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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.

NY Times: Huntsman announces run for president

Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the former governor of Utah, officially announced he was running for president on Tuesday, telling an audience of supporters and reporters gathered at a park facing the Statue of Liberty that he would be a better leader than President Obama, for whom he served as the ambassador to China until recently.

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.”

From the Church

Church statement on its financial independence in response to Businessweek cover

The growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from a fledgling band of frontier Americans to a global faith that blesses the lives of millions is one of the great religious success stories of the 19th and 20th centuries. From the very beginning, members of the Church displayed a remarkable ability to set aside material things for spiritual goals. One of the earliest Church members, Martin Harris, mortgaged his farm to pay for the publication of the Book of Mormon. Other examples of self-sacrifice among the early Latter-day Saints abound.

Commentary: Yale professor warns of Mormon theocracy in <i>NY Times</i>

Mormons are somewhat fond of quoting Yale professor Harold Bloom when he refers to the founding prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an "authentic religious genius." He even repeated this in a recent interview with the Deseret News where he not only said Joseph Smith was a religious genius, but that "Had I been a nineteenth-century American and not Jewish I would probably have become a Mormon . . . "

Mormon artist battles post-9/11 Muslim stereotypes

Andrew Kosorok was disturbed when some Americans began to view Islam as a religion of violence after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “The overwhelming majority of Muslims view the terrorists as the overwhelming majority of Christians view Charles Manson or David Koresh,” said Kosorok, an artist and Brigham Young University adjunct professor. “We don’t recognize what they practiced as being Christian.”

LDS church plans next steps for missionaries, members in Japan

Whether Mormon missionaries in the areas of Japan hardest hit by the earthquake and tsunami will be relocated or stay and become a humanitarian aid force is still a question. Either scenario is a possibility as the needs are assessed for both the local church population as well as the missionaries, most of whom are expatriate Americans. Missionaries were part of relief efforts in Haiti following the earthquake there 14 months ago and took on humanitarian aid roles following Hurricane Katrina in 2008 and the tsunami originating in the Indian Ocean in 2007.

New York Times: Black Mormons and the politics of identity

When Marguerite Driessen, a professor here, entered Brigham Young University in the early 1980s, she was the first black person many Mormon students had ever met, and she spent a good bit of her college time debunking stereotypes about African-Americans. Then she converted to Mormonism herself, and went on to spend a good deal of her adult life correcting assumptions about Mormons.So the matchup in this year’s presidential election comes as a watershed moment for her, symbolizing the hard-won acceptance of racial and religious minorities.

Fun

How the Fourth of July Combines Patriotism and Faith

The Fourth of July is a time for family and friends, hot dogs and hamburgers, firecrackers and bottle rockets. And for believers, it's an opportunity to examine the relationship between patriotism and faith.

Two LDS Missionaries Heading Home After Family Dies From CO Poisoning

Two young LDS missionaries are preparing to leave their missions to return to Idaho after learning their father, mother and two younger brothers died at home over the weekend from carbon monoxide poisoning.