This Week in Latter-days

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t's been a week of humorous highs and sobering lows when it comes to Latter-day Saint related news. Our international correspondent, Josie Gleave, is with us to has it all out.

Let's talk about Pierre. It seems one Willard "Mitt" Romney has been skulking about the depths of Twitter using a pseudonym, according to a great new profile by friend of TWiM, McKay Coppins. However, what was a cursory mention of said Twitter lurking led Slate to investigate further, and they have discovered Romney's secret life! Mitt Romney has, narrowly, won the internet for the week! Our friends at The Cultural Hall also managed to secure an interview with the "real" Pierre Delecto, who is concerned about Romney trying to co-opt his identity.

That's not the only Mitt Romney news. The Los Angeles Times picked up on the so-called "White Horse Prophecy" and how Mittens may be a fulfillment of it. Of course, the Times goes to no lengths to explain that the "prophecy" is apocryphal at best and forms no part of Latter-day Saint canon. Besides, we saw North Korea's leader on a white horse only this week!

Important news! Geoff is appearing in a Reddit AMA on October 23. Sign up for Reddit and be there!

In more important political news, this week, the Church came out against a Utah bill that would ban conversion therapy, a process to essentially flip a gay individual over to straight. The practice has long been decried by professionals and even the Church. (The Church goes to lengths to explain that Family Services expressly prohibits its counselors from employing any form of conversion therapy.) As expected, most media seized upon this with headlines along the lines of "Mormons Refuse to Denounce Conversion Therapy," but as is the case with headlines, that fails to tell the whole story. We get more in depth about the Church's reasons for not backing this bill, and a lot of it comes down to semantics.

Using his heightened apostolic sense, President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, seems to think not all is well in the United States. What could possibly be wrong?! In a meeting in Massachusetts that was broadcast across the northeast United States, President Ballard encouraged Latter-day Saints to pray for the United States, that it can be led by righteous individuals, and that proper rule of law and morality can prevail. Geoff chooses to see this as an oblique critique of the Trump administration. Josie, the expat, is baffled by such US-centric counsel coming out.

Which leads us to international news. Singapore celebrates the Church's 50th anniversary in the country with an

Devin Thorpe, arguably among the 10 nicest persons in the world, is in the hot seat as we hash through dozens of amazing Latter-day Saint news stories!

Did you know that the sacrament prayers are grammatically wrong? This is the hot-ticket news you need to know!

Mac Christensen, founder of fabled Utah apparel chain Mr. Mac, passes away at age 85. He's remember by thousands of missionaries who loved his polyester suits.

Are Mormons to the rescue in the every-downward spiral of American politics? The New York Times explores one Willard "Mitt" Romney and whether Latter-day Saints will finally be the bulwark against Donald Trump.

Also from the New York Times, a fascinating overview of the burgeoning film industry in Utah, some of it done by the Church itself, other parts from independent filmmaking. One thing is crucial: Kirby Heyborne lives.

A couple random mentions: the president of Kiribati visits President Nelson, a beer truck spills its load all over a meetinghouse parking lot in Sandy, President Nelson is off to carry on his Global Ministry tour in Southeast Asia, and a school in Utah will open a time capsule from 1887!

Oh hey! The beloved Layton Utah Temple rendering has been released. The temple looks... fine.

http://www.thisweekinmormons.com/2019/10/rendering-released-of-layton-utah-temple/

Devin shares a wonderful story of black Latter-day Saints finding the gospel, and personal insights into the lift of the priesthood ban in 1978.

The Church Newsroom has been sort of neutered in terms of its social media presence. Want to visit the Newsroom on Instagram? Too bad!

http://thisweekinmormons.com/2019/09/church-combines-social-media-accounts-of-newsroom-and-main-pages

Ugh. Latter Day Matchmaker is at it again...

Check out this very random video where two different analysts independently peg the date of the First Vision!

LDS Earth Stewardship is a thing!

Transcript

Geoff Openshaw:

[0:00] Everybody Geoff openshaw here before we get to the show I just want to wish you a brief apology and before you think I'm going to apol...

[dropcap]G[/dropcap]eneral Conference was amazing! What a weekend. Even aside from some incredible changes for youth as well as some amazing new temple announcements (that matched up gorgeously with our predictions), there were so many fantastic talks this weekend that we hardly have time for it all.

So join Geoff Openshaw, Kurt Francom, Jared Gillins, and the TWiM Sisters as they break down their favorite conference talks as well as the incredible news.

Plus, we get to wonder what the heck is going to happen with conference in April?????

Plus, if you missed our Tie Tracker, well, don't miss the Tie Tracker!

Transcript

Geoff:

[0:00] Everybody thanks so much for tuning in once again to this weekend warm it's been a busy week of podcasts on Twin we're going to turn out like,

technically speaking 3 episodes within a 7-Day time span and Kurt I am very sorry for your suffering,

responsible for two-thirds of those episodes but we're very glad everybody's here.Kurt:

[0:20] Whatever you need from me.

Geoff:

[0:23] Well you're very nice you're too nice to nice I'm going to say that

open mics it's other post-conference rap episode where very excited to have a panel here this week already talking about this week is what we just had in general conference

all the cool things that went down and honestly will baby do five minutes of recapping talks and then spend a good hour a speculating on what the heck is going to happen in April 2020,

for General Conference cuz that's really all anybody's going to care about I kid I kid,

very happy to be here let me introduce our panel you have me of course Jeff up and show your founder and host of twin also joining me as I mentioned there was Kirk Franklin of leading Saints.

Kurt:

[1:02] What what hey Jeff have you been.

Geoff:

[1:05] What what also.

Kurt:

[1:06] I've got a list of speculations I'm ready to share.

Geoff:

[1:09] I'm sure you do I'm so cat good.

Sisters:

[1:15] Hi hello.

Geoff:

[1:19] How is Idaho.

Sisters:

[1:20] It's good we made it through conference weekend with all kinds of children I spent 1/2 of conference weekend in Logan with my college daughter I drove home last night.

Geoff:

[1:32] That sounds terrific.

Sisters:

[1:34] It was fun.

Geoff:

[1:35] I've barely been to look into my life anyway.

Kurt:

[1:37] I love you I love you or just your your post-conference dad voice it's I'm I'm right there with you man.

Geoff:

[1:44] This wonderful that's great dear that's wonderful and Ginger Gilligan's.

Jared:

[1:49] Hello I'm back can't keep me away.

Geoff:

[1:53] Nor would I ever want to you can knock on my door anytime you want for anything at all because most of because you are physically the person.

Jared:

[2:01] Astronaut have to drive for like 45 minutes but I could go.

Geoff:

[2:04] I don't live 45 minutes away this drives me crazy I work down in downtown DC and my colleagues I'll describe where I live at ...

On this special bonus edition of This Week in Mormons, we thought it would be fun to bring our semiannual temple predictions, which were just published a few days ago, to you in podcast form! Join Geoff Openshaw and Joe Peterson as they audible hash out temple predictions, explaining their choices, and lambasting those who disagree with them. Hear the voices of these nuanced scholars!

Also worth checking out is this cool temple predictions matrix that amalgamates temple predictions from across the Bloggernaccle, assigns them a weighted score, and provides rankings, accordingly. It's pretty excellent!

You could read the transcript, but you might as well just read the predictions in another tab while listening. That will give you the more robust TWiM experience.

Transcript

Joe Peterson:

[0:00] I'm very sorry Jeff.

Geoff Openshaw:

[0:07] Everybody works out to do a little something here on this week in Mormons this week I am of course Geoff openshaw of your wonderful tour guide around this exciting place I'm joined,

for the special episode by none other than Joseph Angie Peterson.

Joe Peterson:

[0:24] Oh man that takes me back yeah it's my first time so pardon. I didn't mean to rain on your parade there so are there.

Geoff Openshaw:

[0:32] I don't think it's your first time I think you did one episode of twin with me I don't even know.

Joe Peterson:

[0:36] I did write it was with our wives back in the day yeah yeah.

Geoff Openshaw:

[0:40] Oh we did do that one with the wives back in the day when we when we were neighbors and that was our.

Joe Peterson:

[0:45] That was fun.

Geoff Openshaw:

[0:46] That was a good show so Jo tell us about yourself and why you are involved in the Twin what is your relevance to being here and why are we here today.

Joe Peterson:

[0:56] Well Jeff I no longer your neighbor but according to what I'm reading that you wrote is that I am a sometimes social media and huge twin cheerleader.

Geoff Openshaw:

[1:09] Yes that sounds about right.

Joe Peterson:

[1:10] I would also add you know I'm I'm a contributor you know I don't write a ton but I.

Geoff Openshaw:

[1:15] Okay you're a contributor.

Joe Peterson:

[1:17] 20 + that are maybe even more than that articles for twin yeah I've been around the block with him for a while I I was more involved back in the day especially when we both lived in Virginia doing the social

pretty

pretty regularly and you know mostly on Facebook I think but I will occasionally hear you know now that live in Utah go to various boncom and other type influencer events or whatever,

Maybe,

shootout at We Tour to on behalf of twin but for the most part you and I are just friends and this is a cool thing that you do that I support.

Geoff Openshaw:

[1:55] Yeah man now you've always avoid the back and you do more than I think people would realize you might not be one of the voices all the time but you are heavily involved.

Joe Peterson:

[2:04] Behind the scenes.

Geoff Openshaw:

[2:06] You might be listening to this and wondering why on Earth am I here I just heard it episode with Jeff and Kurt like a day ago,

that may be the case where is your temple predictions Joe and I do them together we've been doing them together semi-annually for many years now I think we're going back on and I don't know if 5S years probably ...

Photo by Jonathan Kland, LDS Architecture: ldsarchitecture.wordpress.com

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t's the week before General Conference, so naturally, Kurt and Geoff have some thoughts on what might be coming this weekend and how we can best prepare. Don't miss our General Conference rumors, either!

http://thisweekinmormons.com/2019/09/october-2019-general-conference-rumor-roundup/

By Common Consent posted an interesting Twitter rant this week:

One blog's opinion: people don't want less church. They want better church. They want experiences that bring them together. They want to feel like they belong to something bigger and worthwhile. /1

— BCC (@ByCommonConsent) October 1, 2019

Is two-hour church actually working? We're not talking about whether home-centered church or the new youth program are working. We're asking whether the two hours that we do spend together are spent as best as they can. It's easy to argue that it is not the most effective use of our precious time together, but what's your take? Has your ward benefited from the shortened block or do people feel more distant? Do you still get chances to socialize? Is there a spirit of camaraderie?

On September 29, we all enjoyed a broadcast on the new Children and Youth program, which is designed for, uh, children and youth. The broadcast was bereft of any real content or explanation of the structure of the program, but we love that kids will be setting goals and getting ready for FSY every two years.

Another Missionary Training Center is closing, this one in Guatemala. This one wasn't even particularly old. What's up with the slew of MTC closures? Kurt also has a great idea for how to hold fundraisers at the MTC.

Temple news: design revealed for Feather River California Temple, location revealed for Tooele Valley Utah Temple, and groundbreaking date revealed for Puebla Mexico Temple.

http://thisweekinmormons.com/2019/09/temple-predictions-october-2019/

A story went viral last week of a Baptist preacher giving a sermon on the Book of Mormon for 10 solid minutes. Even we loved it! Of course, this is why we can't have nice things, because it turns out the "Baptist" is a baptized member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and isn't recognized as a preacher by his fellow Baptists. Apparently he sees himself as a bridge between the two groups, neither of which embraces him.

Are Latter-day Saints stuck with the Republican Party despite alleged (and decreasingly manifested) discomfort with Donald Trump? The Washington Examiner thinks so, but Kurt, a more traditional Republican, isn't so sure.

James Curran/JTM/James the Mormon is doing the rounds, explaining why 50% of the people are mean to him.

Robert Kirby

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]ncredible show for you this week! Do you love BYU TV's Relative Race? Do you love family history? Do you love a little friendly competition? Do you love genial hosts? If so, stick around for a terrific interview with Dan Debenham, host and producer of Relative Race. Learn about behind-the-scenes work on the show and see how Dan's passion for bringing families together plays out on screen.

Transcript

Geoff Openshaw:

[0:00] Hey there TWiMsters.

[0:03] Welcome once again and thank you for tuning into another harrowing edition of this week in Mormons the greatest podcast in the entire world,

that's what I said it move over Joel Osteen we've got this covered on this week's special show however

we're going to do a flip the calendar back a few pages because I did two months ago we had the privilege of interviewing the

producer and host a relative race and if you're not familiar with relative race is a terrific BYUtv program that bring some competition to the proceedings but at the end of the day it's really about uniting families it's at is the seasons of going on,

are the contestants of showed up with some incredible stories and watching them reunite with loved ones meet them for the first time

and really see that the power of the spirit of Elijah,

on-screen is really something special and when we interviewed and it always thought I'd be just kind of a nice way to plug the show and learn some behind-the-scenes stuff which is part of the interview but what I really loved and reflecting on it,

hi is how passionate Dan is about,

the genealogical aspect of it about bringing people together even contestants who don't make it on air for example about still,

letting them linked together with their families there's something really really moving and useful in them and because season 6 of relative race just premiered this past weekend check it out if you haven't done so,

we thought it'd be a great time to revisit this interview and see what we can learn about family history and how.

[1:31] BYUtv has really Amplified its content in recent years,

the great to me like to stress about relative races yeah it's not just this competition show yes there's a prize at the end.

But at the end of the day there's something a lot more meaningful behind it so with that I will hand it over to myself.

All right well now it listeners we are very excited to bring on our special guests for this week's episode and Evan ham from relative races with a side an.

Dan Debenham:

[2:00] Hey how you doing Jeff.

Geoff Openshaw:

[2:03] I'm super thanks for being with us.

Dan Debenham:

[2:05] Anytime anytime.

Geoff Openshaw:

[2:08] We're big fans of relative race on the show where supporters very excited incidentally if I can self indulge for just a moment I found out about relative race two years ago and Susan one came on because,

my co-host Al was featured on turning point.

Dan Debenham:

[2:25] No way.

Geoff Openshaw:

[2:27] Yes so after watching down on the BYUtv at my wife and I were perusing and we saw a relative race were big The Amazing Race man to wear in the genealogy and that's how we got into it so Al I guess we have you to thank for this.

Al Doan:

[2:39] I I honestly I feel like most of the success of relative race comes back to to me.

Dan Debenham:

[2:45] That's what I was thinking I was thinking why are you guys even talking to me it's Al that we should all be speaking to right now.

Geoff Openshaw:

[2:52] Yeah but they are actually at that popped in my head last night so I'm glad we got to do...

[dropcap]H[/dropcap]ey party people! Welcome to another week in This Week in Mormons. The Sisters (not the great Sistaz) are here to recap the most recent week in Latter-day Saint news.

Did you miss out on last week's dynamite interview with Dr. Matt Harris about Ezra Taft Benson and the rise of Mormon fringe conservatism? The Sisters adored it. You should adore it, too.

http://thisweekinmormons.com/2019/09/episode-439-ezra-taft-benson-and-the-mormon-right-w-matt-harris-thunder-from-the-right-book/

Are Mormon men "groomed" not to listen to women? Blogger Jana Riess says yes. Some others say no. So let's talk about the ins and outs of this and also give you a chance to rake us over the coals for our Facebook post about it.

Weeks after we broke the news that firearms and other weapons are now prohibited in church facilities, the trickle effect continues, as the institute at Utah Valley University had to clarify that one cannot carry a firearm within the institute.

http://thisweekinmormons.com/2019/08/the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-updates-handbook-to-prohibit-firearms-in-meetinghouses/

Lavina Fielding Anderson, one of the "September Six," a group of intellectuals excommunicated in quick order in the early 1990s, lost her bid to be rebaptized. Despite having attended her ward faithfully in the 25 years since her excommunication and having her request for rebaptism approved by local leadership, Church leadership in Salt Lake put the kabosh on the whole thing. Why?

Time for Mormons Behaving Badly! A St. George chiropractor/fake doctor was arrested on charges of sex abuse. An Oregon driver's ed instructor who was also the bishop of his ward was arrested on sex abuse charges. A Utah County woman was arrested at Manila airport with a newborn in her bag.

Two missionaries in Klamath Falls, Oregon were injured by a "stray bullet." More seriously, two missionaries serving in Canada were in a major car accident. Update: one of them has died.

Utah's Records Committee ordered Brigham Young University's borderline discredited campus police to provide copies of emails between law enforcement and the Honor Code Office. It's the latest in a series of volleys against BYU's handling of Honor Code and other issues.

In more lighthearted missionary news, a group of missionaries in Taiwan, in search of a Chili's (because we do desperate things when abroad for too long) helped a blind woman only to find out later on the entire t...

Listeners of This Week in Mormons get 30% off and free shipping by using the promo code Mormon30 with this link.

Latter-day Saints have long been associated with conservative political movements, but that wasn’t always the case. The 1950s and 60s represented a period of enormous social change, not just within American culture, but within Mormon culture. Ezra Taft Benson, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve apostles, and President Eisenhower’s Secretary of Agriculture, was famous for his far-right political and social views, and he brought along a large number of the Church with him. Today, we’re going to explore how Ezra Taft Benson played a pivotal role in Mormonism’s shift to the right.

Dr. Matt Harris is a professor of history at Colorado State University-Pueblo. He received a BA and MA in history at BYU, his MPhil and PhD, also in history, at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He is a scholar of Religious Studies, with a special emphasis on Mormons and Race, Mormon extremism, and Mormons and civil rights. His most recent publications include Thunder from the Right: Ezra Taft Benson in Mormonism and Politics (University of Illinois Press, 2019), Watchmen on the Tower: Ezra Taft Benson and the Making of the Mormon Right (University of Utah Press, forthcoming spring of 2020), and (with Newell Bringhurst) The Mormon Church and Blacks: A Documentary History, which was published by the University of Illinois Press in 2015. 

His recent articles include “Mormons and Lineage: The Complicated History of Blacks and Patriarchal Blessings,” 1830-2018,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Fall 2018), "Confronting and Condemning Hard Doctrine, 1978-2013," Mormon Studies Review (forthcoming), and "'Utah is the last in the union to recognize the Martin Luther King holiday by name': Mormons, Martin Luther King and the Quest for Racial Justice," Utah Historical Quarterly (forthcoming). 

Currently, he is at work on two books: The Long Awaited Day: Mormons, Blacks, and the Lifting of the Priesthood and Temple Ban, 1945-2018 and Hugh B. Brown: Mormonism's Progressive Apostle. He lives in Colorado with his wife and three kids.

Transcript

Geoff Openshaw:

[2:43] Matt Harris thank you for joining us.

Matt Harris:

[2:55] It's a pleasure Geoff.

Geoff Openshaw:

[2:58] And Jared oh by the way injury to everyone.

Jared Gillins:

[2:59] That's right Jared Gillins I'm welcoming myself back since Jeff didn't welcome me.

Geoff Openshaw:

[3:05] Well we might do some stuff you know before after who knows we'll be fine anyway I'm I'm excited by the

building up for this interview for a while I haven't read the book that the primary driver for this interview is the book that's out now a thunder from the right by Ezra Taft Benson which I think is an amazing title Matt what was the did you help name that title

or was that somebody else.

Matt Harris:

[3:27] Sister actually it was the title of one of the essays on offense in the presidency and.

The press in consultation with me said how can we Co-op that title for the book and I said sure no it wasn't my idea where this another SAS and then you can press that it would be a

clever title so I agreed that's how we got it.

Geoff Openshaw:

[3:53] And I should know by the way you are the editor you you would have peace and it within the book we are the editor of the book of is a series of essays in the sense it's not a single work just bite you.

Matt Harris:

[4:02] Yeah that's cracked I wrote I wrote the introduction which talks about Benson views on church and stay now so what a le...

[dropcap]L[/dropcap]eading Saints' legendary founder and host, Kurt Francom, joins us this week to dissect the news, talk about Leading Saint amazing new Liberating Saints virtual summit, which is aimed at combating pornography addiction. Sign up!

Lots of temple news this week, including an admission by President Nelson that we should expect more temple announcements this upcoming General Conference as well as "other" announcements. But which temples? And what does "other" mean?.

Haiti's first temple, in the capital of Port-au-Prince, was dedicated over the weekend by Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

President Rebelo de Sousa of Portugal toured the Lisbon Portugal Temple during its open house last week. Always fun when a head of state visits one of our buildings.

The Church released renderings of the Richmond Virginia Temple, and Geoff is giddy!

Lastly, to celebrate their temple's rededication, saints in the Raleigh North Carolina Temple district are holding a fun run 5K to the temple grounds. Spiritual and physical fitness, friends.

Let's move to missionaries. Are returned missionaries the key to Utah's success with startups? One publication thinks so. Third Hour, the Mormon Buzzfeed, republished an article about how mission calls are issued, so... read it again.

We came across a terrific article on finding the right balance between making assignments and asking for volunteers at Church. The Church runs on assignments, but we have to go about it the right way.

JTM, formerly James the Mormon, formerly Jamesthemormon, is changing names again, mostly because he says people, even at church, make him feel unwelcome over his continued reference to "Mormon." He also admits this is a play on search algorithms, as his music is not meant to be lumped into the newest Kenneth Cope album.

There's some biased journalism over at High Country News, but author Emma Penrod

Editor's Note: At one point in the episode, Geoff accidentally says “Toledo” when referring to the mass shooting in Dayton. We regret the error and any unintentional insensitivity that may have caused.

[dropcap]J[/dropcap]osie Gleave joins us from the other side of the world to bring her international perspective on the week's happenings. And, boy, what a week for having some of that non-American perspective on the news.

Did you know This Week in Mormons is now on Spotify? For real! Just follow this link and hit that "Follow" button.

If you're an iTunes or Apple Podcasts user, we'd LOVE it if you'd both subscribe AND leave a review. Reviews help promote This Week in Mormons via Apple's listing algorithms. It's a little thing, but it'll help more people know about the show!

Alright, on to the news. The Church announced a few new name changes as we move to a post-"Mormon" future. This time around, LDS Charities and LDS Family Services have been renamed Latter-day Saint Charities and just Family Services, respectively. The latter is perhaps the most confusing. Why no "Latter-day Saints" to identify it among a sea of faith-based family services organizations? It makes no sense.

Keeping with that theme, Jana Riess adroitly analyzed Google Trends to see if there's been any change in web search traffic for "Mormon" and "Latter-day Saints" in the past year. The results aren't altogether shocking, but it's interesting to see trends, however small, develop.

President Nelson is on one of them that world ministry tours again, this time hitting Latin America. Aside from a Deseret News article that is strangely concerned with how many miles he's traveling, it's cool to see the prophet bring his personal touch to the region. Josie wonders why the prophet doesn't stay longer and what the value is in these quick stops, but the Church news mentions President Nelson's personal need to visit the saints in person as best as he's able.

Our other big story is the one that divide us no matter how much we say "Follow the Prophet." Recently, the Church quietly updated Handbook 2 to expressly forbid firearms within meetinghouses and other places of worship. We broke the story over the weekend and the rest of the media picked up on it a few days later. Gun rights hit close to home for many, and it's been pretty surprising to see how many faithful Latter-day Saints are flatly refusing to abide by this regulation. It's interesting how choosy we can all be when it comes to selective obedience. Also, hat tip to the Salt Lake Tribune for quoting Geoff's article!

How about that Mike Pence, eh?