late 1800s by top leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints —Mormonism's largest denomination. The church currently takes no official position on whether or not biological evolution has occurred, nor on the validity of the modern evolutionary synthesis as a scientific theory. In the twentieth century, the church's highest governing body, the First Presidency, published doctrinal statements on the origin of man and creation. In addition, top leaders of the church have expressed a variety of views on evolution, many of which have affected the beliefs and perceptions of Latter-day Saints.
