Mormonism

It's difficult to know to which of my blogs to I should post this information about Mormonism. Giving that it's a religion, I've chosen this blog after requesting Gemini to undertake the following research:

Can you give me a detailed report on Mormonism including how the religion began, the people involved in its founding, the full history of the religion from its origin to the present time, its similarities to and differences from mainstream Christianity, any controversies attaching to it, the distribution and number of its followers from the early days to the present, its proselytism and any other relevant information.

Here was the response:

The Latter Day Saint Movement: A Comprehensive Historical, Theological, and Sociological Analysis

1. Introduction and Origins of the Movement

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and the broader Latter Day Saint movement originated in the fervent religious revivalism of early 19th-century America. Born in the "Burned-over District" of western New York, the movement was founded by Joseph Smith Jr., who claimed divine restoration of the primitive Christian church. Over nearly two centuries, what began as a localized millennialist sect has evolved into a highly centralized, globally distributed religion with millions of adherents, massive institutional wealth, and a complex web of sociological and theological developments.

The Founding Era and Early History (1805–1844)

Joseph Smith Jr. was born on December 23, 1805, in Sharon, Vermont, into a family of farmers who faced frequent financial struggles and serial crop failures, eventually precipitating a relocation to Palmyra, New York, in 1816. The Smith family’s early years were marred by hardship, including a severe typhoid epidemic in 1812 that nearly cost young Joseph his leg, leaving him with a permanent limp. The Palmyra region was a hotbed of evangelical fervor during the Second Great Awakening, leaving the teenage Smith deeply troubled by denominational strife and uncertain of which sect to join.

In the spring of 1820, Smith retreated to a grove of trees to pray for guidance. According to his subsequent accounts, he experienced a "First Vision" in which a pillar of light descended, and God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him as distinct physical personages. They instructed him to join none of the existing churches, declaring that mainstream Christianity had strayed from the truth and that all current creeds were an abomination. This foundational event marked the beginning of Smith's claim to prophetic calling, though it did not immediately alter his daily life; he continued farming and engaging in local treasure-hunting ventures using seer stones.

In 1823, Smith reported a series of visitations from an angel named Moroni, who directed him to a nearby hill (Cumorah) where golden plates were buried. These plates purportedly contained the record of ancient American prophets. After a period of instruction, Smith was permitted to retrieve the plates in 1827 and began translating them into English. The ensuing translation was published in 1830 as the Book of Mormon. The text posits that around 600 B.C., an Israelite named Lehi migrated with his family from the Middle East to the Americas. His descendants eventually fractured into two warring factions: the Nephites and the Lamanites, whom early Mormons considered the primary ancestors of Native Americans. A central theological event in the text is the post-resurrection visitation of Jesus Christ to the Americas in 33 A.D., inaugurating a temporary era of peace before the Nephites were ultimately annihilated by the Lamanites around 385 A.D..

On April 6, 1830, Smith officially organized the Church of Christ (later renamed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Driven by millennial expectations of the imminent Second Coming of Christ, the early saints sought to build a utopian "Zion". They practiced forms of communal economics, such as the United Order of Enoch, and initiated westward migrations to Kirtland, Ohio, and Jackson County, Missouri. However, the movement's rapidly growing political cohesion, collective economic practices, and unconventional beliefs frequently incited violent opposition from non-Mormon neighbors. Tensions escalated into armed skirmishes in Missouri, leading to an expulsion order that forced 15,000 adherents to flee to Illinois in 1839, where they established the city of Nauvoo.

The Nauvoo Period and the Martyrdom

In Nauvoo, Smith introduced complex theological concepts that radically departed from mainstream Christianity, including eternal marriage, the temple endowment, and the doctrine of human exaltation to godhood. It was also during this period that Smith secretly instituted the practice of plural marriage (polygamy) among the church elite. Dissent over Smith's secretive polygamous practices and his growing theocratic power culminated in 1844 when a group of disaffected members, led by William Law, published the Nauvoo Expositor to expose these practices. Smith, acting as mayor, ordered the destruction of the newspaper's printing press. This action incited a massive uproar in the surrounding area, leading to the arrest of Joseph and his brother Hyrum for treason. On June 27, 1844, both were assassinated by an anti-Mormon mob while awaiting trial in a Carthage, Illinois, jail.

2. The Succession Crisis and Denominational Schisms

The sudden martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith triggered a profound succession crisis that fractured the movement. Smith had left ambiguous and sometimes contradictory directives regarding his successor, and the immediate vacuum of leadership left the church vulnerable. Several factions and contenders emerged:

• Hyrum Smith: 

As the Assistant President and Presiding Patriarch, Hyrum would have been the natural successor, but his simultaneous murder precluded this.

• Samuel Smith: 

Following lineal succession principles, Joseph's younger brother Samuel was next in line, and Joseph had reportedly designated him shortly before his death. However, Samuel died suddenly just a month later on July 30, 1844, under circumstances that his brother William later alleged involved foul play, though no physical evidence supports this.

• Sidney Rigdon: 

The sole surviving counselor in the First Presidency, Rigdon arrived in Nauvoo in August 1844, claiming that no one could replace Joseph Smith but offering himself to act as a "guardian" of the church.

• The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: 

Led by Brigham Young, the senior apostle, the Quorum argued that Joseph Smith had conferred all necessary priesthood keys upon them prior to his death. On August 8, 1844, a general assembly of the church voted overwhelmingly to sustain the Twelve Apostles as the governing body.

• James J. Strang: 

Claiming he possessed a letter of appointment from Smith, Strang attracted a substantial following (the Strangites) and established a community in Voree, Wisconsin, before his own assassination.

• Lineal Succession (Joseph Smith III): 

A faction believed leadership should pass to Joseph Smith’s eldest son, who was only eleven at the time of the martyrdom. This group, rejecting the authority of Brigham Young and the practice of polygamy, eventually consolidated in the Midwest as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), now known as the Community of Christ.

The Emergence of the Community of Christ

The RLDS Church formally reorganized in the 1850s, eventually securing Joseph Smith III as its prophet-president in 1860. Tracing its lineage directly through the Smith family, the denomination initially distinguished itself from the Utah-based LDS Church by fiercely rejecting plural marriage, temple secrecy, and polytheistic theology, maintaining more orthodox Protestant concepts of the Godhead.

Over the 20th and 21st centuries, the Community of Christ further decentralized its doctrine, moving progressively toward mainline Protestant neo-orthodoxy. It abandoned the claim of being the "one true church," implemented an open communion, authorized the ordination of women to the priesthood in 1984, and permitted LGBTQ+ marriages and ordinations in 2013. The tradition of lineal succession was officially discontinued by Wallace B. Smith in the 1990s. In early 2024, the Council of Twelve Apostles designated Stassi D. Cramm to succeed the retiring Stephen M. Veazey; Cramm was confirmed at the 2025 World Conference, becoming the first female Prophet-President in the denomination's history.

The 2024 Kirtland Temple Sale:

Facing severe financial insolvency, a projected structural deficit, and declining Worldwide Mission Tithes, the Community of Christ made the difficult decision to divest its most prized historic assets. On March 5, 2024, the denomination sold the Kirtland Temple in Ohio, the Nauvoo Red Brick Store, the Mansion House, the Nauvoo House, and various foundational manuscripts (including the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible and the Book of Mormon "Caractors" document) to the LDS Church. The purchase price of $192.5 million provided the Community of Christ with an essential endowment to fund its future operations, while allowing the wealthy Utah-based LDS Church to consolidate control over the physical heritage of the early restoration movement, preserving it as a historic site rather than an operating temple.

3. The Utah Migration, Theocracy, and Conflict

The majority of the Nauvoo congregants followed Brigham Young. Facing continued hostilities and the revocation of the Nauvoo city charter, Young directed a mass exodus across the Great Plains starting in the bitter cold of February 1846. The vanguard company arrived in the isolated Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847, a date now celebrated in Utah as Pioneer Day.

In the Great Basin, Young operated a virtual theocracy. He sought to establish the sprawling "State of Deseret," stretching from Canada to Mexico, though the U.S. Congress instead created the smaller Utah Territory and appointed Young its first governor in 1851. The church maintained parallel ecclesiastical courts, requiring members to settle civil matters internally or face discipline, and directed a vast colonization effort throughout the American West, founding cities such as Las Vegas, Nevada, and San Bernardino, California.

The Utah War and the Mountain Meadows Massacre

Tensions between the Mormon theocracy and the federal government escalated into the Utah War of 1857. Fearing an invasion by U.S. troops sent by President James Buchanan, Young declared martial law, reactivated the territorial militia (the Nauvoo Legion), and encouraged indigenous Paiute tribes to harass emigrant wagon trains passing through the territory.

This wartime hysteria, compounded by fiery religious rhetoric from the "Mormon Reformation" (a period emphasizing strict obedience and the doctrine of blood atonement), culminated in the Mountain Meadows Massacre on September 11, 1857. Local Mormon militia leaders in southern Utah, including Isaac Haight and William Dame, besieged the Baker-Fancher wagon train—a group of emigrants from Arkansas traveling to California. After a five-day siege, militia commander John D. Lee lured the emigrants out under a banner of truce. The militia, aided by some Southern Paiutes, subsequently executed 120 men, women, and children, sparing only 17 infants who were taken into local Mormon homes.

The massacre remains one of the darkest chapters in the movement's history. For nearly two decades, church leaders attempted to pin the blame solely on the Paiutes. Ultimately, John D. Lee was the only individual executed for the crime (in 1877), though modern historical consensus points to a combination of local militia overreach and the intense, hostile climate cultivated by senior church leadership, including Brigham Young.

The Eradication of Plural Marriage and the FLDS Schism

Federal pressure on the LDS Church intensified through the latter half of the 19th century, primarily aimed at eradicating polygamy. Congress passed increasingly punitive legislation, culminating in the 1887 Edmunds–Tucker Act, which disincorporated the church, confiscated its property, and disenfranchised polygamists. Recognizing the existential threat to the church, President Wilford Woodruff issued the 1890 Manifesto, officially advising members against contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land.

Despite the Manifesto, plural marriages continued clandestinely, particularly in Mormon colonies in Mexico and Canada. This double standard prompted severe national scrutiny during the U.S. Senate hearings for Apostle Reed Smoot in 1904. In response, President Joseph F. Smith issued the "Second Manifesto," officially attaching the penalty of excommunication to any new plural marriages. This definitive break ultimately paved the way for Utah's statehood and the church's gradual integration into mainstream American society.

However, the renunciation of polygamy fractured the movement, leading to the emergence of Mormon fundamentalism. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) maintained that plural marriage was an unalterable requirement for celestial exaltation and established isolated, hyper-patriarchal compounds, notably in Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah. Led in the 21st century by Warren Jeffs, the FLDS has been characterized by extreme isolationism, the reassignment of wives, child marriages, and systemic abuse. Jeffs was convicted in 2011 of child sexual assault and is currently serving a life sentence in Texas.

4. Theological Framework: Departures from Mainstream Christianity

While the LDS Church identifies as Christian, its theology diverges radically from traditional, creedal Christianity, rooted in Joseph Smith's rejection of Hellenistic philosophy and post-biblical Christian creeds.

The Godhead vs. The Trinity

Mainstream Christianity adheres to the ontological Trinity—one God existing in three co-equal, co-eternal, consubstantial persons sharing a single divine essence. LDS theology vehemently rejects this, defining the "Godhead" as three entirely separate and distinct beings: God the Father (Elohim), Jesus Christ (Jehovah), and the Holy Ghost. While perfectly united in purpose, they are not united in being. Furthermore, Mormonism teaches that God the Father possesses a tangible, anthropomorphic body of flesh and bone. In the famous "King Follett discourse," Joseph Smith taught that God was once a mortal man who progressed to divine exaltation, a concept summarized by the couplet: "As man now is, God once was; as God now is, man may be".

Eternal Progression, Cosmology, and the Fall

LDS doctrine rejects the classical Christian concept of creatio ex nihilo (creation out of nothing). Instead, it posits that matter and "intelligence" are eternal and uncreated. God organized pre-existing matter to form the universe and organized pre-existing intelligences to create the spirit children that eventually became human beings. Because human intelligence is co-eternal with God, LDS theology bypasses classical Christian dilemmas surrounding predestination and theodicy, asserting that human beings possess absolute free agency and cannot be coerced by divine grace.

Consequently, the LDS view of the Fall of Adam and Eve differs markedly from traditional Christianity. Rather than a tragic rebellion that introduced original sin, the Fall is viewed as a necessary, positive step in God's plan, allowing humanity to experience mortality, exercise agency, and progress.

Soteriology and the Degrees of Glory

The ultimate goal of LDS soteriology is not merely salvation from sin, but "exaltation" (theosis), wherein righteous individuals can become gods themselves, possessing the same power and glory as God the Father, and continuing eternal family relationships.

The LDS afterlife is categorized into three degrees of glory, rather than a binary Heaven and Hell:

1. Celestial Kingdom: The highest degree, reserved for faithful Mormons who receive all ordinances (including celestial marriage) and endure to the end. Only here can individuals achieve exaltation and godhood.

2. Terrestrial Kingdom: For honorable people who were blinded by the craftiness of men, or who received the gospel but were not valiant in their testimony.

3. Telestial Kingdom: For the wicked and ungodly, who suffer for their own sins before eventually receiving a degree of glory.

Scriptural Canon and Revelation

While orthodox Protestantism holds to the sufficiency of the Bible (sola scriptura), the LDS Church operates with an open canon. The standard works include the Bible (accepted "as far as it is translated correctly"), the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants (D&C), and the Pearl of Great Price. Moreover, the church believes in continuous revelation through a living prophet who holds the authority to articulate God's will to the modern world.

Theological ConceptMainstream ChristianityLDS ChurchNature of GodOne God in three persons (Trinity); immaterial spirit.Three distinct beings; the Father and Son have tangible physical bodies.Origin of HumanityCreated by God ex nihilo.Intelligences are eternal/uncreated; progressed to spirit children of God.Original SinInherited from Adam (the Fall is a tragedy).Humans are not punished for Adam's transgression; the Fall was a necessary step.ScriptureClosed canon (The Holy Bible).Open canon (Bible, Book of Mormon, D&C, Pearl of Great Price).Ultimate DestinyHeaven or Hell; eternal union with or separation from God.Three degrees of glory (Celestial, Terrestrial, Telestial); potential for Godhood.

5. Institutional Structure and Priesthood Hierarchy

The LDS Church operates on a strictly hierarchical, theocratic model designed to emulate the primitive Christian church. There is no professional, salaried clergy at the local level; congregations (wards) are led by lay Bishops, and regional groups (stakes) are administered by Stake Presidents.

At the highest echelons, the church is directed by full-time ecclesiastical leaders known as "General Authorities," who receive modest living allowances drawn from corporate investments rather than member tithing.

• The First Presidency: 

The highest governing body, comprising the President of the Church and his two counselors. The President is revered as a "prophet, seer, and revelator" who alone is authorized to exercise all priesthood keys on earth.

• The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: 

The second-highest presiding council, possessing authority equal to the First Presidency, though functionally subordinate while the President lives. Upon the death of the President, the First Presidency dissolves, and the Quorum of the Twelve assumes governance until the most senior apostle is sustained as the new President.

• The Quorums of the Seventy: 

Leaders who assist the Twelve Apostles and serve in various geographic and administrative locations worldwide.

Recent Leadership Transitions:

The longevity of the Quorum members directly dictates succession, mirroring the College of Cardinals but determined strictly by tenure. President Russell M. Nelson, the 17th president of the church, led the organization from January 2018 until his death at age 101 on September 27, 2025. Following a brief interim period where the Quorum of the Twelve directed affairs, Dallin H. Oaks, the senior apostle and former Utah Supreme Court justice, was sustained and set apart as the 18th President of the Church on October 14, 2025. President Oaks retained Henry B. Eyring as First Counselor and selected D. Todd Christofferson as Second Counselor.

6. Global Distribution, Demographics, and Proselytism

The LDS Church's growth from a regional American sect to a global institution is one of the defining sociological phenomena of modern religion, driven by an expansive, highly regimented missionary program.

Proselytism and the Missionary Force

Guided by the Missionary Executive Council, the church deployed over 114,000 total missionaries in 2025, with over 78,000 serving as full-time teaching missionaries. Mission calls are initiated locally, processed by the Missionary Department, and individually assigned by a member of the Quorum of the Twelve.

Missionaries undergo intense preparation at 17 Missionary Training Centers (MTCs) worldwide, the largest of which is in Provo, Utah. The curriculum relies on the manual Preach My Gospel (updated in 2023 to emphasize online teaching and social media), focusing on doctrinal instruction, adherence to strict behavioral rules, and language immersion (motto: "SYL" or "Speak Your Language"). The missionary lifestyle is famously rigorous: individuals are assigned to companionships and are instructed never to be out of sight or sound of one another (save for using the restroom). They adhere to a strict dress code, operate on a highly regimented daily schedule, and are stripped of secular entertainment (movies, regular books, video games) to maintain focus.

Evolution of Missionary Age Policies:

Historically, young men served 24-month missions beginning at age 19, while young women could serve 18-month missions beginning at age 21. This disparity was initially designed to ensure continuous structure for young men and to intentionally preserve an age gap that discouraged inappropriate fraternization between male and female missionaries.

In 2012, President Thomas S. Monson lowered the ages to 18 for men and 19 for women, prompting a massive surge in female participation (jumping from 12% to nearly 30% of the missionary force). In a landmark adjustment on November 21, 2025, the First Presidency under Dallin H. Oaks announced that young women could now begin serving at age 18, immediately upon high school graduation, effectively matching the minimum age for young men. While the theological expectation (mandatory duty for men, optional for women) remains unchanged, this policy shift eliminates the "gap year" for women, seeking to consolidate faith formation during emergent adulthood and empower a rising generation of women in global ministry, while critics note it may pressure young women to bypass early college education or push them toward earlier marriages.

Demographics and Distribution

As of the end of 2025, the church reported a total global membership of 17,887,212. The institution relies heavily on convert baptisms, which saw a staggering all-time record of 385,490 in 2025—an increase of 24.9% from 2024. This surge has been driven almost entirely by aggressive expansion in the Global South, with nations like Brazil (12.7% growth), Mexico (10.1%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (19.2%), Nigeria (6.3%), and the Philippines (6.0%) showing massive net gains.

Conversely, growth in the United States has largely stagnated. Internal church metrics reported a net decrease of 186 members in the U.S. in 2025 (totaling 6,929,770 members), driven by decreasing birth rates, name removals, and inactivity. External sociological surveys, such as the Cooperative Election Study, indicate that the percentage of American adults self-identifying as Latter-day Saints dipped below 1% for the first time in 2025 (down to 0.9%), illustrating a paradox of global expansion masking domestic attrition.

2025 Global Demographic Highlight	Figure	Year-Over-Year Change
Total Global Membership	17,887,212	+2.16%
Convert Baptisms	385,490	+24.9%
Congregations (Wards/Branches)	32,046	+1.17%
Full-Time Teaching Missionaries	78,596	+6.03%
Operating Temples	204	Extensive global expansion
U.S. Membership	6,929,770	0.00% (-186 members)

7. Ongoing Controversies and Doctrinal Challenges

The LDS Church continuously navigates a complex intersection of 19th-century theology, rigorous historical scrutiny, and 21st-century secular norms, leading to several high-profile controversies.

Historical Authenticity and Apologetics

The Book of Abraham: 

In 1835, Joseph Smith purchased Egyptian papyri from a traveling exhibitor named Michael Chandler, claiming to translate them by revelation into the Book of Abraham, an essential canonized text detailing cosmology and the pre-mortal existence. When the papyri were rediscovered in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1966, independent Egyptologists determined that they were standard Egyptian funerary texts (The Book of Breathings) dating to the Ptolemaic period (circa 50 B.C.), bearing no linguistic relationship to Abraham. Furthermore, Egyptologists universally conclude that Smith's interpretations of the accompanying facsimiles were entirely incorrect. LDS apologists contend that the papyri may have acted merely as a "catalyst" for Smith's revelation, or that the specific source texts remain lost, but the discrepancy remains a significant hurdle for literalist claims of translation.

DNA and the Book of Mormon: 

The Book of Mormon narrates that ancient Israelites migrated to the Americas, a concept interpreted historically by church leaders as meaning they were the primary ancestors of Native Americans. Modern population genetics and whole-genome sequencing, however, conclusively demonstrate that Indigenous populations of the Americas trace their genetic lineage almost exclusively to northeast Asia (via the Bering land bridge), with no detectable ancient Middle Eastern DNA markers (such as the distinctive X lineage mutations). In response, LDS scholars and the church have shifted toward a "limited geography model" in Mesoamerica, positing that the Lehites were a small demographic group that assimilated into a much larger, pre-existing Asian-descended population, causing their genetic signature to vanish through genetic drift and admixture.

Freemasonry and the Temple Endowment: 

Joseph Smith became a Freemason in Nauvoo in March 1842. Merely weeks later, he introduced the temple endowment ceremony, which heavily mirrored Masonic rites—incorporating identical grips, non-disclosure penalties (such as pantomiming slitting one's throat, which the church removed in 1990), passwords, the use of compass and square imagery upon ceremonial garments, the five points of fellowship, and specific call-and-response teaching formats. While contemporary critics view this as plagiarism of an 18th-century European trade guild ritual, early Mormons and modern apologists argue that Freemasonry contained corrupted, apostate remnants of ancient, Solomon-era temple rites, which Smith divinely restored to their true, salvific purpose, shifting the narrative focus from Hiram Abiff to the creation of Adam and Eve.

Race, Gender, and Sexuality

The Priesthood and Temple Ban: 

From 1852 under Brigham Young until 1978, the LDS Church barred Black men of African descent from holding the priesthood and banned Black men and women from receiving saving temple ordinances (endowment and sealing). The ban was historically justified by doctrines alleging that Black individuals carried the "Curse of Cain" (a mark of blackness) or were less valiant in the pre-mortal war in heaven. As the church expanded internationally—particularly in Brazil during the construction of the São Paulo Temple—the restriction became logistically and morally untenable. On June 1, 1978, following intensive prayer in the Salt Lake Temple, President Spencer W. Kimball received a revelation (Official Declaration 2) lifting the ban. Today, the church officially disavows the racist theories of the past, though the legacy of the century-long ban requires ongoing institutional reconciliation.

Women and LGBTQ+ Issues:

Despite possessing highly visible auxiliary organizations like the Relief Society, the LDS Church remains exclusively patriarchal in its priesthood governance. The church maintains a "complementarian" view of gender, asserting that men and women have equal, albeit distinct, eternal roles wrapped up in procreation and family formation. Movements advocating for female ordination, such as Ordain Women, have faced severe pushback, including the 2014 excommunication of founder Kate Kelly for apostasy.

Similarly, the church adheres to a strictly heteronormative theology of eternal marriage. A highly controversial policy enacted in November 2015 classified same-sex marriage as apostasy and barred the children of same-sex couples from baptism. Though the policy was rescinded in 2019, the friction has led to mass resignations and severe alienation among LGBTQ+ members and progressive allies, driving some to affirming offshoots like the Community of Christ.

Financial Operations: The SEC Settlement

As a tax-exempt religious institution, the LDS Church has amassed tremendous wealth, largely insulated from public disclosure. In 2019, a whistleblower, David Nielsen, revealed to the IRS that the church’s investment arm, Ensign Peak Advisors, managed an investment portfolio exceeding $100 billion, allegedly operating as a "clandestine hedge fund" rather than a charity.

In February 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the church and Ensign Peak with deliberately creating 13 shell LLCs over a 22-year period to hide 32 billion dollars in equity assets from public and regulatory scrutiny on mandatory Form 13F filings. The SEC concluded that the church's senior leadership went to "great lengths" to avoid disclosure for fear of "negative consequences" (widely interpreted as a fear that immense visible wealth would deter member tithing). The shell companies used business managers who falsely attested to having independent investment control and listed incorrect addresses. The church settled the charges by paying a 1 million dollar penalty, while Ensign Peak paid $4 million. The incident underscored the immense financial power of the institution and raised profound ethical questions regarding the intersection of religious exemption and corporate compliance.

8. Unique Cultural Practices

The Word of Wisdom:

Distinctive LDS health practices originate from an 1833 revelation given to Joseph Smith, now known as the Word of Wisdom (D&C 89). Emerging amid the 19th-century American temperance movement—which saw figures like Sylvester Graham advocating against alcohol, tobacco, coffee, and meat—the text advises against the consumption of "strong drinks" (alcohol), tobacco, and "hot drinks" (interpreted as coffee and tea), while encouraging the sparing use of meat and the consumption of grains and fruits.

Originally presented as a principle with a promise rather than a strict commandment, observance was lax during the 19th century; pioneer-era Mormons regularly consumed coffee, tea, and mild alcohol. Under President Heber J. Grant in the 1920s—coinciding with the national Prohibition era—strict adherence to the abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, coffee, and tea was made a mandatory requirement for temple entry. Epidemiological studies have since shown that adherence to these guidelines grants active Latter-day Saints notably higher life expectancies (8 to 11 years longer than the general population) and drastically lower rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Genealogy and FamilySearch:

Because LDS theology posits that saving ordinances (such as baptism and eternal marriage) can be performed vicariously for deceased ancestors who did not receive them in life, genealogy is a core religious imperative. To facilitate this, the church operates FamilySearch, the largest non-profit genealogical organization in the world. Founded originally as the Genealogical Society of Utah in 1894, FamilySearch provides free access to billions of digitized historical records and maintains an immense crowdsourced "one world tree" with over 1.7 billion profiles. Through extensive global indexing projects and partnerships with international archives, the church leverages modern technology to fuel its temple theology, successfully integrating a massive secular database operation into its ecclesiastical mission to unite families for eternity.

9. Conclusion

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints represents a remarkable sociological case study of religious survival, assimilation, and exponential global expansion. From a persecuted millennialist sect on the American frontier, the movement has matured into a highly organized, heavily capitalized global religion. Its structural evolution demonstrates a continuous, dynamic tension between fierce theological exceptionalism and pragmatic socio-political adaptation.

The recent transitions of the 2020s—ranging from leadership successions and the ascendancy of Dallin H. Oaks, the lowering of missionary ages for women to accelerate emergent adult faith formation, the strategic acquisition of foundational historical artifacts like the Kirtland Temple, to the turbulence of SEC financial rebukes and the challenges of modern genetic sciences—highlight an institution that is actively recalibrating. By leveraging its vast financial resources, centralized hierarchy, and highly disciplined missionary force, the LDS Church appears poised to sustain its demographic trajectory in the Global South, even as it grapples with the secularizing headwinds, domestic stagnation, and rigorous historical scrutiny endemic to the modern Western world.

Sassoon Hospital

 Last night, laying in bed and awaiting sleep, I remembered that Meher Baba was born in a Jewish hospital. I asked NotebookLM the following:

Can you confirm that Meher Baba was born in a Jewish hospital and can you include all the information you have about the hospital and Baba's stay in it.

Yes, the sources confirm that Meher Baba was born in a hospital maintained by a Jewish family. Specifically, he was born on February 25, 1894, in Sassoon Hospital in Poona (now Pune), India, which the texts note "was maintained at the time by a well-known, philanthropic Jewish family".

Here is all the information provided in the sources regarding Sassoon Hospital and Meher Baba's connections to it:

• His Birth: Meher Baba (born Merwan Sheriar Irani) was delivered at Sassoon Hospital.

• His Sister's Birth: On December 15, 1918, his sister Manija (Mani) was also born in Sassoon Hospital. Merwan would often cycle to the hospital to bring food for his mother, and he was the first to see the new baby, picking her up and kissing her before the nurses even gave her a bath.

• Visiting a Dying Friend: When his childhood friend Ramnath fell critically ill after returning from Burma, he was admitted to Sassoon Hospital. Merwan visited him there every day. During one of these visits, Ramnath passed away with his head resting on Merwan's lap.

• 100th Anniversary and Blessing: In 1968, Sassoon General Hospital celebrated its 100th anniversary. The organizing secretary requested Baba's blessings for the occasion, and Baba dictated the following message on September 10, 1968: "I give my blessings to the administrative, medical and worker staff of this hospital in which I, the Deliverer of the world, was delivered to the world". Baba also gave a donation of Rs. 1,000 towards the centenary celebration.

• Commemorative Plaque: As part of the centenary events, a special function was held on December 9, 1968, to unveil a marble plaque on the outside wall of the hospital building where he was born. The plaque reads in both English and Marathi: "AVATAR MEHER BABA WAS BORN IN SASSOON GENERAL HOSPITALS ON 25TH FEBRUARY 1894".

I also remembered that he attended a Catholic high school and so I asked NotebookLM the following:

Can you provide as much detail as possible concerning Meher Baba's eduction: primary, secondary and tertiary. 

Meher Baba (born Merwan Sheriar Irani) began his formal education around the age of five when he was admitted to the Pudumji School, a Gujarati-medium primary institution. He studied there for three years, learning the Gujarati alphabet and basic numbers. He disliked arithmetic, but it was during an arithmetic lesson taught by Miss Ratanbai that he had a profound mystical experience, visualizing "a great glitter of circles with tiny points in them as if suns, moons and stars were being projected from those points". At age nine, on 31 August 1903, he entered the Poona Camp Government English School, a school built by the British. During his five years there, he proved to be a highly disciplined student who maintained fixed times for his studies, reading, and prayers, while also excelling in athletics.

For his secondary education, Merwan began attending St. Vincent's High School on 4 January 1909. St. Vincent's was an all-boys Roman Catholic preparatory school in Poona run by Christian missionaries, known for its strict discipline. Merwan completed his grades here with high credit. Academically, he ranked high in almost all subjects, particularly Persian, which he loved. His main interests were literature and history; he eagerly read works by William Shakespeare, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Wordsworth, and Sir Walter Scott. Conversely, he cared little for geography, science, and mathematics, though he never failed them. Outside the classroom, he was an outstanding athlete who won cups and medals in long-distance running, high jumping, soccer, and field hockey. His favorite sport was cricket, where he played first string as a wicket-keeper and set school records that remained unbroken for years. In December 1911, he passed the matriculation exam given by Bombay University.

At the age of seventeen, Merwan entered Deccan College in Poona for higher studies in Inter Arts. At the time, it was considered the finest educational institution in the province. He was an exceptionally bright student, well-regarded by his professors, and seen as a natural leader and arbiter among his peers. He formed an organization called the Cosmopolitan Club, which was open to members of any caste or religion and was dedicated to charity, staying informed on world affairs, and strictly prohibiting gambling and coarse language. He also joined the college boat club and remained a star player on the college cricket team.

During his college years, his passion for literature blossomed. His classmates nicknamed him "The Poet" or the "Atta-and-Dal Poet" due to his effortless ability to compose rhyming verses in Gujarati, Urdu, and Persian on diverse subjects. Under the pen name "Homa," he published poetry in Sanj Vartman, a popular vernacular newspaper in Bombay.

His tertiary education was permanently interrupted during his second year. In May 1913, while studying for his final exams at a local fire-temple, nineteen-year-old Merwan was called over by the ancient Perfect Master Hazrat Babajan. She kissed him on the forehead, unveiling his divinity. Although he continued to attend his college classes for a short time after this momentous meeting, his spiritual awakening led to a complete absorption in God-consciousness, bringing an end to his formal schooling.

What strikes me is the diversity of religions that he had contact with:

• Judaism: he was born in a Jewish-run hospital
• Zoroastrianism: his was a Parsi family that followed the teachings of Zoroaster
• Christianity: he attended a Catholic high school
• Islam and Hinduism: growing up in Poona he was surrounded by followers of both these religions

I also asked the following:

What interaction did Meher Baba have with Buddhism and Buddhists during his lifetime?

Meher Baba identified himself as the Avatar of the Age, explicitly stating that he was the same ancient entity who had previously incarnated as Gautama Buddha, as well as Zoroaster, Rama, Krishna, Jesus, and Muhammad. Because he taught the fundamental unity of all religions, he engaged frequently with Buddhist sacred sites, practitioners, and concepts throughout his life. 

Here are the key interactions and connections Meher Baba had with Buddhism: 

Early Realization of His "Buddha" Identity 

During his college years, before fully embarking on his spiritual mission, a close friend named Ramnath showed young Merwan (Meher Baba's given name) a book titled Buddha Bhagwan. When Merwan read a passage where Buddha prophesied his return as Maitreya (the Lord of Mercy), he experienced a sudden, profound inner realization: "I am that, actually". Encouraged by Merwan, Ramnath traveled to Rangoon, Burma, to study Buddhism. When Ramnath fell critically ill, he returned to India and died with his head resting on Merwan's lap, unknowingly leaving his mortal body "on the lap of his beloved Lord Buddha". 

Visits and Seclusions at Buddhist Sites 

Meher Baba frequently visited significant Buddhist shrines and temples, sometimes for his internal spiritual work: 

• Sarnath and Sanchi (India): Baba took his disciples to Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon. While there, Baba reminisced about his past incarnation and remarked, "Buddha is now silent". He also visited the Great Stupa at Sanchi multiple times, telling stories of the Buddha's life, though he clarified that Buddha himself never lived there. 

• Ceylon (Sri Lanka): In 1933, Baba visited a Buddhist temple in Bandarawela. When a novice monk asked Baba's group to remove their shoes, an old man emerged, instructed the novice to let them enter, and exchanged peculiar hand signs with Baba. Baba later revealed the old man was a fourth-plane spiritual agent working for him. During another stop in Ceylon, Baba retired to a Buddhist temple for 24 hours of strict seclusion, aided by a centenarian who instantly recognized Baba's spiritual authority. 

• Penang (Malaysia): During his 1932 world tour, Baba stopped in Penang specifically to visit the local Buddha and Snake temples. 

Interactions with Buddhist Practitioners Baba attracted and guided several individuals with strong ties to Buddhism: 

• Christmas Humphreys: The president of the Buddhist Society of London visited Baba with his group in 1931. Humphreys was deeply moved by the encounter, stating, "If there were more Meher Baba’s in the world today, war would end for want of causes. This man of love sets all men an example!". 

• Frederic Fletcher (Prajnananda): An Englishman who had been living in India as a Buddhist monk for seven years, Fletcher attended an extensive 1930 interview between Baba and the writer Paul Brunton. 

• Pritam Singh Sahni: An Indian businessman living in Thailand who was highly honored by local Buddhists simply because he came from the land of the Buddha's birth. This reverence awakened a spiritual thirst in him to find the "living Buddha," prompting him to leave his business, return to India, and ultimately dedicate his life to Meher Baba. 

Philosophical Connections and Teachings 

Meher Baba often used elements of the Buddha's life to explain his own spiritual mechanics. He directly compared Hazrat Babajan (the Perfect Master who unveiled his God-realization) to the old woman who gave the Buddha a bowl of rice pudding just before his enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. 

Furthermore, observers noted that Baba's methods deeply mirrored Buddhist traditions. Like the Buddha, Meher Baba disliked when disciples plied him with intellectual questions, preferring to awaken direct spiritual experience rather than satisfy the intellect. His close disciple Jean Adriel noted that Baba's psychological technique of demanding total acceptance to achieve spiritual freedom was "basically the same as the teaching of Zen Buddhism". 

Ultimately, Meher Baba stated that his mission was not to establish a new religion, but to "bring together all religions and cults like beads on one string". He declared that he had come to reorient and revitalize the core truths hidden within all faiths, explicitly including "broad Buddhism," so that their original spiritual vitality could be kept alive.

Reading the reports from NotebookLM, his proficiency in languages was notable. I asked NotebookLM the following:

What language did Meher Baba (Merwan Irani) regularly speak in his home when growing up?

Based on the provided sources, Meher Baba's (Merwan Irani's) "mother tongue" was Gujarati. He even began his formal education around the age of five at a Gujarati-medium primary school. 

Because he grew up in a Persian Zoroastrian (Irani) family, Persian was also prominently spoken in his home. His father, Sheriarji, would read the Persian poetry of Hafiz to him, and his mother and grandmother were noted to sing together in Persian. 

In addition to his native Gujarati and Persian (Dari), he also learned to speak English, Hindi, and Urdu during his youth.

The Sufi Tradition in Tunisia and Indonesia

I watched an interesting video today about Tunisia's Sufi tradition. I asked ChatGPT for more information.

Can you provide some details of the history of Sufism in Tunisia?

Sufism, which refers to Islamic mysticism, has a long history in Tunisia dating back to the early Islamic period. The first Sufi orders or Tariqas were established in the country in the 12th century, with the arrival of Sufi saints from other parts of the Muslim world.

The two most important Sufi orders in Tunisia are the Qadiriyya and the Shadhiliyya. The Qadiriyya order was introduced to Tunisia in the 16th century and became popular in the 18th century, while the Shadhiliyya order was introduced in the 17th century and became dominant in the 19th century.

Sufism played an important role in the spread of Islam in Tunisia, particularly in rural areas where Sufi leaders or marabouts were often the main religious authorities. The marabouts were also involved in social and political activities, and their influence extended beyond religious matters.

During the colonial period, Sufi orders played an important role in the resistance to French rule, and many Sufi leaders were involved in the struggle for independence. After independence, Sufi orders continued to play a prominent role in Tunisian society, particularly in rural areas.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in Sufism in Tunisia, with a growing number of young people joining Sufi orders and attending Sufi gatherings. Sufi leaders have also been active in promoting interfaith dialogue and tolerance in the country.

I sought to find out a little more about the origins of Tunisia as a country. 

How did Tunisia originate as a country? How it is different from its neighbors like Libya and Algeria?

Tunisia, like many other countries in North Africa, has a complex history of multiple civilizations and empires. The region that is now Tunisia was inhabited by Berber tribes since ancient times, and was subsequently conquered by Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, and Ottoman Turks.

The modern nation-state of Tunisia emerged as a result of the French colonization of the country in the late 19th century. Tunisia became a French protectorate in 1881 and remained so until 1956 when it gained independence.

Compared to its neighbors Libya and Algeria, Tunisia has several unique characteristics. Firstly, Tunisia is the smallest country in North Africa in terms of land area, with a population of around 12 million people. It is also the most densely populated country in North Africa.

Secondly, Tunisia has a long history of political stability, with a relatively smooth transition from authoritarianism to democracy after the Tunisian Revolution in 2011. This is in contrast to the ongoing conflicts and instability in Libya and Algeria.

Thirdly, Tunisia has a more diverse economy compared to Libya and Algeria, with a strong focus on tourism, agriculture, and manufacturing. Tunisia is also known for its highly educated workforce, with a literacy rate of over 80%.

Lastly, Tunisia has a unique culture that has been shaped by its history and geography. Its location at the crossroads of Mediterranean and African cultures has given rise to a rich culinary tradition, as well as a diverse artistic and musical heritage.

Returning to the topic of Sufism, I asked: 

Who were some of the best known Sufi saints who are associated with Sufism in Tunisia?

Sufism, or Islamic mysticism, has a rich history in Tunisia, with many prominent Sufi saints having emerged over the centuries. Here are some of the best-known Sufi saints associated with Sufism in Tunisia:

Sidi Ali Azouz: A 16th-century Sufi saint who is considered one of the most important figures in Tunisian Sufism. He is credited with spreading the Qadiriyya Sufi order throughout the country.

Sidi Bou Said: A 13th-century Sufi saint who is widely revered in Tunisia. He founded a Sufi order known as the Nasiriyya, and his tomb in the coastal town of Sidi Bou Said is a popular pilgrimage site.

Sidi Belhassen Chedly: A 19th-century Sufi saint who is known for his emphasis on spirituality and piety. He founded a Sufi order known as the Chedliyya, which is still active today.

Sidi Ali Ben Aoun: A 16th-century Sufi saint who is considered one of the most influential figures in Tunisian Sufism. He founded a Sufi order known as the Aouniyya, which continues to be active in Tunisia and other parts of North Africa.

Sidi Ahmed Tijani: Although he was born in Algeria, Sidi Ahmed Tijani was an influential Sufi saint who spent much of his life in Tunisia. He founded the Tijaniyya Sufi order, which is now one of the largest Sufi orders in the world.

These are just a few examples of the many Sufi saints who have played important roles in the development of Sufism in Tunisia.

I asked about the differences between Sufism and mainstream Islam.

How does Sufism differ from mainstream or more traditional Islam?

Sufism, also known as Islamic mysticism, is a spiritual and mystical dimension of Islam that emphasizes the inward search for God and the purification of the soul. While Sufism is a part of Islam, it differs from mainstream or more traditional Islam in several ways:

Emphasis on spiritual experience: Sufism places a greater emphasis on the individual's personal experience of God than traditional Islam, which focuses more on adherence to ritual practices and adherence to Islamic law.

Importance of spiritual guides: Sufism places great importance on the role of spiritual guides, known as Sufi masters or sheikhs, who help their disciples on their path to spiritual enlightenment. Traditional Islam also acknowledges the importance of religious scholars, but does not place the same emphasis on spiritual guides.

Use of music and dance: Sufism often incorporates music and dance as a means of reaching a state of spiritual ecstasy and connection with God. This is in contrast to traditional Islam, which generally discourages music and dancing.

Tolerance and universalism: Sufism often promotes tolerance, universalism, and a focus on the unity of all religions and people. This can be seen as different from some more traditional interpretations of Islam, which may emphasize the separation of Muslims from non-Muslims and the importance of adhering strictly to Islamic law.

Focus on love and compassion: Sufism often emphasizes the importance of love and compassion in the spiritual journey, and encourages the cultivation of these qualities as a means of purifying the soul. Traditional Islam also places importance on these qualities, but may not place the same emphasis on their role in spiritual development.

It is worth noting that Sufism is a diverse and multifaceted tradition with many different interpretations and practices. As such, not all Sufis may adhere to all of the above characteristics, and there may be some overlap between Sufism and traditional Islam.

I asked about the status of Sufism in Indonesia.

What is the status of Sufism in modern day Indonesia? Is it widely practiced or it is marginalized?

Sufism has a long and deep history in Indonesia and is still widely practiced today. In fact, Indonesia is considered one of the largest centers of Sufism in the world. Sufism has been an integral part of the Islamic tradition in Indonesia since the arrival of Islam in the archipelago in the 13th century.

Today, Sufism is practiced by a significant portion of the Muslim population in Indonesia. Many Muslims in Indonesia are followers of Sufi orders, such as the Naqshbandi, Qadiriyya, and Shattariyah orders. These orders have established networks of mosques, Islamic schools, and charitable organizations throughout the country.

Sufi leaders, known as kyai or ulama, continue to play an important role in Indonesian society, offering spiritual guidance and social services to their followers. In addition to their spiritual and religious roles, Sufi leaders have also been involved in social and political activism, including advocating for democracy, human rights, and environmental protection.

While Sufism has faced some marginalization in Indonesia due to the rise of more conservative and fundamentalist interpretations of Islam, it continues to be a vibrant and influential part of the country's religious landscape. Many Indonesians see Sufism as a way to reconcile Islamic teachings with local traditions and cultures, and as a means of promoting tolerance, pluralism, and social justice.

I asked about important historical figures in the history of Indonesian Sufism.

Who are some of the most important saints in Indonesian Sufism?

Indonesia has a rich tradition of Sufism, and there are many important Sufi saints who are venerated by Indonesian Muslims. Here are a few examples:

Sunan Bonang: A 16th-century Sufi saint who is considered one of the most important figures in Indonesian Sufism. He is associated with the Wali Songo, a group of nine Muslim saints who spread Islam in Java. Sunan Bonang is known for his emphasis on the importance of love, compassion, and harmony in the spiritual path.

Syekh Abdul Qadir Jailani: A 12th-century Sufi saint who is highly revered in Indonesia. He is associated with the Qadiriyya Sufi order, which has a large following in Indonesia. Syekh Abdul Qadir Jailani is known for his emphasis on the importance of repentance and seeking God's forgiveness.

Syekh Siti Jenar: A 15th-century Sufi saint who is associated with the mystical tradition of Java. He is known for his controversial teachings, which challenged traditional Islamic orthodoxy and emphasized the unity of all religions. Despite facing persecution and condemnation from some quarters, Syekh Siti Jenar continues to be venerated by many Indonesians.

Syekh Ahmad Dahlan: A 19th-century Sufi saint who founded the Muhammadiyah movement, one of the largest Islamic organizations in Indonesia. He emphasized the importance of education and social reform in the Islamic community, and sought to promote a more moderate and tolerant interpretation of Islam.

Hamka: A 20th-century Sufi saint who was a prolific writer and Islamic scholar. He played a key role in promoting a more modern and progressive interpretation of Islam in Indonesia, and his writings continue to be widely read and influential today.

These are just a few examples of the many important Sufi saints in Indonesian history. The diversity and richness of Indonesian Sufism is reflected in the many different Sufi orders, traditions, and practices found throughout the country.

One to One

Meher Baba, as we know, did not found a new religion but his intention was to bring all religions together like beads on a string. Followers of most religions however, are content to follow the rites and rituals of their religion and to maintain its separateness from the religions of others. There is often rivalry and animosity toward one or more other religions. Even within a single religion there can be conflict as there has been historically between Protestantism and Catholicism.

Religions, more often than not, divide rather than unite humanity, making it all the more easy for the "Godless" to weaken and undermine the faith of the followers of those religions. Christianity has been under pressure to accommodate the LGBT agenda. If certain churches accommodate this agenda, they alienate many of their orthodox followers; if they don't, they alienate many of their more "progressive" followers. If either case, the seeds of division are sown and the religion weakened.

Speaking from my own experience, the "fire and brimstone" approach by Catholic educators in the 1960s did much to alienate the "love generation" and it certainly alienated me, leaving me with a life-long aversion to religion. By an emphasis on fearing God and the punishment that God might inflict on those who have "sinned", religions stray from the intent of their founders. For those followers of Meher Baba who chose to retain their religion, He urged them to return to their religion's roots and not be content to merely follow its rites and rituals mechanically.

The best way of doing this is to establish a one-to-one relationship with the religion's founder. We cannot comprehend God but we can follow the example of those humans who truly represent God on Earth. There should be no barriers between yourself and this founder, no intermediaries. The mind should be disengaged and the heart fully engaged as it is essentially a heart-to-heart relationship. Thinking must take a back seat.

Gradually more followers of more religions will come to realise that Meher Baba's intention was not to replace the message of the founders but rather to rebroadcast it for modern times. For those who have abandoned their religion or never embraced a religion, Meher Baba is available. He was God in human form and His Advent has been painstakingly recorded. The power of His words remains potent and reading them will draw more and more followers to Him in the future.

With Meher Baba, there is no religion to navigate and act as a barrier in connecting to Him. Reading about His life and the words that He silently spoke is enough to establish that one-to-one, heart-to-heart relationship. He has nothing to teach us and we have nothing to learn. All that is needed is to awaken and Meher Baba is The Awakener. Jai Baba.

Secular Humanism

The term "secular humanism" is described on the website Free Inquiry in the following terms:

Secular humanism is comprehensive, touching every aspect of life including issues of values, meaning, and identity. Thus it is broader than atheism, which concerns only the nonexistence of god or the supernatural. Important as that may be, there’s a lot more to life … and secular humanism addresses it.
Secular humanism is nonreligious, espousing no belief in a realm or beings imagined to transcend ordinary experience. 

Secular humanism is a life-stance, or what Council for Secular Humanism founder Paul Kurtz has termed a eupraxsophy: a body of principles suitable for orienting a complete human life. As a secular life-stance, secular humanism incorporates the Enlightenment principle of individualism, which celebrates emancipating the individual from traditional controls by family, church, and state, increasingly empowering each of us to set the terms of his or her own life. 

Secular humanism is philosophically naturalistic. It holds that nature (the world of everyday physical experience) is all there is, and that reliable knowledge is best obtained when we query nature using the scientific method. Naturalism asserts that supernatural entities like God do not exist, and warns us that knowledge gained without appeal to the natural world and without impartial review by multiple observers is unreliable. 

Secular humanism provides a cosmic outlook—a world-view in the broadest sense, grounding our lives in the context of our universe and relying on methods demonstrated by science. Secular humanists see themselves as undesigned, unintended beings who arose through evolution, possessing unique attributes of self-awareness and moral agency. 

Secular humanists hold that ethics is consequential, to be judged by results. This is in contrast to so-called command ethics, in which right and wrong are defined in advance and attributed to divine authority. “No god will save us,” declared Humanist Manifesto II (1973), “we must save ourselves.” Secular humanists seek to develop and improve their ethical principles by examining the results they yield in the lives of real men and women.

Figure 1: Paul Kurtz, in 2010, published books and magazines
devoted to fact-based, not faith-based, solutions to human problems.Credit...

Paul Kurtz (December 21, 1925 – October 20, 2012) is regarded as "the father of secular humanism" and here is the link to the Wikipedia article about him. For anyone who has read E. Michael Jones' "The Jewish Revolutionary Spirit", it will not come as no surprise to learn that Kurtz was Jewish. Any reference to Jews nowadays is likely to be denounced as anti-semitism, unless it is unreservedly complimentary. This is unfortunate as it promotes polarisation and suppresses any sort of rational discussion. One must be either philo-semitic or anti-semitic. There can be no in-between.

In an obituary for him in The New York Times, it's written that:

In 1980, in response to the conservative religious movement the Moral Majority, Professor Kurtz founded the journal Free Inquiry. In its inaugural issue he drafted another statement, “A Secular Humanist Declaration,” in which he warned that “the reappearance of dogmatic authoritarian religions” had become a threat to intellectual freedom, human rights and scientific progress. The statement, signed by 61 scholars, directed its objections toward “fundamentalist, literalist and doctrinaire Christianity; a rapidly growing and uncompromising Muslim clericalism in the Middle East and Asia; the reassertion of orthodox authority by the Roman Catholic papal hierarchy; nationalist religious Judaism; and the reversion to obscurantist religions in Asia.”

Probably Kurtz was well-intentioned and genuinely concerned about "the reappearance of dogmatic authoritarian religions". He felt secular humanism was the solution, just as Karl Marx, another Jew, felt that communism was the solution. In theory, communism did hold promise and yet things went terribly wrong in its implementation. The reason was that humans got in the way and monsters like Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse Tung perverted its original intent and created tyrannies. It will be the same way with secular humanism. Though it "celebrates emancipating the individual from traditional controls by family, church, and state", the reality is proving very different. 

As religions weaken within societies, secular humanism gathers strength. However, it replaces religion by science and promotes scientists as the new priests. Science has emerged as the new tyranny and promises to be far worse than communism ever was. The scientists have been bought off by corporate interests who fund and thus direct their research and development. Only compliant scientists receive grants and the opportunity to rise through the ranks to assume positions of leadership in influential scientific organisations. The non-compliant are banished to the wilderness. 

If the scientific method were adhered to by these scientists then some degree of rationality might prevail. However, it has been abandoned and thus the high priests of the Church of Climatology pontificate, the Vaccine Industry thrives and humanity moves ever closer to the Gates of Hell with the assistance of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Pseudoscience, masquerading as science, has been hijacked by a global elite that does indeed want to emancipate the individual from the traditional controls of family, church, and state. Its intention however, is to impose new shackles.

Individuals have traditionally drawn strength through identification with their family, religion and country. It is this sort of identification that the global elite wish to undermine. The LGBT movement has certainly undermined the traditional concept of what constitutes a family. Secular humanism is ready to step in to take the place of religion for those individuals who abandon their faith. Immigration and refugees have altered the original ethnic composition of countries. 

Individuals with weak or non-existent ties to their family, religion and country are easy to manipulate and ultimately subjugate. The goal of the global elite is to enforce total subjugation and conformity. Secular humanism plays an unwitting role in this by encouraging people to abandon religion and replace it by faith in science. The graphic stating that "Science flies you to the moon, religion into skyscrapers" perfectly captures this incentive. 

However, what if NASA never took humans to the Moon and what if religious fanatics were not responsible for the destruction of the twin towers? Personally, I don't believe humans landed on the Moon and I don't believe that some Moslems armed with box cutters seized control of three airplanes. It is for this reason that I find the graphic so ironic. Secular humanism maintains "that nature is all there is" and "that supernatural entities like God do not exist". Pathetically, it offers science as a replacement.

What might God have to say about all of this? Well, if one accepts that Meher Baba was God Incarnate, as I do, then this is what He had to say:

It is only through love that you can begin to unlearn, thus eventually putting an end to all that you do not know. God-Love penetrates all illusion, while no amount of illusion can penetrate God-Love. 

Start learning to love God by beginning to love those whom you cannot. You will find that in serving others you are serving yourself. The more you remember others with kindness and generosity, the less you remember yourself; and the less you can remember yourself the more you forget yourself. And when you completely forget yourself, you find me as the source of all love. 

Give up parroting in all its aspects. Start practicing whatever you truly feel to be true and justly to be just. Do not make a show of your faith and beliefs. You have not to give up your religion but to give up clinging to the outer crust of mere ritual and ceremonies. To get to the fundamental core of Truth underlying all religions, reach beyond religion. 

Through endless time, God's greatest gift is continuously given in silence. But when mankind becomes completely deaf to the thunder of His Silence, God incarnates as man. The Unlimited assumes the limited to shake maya-drugged humanity to a consciousness of its true destiny and to give a spiritual push to the world by his physical presence on earth. He uses the body for his Universal work, to be discarded in final sacrifice, as soon as it has served its purpose. 

God has come again and again in various forms, has spoken again and again in different languages the same one Truth — but how many are there that live up to it? Instead of making Truth the vital breath of his life, man compromises by making over and over again a mechanical religion of it, as a handy staff to lean on in time of adversity, as a soothing balm for his conscience or as a tradition to be followed in the footsteps of the past. 

Man's inability to live God's words makes them a mockery. How many Christians follow Christ's teaching to "turn the other cheek" or to "love thy neighbour as thyself?" How many Muslims follow Muhammad's precept to "hold God above everything else?" How many Hindus "bear the Torch of Righteousness at all cost?" How many Buddhists live the "life of pure compassion" expounded by Buddhism? How many Zoroastrians "think truly, speak truly and act truly?" Link

Secular humanism maintains that "supernatural entities like God do not exist". Meher Baba, with his divine authority, assured as that GOD IS and there is really nothing but God. In the quote above, Baba gives us directions about how to connect with God. My contrarian views about 9/11, the Moon landings, vaccinations, climate change and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are my own and can be disregarded. The point of my post is that secular humanism offers no hope and that religion does not need to be abandoned but reinterpreted:

You have not to give up your religion but to give up clinging to the outer crust of mere ritual and ceremonies. To get to the fundamental core of Truth underlying all religions, reach beyond religion.