This Week in Latter-days

Do you think there's a lot of Americanism in the Church, especially abroad? Where's the line between actual Church practices and cultural stuff that we unwittingly export? Our own Josie Gleave has an article about just that.

In news of Mormons in politics, Mitt Romney is reportedly slated to endorse Marco Rubio for President of the United States, though the Rubio camp denies this. We also have information on Mitt's other potential plans.

A former Utah County commissioner is indicted for impersonating an LDS Church official to further development projects of a pal.

Salt Lake City is also getting a GOP debate in March. Get your tickets now, and watch Trump confuse everyone! Seriously, where are the Mormons that support the man?

And lastly, apparently BYU students support Bernie Sanders, which BYU now denies due to "methodology problems" with the survey. We call conspiracy!

Leaders of the FLDS Church are arrested over money laundering and food stamps fraud. Not quite as scandalous as Warren Jeffs, but wait until you see the plans to hide these folks when they go on the lam!

A few missionaries do not lock their hearts, as one man stalks a sister in the Ensign, then marries her. You are El Mundo, Elder el Mundo.

Lastly, apparently ministering.lds.org exists. Maybe we should publicize that more.

Links:

* BYU is for Bernie, oh wait, no it's not

* Mitt might endorse Marco

* GOP debate for Salt Lake

* Utah County commissioner is naughty

* FLDS leaders indicted

* Lock your heart, Ariana

* Americanisms in a global church

* Groundbreaking for Durban South Africa Temple

* President Eyring rededicates Fiji temple

* New topics for Ministering Resources

 

Greetings, dearest friends. Thanks for hanging with us for yet another week.

United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia passed away last week, and we discover Mormon groups that think the whole thing was an inside job, replete with quotations from Alma.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks is asked a direct question about LGBT suicides among Mormons, and his answer might surprise you.

Ordain Women seems to have tacitly admitted its previous strategies did not yield desirable results and has reshuffled, giving us the "Ready to Witness" campaign. We'll break it down.

More importantly, our friend, Russell Stevenson, has written a post about income inequality for the Salt Lake Tribune. We'll let you guess our thoughts and then encourage you to listen to see how you did. Russell, come back and visit us on the show.

Does music at church need to be more lively? Are our hymns rooted more in tradition than the actual definition of reverence and worship? The Genesis Choir thinks so. So do others.

Also, an epic protest for the return of a bench at BYU. This is BYU!

LDS-led archeologists will be allowed to conduct excavations in Oman to find Nephi's Bountiful, and clearly no one writing about the topic has ever heard of Oman.

Other news: the Church scuttles a hate crimes bill in the Utah state legislature; dedication dates for the Fort Collins, CO Temple; groundbreaking held for the Kinshasa DRC Temple; the Church gives $1.2 million to Ukraine; and you can join MoTab virtual chorus!

Check out or Facebook page for links to the stories on this week's show.

Why is the LDS Church opposing medical marijuana in Utah? There are interesting intersections of church and state at play in the land of the beehive.

Elder Oaks speaks at Johns Hopkins and stresses---you guessed it---the importance of religious freedom. But this speech is more interesting than others of the past.

Apparently tithing used to be literally about one's increase, as in interest earned on existing holdings. Basically, back in the day, tithing was next to nothing. My, how the times change.

Does the angel Moroni always face east on temples? That seems to be the common consensus, but apparently it's not true.

Salt Lake Tribune Robert Kirby thinks he set the curve on missionaries performing service, even though all we know of him is he listened to rock music while studying scriptures. An ensample to us all, folks.

RootsTech finishes up in Salt Lake City, and with it, a few new opportunities for members, plus the ability to print actual temple cards at home?!

In other news: the Missionary Department plays the PR game with regards to the Zika virus in South America; a sister missionary dies in a car accident in Pennsylvania; Jabari Parker talks about staying active in church; MoTab announces another European Tour of the same ol' Germanic places; and stalking by revelation---it's a thing!

Links:

* Elders Oaks on religious freedom, atrocities, and bias

* Tithing used to be different

* Church opposes medical marijuana in Utah, does not oppose legalization of opioids

* Moroni - EAST

* Temple work = convert retention

* Kirby loves himself

* Jabari stays active

* MoTab Western European tour

* Stalking by revelation

* Sister missionary killed in PA

* Zika and missionaries

Reportedly over 30 LGBT Mormons between the ages of 14-30 have taken their own lives since the policy change in Handbook one in November 2015. Church leaders have expressed their sorrow over this reports and want to encourage all of us to be more Christlike in our associations with our LGBT brothers and sisters.

Peggy Fletcher Stack does the hardcore research and claims the number of missionaries has dropped by 13 percent, even though the bigger story is that the number remains a full 30 percent higher than it was before the age minimum drop in 2012.

The Friend apparently wants to encourage girls to be engineers. Go figure, eh?

Have First Presidency messages in the Ensign changed much in 10 years? You'd think so, right? OR DID THEY?

Patriarchal blessings are now available online for yourself and any deceased direct ancestors. It's pretty cool.

The Church has a new Love One Another campaign in honor/spite of Valentine's Day. It's pretty great and consists of some noble goals. Let's break them down.

Other stuff: You'll have to listen in!

Links:

* How First Presidency messages have changed

* Patriarchal blessings available online

* The missionaries are dropping!

* Taylor Swift look-alike

* Cool temple infographics

* Love one another challenge

* Church leaders mourn LGBT deaths

* The Friend is so progressive

* Does BYU football have the most diverse coaching staff of all time?

* MoTab hits 40 million total YouTube views

* Obama defends Muslims and Mormons

* Gonzaga has had enough!

In the most important news of the week, some enterprising students at BYU-I have filed a petition to ban tight yoga pants at the gym because #naughtythoughts. We're sure you can imagine where we fall on this.

Ammon Bundy and his comedy troupe have been arrested after they left the occupied federal facility for a meeting. One man was reportedly killed in the "routine traffic stop." Uh huh.

Sex trafficking of youth is an issue and we don't talk about it enough in the Church. Famed EFY all-star Peter Breinholt has re-released a remix of one of his songs to raise money for Operation Underground Railroad, which aims to combat trafficking. Get involved, folks.

President Uchtdorf meets the Candy Bomber and Han Solo. This is the best.

What on earth is Miss Utah Model International?? Some Brazilian who married her missionary won it in Utah. But WHAT IS IT?

Apparently Ted Cruz is bad at paying tithing. Should we care? Is this personal or is it public?

Jana Riess is confused about what it means to be the "one true church," and she writes one of her weaker pieces in some time about it.

How do we deal with a kid leaving the Church? What can parents do? Another great blog from LDS.org.

Have you ever wanted to learn about the Church in Iceland? Well now you can, thanks to our friends at LDSLiving.

Other news: The Mormon err LDS Bachelor is now the Modest Bachelor; the American Bar Association is "reviewing" a complaint about BYU's perceived lack of religious freedom; a new Adam and Eve show (see below); and a big map of temples!

These are links:

* The true purpose of the Sabbath day push

* Ted Cruz is failing at tithing

* Jana Riess is confused

* Big temples map

* The Church in Iceland

* ABA reviewing complaint against BYU

* BYU-I hates tight pants

* Ammon Bundy goes down

* Uchtdorf and Han Solo meet the Candy Bomber

* Peter Breinholt wants to stop sex trafficking of kids

* Miss Utah Model International

*

In important request, Al wants to be given a heads up when the estranged lovers/spouses pass away so he can attend the funeral in the hopes one of the widowed estranged partners brandishes firearms. Of course, because this just happened in Idaho.

Julie de Azevedo Hyphen Hanks has a wild week across Mormon blogs discussing healthy sexuality, namely dumb questions we ask women but don't ask men, and how to talk to your kids about steamy, physical passion. It's a good'n.

Hey, there's now an app to report on problems with your church building. This won't blow up in our faces or anything. No, never.

We've got open house dates for three temples! And the prime minister of Fiji visits another temple. Temples everywhere!

In a sad note for America, in a new poll, respondents believe Muslims are less deserving of religious freedom than Christians, and Mormons less so than other Christians and Jews. You go, America. Religious freedom for all, unless that includes Muslims.

Other stuff: University of Utah fellowship for Emeritus Seventy Marlin K. Jensen; Elder Maxwell's widow dies; Larry Echo Hawk attends MLK events; "quirky" Mormon girl on American Idol; posthumous stereophonic Grammys...

...and that good-times TWiM humor you've come to know and love.

Greg Harris of North Star International, a support organization for believing LGBT Mormons, joins us to talk about being gay in the Church, including reactions to the November handbook changes and some of President Russell M. Nelson's remarks this past weekend regarding revelations vs. policy.

Also, Kurt francom is with us to be a great guy and round out the discussion.

We'd be remiss if we didn't talk about some other news, as well, including the Provo City Center Temple open house, a fabulous temple dress company, Daybreak - the celestialized city, and much, much more.

North Star has a conference at the Provo Marriott from March 17-19. If you get tickets early, you get a discount. Tell them TWiM sent you!

We'd be remiss if we did not talk about all that Bundy stuff up in Oregon, but we'd like to take a particular angle with it. Why are so many calling for the excommunication of Ammon Bundy? Seriously, folks? Let's talk about this.

After prodding for a bit, we got a response on the redistricting in Crimea, placing it under the Russia Rostov Mission. There's still work to be done, but we thought you'd like an update.

Apparently one can play Quidditch at BYU. One can also deny oneself the blessings of marriage.

Demand for the open house of the Provo City Center Temple is so high that it broke the ticket reservation system and crashed the site. More importantly, we discuss what on earth Provo will do for its cultural celebration. Provo. Culture.

Other news: Yes, Mormons can (and do) drink Coke; Moroni tops the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple; there is a Mormon chocolate king; BYU produces good people, and more.

Also, let's all celebrate the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's endearing, if misguided social media efforts.

Happy New Year!

Did socialism save the early Church? Defying convention, a very left-leaning LDS publication thinks so, but so does Al. Sort of.

Many folks are upset over a "Giver or Getter" graphic appearing in the most recent issue of the New Era. What's all the fuss about? Can we be both givers and getters?

An enterprising individual posts to Craigslist to trade missions with someone else. We love it. Fools don't.

And a bazillion mentions, including: Tayson Hill wooed to University of Virginia; is the Star Valley Wyoming Temple being rushed to make sure President Monson sees it? There's a useless LDS guide to Starbucks. Missionaries create their own Haka. The Church isn't into paid maternity leave. Dieter visits Tijuana. The Friend adds new section for... kids. And more!

Merry Christmas to one and all!

The Church's #ASavoirIsBorn campaign and associated video have done remarkably well during the holiday season, with the video ranking in the top ten viral videos of the season. It's mostly just retailers and Boncom, folks. Go, Boncom.

Down in Hildale, Utah (polygamous FLDS country), some are celebrating Christmas for the first time in decades. Why no Christmas for the FLDS? Why Christmas now? Let's find out.

Keeping with southern Utah, the Church fought to prevent a restaurant from getting an alcohol permit. Why? Why does it care? Should we care? Let's learn about some interesting dynamics between church and state in Washington County.

Republican presidential candidate John Kasich (whom all Republicans should consider) visits Welfare Square, openly wishing that all of America knew about it. It's a pretty cool endorsement, especially considering most candidates skip Utah and very few area aware of the Church's welfare model.

In other do-gooder news, an American Fork stake spends every Wednesday engaging in service and humanitarian efforts. Also, President Monson dooms pet rabbits to their death.

Aside from that, plenty of banter and about forty potential episode names, but we stuck with this one because reasons.

Have a great holiday, everyone!