A new 44,000-square-foot Tempe Institute of Religion will be dedicated Sunday afternoon on the campus of Arizona State University.

SALT LAKE CITY — The Mormon church will lower its minimum age requirements for missionaries from 19 to 18 for men and from 21 to 19 for women, the faith's president announced Saturday.

Bruce Dana wants to keep Mormons laughing. For all its reputation as a no-nonsense religion of family wholesomeness, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is amusing itself anew with publication of “Stories & Jokes of Mormon Folks,” a 148-page collection of Dana’s best comedic shots about followers of his own distinctive faith.

Chad Hardy wants the public to know that underneath their short-sleeved white dress shirts and muted ties, Mormon missionaries are the same as everyone else.

The group behind the anti-LDS mailer sent out recently should get their money back. The logic behind the mailer is truly flawed. Here’s a few reasons:

SALT LAKE CITY - A Latino activist, pressing the Mormon church to take a stronger stance against enforcement-only immigration bills, recently delivered to the Mexican Consulate here a letter asking that President Felipe Calderon's government suspend visas to Mormon missionaries. Raul Lopez-Vargas, a former vice president the community Centro Civico, hand-delivered the letter signed by more than 130 people.

All of her young life, Eliza Andreasin has wanted to become a missionary in the church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints.

SALT LAKE CITY — Jorgen Sumsion spent the fall semester studying biostatistics at Brigham Young University, but he's not enrolled this semester.

They walk through urban slums in sweltering heat, struggle with native languages to try to be understood, and explain the teachings of a religion some have never heard of.

Stan Way, a Latter-day Saint from Jasper, Ala., had just finished dinner out with some Mormon missionaries when he noticed a car slowing as it approached.

Whenever I run into one of my Mormon friends, I always ask him what he thinks of the Russell Pearce controversy.

SALT LAKE CITY - There is no hint of a Mormon presence in the high-rise where the Beijing LDS branches meet.

Easter Sunday is sure to pack the pews at Catholic churches across the East Valley today — especially where Masses are bilingual or conducted in Spanish.

SALT LAKE CITY — The Mormon church is creating 58 new missions around the world to accommodate an influx of missionaries triggered by the lowering of the minimum age.

SALT LAKE CITY - Mormon Latinos have launched a letter-writing campaign to Latter Day Saints Church President Thomas S. Monson, urging him to spell out the faith's position on immigration law, an issue they say is dividing the church

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Mormons are free to down a Coke or Pepsi.

By Lawn Griffiths

SALT LAKE CITY — After a decade-long moratorium, Mormon is back. The name, that is.

PROVO, Utah — Mikaela Merrill was in the middle of her fall semester at Brigham Young University when she abruptly altered her college plans and signed up for a Mormon mission.

A rare, first-edition copy of one of the Mormon community’s most holy books has been missing for nearly a week, and its owner would like to have it back so it can complete its religious mission.

Authorities have recovered a rare first-edition of the Book of Mormon believed to be stolen from a downtown Mesa bookstore over Memorial Day weekend, and have taken a man into custody in connection with the reported theft.

February 26, 2005