August 2005

Utah rescuers, supplies head to storm areas (8-31-5)
A convoy of search and rescue specialists pulled out of Salt Lake City on Tuesday bound for the hurricane-ravaged South, one of several Utah-based relief operations.

Mormonism may sour Romney for some in Christian right (8-30)
The Southern Baptist Convention website categorizes the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a ''cult" that is ''radically" different from historic, biblical Christianity.

Rocky says he is the victim in Seed firing (8-30)
Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson has named his seventh communications director in less than five years after firing Deeda Seed, a longtime friend and his former chief of staff.

Labor of love: LDS ward, neighbors pitch in to aid widows (8-29)
When LDS bishop Rob Wellman set out to improve the home of a widowed member of his Alpine ward, it didn't take him long to realize that one home would not be enough--there are eight other widows within a two-block radius.

Liquor sales in new malls get OK (8-28)
The LDS Church said its redevelopment plan for a pair of downtown malls will allow a few of the restaurants to obtain liquor licenses, but it's drawing the line on Sunday shopping.

New book puts divine face on the LDS people (8-27)
David L. Rowe is the dean of Spiritual Life at the Salt Lake Theological Seminary. We've been friends for many years. Like the guy in the Kris Kristofferson song, Dave is a poet, a preacher and a pilgrim.

Mountain Meadows movie being filmed (8-26)
Filming is under way in Canada on a Western romance set in the context of the Mountain Meadows Massacre--one of the darkest and most controversial events in Mormon history.

LDS dream for Salt Lake hailed (8-26)
Salt Lake City has a lot in its favor, but The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--"a downtown landowner that's got a dream"--is its top resource for revitalization, media executive Dean Singleton said Thursday.

Abuse and accountability (8-24)
The trust of a child is a very delicate matter, creating a tremendous burden of responsibility for the adult caregiver. This burden is also an explicit duty, both moral and legal, to assure that the child's trust is not misplaced by allowing a sexual predator to covertly abuse that boy or girl.

Primary teacher takes stand at trial, denies molesting girls (8-24)
Aaron Marcos Montoya took the stand in his own defense Tuesday afternoon to say he didn't molest three 5-year-old girls while he taught an LDS Primary class in 2004.

LDS scripture to be sold page by page (8-23)
Retired bookstore owner Helen Schlie can see a higher purpose in her decision to sell her 1830 first-edition Book of Mormon one page at a time.

BYU still 'stone cold soberest' (8-23)
The University of Wisconsin-Madison topped a list of the nation's best party schools released Monday, despite a decadelong effort by the school to reduce its reputation for heavy drinking.

2 girls testify of abuse in Primary (8-23)
Two young girls testified Monday that their Primary teacher "touched" them inappropriately while they were in his church class last year.

Mental illness isn't a sin, expert tells crowd at Y. (8-20)
Latter-day Saints with limited knowledge about mental illness can add to the pain of those who suffer when they ascribe to several common myths.

Psychologists apologize for criticizing LDS Church (8-20)
After months of communication with two Utah psychologists and their local professional organization, the American Psychological Association has formally apologized for negative characterizations about the LDS Church.

Salt Lake reveals its street smarts (8-19)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, never accused of being hip or trendy, and the Salt Lake City government, led by an activist liberal mayor with a contemporary urban vision, are seeking common ground to revitalize the downtown area.

Y. professor urges U.S. Muslims to fight radicals (8-19)
Radical Islamic insurgents comprise only a tiny fraction of the Muslim world, but their religious fanaticism and its accompanying violence will likely continue to grow unless American Muslims can help infiltrate such groups.

Dave's Mormon Inquiry: Evangelicals Are Spiteful, Intolerant Bigots (8-18)
That's the message I received recently while visiting the public open house at the LDS Newport Beach Temple in Southern California.

Information overload called harmful (8-18)
As the ease and comfort of the information age plays out in the developmental lives of American children, at least one local psychologist worries their drive to face challenges, make good choices and achieve great things is on the decline.

Liberties facing threats (8-17)
Religious liberties in the United States are being threatened with a relatively new judicial standard that upholds laws deemed "neutral and generally applicable" rather than protecting the free exercise of religion.

Chief who puts his faith in hard work (8-16)
Phil Smith says that he owes his success in business to the Mormon church, and donated 1m [pounds] to the organisation after he sold his business earlier this year. But building a multi-million-pound company is not the hardest job he has ever done, as he explained to Business Editor David Parkin.

Religion is likely to play big part in S.L. contests (8-16)
In most places during election year, politics turn two camps--Democrats and Republicans--against each other.

Hispanic devotional is Sept. 18 at LDS center (8-16)
Latino Latter-day Saints and their Spanish-speaking friends and neighbors will gather for a devotional on Sunday, Sept. 18, at 7:30 p.m. in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the restoration of the church and the 200th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Smith.

Witnessing at the Temple (8-14)
A few weeks ago I blogged on the suppression of the Gospel by Mariners Church during the open house of the Mormon's Newport Beach Temple.

LDS Temple Tour (8-14)
I visited a Mormon temple yesterday. The new temple is opening up in two weeks here in the OC, and they let us regular Christians visit during the weeks before it's opened.

A country tribute to Joseph Smith (8-14)
Fifteen years in the making, "Joseph: A Nashville Tribute to the Prophet," has been a labor of love from start to finish.

Public open house for LDS temple in Samoa (8-13)

Some Ed Week sessions to go global (8-12)
Susan Easton Black addresses her audiences at Campus Education Week in impeccable suits and, usually, high, high heels.

LDS-Catholic aid for Niger (8-11)
Thousands of starving children and adults in the African nation of Niger will soon be nourished by a lifesaving porridge being airlifted in through a partnership between the LDS Church and Catholic Relief Services.

New Mormon church holds its 1st services (8-11)
There's a new church in town, a one-story chapel built by adherents of a rapidly growing religion.

Romney U.S. Presidential Run May Make Religion Political Issue (8-11)
As Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney weighs a presidential race, the former business executive brings assets, liabilities and one wild card: his Mormon religion.

Court affirms damages in 1985 mower accident (8-9)
KANSAS CITY, Mo.--An appeals court has affirmed a verdict awarding $1.18 million in damages from the LDS Church for a mowing accident 20 years ago in which a boy lost part of his foot.

Pres. Hinckley dedicates the Aba Nigeria Temple (8-8)
For Latter-day Saints in Nigeria, what they called a "Day of Rejoicing" seemed to last for two days. After a member meeting and a traditional African cultural event with President Gordon B. Hinckley on Saturday, they gathered Sunday for a solemn but even more joyous event.

A Harvard man takes leap of faith (8-8)
Getting a 34-year Harvard man to abandon one of the nation's most prestigious business colleges for an Idaho church school would seem to demand nothing short of divine revelation.

Joseph Smith kin reunite (8-7)
Robert Smith's heart grew over the weekend as he reunited with 200 members of his family--many of whom he had never before met. The Omaha, Neb., man is a great-great-grandson of Joseph Smith and has spent the past few days visiting with other descendants of the man who founded The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Thousands still reliving Mormon Trail trek (8-7)
The wagon wheel ruts are still visible in places. Even after 150 years, they mark the toil and struggles of thousands of pioneers who settled the West.

President Hinckley now in Nigeria (8-7)
In the midst of a worldwide tour visiting church members in Alaska, Russia, Asia and Africa, President Gordon B. Hinckley arrived Friday in Aba, Nigeria, to the joyous welcome of Latter-day Saints here.

If you go on the Mormon Trail (8-7)
MORMON TRAIL: http://www.nps.gov/mopi or (801) 741-1012.

Pageant rekindles Smith debate (8-6)
The lights went up and the mayflies swarmed as Latter-day Saints flooded the stage, with the silhouette of the sacred Nauvoo Temple rising from the hallowed bluff behind them.

Conference examines LDS research (8-6)
Latter-day Saints who worry their faith is somehow suspect--because some say that church founder Joseph Smith was a money digger or that archaeological evidence doesn't prove the Book of Mormon is historical--let idealism overshadow reality.

Jane Manning James comes to life (8-6)
She was a virtual shadow in the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but time, social evolution and a team dedicated to telling her story are bringing Jane Manning James to life.

Church excommunicates 'DNA' author (8-5)
The Australian author who wrote that DNA evidence fails to support the ancestral claims outlined in the Book of Mormon has been excommunicated by The Church of Jesus of Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Elder Hinckley hurt on plane to Korea (8-2)
Elder Richard G. Hinckley, son of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Gordon B. Hinckley, is back in Salt Lake City recovering from emergency surgery to repair an eye injury he received aboard the private jet taking an LDS Church entourage to Korea.

Pres. Hinckley arrives in Seoul after a delay (8-1)
SEOUL, South Korea--Overcoming a travel mishap that delayed him by a day, President Gordon B. Hinckley finally arrived in Seoul in time to speak at a regional conference Sunday morning.