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!
Some highlights from our weekend participating in the semiannual conference of the Church of Jesus Christ—listening to 10 hours of counsel, teaching, and witness.
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
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: Religious diversity: Corporate obstacle? Or asset? Kathryn Post – Religion News Services Businesses have traditionally tried to keep religion out of the workplace. But as businesses try to recruit exceptional candidates, they’re finding that being open about religious diversity is a positive. Just Say No: The Four-Letter Word Religion Writers Really Want To Avoid Bobby Ross Jr. – Religion Unplugged More coverage of the AP Style Guide’s emphasis to avoid the word cult, and what its impact on religion reporters will be. ‘Uncharted’ is a surprisingly Catholic video game. Why does the movie adaption strip out the faith? Kevin Christopher Robles – America Magazine The popular video game series “Uncharted” has a prominent religious through-line. But when the video game was adapted to the big screen, its religious elements went missing. Robles looks at what was lost. Primary general presidency: Preparing our children for a lifetime of covenant keeping Primary General Presidency – Church News The Primary General Presidency announced that one counselor in ward primary presidencies will be responsible for helping prepare children for baptism, the other to prepare children for the temple. I’m a feminist Mormon. Almost everything you’ve heard about my culture is wrong Rachel Rueckert – The Independent The cultural depictions of Latter-day Saints and our world are often limited and frankly inaccurate, and too often we feel obliged to laugh along to be in on the joke. While Rueckert poses some odd ideas (atheist Mormons?), she does a good job of celebrating the diversity of Latter-day Saints.
Words of prophetic counsel are a constant presence and fixture in most Latter-day Saint lives. But it wasn’t until I started studying them intently that something changed inside me.
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: How can Vladimir Putin be described as a defender of Christian values? Michael Cook – Mercator Net There is much Christian rhetoric that has come from the Kremlin regarding the war in Ukraine. And the religious elements of the conflict run deep. But some American commentators have started to frame Putin as an ideal Christian. Michael Cook argues that this goes much too far. Along the religion beat: Should ‘mainstream media’ pundits take sides on church disputes? Richard Ostling – Get Religion Richard Ostling responds to a recent article in Real Clear Religion that asks New York Times journalists David Brooks and Ross Douthat to stop writing op-eds on religious issues. Ostling believes there is already too little coverage of religion issues. The Power of Laughter Aleah Ingram – LDS Daily Tomorrow’s “Daily Dose” at LDS Daily appropriately looks at humor for April Fool’s day and looks at the gospel need for joy in our lives. Transitioning from Science to Philosophy Joachim Ostermann – Church Life Journal Biochemist turned Franciscan Friar, Joachim Ostermann, looks at his work in the sciences and examines the philosophical underpinnings that were all too often missing from his understanding. We Need to Talk About Bruno Ryan McDonald – The Gospel Coalition A look at one of the most popular films of the year and it’s gospel themes. McDonald sees in Bruno a type of Jesus Christ. His thoughts should add to the already deep themes of forgiveness and family present in the film.
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.
Coverage of Utah HB 11, regarding transgender students in high school sports, has generated more outrage than illumination. We wanted to find out if there was more to the story.
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
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: The Road to Decriminalization of Psychoactive Drugs Runs Through Religion Brad Stoddard – Religion Dispatches Brad Stoddard outlines the movement to decriminalize psychoactive drugs, and the role religious rhetoric and experience play in it. Whether you agree, or want to be aware of how religious freedom rhetoric is being used, it’s worth the read. We must not let health care become a religion-free zone Charles C. Camosy – America Magazine This Jesuit publication focuses on what it calls the “absolutely bizarre” insistence that religion should not play any role in the world of medicine. Camosy outlines the long-term problems of this approach. Threats to religious freedom and to women go hand in hand Jeff Brumley – Baptist News Global A panel at the United States Commission of International Religious Freedom found that everywhere religious freedom is threatened, the rights of girls and women are threatened as well. To Those Who Say Religion is for People with Weak Minds Daniel C. Peterson – Meridian Magazine Since Freud, many have concluded that religion is only adopted as psychological comfort. Daniel Peterson looks at various refutations of that argument, including a look at the possible psychological motivations of atheism. Getting ‘More Christians Into Politics’ Is the Wrong Christian Goal David French – The Dispatch Having people of faith in powerful positions used to be seen as a default good goal for many Christians looking to expand their influence in politics. French suggests that may no longer be a wise approach.
