Provo and Cedar City Utah 2nd in nation for guns at airports

Roswell, NM had the highest rate of attempts of taking guns through airport security checkpoints (8.5 per 100,000 passengers).  Provo and Cedar City are tied for second place, at 6.5 per 100,000 passengers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/02/more-passengers-guns-airports_n_3536446.html

Church Statement on DOMA and Prop 8 rulings questions judicial & democratic processes of the U.S.

After fighting against same-sex marriage for over 20 years, the LDS church released a statement about the Supreme Court's rulings on Prop 8 and DOMA, saying they raised "troubling questions about how our democratic and judicial systems operates" suggesting many will wonder if "there is something fundamentally wrong" when a popular vote is found unconstitutional.
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DOMA, Prop8 struck down by supreme court

Excerpts of Joy, jeers as Supreme Court gives gay marriage a boostby Tomas Burr, Matt Canham and Isobel Markham, Salt lake Tribune

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Washington • Married gay couples can file taxes together and share health benefits, while, in the nation's most populous state, same-sex partners will once again be legally able to say "I do."

In a pair of landmark 5-4 rulings Wednesday, the Supreme Court handed gay-rights supporters major victories and also signaled that it could, in the immediate future, take up the question of whether state bans — like Utah's — on same-sex unions violate the Constitution's guarantees of equal protection and due process.

Mormon History Association Best Book & Article Awards

Excerpts from 2013 MHA Award Winners, Christopher @ Juvenile Instructor
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Best Book Award
• Brandon Plewe, S. Kent Brown, Donald Q. Cannon, and Richard H. Jackson, eds., Mapping Mormonism: An Atlas of Latter-Day Saint History. Provo, Utah: BYU Press, 2012.
Best Biography Award
• John G. Turner, Brigham Young, Pioneer Prophet. Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2012.
Best Documentary History /Bibliography Award
• Joseph Smith Jr., The Joseph Smith Papers, Histories Vol. 1, 1832-1844, eds. Karen Lynn Davidson, David J. Whittaker, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jensen. The Joseph Smith Papers: Histories, Volume 1. Salt Lake City: The Church Historian’s Press, 2012.
• Joseph Smith Jr., The Joseph Smith Papers, Histories Vol. 2, Assigned Histories, 1831-1847, edited by Karen Lynn Davidson, Richard L. Jenson, and David J. Whittaker. Salt Lake City: The Church Historian’s Press, 2012.
Best International Book Award
• Marjorie Newton, Tiki and Temple: The Mormon Mission in New Zealand, 1854-1958 (Draper, UT: Greg Kofford Books, 2012).
Best First Book Award
• J. Spencer Fluhman, A Peculiar People: Anti-Mormonism and the Making of Religion in Nineteenth-Century America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012).
Best Article Award
• Christopher C. Jones, “Mormonism in the Methodist Marketplace, James Covel and the Historical Background of Doctrine and Covenants 39-40,” BYU Studies Quarterly 51:1 (2012), 67-98.
Best Article on Mormon Women’s History
• Lisa Olsen Tait, “The Young Woman’s Journal: Gender and Generations in a Mormon Women’s Magazine,” American Periodicals 22.1 (2012): 51-71.
Best International Article Award
• Ronald E. Bartholomew, “The Role of Local Missionaries in Nineteenth-Century England,” in Reid L. Nielson and Fred E. Woods, eds. Go Ye Into All the World: The Growth and Development of Mormon Missionary Work (Provo, UT: BYU Religious Studies Center, 2012).
Article Awards of Excellence (2)
• Adam Jortner, “Solomon Spaulding’s Indians, or, What the ‘Manuscript Found’ Really Tells Us,” Journal of Mormon History 38:4 (Fall 2012): 226-247.
• Benjamin E. Park, “(Re)Interpreting Early Mormon Thought: Synthesizing Joseph Smith’s Theology and the Process of Religion Formation,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 45:2 (Summer 2012): 59-88.
Best Family and Community History Award
• Stephen G. Schwendiman, The Mendon Saints: Their Lives and Legacy, Vol. 2 (Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 2012).

Missionary efforts shift towards Internet

Excerpts of Mormon missions: Door-to-door approach is out; Internet is in by Peggy Fletcher Stack, Salt Lake Tribune

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In what was billed as a "historic" meeting Sunday, Mormon apostle L. Tom Perry announced that the Utah-based faith's largest missionary force ever — more than 70,000 strong — will tap online tools to help them connect with and teach their "investigators."

Elizabeth Smart calls for change in LDS teachings about sexuality

Excerpts of Mormon Feminism: Elizabeth Smart calls for change, by Holly Welker, City Weekly
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At a human-trafficking forum at Johns Hopkins University in May, Elizabeth Smart said she didn't try to escape after being kidnapped at knifepoint from her Salt Lake City home, both because she feared reprisals from her captors and felt worthless after being raped, thanks in part to abstinence-focused "object lessons" about premarital sex. Whether she realized it or not, Smart is part of a growing movement of LDS female activists, members anxious for cultural and practical changes within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in areas ranging from how girls learn about modesty and sex to ordaining women to the priesthood.

Church supports BSA proposed acceptance of gay scouts & denial of gay scout leaders

Mormon Church to accept gay Boy Scouts, by Mark Trumbull,  Christian Science Monitor

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In a major step regarding openness in the Boy Scouts of America, Mormon Church officials have approved the scout organization's acceptance of gay scouts. Still, the new ruling remains controversial because it bans gay scout leaders.

The Danger of Homosexuality, 20 years later

Elder Packer and the Danger of Homosexuality, 20 Years Later, WithoutEnd.org Twenty years ago this week, Elder Boyd K. Packer gave a talk to the All-Church Coordinating Counsel opening with some advice he received about which direction church administrators should face.  "Either you represent the teachers and students and champion their causes or you represent the Brethren who appointed you. You need to decide now which way you face." Then he added, "some of your predecessors faced the wrong way." Elder Packer said this advice was difficult to follow at first, but "in time, I did understand, and my resolve to face the right way became irreversible." He gave several anecdotes about blessings of unquestioning obedience to file leaders saying he knew "how easy it is to get turned around."  He warned of three dangers influencing church members to "face the wrong way" which "have made major invasion[s]" into the church because of "social and political unrest." Members of the church were succumbing to these "temptations" because they seem "so reasonable and right." "The dangers I speak of come from the gay-lesbian movement, the feminist movement (both of which are relatively new), and the ever-present challenge from the so-called scholars or intellectuals." To illustrate his points, Elder Packer quoted from three letters, each representing one of the three dangers and provided specific responses to each.  By the time Elder Packer gave this talk in 1993 church leaders had firmly established a stance regarding homosexuality – that it was an unnatural condition one was not born with, a "disease" possibly brought on by parental failure, masturbation or satanic influences.

Continue reading "Elder Packer and the Danger of Homosexuality, 20 Years Later" »

Feminist activism results in women praying in conference

Excerpts of Historic prayers in General Conference by Kurt Hanson, Daily Universe

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Sister Jean A. Stevens and Sister Carol M. Stephens made history in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by offering prayers during the 183rd Annual General Conference.

When Sister Stevens gave the benediction on Saturday morning it was the first time a woman has prayed during a session of General Conference. 

Holland says openly doubting is OK, but lean toward faith

Excerpts of "Lord I Believe" by Jeffery R. Holland, April General Conference
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Honestly acknowledge your questions and your concerns, but first and forever fan the flame of your faith, because all things are possible to them that believe.

"The Paradoxes of Religious Peace and Conflict" -Margaret Toscano

2013 Eugene England Memorial Lecture 

"The Paradoxes of Religious Peace and Conflict"  

Margaret Toscano 

Mormon Scholars in the Humanities conference: "The Mystical"

2013 MSH Conference, "The Mystical."

We now invite you to register for our 2013 conference, which will be held March 15 and 16, 2013, at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. This year's meeting focuses on mysticism, with presentations by two notable guest speakers, David Loy and Elliot Wolfson, as well as papers on this and other topics.

Registration Preliminary conference schedule

Joseph Smith Papers volume editor needed

Historian/Documentary Editor, Joseph Smith Papers

Job Description

Conference: The Expanded Canon, Perspectives on Mormonism and Sacred Texts

Annual Mormon Studies Conference 

UVU's Religious Studies Program has been sponsoring its annual Mormon Studies conference since March, 2001. These conferences bring together scholars, practitioners, and other presenters to explore a variety of topics and themes in Mormon culture, theology, history, literature, etc. Our program also offers a variety of other lectures, symposia, and conferences that can be seen here.
Thirteenth Annual Mormon Studies Conference  
The Expanded Canon
Perspectives on Mormonism and Sacred Texts
 April 4-5, 2013

New edition of LDS Scriptures; race, polygamy, historical accuracy

Excerpts of New Mormon scriptures tweak race, polygamy references, Peggy Fletcher Stack, Salt Lake Tribune. See here for a detailed list of changes.

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Scholars laud changes, say they bring a more accurate, fuller view of faith's history.

Egyptian Alphabet documents posted

The Joseph Smith Papers Project announces the addition of the following new content and features to its website, josephsmithpapers.org:

• The Kirtland Egyptian Papers, including images of the "Grammar and Alphabet of the Egyptian Language"; transcripts and images of "Egyptian Counting," the three versions of "Egyptian Alphabet," and two notebooks with Egyptian characters and English entries; and images of two other documents with characters and illustrations. Also included is a brief introduction to the Egyptian material.
• Fragments of the Egyptian papyri purchased by the church in 1835.

Mormon presidential candidate endorses gay marriage

Excerpts of Huntsman endorses gay marriage, urges GOP to do same, by Thomas Burr, Salt Lake Tribune

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Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman is endorsing gay marriage and urging fellow Republicans to embrace the cause of equality as a basic conservative principle.

Huntsman, who ran an unsuccessful bid for the Republican Party's 2012 presidential nomination, backed civil unions as Utah's chief executive but said in an opinion piece that was "four years ago" and he's evolved.

"I've been married for 29 years. My marriage has been the greatest joy of my life," Huntsman said in a piece published in The American Conservative magazine. "There is nothing conservative about denying other Americans the ability to forge that same relationship with the person they love."

Church History Symposium, Approaching Antiquity: Joseph Smith's Study of the Ancient World

2013 BYU Church History Symposium

Approaching Antiquity:

Joseph Smith's Study of the Ancient World

BYU CHURCH HISTORY SYMPOSIUM

March 7–8, 2013

LDS Church files brief supporting Prop 8 and DOMA

LDS Church files SCOTUS brief supporting Prop 8, DOMA, Fox13 News, Ben Winslow

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has filed a pair of briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to uphold California's Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

"Revelations in Context" at lds.org

Those with an interest in church history have had to deal with incomplete, uncontextualized and often inaccurate historical information published in church curricula.  Now, a major step has occurred to correct this situation.

Excerpts of Revelations in Context: The Unveiling by Ardis Parshall, keepapitchinin.org.

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... [without good contextual background to the revelations, understanding can be difficult] ... What are you supposed to do as a Gospel Doctrine teacher? No wonder we pick out verses here and there and do proof-texting! How else can we teach from this scripture? What a muddle! ...

A new resource for understanding the Doctrine and Covenants is going online. "Revelations in Context," a series of articles addressing the background of each section of the Doctrine and Covenants, is being published by the Church