Elder Bednar at National Press Club + Today’s Digest

Our daily rundown of the articles from around the web that we feel our readers would enjoy and appreciate. We hope to highlight the best of what’s around.

Public Square Bulletin recommends:

NPC Headliner Luncheon: Elder David A. Bednar

Elder David A. Bednar, an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, presents to the National Press Club about the Church and how it helps people both from the outside in, but especially from the inside out and fields questions on many controversial subjects in a Q&A including why people leave religion. The Q&A begins at forty-two minutes.

Why do people abandon religion?

Moshe Taragin—The Jerusalem Post

While the conversation of leaving religion affects many denominations, this article from The Jerusalem Post looks at the question generally but from the perspective of Judaism. Certainly a worthy addition to the conversation.

Is God a Therapist?

Carl Trueman—First Things

In his latest, Carl Trueman laments our “childish age” and the way it oversimplifies God. He relishes in the hard complicated God that is worthy of worship.

Elder Perkins shares common values at a groundbreaking conference in Saudi Arabia

Mary Richards—Church News

The Muslim World League held its first-ever forum on Common Values of Religious Followers. The Church, which recently announced its first temple in the Middle East, has not had a leader speak in Saudia Arabia since the G-20 summit in 2020.

How an Army ethicist works to mold moral soldiers

Mary Beth McCauley—The Christian Science Monitor

A fascinating deep dive into the Baptist chaplain who is a leading figure in war ethics. The article looks at his background, beliefs, and day-to-day work teaching ethics to new recruits.

On Key

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New Yorker’s Odd Swipe at the Church

The New Yorker published a story last week about the authorship and provenance of the 1971 book Go Ask Alice. The book is presented as the diary of a teenage girl, but a new book suggests that it was composed by Beatrice Sparks, a woman who claimed to only have found the diary and edited it. The article is a fine read, asking interesting questions about the ethics of publication, and the difficulties of identifying authorship. But near the end of the article they include this line, “As a few ex-Mormons have pointed out, Sparks was not the first Mormon to publish a text ostensibly based on an original source that the rest of the world did not get to see.” The line takes a not-quite veiled swipe at the founding of the religion that Sparks was a member of. I can’t help but wonder if Sparks was a Catholic, would the author have been as comfortable opining, “Sparks is not the first Catholic to put out a book where the original sources aren’t available.” This kind of winking attack feels more fitting on the ex-Mormon Reddit than in a major publication like the New Yorker.

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