Amid frequent claims that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in decline, a partial database of the Church’s landholdings released today shows impressive strength. The database would make the Church the fifth largest private property holder in the United States. The holdings show that the Church’s land connects well with its mission. The holdings include land for temples and meetinghouses, land for agricultural projects to support the Church’s welfare, land to help sustain city areas around temples, and land used as part of the Church’s stewardship of tithing funds. The news should be welcome for Latter-day Saints knowing their faith’s long-term is secure.

The good folks at Book of Mormon Central explain the evidence for the existence of Mulek, the son of Zedekiah, an important figure in Book of Mormon history—one that was unknown at the time the Book of Mormon was translated into English. At the time The Book of Mormon came to light, some found it odd there would be a son of the king Zedekiah that had not been mentioned in the Bible. New evidence, however, supports his existence. Enjoy their brief video.  

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