Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Terryl Givens of BYU’s Maxwell Institute writes for LDS Living grappling with the implications of the Holocaust on human nature and the reality of God. If God Allows us to make choices, why didn’t he create us to have more beautiful souls? The article comes from Givens’ book “Let’s Talk About Faith and Intellect,” where he explores these questions further.
Deseret News recently shared an article by Kelsey Dallas regarding a new ad campaign titled “He Gets Us” to be shown during the NFL playoffs. Religion News Service reported this campaign launched with a $100 million dollar budget. The focus is to introduce people to Christianity and to show how Jesus Christ is relevant to things in our modern everyday life. Their goal is to have people associate Jesus Christ with love instead of hate. Isn’t that what we all want? That would be the ultimate touchdown.
President Biden and other leaders were recently sent a letter from numerous religious organizations pleading with them not to pursue or enact the proposed “asylum ban.” This proposal would ban asylum seekers unless they were registered prior to entering the U.S. or sought asylum in other countries along their travels. Per the Biden administration an app would be developed that would allow travelers to register prior to entering. An app that most would not be able to use due to lack of financial resources. One comment from the religious leaders in the letter states: “Our diverse faith traditions compel us to love our neighbor, accompany the vulnerable, and welcome the sojourner—regardless of place of birth, religion, or ethnicity. Importantly, our faiths also urge us to boldly resist and dismantle systems of oppression.”
Politico recently featured an article written by Amanda Ripley that focused on a woman who wants to make politicians accountable for the way they speak. Tami Pyfer uses the Dignity Index which rates a politician’s rhetoric on an 8 point scale. She recently introduced it in her own state of Utah. Her goal is to make politicians aware of the vitriol and push them towards a nice and kinder political conversation. Will this help? We certainly hope so.
Last week a Federal Judge dismissed the case of LGBTQ students in Oregon who filed a lawsuit in Oregon against the Department of Education. Their claims were that religious affiliated universities weren’t protecting them against discrimination. After hearing evidence, the judge determined that the plaintiffs didn’t show enough evidence to prove they were discriminated against perTitle IX exceptions. Title IX provides protections for religious universities to hold to religious freedom and their beliefs.
Kevin Singer recently wrote an article for Religion Unplugged where he discusses whether spirituality could have anything to do with the mental well-being of our Gen Z population. He shares new research showing a strong connection between religiosity and emotional and mental health well-being. While the percentage of those questioned who consider themselves religious or spiritual is quite high, the number of those who belong to any kind of religion is low. Could the loss of meaning and community associated with organized religion be partially responsible for our present mental health crisis? Could organized religion be a key component to our well being? And how can church leaders, help the young recognize the mental health benefits of ongoing faithfulness?
Lutheran demographer Lyman Stone wrote for the Institute of Family Studies today a fascinating article about fertility rates between religious groups. His main takeaway is that the religious have much higher fertility rates: But in the back half of his article, he discusses if the fertility rate of different religious groups is high enough to maintain stability. While Stone lumps Latter-day Saints in with many other groups, so doesn’t dig into his numbers in this article, but his article suggests that if current trends remain, Latter-day Saints should expect to see decreases between 10%-40%.
We wanted to draw your attention to some wonderful news out of the Church’s newsroom today: https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/amos-c-brown-fellowship-ghana Part of the Church’s partnership with the NAACP included starting the Amos C. Brown Fellowship. This trip is intended to let students learn more about Ghanian culture. The NAACP and the Church started their relationship in 2018 when they held a joint news conference to call for racial harmony and the end of prejudice
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.
A recent study sought to examine the factors that corresponded to economic mobility, which they define as the likelihood that a child born in one economic class will change during their lifetime. The two largest effects might be of interest to Latter-day Saints. Family stability – Children who have two-parent households are the most likely to move, when other factors are accounted for. Friendships with individuals from other economic classes – While this does not directly call out church as a factor, the researchers found that extracurriculars aren’t as effective at cultivating these friendships as they are becoming increasingly segregated by class. But the researchers found that churches are successful at forming these kinds of friendships. Brad Wilcox of the Institute for Family Studies concludes that, “Cross-class relationships will not easily be forged by policies/institutions/etc. *unless* a common ethos/end/telos undergirds such friendships.”
We wanted to draw your attention to a Faith Matters gathering that’s taking place October 7-8, 2022. The gathering will take place at the Salt Palace. Speakers will include professors like Terryl Givens and Patrick Mason. But also therapists, mindfulness teachers, performers, and other luminaries. You can sign up here: https://faithmatters.regfox.com/restore And you can use PUBLICSQUARE as a coupon code for 20% off.
Summary – Pyre joins Taba in talking with Prophet Onias about how Ron’s belief that he is the “One Mighty and Strong” tempted him into immoral behavior. In a flashback, Ron interrogates Matilda about the warning she gave Brenda and gets information about who helped Diana disappear. He comes up with the removal revelation, which Onias immediately rejects, but Dan pushes back, saying his doubts are just what an unbeliever would say. Ron brings out a blade he’s “consecrated” for the purpose. In the present, Pyre finds out that Ron has Diana’s address in Florida because their son sent a letter with a return address. Pyre struggles in his office to write out a testimony, presumably to give in church to fulfill his wife’s requirement or he quips to Taba he’ll “be single by fall.” Pyre is talking to Allen again when an unidentified church leader is brought in by Taba (I’m still not sure if it’s the stake president or a seventy). The church leader again pressures Pyre to wrap the case up, saying the church doesn’t need more bad press after the 1978 revelation and the “communists at the NAACP.” He then regales with Taba about how his “Lamanite” ancestors helped the Saints in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Allen and Taba both dispute this interpretation, and the church leader leaves after brushing the dust off of his shoes against them. The detectives call the Florida police to do a welfare check on Brenda. They break into her home and find no one there, but security footage from a local store shows Diana and her kids at the grocery store four days ago. She looks behind her and is frightened by something, causing her to leave the groceries on the counter and quickly exit the store with her family. At the police station, Jacob Lafferty, the mentally handicapped brother, wanders in and briefly causes a tense situation before turning over Dan’s journal to the police. Turns out he was the one who bolted from the cabin in episode 3. He was under orders to protect “God’s word” but heard the press conference and wants to help solve Brenda’s murder because he had a crush on her. Pyre reads the journal, which reads like scripture, and finds out that Dan and Ron were holed up in Las Vegas earning money by gambling when they received the “revelation” that it was time to start the killing. Somehow (it’s not clear how) he knows that at that point Diana called Brenda to warn her and also called the prophet, which Pyre calls “bold as it gets for a woman.” He wants to fly out to Florida immediately to look for Diana. While he’s packing for the trip, Becca Pyre walks in. She’s disappointed he’ll be skipping out on Sunday’s testimony meeting. We find out that she’s the one who called the church leader on him. Pyre again orders her not to interfere with his investigation, pulling rank as the priesthood holder again. He claims that early church leaders saw “little girls and women as eternal servants” and that he’s afraid of what will happen to his daughters in the church. Ron’s car is located in Cheyenne and so the detectives are rerouted to there to investigate. They find the two strangers, Ricky and Chip, identified by Ma Lafferty in a previous episode. Ricky and Chip claim Dan and Ron are in Reno trying to make more money so they can finish their list, and that they stole the car to get away because they were disturbed by the murders. In flashback, we see Ron and Dan preparing for the murders at the Lafferty house, leaving Sam and Jacob behind. They stop by Robin’s home to ask for his rifle but he doesn’t have it. Ron leans in and kisses Robin on the mouth and then leaves. Now we come to the actual murder. Ron knocks on Brenda’s door, but no one answers, so they drive away. Brenda comes in from the backyard, calls Allen worried that there’s someone at the door, but no one is there. She goes out to check the mail and finds a letter from Diana which she writes a reply to. Back in the car, Dan stops in the middle of an intersection and attempts to wrest religious control back from Ron, saying that this was just a test of their faith and they should go back and try again. This time, Dan knocks on the door. Brenda answers and immediately tries to shut the door. She is overpowered by Dan who knocks her to the ground. She tries to convince Ron that this isn’t who he is and quotes scripture to them about being cast to outer darkness and testifies that she knows God will make her whole again. Ron cuts the cord from the vacuum cleaner that will be used to strangle Brenda before the camera cuts away to Dan and Ron leaving the house covered in blood. They drive to the Lows, find them not home, and miss the turn to the stake president’s home. Dan interprets this as a sign that they should stop killing and regroup, focusing on Diana so that he can keep Ron involved. Pyre and Taba are searching on the side of the highway where Ricky and Chip have told them the Laffertys discarded the weapon. Pyre worries that the men lied because they are atheists, but Taba asserts that it’s Mormons who have an allergy to facts. He shares the version of the Mountain Meadows Massacre that he was taught as a child, and eventually they find the murder weapon on the side of the road. The detectives return to Reno to search for the brothers, with Pyre trying to get details without a warrant by reminding the casino owner that “if there’s one thing our people have in common, it’s that we hate the feds crawling around our home.” They hear back from the Florida agents who
