
Beyond offenders, research points to enabling conditions that make abuse easier to commit and hide.

We’ve mastered cynicism about marriage; it’s time to recover the drama of reconciliation.

Who is Clark Gilbert, the newest apostle called to join the Quorum of the Twelve of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

Is belonging merely about presence? No, it requires active participation and meaningful connections.
If you watched the Oscars last night you might have noticed that many of the nominees and attendees were wearing blue ribbons. They were supporting the UN Refugee Agency With Refugees campaign. This is a coalition of individuals, universities, faith-based organizations, youth groups and businesses that provide help to refugees and asylum seekers. The visual message of the ribbons is to say that everyone has a right to safety, wherever they are.

If we seek to end direct violence without paying more attention to structural and cultural contributors, will we be successful? Not if we’re paying attention to advice from the Book of Mormon.
Despite the reality of overwhelmingly peaceful Latter-day Saints, an odd cultural relic continues to portray members of the Church of Jesus Christ as violent. This is the main thesis in the recent series Under the Banner of Heaven. Riding the wave, a new film Sinner v. Saint has just been announced, which has a Latter-day Saint main character and plenty of violence. In perhaps a welcome relief, this story doesn’t portray the Latter-day Saints as the perpetrators of violence, but rather as the victims. The story recounts the true story of a missionary who was kidnapped, tied up, and repeatedly raped before escaping. You might expect this story to be a somber account of the vestiges of anti-religious fervor, or the marginalization of Latter-day Saints in our popular imagination painting us as little more than pawns to be used. But who are we kidding? The director, Tim Kirby has almost exclusively worked in comedies such as Fleabag, Veep, and Brockmire. Kirby describes the story as featuring “zany twists” and “quirky characters.” And ultimately he says the story is all about “obsessive first love.”
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