
We may share eternity with our political adversaries. That possibility should change how we treat them now.

Women deserve more than permission to choose. They deserve the wisdom and moral guidance to choose well.

The spiritual impact of tithing reaches beyond budgets, investment returns, and promises of material prosperity.

After another contentious Presidential election, Americans are feeling unsettled and angry. If you’re looking for a way to opt out of the rancor this holiday season, Tracy Hollister has some advice.
Drawing your attention to this piece published yesterday in the New Yorker, “Our Obsession with Ancestry Has Some Twisted Roots.” The article has some interesting insights but ultimately tries to paint the Church of Jesus Christ’s influential role in genealogical work as somehow “twisted” as the title implies. The article has much larger targets than the Church, but it unfortunately demonstrates how casually some journalists subscribe to centuries-old tropes casting Latter-day Saints as somehow sinister.
In mourning in the wake of the racist hate crime mass shooting in Buffalo, we are reminded of the words of Dallin H. Oaks at BYU a year and a half ago. “Black lives matter! That is an eternal truth.” Reports are currently suggesting that the shooter engaged in this act specifically to kill black people because of the color of their skin because he was afraid his own race was losing power. If these reports prove to be true, it is a despicable act. It mocks the Christian faith his despicable manifesto claims he wants to protect. As Latter-day Saints, our scriptures teach of many anti-Christs who teach damnable philosophies, and then murder to try and make them come to fruition. This murderer then joins a list of anti-Christs—a man who pulls people away from Jesus by perverting the gospel of peace. President Russell M. Nelson’s well-timed words the day after the attack remind us that we are all children of God. This senseless murder took the lives of ten children of God. Rather than allow ourselves to be desensitized to the racism around us by the constant calls of those who have diluted this idea, we should each work to root out the hate, racism, and identity politics that motivated this killing from our nation, communities, and our own hearts. The murderer hoped that his killings would intimidate those who looked like his victims. We pray this is not the case. We need all of our neighbors to feel comfortable, confident, and safe in their communities. We must do our best to stand shoulder to shoulder in ensuring that these intimidation tactics will not succeed.

The principles of liberty, equality and honoring our common humanity are inconsistent with race prejudice. Those remain the best weapon ever formed against it, today as in 1865.