The institution

A Mother in Heaven

The Church teaches that every person has a Mother in Heaven, and that members do not pray to her. What the Church says about her, what it says it does not know, and what happened to members who wrote about her.

The thought experiment

Imagine a family where the children are told, warmly and often, that they have a mother. She is real, she loves them, and she is part of the reason they exist. But they speak only to their father. When they ask about her, they are told little is known. When they ask for more, the latest answer from an apostle is that demanding revelation is arrogant and unproductive, and that speculation can lead to deception.

Most people would want to know why. This page takes the Church’s own answers seriously and sets them next to the record.

What the Church teaches

The belief in a Mother in Heaven is real Latter-day Saint doctrine, and it is distinctive. Most other Christian churches do not teach it. The Church’s newsroom calls it “a cherished and distinctive belief among Latter-day Saints.” Many members find it one of the most beautiful parts of their faith.

Exhibit A

Eliza R. Snow, “My Father in Heaven,” 1845 (now the hymn “O My Father”)

“In the heav’ns are parents single? / No, the thought makes reason stare! / Truth is reason; truth eternal / Tells me I’ve a mother there.”

What it establishes: The idea has been sung in Latter-day Saint meetings for more than 150 years.

Exhibit B

The Family: A Proclamation to the World, 1995

“Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny.”

What it establishes: Heavenly parents, plural, in a 1995 statement read to the Church’s Relief Society.

Read the proclamation

Exhibit C

Gospel Topics essay, “Mother in Heaven,” 2015

“As with many other truths of the gospel, our present knowledge about a Mother in Heaven is limited.”

What it establishes: Much of the Church’s fullest statement on her is about how little is known.

Read the essay

Members do not pray to her

1991

President Gordon B. Hinckley: “Logic and reason would certainly suggest that if we have a Father in Heaven, we have a Mother in Heaven. That doctrine rests well with me.” Then: “However, in light of the instruction we have received from the Lord Himself, I regard it as inappropriate for anyone in the Church to pray to our Mother in Heaven.”

2015

The essay: “Latter-day Saints direct their worship to Heavenly Father, in the name of Christ, and do not pray to Heavenly Mother.” It quotes Hinckley: not praying to her “in no way belittles or denigrates her.”

2022

Elder Dale G. Renlund, at the women’s session of general conference: “Very little has been revealed about Mother in Heaven.” “Speculation will not lead to greater spiritual knowledge, but it can lead us to deception or divert our focus from what has been revealed.” “Demanding revelation from God is both arrogant and unproductive. Instead, we wait on the Lord and His timetable to reveal His truths through the means that He has established.”

Sources: Hinckley, “Daughters of God,” October 1991; the essay; Renlund, April 2022.

To be fair to Elder Renlund, his “arrogant” line is about demanding revelation, not about believing in her or loving the doctrine. And the Church’s reason for the prayer counsel is a real one: Jesus taught his disciples to pray to the Father in his name, and the Church follows that pattern.

Members who wrote about her

From the early 1990s to 2000, several members wrote and spoke about Heavenly Mother, and some were later disciplined. The record needs care here. We found no record of anyone disciplined for praying to her, and the Church does not publish its reasons.

Lynne Kanavel Whitesides, known for speaking about Mother in Heaven, was disfellowshipped in September 1993, one of the “September Six.” The Church did not publish individual reasons for the six.
Janice Allred wrote “Toward a Mormon Theology of God the Mother” (Dialogue, 1994), was placed on probation in October 1994, and was excommunicated in 1995 for apostasy. The details have not been published.
Margaret Toscano, who wrote about God the Mother and women and the priesthood, was excommunicated in 2000. By her account, her stake president had warned her to stop writing and speaking on these topics, including women’s ordination.

What is true on the other side

The Church affirms her. It has never said members may not believe in her or mention her. Hinckley called prayer to her inappropriate, the essay says Latter-day Saints do not pray to her, and Renlund warned against speculation.
Restraint can be reverence. The essay says “we have been given sufficient knowledge to appreciate the sacredness of this doctrine and to comprehend the divine pattern established for us as children of heavenly parents.” Some members experience the restraint as reverence.
Little is revealed, so little is said. If you accept that doctrine comes only by revelation, a Church that will not fill the gap with guesses is being consistent.

Why this should make you question

Latter-day Saints believe revelation comes through prophets. Whether leaders have sought more on this is not public. The doctrine has been taught since the 1840s. After more than 180 years, the Church’s fullest statement is an essay that says our knowledge “is limited,” along with counsel not to pray to her.

Compare how much has been revealed about the Father. He has a body of flesh and bones (D&C 130:22). There are detailed revelations on priesthood offices, temple ordinances, and church finances. Far less has been revealed about her than about the Father, though the essay notes limited knowledge is true of “many other truths of the gospel.”

The most recent apostolic counsel is that demanding revelation is arrogant and unproductive. Separately, some members who wrote about her were later disciplined, and the Church has not published its reasons. A doctrine that comforts people when it stays vague, and gets less room the more someone presses for answers, is worth looking at closely.

The point in one sentence

Every member is taught they have a Mother in Heaven; in 180 years, the Church has said very little more about her than that, and that members do not pray to her.

Some members call that reverence. Others call it silence.

This page is part of a 113-topic library. Every claim links to its source, most of them the Church’s own. Read it on the full site or browse every topic.