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February 28, 2007
African Members Strengthen International Church
Samuel Lumore and his cousins Christian Yao and Godwin Kofi Zometsi, all from Kpong, Ghana, discovered the missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as young schoolboys and were later baptized members of the Church. For Evelyn Jepkemei, a curriculum specialist in Nairobi, Kenya, contact with the Church came through an American on a business assignment in Africa.
Evelyn and the young men from Ghana represent some of many recent converts to the Church who live beyond the North American continent. All signify the ever-increasing Church population in many areas across the globe and also indicate the rapid growth in Africa.
Days before presidential candidate John McCain visits Utah, his campaign says the Arizona senator condemns any attack against his opponent, Mitt Romney, over his Mormon faith.
It's an issue that has been popping up recently in South Carolina, a primary state that is home to many evangelical voters and one that Romney has visited often in recent months.
"A presidential contest is a leadership test, not a religious one," McCain spokesman Danny Diaz said Tuesday when asked whether the senator denounces such attacks.
LDS missionary charged with aggravated sexual abuse of a child
A missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been charged with fondling a 12-year-old Salt Lake County boy he had recently baptized, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in 3rd District Court.
Kyle Saucier, 20 - who was living in the Holladay area at the time - is charged with one count of first-degree felony aggravated sexual abuse of a child, which is punishable by 6, 10 or 15 years to life in prison.
One factor elevating the seriousness of the alleged crime is that Saucier "occupied a position of special trust in relation to the victim," according to the complaint.
Chances are, not many people in Utah would like to think of scripture as a violent medium that promotes hostility.
But a study of 490 students — 248 of them at Brigham Young University — suggests a correlation between exposure to scriptural violence that is condoned by God and increased aggression.
The statistics are startling. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, there are 960,000 incidents of domestic violence each year. Another survey of American families found 50 percent of the men who frequently assaulted their wives also abused their children. And the list goes on and on.
No one is immune to the social epidemic of domestic violence so The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has established LDS Family Services, a private, nonprofit organization, to help individuals and families.
Fred Riley, commissioner of LDS Family Services and himself a psychologist, recently served on the Department of Justice domestic violence task force that included representatives from over 20 religious faiths.
“The task force focused on how religions can be a part of dealing more effectively with domestic violence. We are all struggling with how to do a better job,” said Riley. “My experience is that the Church has listened and has put some really good things in place to help both its leaders and members.”
Family Services uses a holistic approach to help victims of abuse. Trained therapists work with a victim’s Church leader to provide emotional and spiritual counseling. The Church also stands by to help with any other physical necessities a victim might need.
Riley said: “If a woman were to call us and say, ‘I’m being abused; I need some help,’ our response to her would be, ‘When can you come in?’ And we wouldn’t charge her a thing.”
Besides providing counseling to victims at its 71 offices throughout the world, Family Services operates a 24-hour help line for Church leaders. The help line is staffed by trained therapists who have experience in dealing with child abuse, spouse abuse and other forms of domestic violence.
“The purpose of the help line is first to protect the victims, second to prevent any more victimization of those individuals or anybody else,” Riley said. “Next, we help the perpetrator get help, and that typically means to reporting the abuse.”
Family Services also provides counseling and resources to help children of abuse, which Riley said is critical to stop the cycle of violence. “If we can reach the children at a young age, then their tendency to have a different kind of parenting skill when they grow up is increased.”
Ultimately, education plays an important role in prevention and helping families help themselves. Family Services has created two courses of study called “Strengthening Family” and “Strengthening Marriage.” Addiction recovery support meetings are also available through LDS Family Services.
While Mitt Romney condemns polygamy and its prior practice by his church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Republican presidential candidate's great-grandfather had five wives and at least one of his great-great-grandfathers had 12. Douglas C. Pizac, Associated PressParley P. Pratt, the great-great-grandfather of Mitt Romney, was a polygamist with 12 wives. Polygamy was not just a historical footnote but a prominent element in the family tree of the former Massachusetts governor now seeking to become the first LDS president.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is the clear favorite in early polls for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. So, what does that mean? Not a lot, if history is any guide.
Republican hopeful Rudy Giuliani, however, is sitting pretty.
For at least three decades, Republicans have been far better than Democrats in early polls at getting behind the candidates who end up winning the party's presidential nomination.
Family history: The next generation of genealogy sites
From the beginning, the Internet has attracted people seeking to research their family trees — and sites wanting to make money off their pursuits. The Web's search capabilities seemed custom-tailored to sorting through long-forgotten records that are now being dusted off and digitized. Hundreds of sites sprang up.
In practice, though, Web genealogy has led to a lot of frustrated consumers — the process has been expensive (most sites charge fairly steep subscription fees) and time-consuming.
Nation's porn prosecutor fronts war against obscenity
Maybe, from now on, the girls will be a little less wild, thanks to Brent Ward.
Ward, who was among the most strident adversaries of the porn industry as U.S. Attorney in Utah in the 1980s, is heading a new Justice Department task force aimed at enforcing federal obscenity laws.
In his first year, his biggest win came against the makers of the "Girls Gone Wild" videos - whose blurred-out party-girl ads are a late-night TV staple - who failed to document the ages of the women in the videos, as required by law, and agreed to pay $2.1 million in fines.
In two respects -- one visible, the other about to be -- LSU is at last Coach Les Miles' team.
The visible aspect comes in the final parting of the LSU faithful and former saint Nick Saban. With Saban at Alabama in real life, and banished to the darkness where there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth in many Tiger fantasies, Miles is unquestionably the man.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the creation of three new missions in Africa, Ukraine and the Caribbean, bringing the total number of missions to 347 worldwide. Church growth in these areas made it necessary to split three existing missions into six to accommodate the needs of the people. The new missions are headquartered in Freetown, Sierra Leone; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine
THE CHURCH of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormons, has built a new temple at Ashaiman to serve its members in the community and its environs.
To this wise, a tour was organised for the people in the area last Sunday to have an insight of the new temple.
Ancestry.com has added a new records collection to its portfolio — one that will both help families with genealogy searches and bust misperceptions that few historical records exist for African-Americans.
The company is saying the collection, launched online this week at www.ancestry.com/aahistory, is the largest collection of African-American family history records that is available and searchable online. During February, the company is allowing people to search the collection and get free access to Ancestry.com for three days.
Genesis group seeks to nurture black LDS church members
Like many converts to the LDS faith, Don Harwell's first experience at a Mormon church was one he'll never forget.
"After the first hour I thought, 'This is nice. Chintzy snacks, but the people are nice.' " he joked, referring to his experience with the sacrament. "This is a lot better than the bars where I've been hanging out."
Gary Wilkinson's path to junior college basketball stardom is fantastic enough to have come straight from the pages of a Hollywood script.
Wilkinson, a sophomore center at Salt Lake Community College, didn't play a minute of basketball while he was at Bingham High. But shortly after returning from an LDS Church mission to Canada, he decided he wanted to tackle the sport. Wilkinson contacted the SLCC coaching staff and secured a tryout.
Missionaries free: LDS in Nigeria praised for resolving abduction
Top LDS Church leaders in Salt Lake City are crediting Nigerian church leaders for negotiating the release of four Nigerian LDS missionaries late Wednesday night in the west African nation, after the abductors were paid for expenses incurred during the time the men were held.
The four are Elders Akande Adebayo Egunjobi and Emeka Henry Ekufu of Lagos and Elders Uchenna Anthony Eze and Hope Aiboni Isaiah of Enugu, Nigeria.
Four Mormon missionaries abducted from their apartment Saturday morning in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, were released unharmed at 2:40 p.m. MST Wednesday to the home of LDS Church Bishop Sancho N. Chukwu, who helped negotiate their release, church officials said.
The motive behind the hostage takings was not fully known, said Quentin L. Cook, of the First Quorum of Seventy and executive director of the LDS Church's missionary department. However, the captors likely believed they had abducted oil company workers, for whom they would receive ransom payments, then quickly realized they had made a mistake.
A new book created for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints features invaluable memory techniques and tricks for remembering scripture.
Written by David Larsen, "How to Remember Everything in the New Testament and General Conference" is a companion work to "How to Remember Everything in the Old Testament." Both books are published by Cedar Fort Inc. in Springville.
Apostle teaches BYU-Idaho students how to deal with trials
Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints addressed Brigham Young University-Idaho students in a February 20 devotional, giving them four principles that will improve their education and help fulfill the mission of BYU-Idaho. He also taught how these principles would help students overcome trials in their lives.
Even before Mitt Romney's presidential announcement last week, his Mormon faith was becoming the hottest "religious issue" since 1960, when John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, became the first - and still only - non-Protestant to be elected president in U.S. history. This week, for instance, a USA Today cover story asked: "Will Mormon faith hurt bid for White House?" In December, Time magazine wondered: "Can a Mormon be President?"
While other Mormons hold important posts in Washington - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is the highest-ranking elected Mormon in the land - Romney is the first member of what is officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to have a shot at a major party nomination for president. Thus the questions about a church that some have accused of being little more than a cult.
Mitt Romney ventured to redrock country Wednesday in hopes of raking in more campaign green.
And Dixie delivered, aides say, to the tune of $250,000 to $300,000 in what is believed to be the largest political fundraiser ever staged in southern Utah.
Haynes: Romney’s religion shouldn’t matter, but it does
Where Mitt Romney goes to church doesn’t disqualify him for public office: Article VI of the U.S. Constitution famously declares that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
But when the former Massachusetts governor declared his candidacy for president Feb. 13, news coverage focused heavily on one issue: Romney’s Mormon faith. Officially we have no religious test — but unofficially, religious affiliation (or lack thereof) can determine the outcome of elections.
Nigerian missionary describes working amid chaos, violence
A missionary who recently returned to Salt Lake City from Nigeria described a region of turmoil and relentless violence.
Prowling gangs and thieves robbed senior missionary couples, stole the mission president's car, and broke into church buildings and stole computers and other equipment, said Roger Thompson, an attorney and former Salt Lake City councilman who returned in November from an 18-month assignment as executive secretary to the LDS West Africa Area Presidency, which governs the church in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria.
“The future of family history researching may be closer than you think,” said Rich Running at a lecture held on January 9, 2007, as part of the annual Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy sponsored by the Utah Genealogical Association.
Nearly 200 people attended the lecture, “Opening the Granite Mountain Vault,” where production management leaders of the Church and Family History Department of the Church explained technological advances in two facets of genealogical research—scanning and indexing.
As a manager of product management of the department, Brother Running describes these changes as steps in building a “digital highway” for genealogical researchers.
Utahns shell out up to $2,300 each to help boost Mitt
Some 500 Utahns contributed as much as $2,300 each to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's campaign at a Tuesday evening fund-raiser in Salt Lake City that included an endorsement from a majority of state GOP lawmakers.
Four young Nigerian men serving as missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were taken hostage near Port Harcourt, Nigeria, on Saturday, and top leaders in Salt Lake City are expressing gratitude for the local leaders who are working to free them.
Church Statement on the Status of Nigerian Missionaries
Every effort is being put forth to secure the release of four missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving in Nigeria.
The four young men, all Nigerian nationals in their early 20s, were taken Saturday morning from their apartment near Port Harcourt. Local Church leaders continue to review security and safeguard the health and well-being of the missionaries.
A local bishop of the Church has been able to speak with each of the missionaries by phone this morning and has confirmed that they are well. We continue to be optimistic about the outcome. Missionaries from the Church serve at great personal sacrifice to them and their families. The missionary work in Nigeria continues to go forward.
Their message is one of peace and love and they are well respected in Nigeria.
We are grateful for the help of local community leaders in Nigeria working for the missionaries’ release. We also appreciate the prayers of people worldwide in behalf of these missionaries.
Mormon Athlete Credits Mission for Baseball Success
Matt Lindstrom’s road to major league baseball took a sidetrack as he served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is currently training with the Florida Marlins and is known for his 100 mph pitch.
In an interview with The Miami Herald, Lindstrom said he wouldn't have the extra velocity today if not for a two-year Mormon missionary trip to Sweden.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, who, as an elementary-age student, was grateful that the library was strategically located across the street from the Thomas Judd general store, returned to his native city of St. George Monday to dedicate a newly constructed Washington County Library.
Introduced by Douglas Alder, chairman of the Washington County library board, as one who learned to love books, Elder Holland of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve "rhapsodized" about childhood memories.
Lindstrom's next mission: Make the Marlins' roster
Are you ready for the Swedish fastball?
That might just be what they start calling Matt Lindstrom's heat.
Honest.
Lindstrom, who throws more than 100 mph, said he wouldn't have the extra velocity today if not for a two-year Mormon missionary trip to Sweden, where he traveled through seven cities and -- like all young Mormons -- filled his commitment preaching the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
A fund-raising arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that supports higher education and humanitarian aid is getting new digs in Provo.
LDS Philanthropies is an organization within the church that is charged with encouraging and facilitating donations to church-sponsored higher education institutions, Humanitarian Services and the Perpetual Education Fund, which provides low-interest loans to students around the world for college and other advanced training.
Politics and religion were front and center on the campaign trail in a heated exchange for Mitt Romney this weekend. Evangelicals and Latter-day Saints are trying to make the topic of faith a polite conversation.
Traditional Christians have long had problems with some Latter-day Saint beliefs, as was the case in Florida this weekend. This is the reason for an ongoing event called "An Evangelical and a Mormon in Conversation."
Evangelicals Urged not to Shun Romney over his Mormonism
A law professor and conservative talk-show host says Republican presidential candidate "Mitt Romney has a Mormon problem -- and so does the rest of the country." He cautions Christians against criticizing the candidate's Mormon beliefs during the campaign, saying such an approach will inevitably backfire.
More than 1,000 mourners gathered this weekend at funeral services for a pregnant woman and two of her children killed Feb. 9 when their car collided with a suspected drunk driver.
Forty-one-year old Michelle Williams was remembered as an upbeat, enthusiastic and perfect mother. She was five months pregnant with a baby boy.
Mitt Romney spent last week on a presidential candidate announcement tour, speaking in Michigan and Iowa on Tuesday, then hitting South Carolina, New Hampshire and Boston before heading to Florida. Today, in the second installment of Outlook's occasional series on the presidential candidates, classmates, colleagues and competitors from the past remember Romney and his journey from former governor's son to former governor. Also inside: a crash course on the Mormon faith and public life.
Even before Mitt Romney's presidential announcement last Tuesday, his Mormon faith was becoming the hottest "religious issue" since 1960, when John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, became the first -- and still only -- non-Protestant to be elected president in U.S. history. This week, for instance, a USA Today cover story asked: "Will Mormon faith hurt bid for White House?" In December, Time magazine wondered: "Can a Mormon be President?"
Feb. 18, 2007 — Following is a transcript of George Stephanopoulos' interview with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and Romney's wife Ann on "This Week."
Am I the only practicing Mormon who's not excited about Mitt Romney's run for president? It's not like his first order of business will be a $10,000 tax credit for all Latter-Day Saints. (But imagine what that would do for the missionary effort.) In my mind there's very little to be gained from Romney's candidacy, and a great deal to be lost.
Old-fashioned quilting bee to produce warmth, comfort
They will come armed with needles, threads, fabric and scissors. More importantly, they'll bring a desire to comfort the less fortunate by joining dozens of others to work in an old-fashioned quilting bee.
The son of a co-founder of the Sundance Film Festival is home safe after being kidnapped in Iraq and held for more than a week, according to sources close to the family.
Kidnappers grabbed 29-year-old Brigham Young University and Harvard Divinity School graduate William Clifton Van Wagenen on Jan. 27 and released him Feb. 4, said Neena Andersen, a friend of the family.
While mourning 15-year-old Kirsten Hinckley and praying for her wounded mother, Carolyn Tuft, their family takes solace in what they say was one miracle at the Trolley Square shooting.
Yesterday, Mitt Romney formally announced his candidacy for president. All three nightly newscasts covered the announcement, but not at the top of the show: Romney was the sixth story on ABC's "World News Tonight" and the ninth on the "Evening News" and NBC "Nightly News."
Conversation With Ann Romney, Wife of Republican Presidential Contender Mitt Romney
Ann Romney is a mother of five, grandmother to ten and the wife of Republican presidential contender and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Ann Romney was also diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998, but she insists that she's "totally onboard" with her husband's bid for the White House.
The Salt Lake City Planning Commission on Wednesday unanimously signed off on four 100-foot-plus residential buildings planned for downtown, including one that would be among the state's tallest structures.
Katie Millar was really an outside-the-box contestant for Miss America.
Not only was Miss Utah the only one to wear a one-piece, modest swimsuit in the physical fitness segment, but she played her electric violin with only three working strings. (The fourth broke just as she started the fast-paced "Souvenir d'Amerique.")
In Harlem, an African-American bishop leads his congregation in prayer. In Miami, neighbors enter a bright yellow chapel and greet each other in Haitian. In Salt Lake City, a teacher instructs her Bible class in Chinese. Meanwhile, in Florida, an entire congregation sings in American Sign Language in poetic gestures, and in California a young child gives his first talk in Sunday school in Spanish.
In honor of Valentine's Day, Sister Bonnie D. Parkin, general president of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, urged Brigham Young University students Tuesday to open their hearts and serve.
Church Offers Condolences to Victims of Salt Lake Shooting Tragedy
On behalf of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder Merrill J. Bateman, a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, issued the following statement regarding the shootings that occurred last night at Trolley Square in Salt Lake City:
“We are deeply saddened at the deaths and suffering caused by this senseless tragedy. Our sympathy and prayers go out to all who have been affected, especially the families and friends of the victims.
“Although it is difficult to explain the conflicts and incongruities of life, we are certain that through the atoning sacrifice and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ death is not the end and life continues in the hereafter.
“We pray that His spirit will bring comfort, peace and healing to all at this difficult time.”
Elder Bateman said the Church is also offering grief counseling to those affected by this tragic event through LDS Family Services (LDSFS). The Salt Lake agency of LDSFS can be reached at 801-240-1711.
Valentine's Day and birthdays. Dinner and a quiet evening with friends and loved ones. These were the simple pleasures so violently interrupted by 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic as he strolled, shotgun in hand, into Trolley Square on Monday evening.
His victims — those he killed and those he injured — are loved and admired, and are missed. Their heartbroken families, friends, co-workers and neighbors paid tribute to them Tuesday.
Certain events in history such as the Mountain Meadows Massacre are often considered to be a blot on the history of the LDS people, said Thomas Alexander, BYU professor emeritus of western history Monday, Feb. 12, 2007, at UVSC.
This massacre and specifically, the church's investigation into the massacre, was the subject of Alexander's presentation.
Mitt Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, came to a state where he has not lived for 41 years to declare his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, becoming the latest presidential candidate to position himself as an outsider running against Washington.
Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable Holds Concert on Temple Square
More than 700 people representing many faiths gathered on the afternoon of 11 February 2007 in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square to attend the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable’s annual concert celebrating the culmination of its Interfaith Week. The concert was billed as a musical tribute to the human spirit, as “A Call to Prayer — A Call to Peace.” It featured three cantors from Islamic, Christian and Jewish traditions who called the concert attendees to prayer. Seven groups representing a cross-section of Utah’s rich faith traditions performed a series of musical numbers and dances based on the prayer and peace themes.
USU prof breaks new ground in the study of Mormonism
Philip Barlow, a Harvard-trained professor of theology and American religious history, has been named the country's first full-time professor of Mormon studies at a secular university.
After a nationwide search, Utah State University chose Barlow for the Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture, a significant addition to the school's burgeoning department of religious studies.
To those who wonder how Chris Williams was so quick to forgive the teenager who crashed into his car Friday, killing his wife and two children, consider this:
When Williams was 16, he accidentally struck and killed a 4-year-old boy in the Avenues.
LDS-based Liahona Academy puts God back into school
Initially, the differences between Liahona Academy in Pleasant Grove, the state's only LDS-based high school, and other schools around the state are subtle.
There are the usual educational posters and decorations on the walls. But there are also LDS hymnals under some of the desks, and the books on the teacher's desk include "The Sermons and Writings of President Ezra Taft Benson." There are pictures of the second coming of Jesus Christ. In the men's restroom, 22 books on LDS Church history, as well as state and national history and a pile of LDS Church magazines are stacked on the toilet lid.
Yale was, in Robbie Cook's words, "Harry Potter's castle," a place where a straight-laced Del Oro football star/history buff with a 4.2 GPA could easily fit in.
The family of a fallen Utah soldier killed while serving in Iraq laid their son to rest Monday at Camp Williams. As a bugler played TAPS, SPC Eric Rudolph Sieger's family received the Bronze Star for their son's bravery in service.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney returned to his native state of Michigan on Tuesday to kick off his bid officially for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.
It's easy to find Mormons who have run into misconceptions about their faith. Take Jeff Hartley, executive director of the Republican Party in Utah, a state that's 70% Mormon. "I only have one mom. I only have one wife," he says. "That's not the understanding that a lot of people have."
Eagles president Joe Banner said Monday that coach Andy Reid will take a leave of absence for about one month to handle personal issues involving two of his sons, Garrett, 23, and Britt, 21.
Bonnie D. Parkin, general president of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will speak at 11:05 a.m. Tuesday in the Marriott Center at Brigham Young University.
The world is a place that presents a lot of questions when you're 3 years old.
Yet, perhaps because he is well grounded in the faith of his family, Raymond Debuty seems to have a grasp on what happened to his four older brothers and sisters that far exceeds his years.
He knew the children he referred to as "my kids" had all perished even before the firefighters had extinguished the flames at the only home he ever knew on a cruelly cold morning last week.
"He knows they died," said Raymond's mother, Amanda Debuty. "He said, 'Mommy, they're with Jesus.' He knows how this works."
Backers & Money: Romney, other hopefuls in early fight to stand out in '08 presidential race
An early need for a lot of money and even more supporters in the 2008 presidential election is driving White House hopeful Mitt Romney and other contenders to start their campaigns before the first primary date is even set in stone.
Wllard Mitt Romney enters the press room at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, where a conclave of conservative GOP congressmen has gathered to plot its resurrection. Assuming his place before the cameras, the former Massachusetts governor checks the floor to find his mark: two strips of white tape forming a small X on the low-pile carpet beneath his feet.
Though he tried to slip in unnoticed during Sunday morning's meeting at the Salt Lake City LDS wardhouse where he currently serves as bishop, the congregation was just too glad to see him.
With a broken rib and bruised lungs - injuries he sustained during a violent collision Friday night that claimed the lives of his pregnant wife and two of his children - Chris Williams instead gingerly took his normal place behind the pulpit alongside the other leaders of Crystal Heights 2nd Ward, said Stake President James Wood.
Members of Salt Lake City's LDS Crystal Heights 2nd Ward will be fasting and praying today for a family killed in a tragic accident believed to have been caused by a teenager driving drunk.
Christopher Williams, 42, remains hospitalized along with his 6-year-old son, Sam. Salt Lake City police said both were listed in serious condition.
Negative portrayals of children and families have led most Americans to adopt an inaccurate view of family relationships, said Kristin Anderson Moore at a lecture Thursday night.
Moore presented "Child and Family Well Being: A New Look" at Brigham Young University for the third annual Marjorie Pay Hinckley Endowed Chair Lecture. The program area director of Child Trends, a nonprofit research organization, emphasized the need for research that focuses on positive child and family outcomes to counterbalance the prevailingly negative focus on families.
SALT LAKE CITY 8 February 2007 An updated and revamped Newsroom Web site goes live today after several weeks of testing.
The new site is a key tool for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to use in communicating with the news media, academics, other opinion leaders and members of the public interested in the Church’s doctrines, policies and activities.
The site had been in a beta (test) format since 20 December 2006. Since then, the Church had kept two Newsroom sites functioning as the new site was fine tuned. With today’s change, the old Newsroom site has been completely removed.
Information is presented in a more easily digestible format to suit not only journalists but also other researchers and members of the public who are looking to find factual material on the Church quickly and easily. Materials are written in non-Church language that can be readily understood, and the site addresses topics that are commonly raised by these audiences.
Sections of the site include “Commentary,” where the Church will sometimes respond to issues of the day or comment on news reports.
The site includes a much more powerful search engine as well as updated multimedia components. Included on the site is The World Report, a biannual audiovisual news report on what is happening in the Church around the world.
One of the enhancements to the site is an updated RSS feed, allowing subscribers to be notified whenever key parts of the site change. All users who previously signed up for RSS on the old Newsroom Web site will need to set up new RSS feeds.
For a short time, a feedback survey is available. Users are encouraged to submit suggestions, concerns or problem links. This will help in providing a Newsroom that is helpful to the public.
This tale about family basketball tradition began with former Highland High boys basketball coach Larry Maxwell, the father of six children. One son, Brent, remembers being in a locker room "every halftime of a game, since I was 5." Another son, Mike, currently coaching the Bountiful High boys, also did locker room time with his dad.
Living color — Artist makes a living illustrating children's books
While most people probably wouldn't consider drawing and coloring pictures to be a good way to make a living, it's an essential part of Val Chadwick Bagley's livelihood.
The Syracuse resident works as a professional cartoonist, illustrating board books, coloring books, card games and clip art for Covenant Communications. To date, his products have sold over 500,000. Coloring is an important aspect of his profession.
Former Young Women president teaches BYU-Idaho students how to be happy
Margaret D. Nadauld, former general president of the Young Women organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, taught Brigham Young University-Idaho students how to be happy throughout their lives in a devotional address given Tuesday, February 6.
Nadauld commented that so many people seem to be unhappy even though happiness is a "worthy pursuit." In order to help students be happy, she emphasized five areas of life "that are guaranteed to provide happiness for you today and on into your very bright future."
As he begins campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, is facing a threshold issue: Will his religion — he is a Mormon — be a big obstacle to winning the White House?
Michael Otterson: Conscience, Not Religious Dogma, is the Motivator
If you lived with my wife, you wouldn't ever toss anything in the garbage that can be recycled. Plastic, paper, metal cans and glass jars get dropped in individual recycling bins in the garage. Vegetable peelings go to the compost, even if I have to tramp through the snow. My wife sets the heating in the home at least two degrees below comfortable in winter, and the air conditioning a few degrees higher in summer. Now she's pushing for solar panels on the roof.
Mormons Set Up Food Kitchens to Feed Community After Jakarta Floods
JAKARTA, Indonesia 7 February 2007 After a devastating flood hit parts of Jakarta, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints living in the area set up a food kitchen to prepare meals for over 500 people displaced by the floods.
With funding from LDS Charities, the members were able to provide two meals a day and deliver it to those who had to relocate because of the floods.
Members of the Church gathered all the food and supplies then set up a makeshift kitchen under a tent. This service was reminiscent of the 2002 floods of Jakarta when Church members also set up temporary kitchens to prepare food for displaced community members.
Missionaries serving in the Jakarta area also assisted with the cooking and delivering of the food.
It is estimated that almost 50,000 people in Jakarta have been driven from their homes by rising waters.
Jim Engebretsen has never met a polygamist, but as a Mormon who has spent most of his life outside Utah, he knows people expect him to be an expert on the subject.
Or be a polygamist himself.
So he became one — an expert, not a polygamist — and started the nonprofit More Good Foundation to combat misconceptions about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the Internet.
It wasn't your ordinary fashion show. Sure, there were similarities: big stage, multimedia images, attentive audience members watching each model's every step.
Republican Mitt Romney says he will formally join the 2008 race for the White House next Tuesday with an announcement in his home state of Michigan, then embark on a two-day tour of three early-primary states before heading back to Boston.
Within 24 hours after three tornados touched down in central Florida, 400 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered at an Orlando church building to receive instructions on where they would spend the day cleaning and removing debris.
In another part of the city, 100 Mormons gathered to help clean up the Deland area.
In addition to manpower, the Church has provided tarps, generators, chain saws, gloves, hammers, nails and cleaning kits.
Brady Nixon, a member of the Church from the Oviedo area who helped in the cleanup efforts, said: “The destruction is so comprehensive. The people were very grateful that at least they were alive and that we were there and helping.”
Church headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, had already ensured that all the needed items, including food and water, were available in Church storehouses in Florida.
President Shumway called to preside in Tonga temple this fall
BYU-Hawaii President Eric B. Shumway announced to his President's Council on February 2 that the First Presidency recently called him and his wife, Carolyn Merrill Shumway, to serve as president and matron, respectively, of the Nuku'alofa Tonga Temple, starting in fall 2007.
Carolyn Rehman rarely worries about finding others at James Madison University who share her Christian creed.
Meeting a fellow believer who could become more than just a friend, Rehman concedes, might require a defter shot from Cupid’s bow.
“It’s hard to find someone who has the same exact beliefs as yourself,” said Rehman, 19, a Lutheran and sophomore from Silver Spring, Md., majoring in hospitality and tourism management.
The U.S. Attorney's Office has dropped the Mormon Church as a defendant in a civil suit against the Boy Scouts of America over a 2002 wildfire in the Uinta Mountains.
The attorney's office sued the Boy Scouts and its Great Salt Lake Council in 2004 to recoup money spent fighting the fire, which began near the East Fork of the Bear River Scout Reservation and blackened nearly 14,000 acres. The government seeks to recover $14 million.
The LDS Church may have lost a court battle in its fight against a strip club opening a block from Temple Square. But, in the end, it got what it wanted: The Crazy Goat Saloon, formerly the Dead Goat, has closed.
And no other strip club can take its place anywhere downtown, thanks to recently enacted zoning rules.
The Mormon Way of Doing Business Leadership and Success Through Faith and Family By Jeff Benedict, Warner Business Books, 256 pp. $25.99
Reviewed by Cecil Johnson
In the delightful 1960 film Never on Sunday, the celebrated Greek actress Melina Mercouri portrayed a love-for-sale lady named Ilya who took that day off from work to rest.
The six business executives spotlighted in investigative journalist Jeff Benedict's new book, The Mormon Way of Doing Business, also are never-on-Sunday workers.
Sandy White was supposed to be at the beach Saturday.
Instead the 21-year-old was standing in a big field off U.S. 441 in Lady Lake surrounded by destruction from Friday's early morning tornado. White was just one of many students from Union College - a four-year, Seventh-day Adventist college in Lincoln, Neb., who was in Key West helping with debris cleanup from an earlier storm there.
Pope Benedict was baptised at birth and will most likely be baptised again one year after his death, not by his Roman Catholic Church but by a Mormon he never met.
The Mormons, a United States-based denomination officially named the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), encourage members to baptise the dead by proxy in the belief they are helping the deceased attain full access to heaven.
Young adults need to constantly replenish their supply of "living water," Elder David A. Bednar told Latter-day Saint youths on Sunday.
"You and I need his living water daily and in ample supply to sustain our ongoing spiritual growth and development," said Elder Bednar, an apostle in the Quorum of the Twelve of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in a Church Education System fireside.
Luís Alberto Hom is the oldest in a Guatemalan family of nine children. Guatemalan culture expects the oldest to set the pattern for education and work, but there were few jobs when Luís returned from his two-year volunteer service in Nicaragua as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Luís turned to the Career Workshop offered by the Church’s employment resource center in Guatemala City. As a result, he now works as municipal treasurer in Santa Catarina Palopó, a key position second only to the mayor. After he completes his university studies, he wants to become an architect.
From myths to missionaries: Taking a look at the truth about Mormonism
The race for president is already underway. Hillary Clinton, along with other Democratic contenders like Barack Obama and John Edwards, dominate media attention, leaving readers to wonder about the Republican competition.
One such Republican presidential hopeful is Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts. Aside from a lack of front-page publicity, Romney finds himself facing other obstacles. Romney is being criticized because of his religion, according to a USA Today article by David E. Campbell and J. Quin Monson.
1. Willard Mitt Romney was born in March 1947. (He stopped using Willard, the name of his father's friend J. Willard Marriott, founder of the hotel chain, in kindergarten. Mitt was the name of his father's cousin, a football player for the Chicago Bears in the 1920s.) His father, George, was chairman and president of the American Motors Corp. and governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969. His mother, Lenore, began a career in the theater arts before marrying George. She ran for the U.S. Senate in 1970. He has one brother and two sisters.
The sign on the Palmers' house says "Reed's Bike & Trike."
But Elton Reed Palmer didn't run much of a business. He gave away a lot more bicycles than he sold, and he seldom charged any child for a repair.
"Every child in the neighborhood knew if they had a flat tire on a bike or a scooter, they could go to Reed and he would fix it," said Catherine Solomon, a neighbor to Palmer and his wife, LoaFae Palmer.
Late Thursday the LDS Church issued a statement saying it supports a bill in the Utah Legislature that makes it clear there can be no gambling at private clubs or beer bars that hold state liquor licenses.
HB104 by Rep. Steven Sandstrom, R-Orem, would stop games of chance, even if nothing of real value is at stake, in the state licensed establishments.
Elder David A. Bednar featured at Feb. 4 CES fireside
Elder David A. Bednar, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will be the featured speaker for a Church Educational System fireside Sunday, Feb. 4, at 6 p.m. at Brigham Young University's Marriott Center.
Kevin Rollins was a consultant at Bain & Co. in Boston 13 years ago when Dell Computer Corp. hired him to troubleshoot its business.
Rollins was vaguely familiar with Austin but knew nothing about Dell.
He liked what he saw. Won over by the company's sales and manufacturing approaches and its phenomenal growth potential, Rollins signed on as senior vice president in charge of the Americas in 1996.
The Republican presidential candidate whose telegenic looks have earned him the nickname "Matinee Mitt" prefers to talk about keeping taxes low and defeating global jihad.
But many voters want to know how he is guided by his Mormon faith.
"I get asked a good deal," Mitt Romney told The Daily Telegraph. "I'm proud of my heritage, proud of my faith."
On February 1, tickets will become available for The Man Who Knew, a pageant based on the life and testimony of Martin Harris, one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon.
The pageant focuses on Harris’s life from the time he started investigating the Church until 1830, when the Book of Mormon was published.
If asked to make a list of filmmakers who are also members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, many would put Kieth Merrill's name at the top of that list.
As a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a two-time Academy Award nominee and winner of an Academy Award for his documentary "Great American Cowboy," Merrill has gone where other LDS filmmakers dream of being. He is also the first one to admit that the road to filmmaking success hasn't been easy.
