World Congress of Families: Interview with Shelly Locke, Founder of The Power of Mothers

MR says: It's kind of surprising that something like this would attract the negative attention it does. At dinner I had a wonderful opportunity to interview Shelly Locke, former Utah's 2007 Young Mother of the Year and delegate to the United Nations and The Howard Center for Religious Studies, humanitarian...

Ten Commandments come down in Oklahoma school district

MR says: Most surprising quote, by a minister of another religion: "Every religious person should object to having the Ten Commandments in schools because you are allowing other people — people over whom you have no control — the responsibility of interpreting said commandments." For the second time in...

Spiritual leaders use Facebook, YouTube, hashtags to spread messages

MR says: We even saw this with the way the LDS Church included hashtags on the screen during April's general conference.

If you want to get more religion in your social media, you can also follow LDS Living on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

The Jewish “Gentile” Governor in Utah

MR says: Cool little snapshot of history in Utah and the first non-Mormon, democratic governor of Utah: a Jewish man that faithfully defended Mormons. In my early years of graduate school, I became interested in a project that compared mainstream American attitudes toward Mormons and Jews during the...

Pentagon says military personnel can evangelize but not proselytize

MR says: This clarification comes after many said the Department of Defense had cracked down on religious discussion among chaplains and ranks. The Pentagon has clarified its position on religious talk among U.S. troops, saying it's OK to talk about one's beliefs, but aggressive proselytizing is not...

Mormon and Jewish interfaith marriage rates: of temples and missionaries

MR says: A response by Mark Parades (a Mormon who works closely with Jews) to an article on interfaith marriage (read it here). I read with great interest Naomi Schaefer Riley’s...

Rhetoric heats up in debate over proselytizing in the military

MR says: The rule against proselytizing for chaplains has always existed, but now it's being enforced more strictly. A war over the religious freedom of military chaplains and the troops they serve is being waged in the Pentagon. The latest salvo came this week when conservative blogger Todd Starnes wrote...

Femininity abroad: How clothing standards clash

MR says: FASCINATING article on differing standards of modesty across countries, and what happens when differing modesty isn't observed. Knee-length skirts. No revealing attire. English major Ashley Brocious thought she dressed modestly, but she didn’t plan on spending hours at the “DI” searching for a...

Catholic church ad calls Jesus Christ 'The Original Hipster'

MR says: An interesting campaign launched by a diocese (like a ward) in Brooklyn. In a time where organized religion has been forced to recognize the rise of the "nones," the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn has launched a new ad campaign, "All Faces, Everyday Understanding," in which it classifies Jesus...

Salt Lake Buddhist temples have Protestant, Mormon roots

MR says: Kind of cool. One of the temples has Mormon roots, and it's cool to read about the building's history. Two Buddhist temples dot Salt Lake City’s urban core. Both are housed in historic structures, serve a diverse population and preach about the transitory nature of human life. One of these...

Blue Sunday: Hundreds of churches will pray for the safety of children and an end to abuse Sunday

MR says: Have you heard of Blue Sunday? It's another opportunity for people of faith to take a stand against abuse. Janet Magee was horrified when a child who sometimes came to the church she attended was murdered, one of the nation's 1,570 children who die each year from abuse. But the sheer magnitude of...

Why going to church is good for you

MR says: Super interesting article on how science supports going to church. A couple things: she uses the word "imagination" to refer to how we comprehend God (possibly unfamiliar with the idea of personal revelation) and "placebo effect" to show how healing can be symbolic and not come through a physical stimulus. She is quite careful to explain she is not using these derogatorily; they're some of the only words in science that can explain certain patterns.

Is there a dearth of religious journalists in the nation's newsrooms?

MR says: Faith among journalists is more and more rare, yet these are frequently the people who write about faith topics. The recent death of a newsman drew some unlikely praise from those who admired him. And it wasn't just for his skills as a writer and reporter. McCandlish Phillips was also a...

Kiwanis Club helps out at Mormon Station

MR says: Love this! So often we hear about how Mormons are helping others--this time a non-Mormon group came and volunteered service to one of our landmarks at a state park. Kiwanis’ 240,000 volunteers in 80 countries join together on the third Saturday in April, designated as Kiwanis One Day, a day for...

Boston shows outpouring of faith in wake of bombing

MR says: Even though Boston is one of the least religious cities, there has been an abundance of religious services and prayers. Boston ranks among the least religious cities in the country, according to Gallup. But those numbers, based on church attendance and whether religion is important in the daily...