ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a series of recalibrations that Mormonism has undergone in terms of politics, theology and church governance, growth and racial diversity, and family, gender, and sexuality. If politics compelled Mormonism to constantly recalibrate its engagement with the broader culture, shifts in social norms, demographics, and economic organization prompted Mormons to re-examine their theological assumptions and organizational structures in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. By the early twenty-first century, the Latter-Day Saints (LDS) Church had significantly recalibrated its position on homosexuality. The most effective doctrinal tool wielded by the LDS Church in the battles over same-sex marriage did not even exist until 1995. Conditioned by changing cultural norms and connected online through blogs, Facebook, and other forms of social media, a new and active generation of Mormon feminists began pushing ecclesiastical and cultural boundaries in calling for greater gender equality and women's participation in the church.
