"It's kind of sad how talking about faith brings up this huge divide," Lindsey Stirling said in an interview with Huffington Post. She recalled the initial negative reactions she had from fans when she first began talking openly about her faith.

The Star of David, the Crucifix, and the Islamic star and crescent are a few of the many religious symbols that are not commonly seen at BYU. Though it would be easy to assume that all students, faculty and staff at BYU are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this is not the case.

What if faith has nothing to do with hoping God helps us?

The anticipation is over. Jabari Parker, the top high school basketball player in the country, is headed to Duke. This afternoon he made it official in a nationally televised press conference held at Simeon Career Academy in Chicago, bringing an end to an unprecedented recruiting process that began over three years ago. BYU fans will no doubt be disappointed. So will the folks at Florida, Michigan State and Stanford. But nobody should be surprised. The top recruit wants to play for the top coach. Many consider Mike Krzyzewski to be second only to the late John Wooden on the short list of all-time greatest college coaches. Krzyzewski also coaches the U.S. Olympic team. Olympians LeBron James and Kobe Bryant have both said that if they had gone to college they would have gone to Duke. That says a lot.

In the minds of many voters, two things about Mitt and Ann Romney have set them apart from most Americans: their wealth and their Mormon faith. Both issues – personal and in some ways deeply private – have seemed at least a distraction from their main campaign message, which is to focus on the US economy and the way in which they frame President Obama’s failure to adequately deal with persistent joblessness. At the Republican convention in Tampa, Fla., the Romneys’ religion was addressed more openly than it had been to date – although more so by fellow Mormons who told of Mr. Romney’s prayerful compassion and practical help in times of deep trouble than by the candidate himself.

MR says: Following the death of Freddie Gray, who died in police custody, riots broke out in Baltimore, Maryland. Hundreds were arrested and hundreds of businesses were damaged. In order to help repair the damage and rift left in the city, one LDS leader decided to use baseball as a way to bring faith communities together.

President Russell M. Nelson said, "We need women who know how to make important things happen by their faith." That's us! Every day, even when we don't see the results, we're doing important things by faith. Most of the time, it's in small and simple ways, but "by small means, the Lord can bring about great things." (1 Nephi 16:29). When we think of people who acted with remarkable faith, scripture stories about Esther, Moses, and Nephi might come to mind, but do we think of ourselves on that same list? Today's guest is here to share how to look at faith with a fresh perspective and how we can figure out the important things Jesus Christ needs us to do, then have the courage to do them. Maybe we don't see ourselves on par with our heroes in the scriptures, but we should! Our faith may not be needed to part the seas, but it can be strong enough to do mighty and important work in God's kingdom.

I have heard that the musical "The Book of Mormon," which has performances this week in Nashville, is witty and well-written. It follows the fictional adventures of two missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving in Uganda. I have also heard that one of the themes of the musical is that people of faith are naive if they believe their faith can help make the world a better place.

In the high-stakes world of NFL football, focus is a premium attribute, one sought by coaches, players and personnel alike.

My family has watched Fox’s "American Idol" for years. Both my teenage daughters love to sing and every year we all find a couple of contestants to cheer for and rally around. Despite a slide in recent years, the longtime ratings juggernaut remains a top 20 program and has outlived most of its reality show siblings.