The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints promises the Lord will pour out his blessings upon those who pay an honest tithe.

Some members of the LDS Church take that to mean they will be blessed in their financial lives - that the Lord will reward their faithfulness with the riches of the world.

Yet LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley in December 1989, while a counselor in the church's First Presidency, reminded members that paying an honest tithe does not mean the Lord will help them realize their dreams of "a fine house, a Rolls Royce and a condominium in Hawaii.

"The Lord will open the windows of heaven according to our need, and not according to our greed," Hinckley said. "If we are paying tithing to get rich, we are doing it for the wrong reason."

The basic purpose for tithing is to provide the church with the means needed to carry on the Lord's work, he said, explaining the blessing to the giver is an ancillary return that may not be always in the form of financial or material benefit. - Steven Oberbeck

An LDS general authority agrees that the share of Utahns who are Mormon is shrinking, but insists that about 70 percent of residents are still members of the state's predominant religion.

Merrill J. Bateman, a member of First Quorum of the Seventy, appeared Wednesday on KUER's RadioWest program to respond to The Salt Lake Tribune series "Mormons in Utah: The Shrinking Majority" published in July. It was the first public comment from a high-level church leader on the membership issues raised by the series.

The Tribune "was absolutely right in saying there is a declining majority," Bateman said. "We are aware of it."

But he also said the data provided to the state excluded the "in-transit members."

He defined "in-transit members" as "people who are moving," but Bateman didn't describe how the LDS Church counts those people.

Year by year, Utah is becoming less Mormon.

And 2005 is no exception.

About 61.8 percent of Utahns are known to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to church membership numbers and state population estimates.

That is down from 62.4 percent last year and continues a slide that has gone on for at least 16 years, according to a Salt Lake Tribune study.

WASHINGTON - The Department of Homeland Security says it may seek changes in a provision pushed by Utah Sen. Bob Bennett that would shield churches from criminal liability for letting illegal immigrants volunteer for religious work.

Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo claims Homeland Security officials share his grave concerns that the provision, which Bennett backed at the behest of the LDS Church, would allow extremist groups to harbor terrorists

Tancredo, a strong advocate for immigration reform, said in a letter to Bennett released this week that the rider the senator pushed could allow “radical groups which may be terrorists fronts” to harbor illegal immigrants.

“The creation of this loophole will have profoundly negative consequences for our national security,” Tancredo said in the letter.

Bennett, an LDS Church member whose office did not return calls Tuesday, has said the provision does not prevent officials from detaining suspects or enforcing immigration laws.

"When Hinckley speaks, faithful Mormons obey."

"I probably won't make it," he concedes. "But I'm reading the book on faith that I will be blessed if I try to follow the prophet."

44-year-old Carol Davis jumped from her seat and ran toward church prophet and President Gordon B. Hinckley as he prepared to open the ceremony. Davis carried with her documents that she believed Hinckley needed to see, said Salt Lake City police Lt. Dave Askerlund. "She felt she had some information on some lost part of the Book of Mormon that had since been translated that she needed to get to him," Askerlund said.

Sorenson Real Estate issued a statement Wednesday evening saying the development company has "no knowledge" of an LDS temple planned for Bluffdale.

The company added that it never told Bluffdale officials the temple was headed to their city in southern Salt Lake County.

"No Sorenson representative ever discussed or identified any temple site to Bluffdale officials," said David Parkinson, a spokesman for the company.

The company's response came the day The Salt Lake Tribune reported that a former Bluffdale mayor and a former councilman, along with a city planning commissioner, had been told by developers that the LDS Church was planning a temple for Bluffdale's southwest foothills.

By the time "Super Dell" Schanze showed up at the Sandy theater complex, word was out that he was closing his Totally Awesome Computers stores after 10 years in the business. And though the collapse was prefaced by dismal sales, mounting legal problems, and an IRS inquiry, Schanze had his own culprit.

"This is thanks to all of you," Schanze told reporters gathered outside the Jordan Commons Megaplex. "All the media in Utah are liars and murderers . . . . I would not want to be in your shoes having caused this. You are agents of Satan and you need to repent."

A target of journalistic jabs for his support of a "natural-family" resolution, Mayor Kim Lawson is fighting back - and not just against travel-writing heavyweight Arthur Frommer.

The embattled Kanab mayor also is taking on a not-so-famous scribe: a 17-year-old boy who pens a weekly column in the hometown paper.

"Is his tone and verbiage consistent and in concert with the principles embodied within his church?" Lawson asked Livingston's LDS stake president in his Feb. 17 letter. ''I view Matt as [a] representative of the future for his church and nation. We need intelligent, principled men and women to lead and guide us. Oft-times 'mid-course' guidance is needed to ensure the target is reached.''

The LDS Church has joined a national religious coalition to push an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would define marriage as between a man and a woman.

LDS Apostle Russell M. Nelson joined 50 prominent Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and Jewish leaders in signing a petition explaining why they see a need for such a constitutional amendment.

"We are convinced that this is the only measure that will adequately protect marriage from those who would circumvent the legislative process and force a redefinition of it on the whole of our society," reads the petition released to the public on Monday.

The LDS Church issued a statement acknowledging its involvement with the Religious Coalition for Marriage, but spokesman Dale Bills declined any further comment and said Nelson was granting no interviews.

The petition is not the first attempt to amend the Constitution.

With Warren Jeffs on the lam, and HBO's "Big Love" giving the world a look at polygamy in a modern context, there has been much discussion and controversy surrounding polygamy and the LDS Church doctrine regarding plural wives.

As a lifelong church member and student of LDS scripture and prophetic teachings, my understanding of the subject is that the principle of plural marriage is a fundamental doctrine of the LDS Church. It is taught in the Doctrine and Covenants (section 132) and in numerous talks and writings from LDS prophets and apostles.

LDS doctrine clearly teaches that gods and goddesses in celestial realms practice the principle of plural marriage. The doctrine is held in abeyance at the moment because of inhospitable social and legal circumstances in the United States, but it will be practiced during the millenial reign of Jesus Christ on Earth by all who are faithful to him and his true prophets. I have yet to hear or read an official statement from the LDS Church, its prophets or apostles, that contradicts this belief.

Federal Judge Tena Campbell has removed herself from the clash over a disputed appraisal of The Salt Lake Tribune, decreasing the odds that the five-year legal fight over who owns the newspaper will be settled soon.

Since June 4, when my column challenging the position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on same-sex marriage was published in The Tribune, I have spoken with hundreds of gays and lesbians. I have been touched by their moral goodness and human decency.

Where before I had no acquaintances who were homosexual, now I gratefully count many as friends. In June, I could only write somewhat theoretically about the social justice of allowing equal rights for gays and lesbians. Now, after having come to know many same-sex couples, I am personally persuaded of the benefit that would come to our country by allowing same-sex marriage.

There is nothing more important to me than my wife and children. The events I've recently experienced confirm in my own life the importance of the love and affection of a family in difficult times. So, I, too, believe that strong marriages and families are necessary for the well-being of our society. This is why I support equal marriage rights for same-sex couples, not just civil unions.

Who is ultimately responsible for the abuses and trauma resulting from patriarchal polygamy as experienced by women, teenage girls and "lost boys" from Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints communities and other Mormonism-rooted groups? The man who started polygamy in the Mormon Church: Joseph Smith Jr.

A Brigham Young University employee's attempt to offer an explanation of "Mormon polygamy" on the school's Web site proved short-lived.

Jim Engebretsen pulled a polygamy page he had posted at polygamy.byu.edu on Monday afternoon after being told it violated university policy.

Engebretsen did not have approval to place the "personal project" on the school's official Web site, said Carrie Jenkins, BYU spokeswoman.

He and two BYU professors - Daniel Peterson and Robert Millet - recently launched the More Good Foundation to help spread positive, accurate information about the LDS faith on the Internet.

The polygamy page was launched in that spirit, said Engebretsen, who worked with students to create the site and its content.

Anti-Gay Group Places Full-Page Ad in SL Tribune

The anti-gay group America Forever spent the last week protesting the governor for his revelation that he supports Equality Utah's Common Ground Initiative, disrupting both Equality Utah's and Californians Against Hate's press conferences, and now publishing a full-page, full-color ad in The Salt Lake Tribune.

Boiling over: Rhetoric in gay rights debate heating up On Sunday, a group called America Forever ran full-page ads in The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News calling on Utahns to "stop the homosexual movement." The ad also condemns Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. for endorsing the Common Ground Initiative, a legislative push that would offer inheritance and medical-decision-making rights to same-sex couples and make it illegal to fire or evict someone for being gay or transgender.

MediaOne, which handles advertising, production and circulation for both The Tribune and Deseret News , said four subscribers canceled subscriptions to The Tribune on Monday in response to the ad. No one had stopped subscriptions to the News , said Brent Low, MediaOne's president and chief executive officer.

MediaOne made the decision to run both ads -- and removed a photo of two gay men kissing from the LDS Church-owned News version -- Low said, consistent with publishing guidelines from both papers.

Agreeing to run an ad does not mean a newspaper endorses it, said Tribune Editor Nancy Conway.