Latest from Mormon Land: At least one General Conference topic seems certain

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Celebrating Easter at conference

Here’s betting there will be plenty of mentions — if not whole sermons — about Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and Atonement on the final day of General Conference on April 5.

After all, that will be Easter Sunday.

The last time Christianity’s holiest day fell on a conference Sunday, in 2021, these were some of the talk titles:

• “Jesus Christ: The Caregiver of Our Soul.”

• “The Grave Has No Victory.”

• “Our Personal Savior.”

• “Christ Is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains.”

Do you see a pattern?

But, then, Dallin Oaks chose to speak about “Defending Our Divinely Inspired Constitution,” so you never know.

(That talk, on one of Oaks’ favorite topics, actually proved memorable and generated buzz that lasts to this day.)

What other subjects do you think will or should come up at this spring’s General Conference?

The latest ‘Mormon Land’ podcast: Reflections of Richard Bushman

Richard Bushman, the 94-year-old patriarch of Latter-day Saint historians, speaks about the church presidents he has known, the challenges the faith has faced, the changes he has witnessed, the books he has written, and the future he embraces.

Listen to the podcast.

Around the world

• Women who go to religious services weekly are more likely to report having good health than those who attend less frequently, data nerd Stephen Cranney reports in a Times and Seasons blog post.

Among Latter-day Saint women, 90% of weekly churchgoers say they enjoy good health, according to Pew’s Religious Landscape Study, compared to 71% who go less often.

It’s possible, of course, that illness prevents the less healthy from going to services weekly.

• The nonpartisan Mormon Women for Ethical Government and its efforts to support voter-approved congressional maps in Utah were featured recently in a prominent British newspaper.

“The church doesn’t take political positions, but it has never asked individuals not to take civic stands,” Jennifer Walker Thomas, co-executive director of MWEG, told The Guardian. “The expectation is that we use our faith to inform our engagement and try to improve the communities around us.”

• Six million.

That’s the number of lives impacted by the church’s partnership with the United Nations’ World Food Program.

“We have been working together to assist millions of people facing hunger and hardship in 49 countries around the world,” World Food Program Executive Director Cindy McCain said during a recent tour of the Bishops’ Central Storehouse in Salt Lake City. “The church’s generosity has not only saved lives; it has also helped families build the skills, resources and resilience they need to find new hope and opportunity.”

• As religious freedom goes, so go the nations of the Earth.

So said Marcus Nash, a member of the church’s Presidency of the Seventy, at the recent International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington.

“There’s a mountain of evidence that shows the power of religious freedom in building families, communities and nations,” Nash said in a news release. “...Religious freedom is our first, last, and always best hope of cultivating good and worthy principles in the minds and souls of the people, so that we learn to act together, to learn to differ without demonizing, disagree without being disagreeable — to work with others with opposing views to forge common ground instead of seeking to dominate.”

From The Tribune

• In his first major address as church president, Dallin Oaks says he wants to help all members “overcome present or future doubts.”

• Students at a Black college question why their school honored church founder Joseph Smith.

• “I will have to start from scratch” — An asylum-seeking Latter-day Saint convert who fled to the U.S. prepares to self-deport amid Trump II’s immigration clampdown.

• Sporting a sort of “cool factor,” apostle Dieter Uchtdorf makes being a Latter-day Saint sound “fun and joyful.” Listen (or relisten) to the podcast. Read the excerpts.

• BYU students protest off campus against Border Patrol’s presence on campus.

• Obscene anti-Mormon jeers again break out at a BYU road game — this time at Oklahoma State — and the Cougar coach is none too pleased. Neither is the host team: The chants cost the school a $50,000 fine.

• What happened to Angel Moroni’s trumpet, which toppled from the Salt Lake Temple in an earthquake?

• Utah’s high court rules that the church can continue to build its Heber Valley Temple — at least for now.

• Those high-profile tithing lawsuits against the church might have been dismissed, but one need not be dismissive about what they revealed regarding the faith’s finances.