Category: Bulletin

Lots of coverage of General Conference for you to take a look at. The Associated Press had two articles: The first highlighted many positives of the event but mentioned the reduced attendance numbers while leaving out that the Church limited attendance because of parking concerns. But perhaps more problematically it mentioned Elder Neil Andersen’s remarks about being peacemakers, and talked about a Salt Lake Tribune op-ed he mentioned as a “dart,” but failed to mention that he only mentioned this in the context of the peacemaking efforts of Amos Brown in responding to that. And while the piece links to the first critical op-ed, it doesn’t mention or link to Reverend Brown’s response. The second AP article follows the most popular pattern of conference coverage, focusing singularly on LGBT+ or other issues that can be politicized in their piece titled, “Mormon Leader Reaffirms Faith’s Stance on Same-Sex Marriage.” On the news front, you can find the list of the newly called leaders including the new Primary and Relief Society General Presidencies at the Church Newsroom. The blog LDS Church Growth has a great conversation about the list of 17 newly announced temples. If you want some great quotes to remember and share, Meridian has you covered: General Conference Memes to Share with Your Friends   There are a number of great recaps to check out. Ours here at Public Square Magazine has our writers and editors identifying what themes stuck out to them. The Millennial Star talks about how President Nelson’s remarks touched them. While Junior Ganymede looks at stories of people not being where they were supposed to be and having it all work out anyway. If you’re more interested in the light side, This Week in Mormons has a fun and informative look at the ties worn during conference: April 2022 General Conference Tie Tracker On the detractor side Jana Riess questions, “It’s General Conference time. Remind me why we do this?” She largely complains that the Church hasn’t been as aggressive in making changes in line with what she’s published in the past. But to answer her question. We do this because me and millions like me believe that the Church is led by prophets, and that the words they choose to emphasize our of urgent importance and can help us better access and understand the divine.

As mentioned in this weekend’s General Conference, the Church is focusing on helping with the refugee crisis in Europe. The Church Newsroom has a great article detailing some of the current efforts and how you can help. As we work on putting the principles of Christian living into practice, this represents a useful opportunity.    

I hope everyone had a chance to watch General Conference! What a wonderful event with so many important new things to focus on in improving my own life. I wanted to highlight a video that was shown between sessions, but was first released in January: If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s about a teenage professional soccer player. She is a great example of faith, and I recommend the video to everyone!

Any time someone is nominated to be a Supreme Court Justice, people of faith are intensely interested in how this person will understand and protect their free exercise of religion. And analyses of Ketanji Brown Jackson’s approach on this issue have begun to spring up. Andrea Picciotti-Bayer at the National Catholic Register concludes that on religious liberty issues Jackson’s “record is not encouraging.” But while Picciotti-Bayer asks several important questions about how Jackson will rule, ultimately she provides little reason for concern. On the other side, Michael Helfand at the Canopy Forum concludes, “Her engagement with questions of law and religion, for now, seem the kind of balls-and-strikes decisions you would expect from a federal judge.” He cites decisions from her in 2014 and 2017 in favor of religious freedom, and ultimately concludes that there is no reason that American Jews should be worried about her approach to religious freedom. Before her nomination, Tanner Bean looked at the religious freedom approaches of Biden’s short list including Jackson for us here at Public Square. For Jackson, Bean looked at the same cases Helfand does, but also looks extensively at her public comments during her last judicial confirmation, including that “religious freedom is a foundational tenet of our entire government.” Which suggests her statement in her confirmation hearings that freedom of religion is a “foundational constitutional right” may be more deeply felt than performative.

America Magazine, a Jesuit publication, talks to Christine Emba, a Washington Post columnist, about why so many people are having miserable sex when second wave feminism, #MeToo, and the sexual revolution was supposed to fix it all. Her conclusion is that consent is not enough of a sexual ethic. And that our sexual ethic must expand to include empathy and considering the good of the other. Her remarks reminded me of Daniel Frost’s article which he published in Public Square Magazine making a similar argument: Consent is Good, But Not Enough

I wanted to highlight a trend I’m noticing in discussing the dialogue around trans issues. This morning Adam Russell Taylor wrote for Sojourners an article “God loves Trans Kids. Recent Laws do the Opposite.” In it he says that because God loves trans children, the recent approaches to trans issues in places like Utah, Florida, and Texas are unloving. This reminded me of Sam Brunson’s article on Saturday in By Common Consent called, “Molech, Transgender Children, and the Idol of Politics.” In his article Brunson talks about the idolatrous God Molech which involved the sacrifice of children. Brunson went on to describe Utah’s recent transgender bill as analogous as sacrificing children to Molech. I don’t have any interest myself in staking out a position on these recent laws at the moment, but I do feel like it needs to be said, that those who supported these laws also feel like they’re loving transgender children. And some of them might even believe those who support gender transitioning are metaphorically sacrificing children to Molech. The question isn’t who loves transgender children and who hates them, but rather what is the best way to approach this issue for all involved. And that’s a question on which there are many different positions. And if that’s true, then trying to create a climate where we can truly hear out the competing perspectives on the well-being of children–and try to come to decisions together that can help the most kids, is also a loving thing to do.

Carl Trueman’s new book “Strange New World” is among the most important books for individuals of faith to read this year. We were very fortunate to have Carl write an article for us here: https://publicsquaremag.org/sexuality-family/identity/living-in-a-strange-new-world/ And Jeffrey Thayne interviewed him for us as well here: https://publicsquaremag.org/media-education/education/a-conversation-with-carl-r-trueman/ If you haven’t yet, be sure to check those out. But I also wanted to point your way to a couple of podcasts that Crossway, the publishing house behind the book, has released. The first is an interview with Carl where he goes into depth about how he believes churches should respond to the trends of expressive individualism he’s identified. The second is a preview of his book in audio form and is definitely worth a listen.

In the leadership session of General Conference forty-five new area authority seventies have been called. They include senior counsel for the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, a forensic psychiatrist, and several from the fields of construction, law, education, and medicine. For the full list visit the Church’s newsroom  

Check out this recent article from BYU’s student newspaper: https://universe.byu.edu/2022/03/29/student-interfaith-facebook-group-looks-to-broaden-impact-as-nonprofit/ Worldwide Unified, a Facebook group started by a then missionary, to help promote President Nelson’s call for a fast has grown to more than half a million members. Today it is a broad, diverse, interfaith, and international group of people uniting for faith in God. They are looking to expand their influence, and making some fantastic steps. Make sure to check out their article.