• Source: LDS Church sues ‘Mormon Stories’ podcast host, saying branding is causing confusion about affiliationPublisher: The Salt Lake Tribune | Author: By  Samantha Moilanen | April 19, 2026, 5:00 a.m.Published: April 19, 2026 | Archived: April 26, 2026
• The lawsuit comes months after the church started pressuring at least three other podcasts to drop the “Mormon” moniker from their branding.
• Church says branding is ‘causing confusion’
• 20 years without objection

§Source: LDS Church sues ‘Mormon Stories’ podcast host, saying branding is causing confusion about affiliation Publisher: The Salt Lake Tribune | Author: By  Samantha Moilanen | April 19, 2026, 5:00 a.m. Published: April 19, 2026 | Archived: April 26, 2026

§The lawsuit comes months after the church started pressuring at least three other podcasts to drop the “Mormon” moniker from their branding.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The sun rises over Temple Square in Salt Lake City on April 4, 2026. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has filed a lawsuit against “Mormon Stories” podcast host John Dehlin and his nonprofit, alleging trademark infringement tied to similarities in branding.

Months after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began reaching out to podcasts critical of the faith, asking them to drop the word “Mormon” from their branding, the church has now filed a lawsuit against one of them, alleging trademark infringement.

On Friday, the church and Intellectual Reserve Inc., its intellectual property arm, filed a federal lawsuit against John Dehlin and his nonprofit, Open Stories Foundation, over his podcast “Mormon Stories,” a prominent church-critical show that has operated under that name for 20 years.

The church said in the complaint that the platform’s use of the term “Mormon,” combined with church-trademarked visuals — including depictions of the “Christus” statue found in the church’s official symbol and a “light-rays” design used to highlight text — as well as copyright images, could lead some people to believe the podcast is affiliated with the global faith of 17.8 million members.

The church contacted Dehlin with its complaints in November, and Dehlin said he attempted to address some of the requests, but wrote in a March 26 Facebook post that the church’s “demands were just too unreasonable and we walked away.”

Among the changes made, Dehlin wrote in a response to The Salt Lake Tribune’s questions on Saturday, were swapping the podcast’s navy blue logo color scheme — shared by the church — for orange and altering the description of the podcast by adding a disclaimer that says, “Mormon Stories is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

The disclaimer also appears on the homepage of the “Mormon Stories” website and on the podcast’s Facebook page.

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“The complaint came as a surprise,” he wrote, “given how cooperative we have been.”

The church, however, says in its filing that Dehlin and his nonprofit “ultimately would not agree to take basic actions necessary” to lessen alleged confusion. It also says Dehlin “refused” to include a disclaimer at the start of each episode and does not address the one Dehlin added to the episode descriptions.

The church’s efforts to pressure Dehlin and at least three other podcast hosts to drop the M-word from their names come amid a broader push by church leaders to distance the institution from the moniker and its widespread use outside official Latter-day Saint channels.

(Annie Sorensen | Special to The Tribune) John Dehlin, at a presentation in 2022, says the church’s copyright complaint came as a surprise.

§Church says branding is ‘causing confusion’

The church argues that the podcast’s branding and name make it difficult for the public to distinguish it from official church materials.

“The issue is not the podcast’s viewpoint,” the church wrote in a statement. “It is the use of church-protected names, images, and design elements in ways that are causing confusion about whether the content is official or affiliated with the church.”

In the complaint, the church includes a number of examples of online comments it says were pulled from “Mormon Stories” YouTube and Facebook pages in which commenters say they initially thought the podcast was connected to the church before listening to an episode.

The church also alleges in the complaint that after an agreement to remove copyright church images from promotional materials, the podcast later used an image of a Latter-day Saint temple to advertise an episode just a few days later.

The church is asking a judge to bar Dehlin and his nonprofit from using any names, branding or designs it says are similar to its own, and to prohibit any use of its copyright materials in its content.

§20 years without objection

Dehlin, however, said he has been operating the podcast under the “Mormon Stories” name since 2005 without any prior objection from the church.

He also disputes the concerns over imagery, saying the church never previously raised issues with the podcast’s use of General Conference photos or other images he describes as relevant to commentary and discussion.

While Dehlin believes that use is protected, he said, he still agreed to remove the images the church identified from the website and podcast thumbnails.

“At every stage we have been cooperative and respectful to the church’s concerns,” Dehlin wrote, “despite our disagreement with their claims.”