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BYU Campus Education Week: How to relate to others about the Church

LDS Church News - Before beginning his BYU Campus Education Week series titled "Myths and Realities of Mormonism," Robert L. Millet, professor of ancient scripture and former dean of religious education at BYU, sought to help his audience understand the need to clarify these misconceptions. "Whether we like it or not, it matters a great deal what people understand or don't understand about us," he said. Brother Millet referred to a 2007 survey, "Public Opinion about Mormons," released by the Pew Research Center. The study found that 53 percent of the public expresses a favorable view of Mormons, while 27 percent express an unfavorable view...

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John Bytheway and Brad Wilcox give hugs and talk the Book of Mormon

Deseret News - Brad Wilcox and John Bytheway are having just too much fun at BYU's Campus Education Week. Wilcox channels a little bit of Leo Buscaglia with hugs, love and humor. Bytheway is also little bit like a stand-up comedian. Both have attitude, smiles and testimony. And youths crowded into the Smith Field House at BYU loved it. Teens lined up before the tag-team talk to get autographs and hug Wilcox. Bytheway slipped in at the last second and the show began. Their topic was the Book of Mormon — the signature scripture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Back...

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LDS apostle blogs — along with other Mormons — about faith’s future

Salt Lake Tribune - As in the past, the LDS Church does not plan to join in ecumenical dialogue but will continue to work with like-minded faiths on humanitarian projects and in defense of religious liberty, Mormon apostle Quentin L. Cook wrote recently in a one-of-a-kind online essay. Cook did not get the final word, nor the only word, on the future of the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The apostle was joined by bloggers, academics, writers and scholars who discussed everything from race relations and women’s issues to publishing, public affairs and technology — from scripture studies to sociology and marketing...

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New York Times: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir at Mt. Rushmore in 1962

New York Times - AT 3:30 in the morning on July 23, 1962, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir gathered at the airport here for a flight to a military base in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Preparations for a now nearly forgotten salvo of the cold war, called Operation Telstar, were under way. It was time to sing. The 360-member choir, the lyrical voice of Mormonism since pioneer days, was on a mission with multiple levels, historians and surviving singers say. They were to be the featured musical anchor later that day for the first international satellite television program — a blast of American culture...

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Searching For Decent Films: Using Movie Ratings Appropriately

LDS Cinema Online - The current movie rating system in the US gets a lot of criticism – most of it deserved. However, it also gets prematurely dismissed as unhelpful and irrelevant. It’s not irrelevant. A movie’s rating – subjective as it is – still presents information about that movie. As an example, suppose you see the following films on a movie store shelf and have absolutely no information about content other than the title: Kids Kids in the Hall Spy Kids Swing Kids Kids in America The Kids Who Saved Christmas The Kids Are All Right If you had the ratings to go by,...

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With Friends Like These…

By Common Consent - The interwebs have been all abuzz as of late with reviews both positive and negative regarding the new Mormon.org ad campaign. Not being a fan of egregious animal cruelty, I don’t want to beat this dead horse, but I think there’s a side to this whole thing that’s been largely (if not entirely) ignored: The seeming inability of actual Mormons to abide the message of diversity and acceptance the ads imply. Anyone within a mile of the Bloggernacle already knows that the most glaring complaint about the new ads stems from what many see as a disconnect between the lifestyles featured...

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YW Lesson 2-32 "The Importance of Life"

Beginnings New - We've been around long enough to know that this unit, the "Living a Virtuous Life" unit each year, poses some of the greatest teaching challenges to you and usually includes lessons that many of you find to be poorly written, or which contain troubling weird stories, or which need so much adaptation that you wonder if there's anything salvageable in them. Yeah, Lesson 32 is pretty much like that. Your comments on our poll hint that many of you struggle with how to make the kickoff chastity lessons relevant to the girls in your particular classes. Amelia says, "I'm desperately looking...

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Sheri Dew: Influencing others through leadership

The Daily Universe - We are all leaders. We all have tremendous influence. These are the words Sheri Dew shared with Education Week participants on Thursday in her class, “The Divine Gift of Righteous Influence.” Clips from Candid Camera showed entire crowds of “strangers” facing unusual directions in elevators, until one poor soul unaware of the situation, would soon change their own direction as well, illustrated Dew’s message. “This shows peer pressure and that people can blindly follow without something making a lick of sense,” she said.  Who are you allowing to influence you? If history teaches anything, it spotlights how critical leaders are, Dew...

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Prophecies about the Middle East

Deseret News - The gasps, oohs, and ahhs of hundreds filled the large room as the gospel scholar shared stories, insights and occasional humor. Victor L. Ludlow had them hanging on his every word. The topic had everything to do with it. Ludlow was lecturing on "The Prophetic Perspectives and Prophecies About the Middle East." The Thursday afternoon class, which took place on an upper floor the Wilkinson Student Center, was part of BYU Education Week. Ludlow centered his remarks around four basic prophecies found in the standard works: 1. Missionary work in region and/or among Muslims and Jews 2. A temple in Jerusalem...

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The Church’s Reputation: Progress, Challenges, and Opportunity

Meridian Magazine - During the past few years, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has navigated a period of intense public attention and scrutiny rarely seen during any other time in its history. In 2008, nationwide media attention was focused on the Mormon faith during the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney (a Mormon). A few journalists named the period "The Mormon Moment." For a year or more, media attention far exceeded even the considerable interest generated during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. That particular Romney-specific "Mormon Moment" came and went (although it could easily resurface if the former Massachusetts...