Earlier this year, significant changes were made to the LDS temple endowment. As a follow-up to an earlier essay about the patriarchal theology of the endowment ritual, this essay will explore the evolution of the LDS endowment over the past 33 years regarding the covenants female patrons make.
Audio and text transcript of comments made by Elder Teh, a General Authority Seventy, during the Alpine Utah Stake Conference in June 2022. Some personal commentary in reaction at the end.
In the previous essays, we have summarized the research literature on the cognitive and behavioral correlates of conspiracy belief along three general categories—epistemic, existential, and social motives. In this essay, we will explore the functional similarities between religious and conspiracist discourse, using Mormonism as an ethnographic lens.
Collective narcissism refers to exaggerated perceptions of the greatness of one’s social group and a conviction that it is not sufficiently appreciated by others. Let’s talk about how collective narcissism shows up in Mormon communities, how it contributes to conspiracism, and what we can do about it.
Conspiracy beliefs are often motivated by social factors, such as the needs for belonging, uniqueness, and positive self-image. In this third part of our series, we explore how social dynamics in Mormon communities may encourage the development of conspiracist attitudes.
The second installment in a series of essays exploring the social psychology of conspiracy belief and how it applies to socialization in Mormon communities. In this essay, we’ll explore the existential motives of conspiracy belief and how Mormon social dynamics may promote attitudes and behaviors correlated with conspiracy ideation.
The first in a series of essays summarizing my research into the social psychology of conspiracy belief and how it relates to the prevalence of conspiracy theories in Mormon communities. In this installment, we look at the epistemic motives that drive conspiracy ideation and explore how those same factors are expressed in Mormon culture.
The Adam-God doctrine may be a “deadly heresy” in the current LDS church, but ideas that have their origins in this doctrine remain at the center of Mormon theology today. Let’s discuss how current temple worship and LDS teachings/policies regarding gender and sexuality continue to be influenced by ideas initially developed as part of Young’s polygynist cosmology.
The first of hopefully many essays I draft on topics related to the intersection of conspiracism and Mormonism, as I organize my thoughts for future projects. What follows are some observations as I try to organize a framework for understanding what causes some communities to be more prone to conspiracism than others.