Revealed: The sacred ‘seer stone’ that unlocked the beliefs of 15 million people

The Mormon church’s push toward transparency about its roots and beliefs have taken a major step forward with the first published pictures of a small sacred stone it believes founder Joseph Smith used to help translate a story that became the basis of the religion.

The new photos, released Tuesday, peel back another layer of secrecy for a relatively young world religion that has come under scrutiny as its numbers swelled in the Internet age. The religion now has about 15 million followers.

The pictures of the smooth, brown, egg-sized “seer stone” are part of a new book that also contains photos of the first printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon. Officials with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unveiled the photos at a news conference in Salt Lake City.

The religion’s drive in recent years to open its vaults and clarify sensitive beliefs is aimed at filling a void on the Internet for accurate information as curiosity increased while church membership tripled over the last three decades, Mormon scholars said.

Church historian Steven E. Snow acknowledged that dynamic, saying: “The Internet brings both challenge and opportunities. We’re grateful for the opportunity to share much of collection through the use of the Internet.”

The church’s campaign seems aimed at preventing current members from leaving and showing non-Mormons that they aren’t hiding anything, said Terryl Givens, professor of literature and religion and the James Bostwick chair of English at the University of Richmond.