I wonder how Mormons view tattoos. Can they get a temple recommend if they have tattoos? Can they go on missions if they have tattoos? Can they go on missions if they have tattoos? Do any bishops or stake presidents have tattoos?

Do Church leaders have some discretion as to whether or not they condemn tattoos?

Are people with tattoos looked down on by other members?

Are people with tattoos required to remove them before being allowed to do certain things? Are some tattoos more acceptable than others?

How are people with nose rings dealt with?

It would be pretty extreme if people with tattoos and nose rings were denied baptism, so they probably are still allowed to join the Church.

When I see someone with tattoos or nose rings in Utah, I sometimes wonder if they are active Mormon Church members.

There are tattoo parlors all over the place. Tattoos are much more common than they used to be. Sometimes you might feel out of place if you don't have a tattoo.

Missionaries have to go through tattoo review
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2006/03/tattoos-and-your-mission?lang=eng

  
  

As with many other things, a lot depends on your BP & SP, especially marginal issues; Here we call it Bishop Roulette



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2024 01:43AM by GNPE.

Outside of the Mormon Corridor (Morridor), the church is in trouble and they are more likely to overlook piercings and tatts. I have observed several women wearing "normal" sun dresses to church. And both had tatts showings. And that ward is hurting for people to sit in the pews. I don't think leaders are going to run off members like they used to.

In some places, the church has lost key people and families over church policies. I think some wards and stakes are encouraging bishops to use more discretion when addressing perceived violations or "sins".

The church ran off many of my cohorts some 40 years ago- over watching R rated movies, Music TV, dressing like Madonna, long hair on men, skinny neckties~ cowboy style, playing sports on Sunday, working on Sunday, proclaiming that you're not sure if the church was true. The stake president and his chosen leaders were total assholes. These people drove away my teenage churchmates. They in turn had fights with their families.

Some of them had no choice but to run away from home. I would be surprised if any of them ever return to worship in any form of organized religion because their experiences were so painful.

Skinny neckties ARE evil; they are evil's embodiment!!!!

elderolddog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Skinny neckties ARE evil; they are evil's
> embodiment!!!!

Some of these guys played the squeezebox. That's a capital offense in certain countries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n02PD18cFs


Mama's got a squeeze box
She wears on her chest
And when Daddy comes home
He never gets no rest

'Cause she's playing all night
And the music's all right
Mama's got a squeeze box
Daddy never sleeps at night

Well the kids don't eat
And the dog can't sleep
There's no escape from the music
In the whole damn street

'Cause she's playing all night
And the music's all right
Mama's got a squeeze box
Daddy never sleeps at night

She goes in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out

Cause' she's playing all night
And the music's all right
Mama's got a squeeze box
Daddy never sleeps at night

She goes, squeeze me, come on and squeeze me
Come on and tease me like you do
I'm so in love with you
Mama's got a squeeze box
Daddy never sleeps at night

She goes in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out

'Cause she's playing all night
And the music's all right
Mama's got a squeeze box
Daddy never sleeps at night

  
  

RU referring to bolo ties which are very popular if not common among many IMW men?

O the Horrors!!!

We also couldn't wear bow ties because Sacrament meeting wasn't a boxing match (referee tie).

Now the church struggles to get any young people to stay in the pews. They let young men wear levi's jeans and not wear a necktie of any sort. They are letting it all hang out.

okay now and that was some years ago as he died 15 years ago. He had a lot of friends who had tattoos from being in the service like WWII, etc. They all had to have their tattoos removed to be able to go to the temple. He was furious.

That's pretty interesting. Thanks for telling us.

Back in the 50s there were a lot of WW2 vets in our ward and most of them had tattoos. I was fascinated by them.

Yes. I remember hula girls and Popeye anchor ones especially.
They didn't look so great on 80 year old skin though.

True enough but it meant something to those men and to their service to my country.

Absolutely agree. They are owed much.

My Uncle had a B-24 Liberator tatooed on his upper arm, it had the planes name the crew gave it, before they got shot up in the Philippines. I don't think he ever went to Church though.

Many converts have them but members aren't allowed to have them. The most famous example is a woman who calls herself the "Tattoed Mormon". I forget her name but she got a lot of publicity a few years ago.

What do you mean members aren't allowed to have them? I don't recall anyone anywhere in Mormondom being excommunicated for having tattoos. Yeah, it's frowned upon, but not allowed?

That's true. It's a situation where some were taught not to get them but there's no "thou shalt not" written anywhere.

When I was young, I remember multiple times being taught at church that tattoos were desecration of the body which is a temple. There was definitely judgement when people had them.

Times have changed. They are popular now. I doubt anyone under 50 was taught what I was.

Al Carraway is now so famous that you can get her autobiography (used) for 99¢ . . .

https://www.alibris.com/search/books/isbn/9781462117208?invid=17899842698&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=NMPi&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-_mvBhDwARIsAA-Q0Q6FTHtEwOU4r6jKa1Hh9vd435L5en86vwWRkTeaHOSsfP9kc5hqhFkaAg3BEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

There's going to be a whole lot of sad looking tattoos when they start fading as peoples skin starts sagging, combined with age spots, when they reach 60, 70, 80. Hey grandpa, what are those discolored blobs all over your body?

Current resident of Earth Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There's going to be a whole lot of sad looking
> tattoos when they start fading as peoples skin
> starts sagging, combined with age spots, when they
> reach 60, 70, 80. Hey grandpa, what are those
> discolored blobs all over your body?

Each blob is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve and this sagging one over here is the First Presidency smiling :D



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2024 01:55AM by messygoop.

My FIL had several tattoos from when he served in the Pacific during WWII. He eventually served in the stake presidency and spent a lot of time in the temple. I one helped send a guy on a mission after he had been converted to Mormonism when he was a Marine at Camp Hansen on Okinawa. He had several tattoos, and wondered if it was a problem. It wasn't.

have their tattoos removed. Maybe it was where they were on their body--if they could be seen or what.

The guys my dad was talking about were other teachers he worked with and they were very good friends. He wouldn't have said anything about it if he didn't know what they had to do about their tattoos. He found out from my nephew's wife. She had one of those big ones on her back that would show when she bent over. He was surprised that the church said it was okay.

I'd actually get a tattoo but I'm too cheap. I could even tolerate whatever pain there is (I used to not like the idea of needles, but I use them everyday as a diabetic). My sister has quite a few tattoos.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2024 06:59PM by cl2.

I had a lot of Sunday School teachers in my youth. As kids we were bad, mouthy, sassy and incorrigible at times. Not so much me (if my mom found out that I was disruptive or rude, she would flog me with a strap) but others would give the teacher a hard time.

This was the natural progression of the youth Sunday School class (12-14). Bishop would call a very spiritual sister who thought everyone there was attending church because the gospel was SO true. Every lesson had a tissue box because the lesson ran 20 minutes and she thought the balance of the class should be a testimony crying fest. Well, lots of kids laughed at her, especially some hard core "tough" girls. They would mock her and deliberately pull out tissue after tissue and pretend to cry while throwing tissue all over the floor. I was the goody-two-shoe guy who would pick up the mess for the sobbing teacher.

Around March, the sister was gone. Even the bishopric grew tired of trying to control the class. There were twenty of us in there and no one knew how to effectively teach us until Brother Trucker was called to teach the class.

***The tattoo part of the story

Brother Trucker grew up in the church, he went to war in the USN instead of serving a mission. He had several tats on each arm. He was very cognizant that the church SEVERELY frowned on tats, especially openly displayed. He often rolled up his sleeves as the lesson went on. He really was a good teacher as he knew how to relate to the youth and kept us engaged. He rewarded good behavior with candy bars. It worked.

Brother Trucker was not in good standings with the stake president. He was not on ANY list to be teaching the youth. Correlation was in full swing and Brother Trucker wore Bolo neckties (the SP despised them). He had a beard and mustache. And long hair with tats.

Meet the new Brother Trucker with short hair, clean shaven face, wide necktie and Band-Aids on his arms.

My dad was Brother Trucker's home teacher. At his home, he revealed how the SP called him in to repent and get his truck off a Highway to Hell. So he was directed to have his tats removed.

I thought that was pretty harsh at the time.

A sad note about Brother Trucker. He probably was the most positive adult who mentored me in the church unlike 70% of the adults who ran the ward. Sadly, he developed Mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos. His family sued and received a huge cash settlement.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2024 03:11PM by messygoop.

My first year of law school, right before finals, we were chilling in the lobby. My classmates were sharing their tattoos. I don't have any, so I just observed. Then I got roped into the conversation.

"Hey, T-Bone, what about you?" I had nothing to show.

One of my classmates chimed in. "Some guys will do anything to be different."

Seriously, I have never had one and never wanted one. And I've never thought that NOT having a tattoo was a statement. But I guess it is now.