Sen. Mike Lee took to social media to defend The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after The Wall Street Journal published an article about former Latter-day Saints who criticize the church.
The article, “‘Exmo’ Influencers Mount a TikTok War Against the Mormon Church,“ has drawn heat on X from many Latter-day Saints, including Lee, who is a member of the faith.
The article claims that the church is “facing a 21st-century reckoning, driven by social media,” and the piece includes photos of a former member of the church wearing sacred temple clothing in a park.
Wednesday night, the senior senator wrote on X that The Wall Street Journal has demonstrated a bias against the church that it has not displayed against other religions.
“I’m confident @WSJ would never run a hit piece on the Catholic Church featuring a photo of defiant ex-Catholics desecrating the Eucharist,” he said. He added that he was “stunned and disappointed” that the Journal had done essentially that to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“#NotCoolWSJ,” he wrote.
Lee frequently defends church on social media
His recent critique of The Wall Street Journal is not the first time Lee has defended his church on X.
When the senior editor of the Daily Wire, Cabot Phillips, called the church’s first prophet a “scam” artist last month, Lee responded and asked, “Have you read The Book of Mormon? If not, you should do so.”
He added, “Please let us know when you get to Moroni 10:3-5, and — if you’re courageous enough to accept the challenge — how it turned out for you."
Then several weeks later, Lee responded to a video of a shopper buying a Book of Mormon and directly throwing it in the trash after exiting the store. “May we all have more respect than this for the religious beliefs of others,” Lee said.
The account responded, asking Lee to define “respect,” and Lee replied, ”There are many ways to show respect for the religious beliefs of others. Taking videos of yourself desecrating sacred texts — then gleefully posting them on social media — isn’t one of them.“
He continued, “You made your point. But I’m not going to pretend that what you did is respectful in any way.”