In addition to her faith, Carrie Underwood shared the one thing that's a priority in her life: her family.

There has been heated speculation about what it will mean to have a Mormon in the White House. Because Mormons believe their “president” — the head of their Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — is God’s prophet on earth, will a Mormon president of the United States be bound to obey whatever this man says? Again, Americans do not seem much astir about such things. Even so, with these concerns laid aside, many voters might not recognize an often undervalued feature of the faith: How it might help a Mormon lead in the Oval Office. This possibility arises from the emphasis the faith places upon patriotism, civic duty and morality in government — American government in particular.

“For me personally, my study has focused on the doctrines and principles, the invitations to act, and the promised blessings taught in the messages.”

“The next time a Latter-day Saint missionary asks if there’s anything they can do for me, I’m going to humbly and vulnerably reply as follows:”

Text for the April 2019 general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is now available online as well as the Gospel Library app. Now you can listen to, mark up, and review this past inspiring session of general conference as you strive to incorporate the words, promises, invitations, and insights of our prophet and Church leaders.

The second time around, the shock has worn off. The prospect of a Mormon president appears to be less alien to South Carolina Republicans who are giving Mitt Romney a second look after his failed White House bid in 2008.

With the Mesa Arizona Temple open house underway, Church leaders are encouraging people of all faiths and backgrounds to visit the newly renovated building. In an opinion piece for The Arizona Republic, President Dallin H. Oaks explained that the temple “creates a connection among members of the greater Mesa community.”

“There comes to us from the voice of the Book echoes as from some word that we have heard long since and have well understood; they are the whisperings to us of familiar truths. We recognize them, for they are attested by the reasoning of the mind and the sanction of the spirit within us. They tell us that the end of life is that we shall be born again (Mos. 27:25), redeemed and become the sons and daughters of God; that there is no happiness in sin, and that obedience is the way to joy (Alma 41:10; 2 Nephi 2:25). It teaches that an element of faith is a recognition of God's superior knowledge (Mos. 4:6 12), and how that faith is nurtured and grows in the heart of man (Alma 26:22); and how it may become so powerful that nothing can be held from it (3 Nephi 7:18; Ether 12:19). That spiritual gifts to man cease only because of his wickedness (Mormon 1:14), and that God to be unchangeable must be a God of miracles (Mormon 9:19). It gives full light on the comprehensiveness of the plans of the Almighty (2 Nephi 27:7 10), and shows that all men have been alike to him from the beginning of creation, and that his atonement applied as well before as subsequent to his coming in the flesh (Mos. 3:13). That baptism, necessary now, was always necessary (2 Nephi 31:9; Mos. 2:22; 3 Nephi 11:38 39). That the mission of all prophets has been to testify of the Christ (Jacob 7:11). It teaches that purity of heart alone gives access to God (Jacob 3:1). And with unanswerable authority is given again, by the Lord himself, the essence of his Gospel” (3 Nephi 27:13 16) (John A. Widtsoe and Franklin S. Harris, Jr., Seven Claims of the Book of Mormon, pp.167,168).

The experiment Alma the Younger suggests would actually be terrible science.

I am not in a same-sex relationship. I have no plans to marry a man. I have no children. The November 2015 policy said nothing about gay Latter-day Saints like me. And yet when I read about the policy, I felt pain and confusion. You see, the hurt came from wondering if the church didn’t want people like me. The hurt came from feeling excluded. The hurt came from fearing that if I chose to be in a same-sex marriage that I would be erased from my people.