This presentation seeks to quantify the financial impact of climate change on the LDS Church. The LDS Church owns over a billion dollars in real estate in Florida, and continues to buy land and build multi-million dollar buildings there. How much of that is likely to be under water within a few decades due to …
Event: Salt Lake Symposium 2016
Continuing Along The Divergent Paths Of The Restoration
Forty years ago, the first edition of Divergent Paths of the Restoration was published. It has been updated several times with the 5th recently completed and awaiting publication. This presentation will give insights into the challenges of keeping track of a movement that continues to expand, becoming more diverse in its expressions. What are the …
Going On Mormon Sabbatical And Following The Footsteps Of Counter Culture Bad Ass Jesus
After I spoke out against November’s exclusion policy, my church calling was revoked and temple recommend taken, both against my wishes. So I decided to take a sabbatical from the Church. I will share my observations from this sabatical, including my weekly purposeful worship (going to other services, volunteering, communing with nature, etc.), a monthly …
Borderlands Creating An Lds Compatible Religious Model For Yourself
Troubled members who want to remain a part of the Mormon experience find that creating a personal religion compatible with the LDS model and acceptable to their family can be very useful and comforting. When developing a compatible/acceptable personal religion, we must carefully select attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and elements of faith that help us meet …
The Transcendent Power Of The Between
Susan Rothbaum (1988) argues that church leavetakers ‘have a foot in each world, but are at home in neither… this experience of being “between two worlds” can be both depressing and elating, painful and productive.’ Thomas McConkie and Gina Colvin will explore this space “between two worlds” where new identities, attachments, and ways of understanding …
Mormon Mental Health Association A Discussion Of What S Not Up For Discussion
Within Mormonism there is an increased need to understand some members’ tendency to hold certain topics sacrosanct. Join us for a discussion on how this need to maintain a stable sense of reality can keep certain ideas off the table — and how we may navigate the turbulence caused when competing realities collide. Joshua Neal
Deep Shift Reassessing The Restoration
This session presents an overview of the LDS Church’s 186-year mythical and historical narrative arc, from its promising 19th-century origins to its defaulting 21st-century decomposition. Where will the Church head from here? Paul Toscano
Handshakes Drawn Swords
Plural marriage was announced as an official doctrine of the LDS church in 1852. Although not cannonized as Doctrine and Covenants Sec 132 until 1876 it nonetheless became the pivot point of 19th century Mormonism until it’s reluctant abandonment near the end of the century. The apologists tell us that all is in order and …
From Same Sex Marriage To Antidiscrimination Working With The Lds Church On Lgbt Rights
This panel will discuss the LDS Church’s increasing focus on Religious Freedom and the impacts it would have on the LDS Church and society. Clifford Rosky, Troy Williams
This Session Has Been Cancelled
Prophetic vision has been associated with a call to build a just world with an eye to a future Zion. With the exponential rate of technological change and its attendant socioeconomic implications, there is a great need for us to raise the prophetic voice in society. The roots of Mormonism are a fruitful source for …