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.

SALT LAKE CITY — The perception of Mormons in the U.S. changed very little even though the religion received unprecedented attention this year with Republican Mitt Romney running for president.

Mormon leaders are condemning a fast-selling new book by a popular author that paints an unflattering picture of church history and Joseph Smith, the religion's founder and prophet.

SALT LAKE CITY — Tens of thousands of the Mormon faithful are descending on Utah's largest city for their church's semi-annual general conference to hear gospel-centered talks about faith, family and mission work from senior church leaders.

David Yount, guest commentary

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

Valley Mormons will gather today in stake centers or in front of TVs at homes for satellite and cable TV coverage of the 11 a.m. funeral services of their beloved president and prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley.

If Southern Baptists gather for a seminar on what Mormons believe, the odds are good that one of the teachers will be a former member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

SALT LAKE CITY - Polygamy-practicing fundamentalists with religious roots in early Mormon theology are rankled by the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' campaign to direct the way news organizations define those sects.

FARMINGTON, N.M. - Investigators believe a fire that left substantial smoke and water damage to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seminary building near Farmington High School was deliberately set.

SALT LAKE CITY — For the first time in the event's 183-year history, a woman led a prayer Saturday at the semiannual gathering of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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.

Arguing that Mormon missionaries aren’t telling what they really believe when they go door to door in quest of new followers, the Mesa-based Concerned Christians are distributing free DVDs to East Valley homes to ensure people “hear both sides of the story.”

At 6-foot-4 and 338 pounds, Arizona Cardinals offensive guard Taitusi “Deuce” Lutui says he has a “huge noggin.” So when he was fitted for his Roman soldier costume for the Mesa Arizona Temple Easter Pageant, he had a suggestion.

For Arizona State University senior Steven Raisor, the more he hears about the ongoing Texas polygamy and child abuse cases, the more he's disgusted at those allegedly involved.

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

SALT LAKE CITY — Mormon church President Thomas S. Monson urged his faith's followers to embrace the power of prayer and to reach out to people in need.

Come Sept. 11 and the national remembrance of the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil in 2001, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will take stock of what’s called a “terrible episode” in their history precisely 150 years ago — the Mountain Meadows Massacre of Sept. 11, 1857, in southwest Utah.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Five years ago, as Republicans were getting to know Mitt Romney, a Gallup poll showed 30 percent of GOP voters expressly saying they wouldn't vote for a Mormon for president.

Retired bookstore owner Helen Schlie can see a higher purpose in selling her 1830 first-edition Book of Mormon one page at a time.

Only a few of the thousands of kids in junior high and high school marching bands in Arizona are going to become professional musicians and odds are long on any becoming the next Louie Armstrong or Benny Goodman. But Cliff Bentley is living proof that the marching time and music study can pay off with something really rewarding.

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.

America's level of religious tolerance appears to be better than we had thought it was. In fact, it seems there aren't as many claiming possession of the definitive truth about God and salvation.

On Sunday at the Mormon stake near Alma School Road and University Drive in Mesa, five Hispanic boys dressed like missionaries in white shirts and ties fan out through the pews, bearing silver trays of bread chunks and water cups.