Search - LDS Living

A Mormon, 2 Catholics and a Protestant go into a homeless shelter

Religiously speaking, this presidential election is a fascinating moment in our national life, and for multiple reasons. First, one party nominated a Mormon and a Roman Catholic as president and vice president respectively, the first time in American history that a major party ticket has excluded a Protestant! This is not the first time a Mormon has sought the presidency. The father of the present Republican nominee unsuccessfully pursued that party’s nomination in 1968. Mormon patriarch Joseph Smith ran for president in 1844, the same year he was assassinated by a “gentile” mob in Nauvoo, Ill.

Panel at Notre Dame Discusses Role of Religion in Romney campaign

Mitt Romney’s Mormonism was a significant reason why his campaign for the presidency struggled against incumbent President Barack Obama, but it was far from the main factor in his eventual defeat in the 2012 election, according to a panel of experts in a discussion on politics and religion at the University of Notre Dame.

'Mormonism, Islam and the Question of Other Religions'

As a product, on one level, of the early 19th century United States, the Prophet Joseph Smith "shared the idealism and passion for freedom and human rights that were the motivating principles" of the American Revolution, said Daniel C. Peterson Aug. 5 in the closing presentation of the FAIR Conference. FAIR, the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Apologetics, is a volunteer organization that seeks to counter criticisms against Mormonism, though it is not affiliated with and does not speak for the Church.

Bible Meets Twitter in LDS Author's New Book, 'The Twible'

Nearly every home has at least one Bible, although few read it. But 16 percent of Americans log on to Twitter every day. And that’s where author Jana Riess takes the word of God. A popular Mormon blogger at Religion News Service and author of “Flunking Sainthood,” Riess spent four years tweeting every book of the Old and New Testaments with pith and wit.

Mitt Romney, Mormon: This I know

Most Americans are a bit gun-shy when it comes to talking about faith and politics. And it’s no wonder, given that for the last few decades we’ve seen religion used as a political weapon on sensitive personal issues, like the most recent entanglement that seems to be rolling back the clock on contraception for women. As the landmark election of President Obama in 2008 presented an important opportunity to discuss race in America, this year presents another important opportunity: to improve the quality of our national conversation on religion, as America contemplates the presidential candidacy of Mitt Romney.

Biography of the Book of Mormon an unbiased look at its influence

In “The Book of Mormon: A Biography,” (Princeton University Press, 2012) author Paul C. Gutjahr notes that critiques and evaluations of Mormonism’s most important book have moved simple two-way, primarily theological debates between Mormon apologists and mostly evangelical critics who opposed the book for its claims of being holy scripture. As Gutjahr writes, including his own, slim but scholarly volume as one example, “By the early twenty-first century it was finally escaping the narrow confines of Mormon/non-Mormon religious debate as it increasingly came to be treated as an important text in American culture more generally.”

New vision has BYUtv expanding audience with values-based entertainment

Even as an explosion of new broadcast networks and channels splintered the American television market, a little university channel called BYUtv extended its reach to 60 million homes in the first decade of its existence while consistently broadcasting university devotionals, scripture roundtables and other content aimed primarily at Mormons.

LDS Church files Supreme Court brief supporting Prop 8, DOMA

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. The briefs were drafted by lawyers for the LDS Church here in Utah and filed Jan. 29 before the nation’s top court on behalf of the National Association of Evangelicals, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Lutheran Church-MIssouri Synod, the Romanian-American Evangelical Alliance of North America, Truth in Action Ministries, and the Mormon Church.

Latter-day Saint Life

5 Resources to Help You Climb Your Personal Mt. Everest

On this day, in the year 1983, Larry Nielson was the first American to complete a task that less than ninety people have achieved. That mission was to climb Mount Everest without using any supplemental oxygen. A neat fact about Nielson is that he is also a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From his monumental experience of climbing the tallest mountain on the Earth, he penned this quote: “You don’t conquer it, you survive it.”

Mormon youth honor 9/11 victims with annual flag display

For nine years, teenagers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Ahwatukee Foothills have worked together to remind the community of those who were lost during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, by posting more than 100 American flags along the Warner-Elliot Loop for a 24-hour period. "It was just an idea from the bishop that preceded me on the first anniversary of 9/11," said Kerry Griggs, bishop of Ahwatukee First Ward. "It was something we could do to provide a little service to the community and serve as a reminder."