Because sometimes wickedness IS happiness.

LATTER-DAY SKANK

Hello, and welcome!

I’m the Latter-day Skank, here to make sure everyone has access to the finer points of Mormon history and theology. I’m a giver like that.

I’m one of six kids born to third or fourth generation Mormons who enjoy discussing how many of their ancestors walked into the Salt Lake Valley with Brigham Young. I was raised in an area of rural Utah that can now proudly claim to be an area of suburban Utah.

I didn’t even MEET a non-Mormon until I was in high school.

I haven’t been an active member of The Church for quite some time, but I’m still on the membership rolls because they won’t take your name off, even if you ask nicely. Apparently you have to be excommunicated, which is more complicated than it sounds.

On this website, you’ll find some nuggets of Mormon history, additional nuggets of Mormon theology, and links to websites and podcasts related to the LDS Church that I’m particularly fond of.

If you’re looking for rigorous academic research, this isn’t that kind of place. Other people have done that way better than I could - and I’ve got links to their stuff below.

Above and behind: The Utah state capitol, foregrounded by the Angel Moroni on top of the Salt Lake Temple. That’s not an accident. All of the streets of the greater Salt Lake area are numbered based on their proximity to the Salt Lake Temple. There’s a law that says no building can be higher than the Church Office Building. Anybody who thinks Utah’s not a theocracy better explain that one to me.

Above and in front: The current First Presidency of The Church - I think? I’ma be real, they kind of all look the same to me, and have for the last 30 years. Get a bunch of clean-shaven white guys with identical haircuts, put them in the same suit, then age them for a century, and, shit, I don’t know. If you told me this was Spencer Kimball’s First Presidency I’d prolly say something like, “Fair enough.”

About My Lexicon

(Or, the Word about my Words)

I'm told that Mormon President Russell M. Nelson, whom I believe is roughly 137 years old at this point and grows whiter every year like an Anne Rice vampire, has proclaimed that the Lord has told him, or at least strongly implied, that the people of his One True Church should no longer use the word "Mormon" to describe themselves, and you Gentiles better knock that shit off even harder. You are supposed to suck it up and say the whole, "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." If you have to shorten it, like if you're trying to get out of a burning building and the guy holding the ladder that will take you from the third story window to the ground demands to know your religion before letting you climb to safety, it's okay to say, "The Church of Jesus Christ."

I use, and will continue to use, the word "Mormon." There are a few reasons for this.

  1. The ask is bullshit. What President Nelson is trying to do is offload all the cultural baggage attached to the word "Mormon" without having to actually change anything the Church does. It's a re-branding effort that is just as convincing as your ten-year-old sister was when she put on your mom's shoes and clacked around the kitchen declaring, "I'm the mom now!" Sorry, Russ, but no.

  2. "Mormon" is the terminology I was raised with. Growing up, I knew I was Mormon, and the One True Church was the Mormon Church. I'm not going to stop using the term "Mormon" just because my pal Russ wants everyone to forget about the abuse scandals, or the three-year-ban on baptizing the children of gay parents - a policy stance that he claimed was based on a revelation from God Himself. "Oh, no, that was the Mormons who condemned children to spiritual purgatory until full adulthood just because they had two mommies. We're the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, not the Mormons."

  3. Every time a Mormon church leader tells me to do something, I have to do the opposite thing. It's not even a choice at this point. My entire being is conditioned to this notion, though, full disclosure, I haven't been fighting it real hard.

My Favorite Doubting and/or Ex-Mormon Podcasts, Websites, and Books

The truth will set you free, probably.

But first it will make you mad as hell.

I don’t blame doubting or ex-Mormons who spend a lot of time mad. I’m pretty sure I spent a solid twenty years incandescent with rage. So if you’ve gotta make an angry podcast, by all means, go for it. You do you. Scream into that void.

For my part, I have difficulty connecting with the angrier books and podcasts. It’s just that my anger isn’t raw or suppurating anymore, so I do better with the materials that are at a little more of an intellectual remove. I’m still interested in this cultural and uniquely American religious phenomenon that is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but more from a sociological perspective. I don’t need to process my anger anymore, so none of these recommendations are for materials that are fundamentally angry.

I’ve moved from anger into mockery. That choice isn’t right for everyone, but it works for me.

Some of my favorite resources:

Podcasts

Books for Budding Apostates and Critical Thinkers

Tabernacles of Clay:
Sexuality and Gender in Modern Mormonism

From University of North Carolina Press: Taylor G. Petrey’s trenchant history takes a landmark step forward in documenting and theorizing about Latter-day Saints (LDS) teachings on gender, sexual difference, and marriage. Drawing on deep archival research, Petrey situates LDS doctrines in gender theory and American religious history since World War II. His challenging conclusion is that Mormonism is conflicted between ontologies of gender essentialism and gender fluidity, illustrating a broader tension in the history of sexuality in modernity itself.

Also, I went to school with Taylor (not saying which one) and he’s pretty great.

The Mormon Hierarchy Trilogy by D. Michael Quinn

These exhaustively researched books explore the complete arc of the LDS Church from inception to the present day, sharing everything from historical details of Joseph’s Smith’s experiences and contemporary accounts of early Church services and behaviors, to estimated funds and conflict among Church leadership. The Church fired Professor Quinn from BYU for writing and publishing these books - he was part of a large-scale purge that took place in the mid-1990s.

Even after his termination, Quinn never stopped identifying as a Mormon. He believed that the LDS Church was salvageable if it was capable of reformation. Because of this, these books aren’t an anti-Mormon screed but immaculate research briefs.