Event: Salt Lake Symposium 2019

Smith-Pettit Lecture: God: A Human History

Introduction of Sunstone conference and Smith-Pettit Presentation: Lindsay Hansen Park In God, Reza Aslan sheds new light on mankind’s relationship with the divine and challenges our perspective on the history of faith and the birth of religion. From the origins of spiritual thought to the concept of an active, engaged, divine presence that underlies all …

Read more

Utah Politics: The Elephant in the Room

Utah became a Republican state because Latter-day Saints disagreed with changes brought by the sexual revolution. Abortion, pornography, gay marriage, as well as the decline of traditional families and the rise of out-of-marriage births led them to Republicanism; Utah non-Mormons, facing a seemingly permanent religious-political majority, became Democrats. LDS adherence to the old morality also …

Read more

Liquor and Mormons

Utah liquor laws are constantly evolving, and they don’t always reflect what’s best for businesses, customers, or even the safety of the community. The majority of people who make the laws in Utah don’t drink, and this leads to frustration, misunderstandings, and bad press for the state. Lisa Barlow, Michael Eccleston, Tanner Lenart, Blair M. …

Read more

An Alternative Orthodoxy for Mormonism

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, a prominent Catholic priest, writer, and teacher, has referred to his Franciscan teachings as an alternative orthodoxy that “doesn’t throw out the mainline tradition; [it] simply place[s] our effort and our energy on overlooked or misunderstood aspects of the tradition.” In this session, we will use Fr. Rohr’s alternate orthodoxy as …

Read more

Community of Christ Meets Postmodernism

The rapidly shifting religious landscape in North America and Western Europe has had a profound impact on Community of Christ. This paper explores the ways in which this faith with a future is navigating the challenging terrain. Lachlan Mackay, Melvin Johnson

Read more

The Future of Faith

In order to understand the future of faith, we need to also understand its past and the present. A currently beleaguered faith is part of a broad paradigm shift in how we understand the nature of reality in the modern era. These challenges are not easily dismissed. At the same time, many, including Latter-day Saints, …

Read more