Archive
Letter from reader Jolene Barrios
Even though The Mormon Mirage was re-released two years ago, I get encouraging letters from readers often. Here's a recent one: Hi. I just finished reading your book, The Mormon Mirage. My parents, my siblings, my in-laws etc. are all Mormon, and have been since the...
Reason #176: Still No Pre-Columbian Horses
For years LDS apologists have tried to find the remains or other evidence of pre-Columbian horses. One such attempt is the statement by Daniel Peterson in this video. He refers to horse bones found in the upper Mid-west that says preliminary reports identified...
Reason #175: Joseph Smith's Teenage Wives
Joseph Smith's teenage wives are well known, but the claim to ‘being normal back then' has been refuted and is not so well known.
Reason # 174: That Alphabet and Grammar
( This is an image of Joseph Smith's "Alphabet and Grammar," containing most of the text of the Pearl of Great Price's Book of Abraham 1:13-17. The arrows point to symbols found on the papyri from which Smith supposedly translated the PofGP. The point? Those...
The Triune Godhead
I know that one of the spiritual limps I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life is an aftereffect of believing in a god who didn’t exist. To this day I struggle with the concept of a triune God, and I know that many Christians without my cultic baggage do as well....
Reason #173: More Politically-Correct Book of Mormon Changes
Recently the LDS Church has changed chapter headings in its online Book of Mormon (a revised print edition isn't currently scheduled.) But, given the burgeoning number of people who read primarily online, these changes are significant. They reflect the way the...
Reason #172: Packham's Logic about LDS Book of Mormon Apologists
My atheist friend, Richard Packham, has an excellent online article that shows the shallowness of LDS arguments to support the Book of Mormon. Below, mostly in Packham's words, are some of the arguments he makes in his article: Most Mormon defenses of the authenticity...
Reason #171: An Open Letter to the Mormon Church
Dear Mormon Church: I don't know whether to slap you, or to thank you for launching my publishing career. Sincerely, Latayne For more information, see The Mormon Mirage 3rd Edition: A Former Member Looks at the Mormon Church Today (Zondervan, 2009). Also...
How a Library Helped Save Me
The Ernie Pyle Memorial Library Albuquerque, New Mexico A recently- discovered portrait of the famous WWII journalist Ernie Pyle is his last: a photograph taken just moments after his death. The body that housed all those words lies still and...
Reason #170: Guest Blogger on “Conditional Relationships”
By way of introduction, I don't really like labels but labeling myself for you is going to be the easiest way to give you a quick background. I am a born-in-the-covenant, divorced, gay, post-Mormon, father of 4. My ex-wife continues to raise our children in the...
Call for Guest Bloggers
If you are an ex-Mormon and would like to add your reason to my "365 Reasons Why I Won't Return to the Mormon Church," please write me a brief note via the "contact" button on this website. I would like to publish the stories of other ex-Mormons and their reasons not...
Reason #169: Because Mormons call my books “religious pornography”
When I was a Mormon . . .I could not understand why anyone would oppose an organization that did so many good things for people. However, I never considered the implications of . . .an early anti-Christian book published by the LDS Church, the one in which Joseph...