A Heretic Reviews Conference, October 2020

Best visual aid: Carlos A. Godoy shared a picture of himself and his sister at the time they first investigated the Church as teenagers. I think it’s fun to see pictures of GAs back when they were younger, especially when they had long hair.

Most carefully vague visual aid: Dallin H. Oaks talked about the right to peacefully protest as a good thing, and accompanying his talk is a picture of some people protesting. The picture is very carefully taken to not actually show what cause the people are protesting about, though.

Weirdest visual aid: W. Christopher Waddell mentioned a Church-published pamphlet on personal finance that has been translated into a number of languages. The only image accompanying his talk is a picture of copies of this pamphlet in several different languages. I think it definitely would have been better to just have no image accompany the talk at all, as this one is pretty useless.

Best story: Dale G. Renlund told a story of two doctors discussing a patient who needed to be admitted to the hospital because of an ailment related to his consumption of alcohol. One doctor expressed frustration that the patient had brought his trouble on himself. The other reminded the first, “you became a physician to care for people and work to heal them. You didn’t become a physician to judge them.” I feel like Elder Renlund reinforced what he was saying with the story by describing both the patient and the first doctor in sympathetic terms. The patient was “a courteous, pleasant man,” and the first doctor’s frustration he attributed to “grueling training” and “sleep deprivation,” and he pointed out that after being corrected, she “diligently” cared for the patient.

Worst story: Russell M. Nelson told a story of his granddaughter-in-law whose faith had been challenged by her father’s impending death. President Nelson passed a single-word response through his wife to tell this faithless woman that she was being “myopic.” She repented and realized that it is wicked to grieve the death of a loved one. President Nelson used a pseudonym to refer to this woman, which I think re-emphasizes the shaming aspect because she’s done something so awful that she can’t even be named. At the same time, the pseudonym does little to protect her identity as I’m sure that even in his large family, people will have little difficulty figuring out who “Jill” is. I also hate the “I’m a guru giving cryptic but deep guidance” aspect of his one-word response. He seems to revel in his status and adoration by the general membership, and this type of story only contributes to that.

Best storytelling: William K. Jackson told about a man whose family was already LDS but who wasn’t interested in joining the Church himself. At the end of the story, he inevitably decided to join, but Elder Jackson postponed telling us this until the end of his talk, after telling the first part of the story at the beginning.

Strangest story: Gerrit W. Gong told about a family that prayed for help because they were having a hard time being accepted in their neighborhood because they were Mormons. Their prayers were answered when their house burned down and their neighbors rallied around them. The message of this story seems to be “be careful what you pray for because you might get it!”

Best quote: Dale G. Renlund quoted Hillel the Elder, a Jewish scholar from the first century BC, who was challenged by a student to explain the Torah in the amount of time he could stand on one foot. He responded with the following (the first part is a quote from Leviticus):

“Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”

That which is hateful unto you, do not do to your neighbor. This is the whole of the Torah; the rest is commentary. Go forth and study.

In addition to the content, I appreciate Elder Renlund breaking the norm of GAs mostly just quoting other GAs.

Worst quote: David A. Bednar quoted Jeffrey R. Holland:

We are witnessing an ever greater movement toward polarity. The middle-ground options will be removed from us as Latter-day Saints. The middle of the road will be withdrawn.

If you are treading water in the current of a river, you will go somewhere. You simply will go wherever the current takes you. Going with the stream, following the tide, drifting in the current will not do.

Choices have to be made. Not making a choice is a choice. Learn to choose now.

I’m very much not a fan of this “if you’re not all in, you’re out” thinking. I understand why Elder Bednar, as a hard-liner, would like it, but I’m especially disappointed that he was able to cite Elder Holland on this.

Most unnecessary quote of Russell M. Nelson: Gerrit W. Gong quoted President Nelson as saying that the Book of Mormon is “a miraculous miracle.”

Best aside: Russell M. Nelson called out racism in an aside that seems to have clearly been shoehorned in after the bulk of the talk had been written. But I’m all in favor of asides like this!

I grieve that our Black brothers and sisters the world over are enduring the pains of racism and prejudice. Today I call upon our members everywhere to lead out in abandoning attitudes and actions of prejudice. I plead with you to promote respect for all of God’s children.

Worst highlighting of inequality: Steven J. Lund talked about programs for children and youth, and although he sometimes included both boys and girls, he mostly focused on priesthood things that of course only the boys get to do. For example, he talked about “quorums and Young Women classes,” but then later said “Moms and dads, your sons need you to support them now,” without saying anything parallel about daughters. And he spent the first third of his talk telling about his son who had cancer fighting through the pain to pass the sacrament one Sunday near the end of his life. I think he would have been better off just addressing his talk to the boys only rather than throwing the girls a few crumbs and deciding that that’s good enough.

Worst history: In the context of talking about the equality of all people (a worthy goal for sure!), Quentin L. Cook quoted D&C 101 about U.S. founding documents, and added italics to emphasize the most false part of the verse. He said “these documents were ‘established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles.'” Really? All flesh? I feel like there was actually quite a bit of flesh that was excluded, especially as of 1833, when D&C 101 was written.

Carefully worded incomplete statements about history:

• Quentin L. Cook again, talking about 1833, when many Mormons were living in Missouri.

In contrast [to Missourians], our doctrine respected the Native Americans, and our desire was to teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ. With respect to slavery, our scriptures had made it clear that no man should be in bondage to another.

By focusing on doctrine (which is a pretty vague category to begin with) and scripture, he carefully sidestepped the question of actual treatment of Blacks and Native Americans by early Mormons, which of course was mixed at best.

• Sharon Eubank referred to the 1978 revelation that ended the priesthood/temple ban for members with African ancestry as the “revelation on priesthood,” which makes it sound as innocuous as last Conference’s Proclamation on the Restoration. To be clear, I love that she brought it up, but I wish she had named it more completely.
• Russell M. Nelson said he was intrigued with everything about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, “their lives and their wives.” By speaking of them as a group, he was able to say “wives,” without bringing polygamy to his listeners’ minds.

Best laugh: Jeffrey R. Holland said of Elijah that he

endured a period when there was no rain for years and . . . for a time, was fed only by the skimpy sustenance that could be carried in a raven’s claw. By my estimation, that can’t have been anything we would call a “happy meal.”

Best cringe/laugh: Matthew S. Holland referred to a kidney stone he had as a “small and simple thing” that with “exquisite pain” was “brought to pass.”

Most surprising laugh: David A. Bednar, who typically strikes me as humorless, joked about how he and his wife were surprised to find in their food storage some decades-old supplies that they “were afraid to open and inspect . . . for fear of unleashing another global pandemic!” He concluded that fortunately “we properly disposed of the hazardous materials and that health risk to the world was eliminated.”

Best title: “Do Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with God” (Dale G. Renlund). I also loved the talk, but I actually chose this as my favorite title before even reading it.

Worst title: “Highly Favored of the Lord” (Gary E. Stevenson). This rubs me the wrong way because it sounds so prosperity gospelish. But the actual talk itself was just fine.

Best lines:

• Michelle D. Craig: “Where others saw fishermen, sinners, or publicans, Jesus saw disciples; where others saw a man possessed by devils, Jesus looked past the outward distress, acknowledged the man, and healed him.”
• Quentin L. Cook: “Unity and diversity are not opposites. We can achieve greater unity as we foster an atmosphere of inclusion and respect for diversity.”
• Dale G. Renlund: “God delights in mercy and does not begrudge its use. . . . Loving mercy means that we do not just love the mercy God extends to us; we delight that God extends the same mercy to others.”
• Sharon Eubank: “This world isn’t what I want it to be. There are many things I want to influence and make better. And frankly, there is a lot of opposition to what I hope for, and sometimes I feel powerless.” This isn’t a beautiful or inspirational statement or a pithy point or a doctrinal truth, but I love what she said here so much because it resonates exactly with the despair I am feeling. (To be complete, I should note that who said this counts for a lot too. If Dallin H. Oaks said the same thing, I would hear it as a dog whistle lament about gay marriage.)

Worst lines:

• Russell M. Nelson: “Life without God is a life filled with fear. Life with God is a life filled with peace.” I think this is nothing more than an admission of his lack of imagination. I’m one of many people who would say they feel greater peace with no, or at least less, belief in God. It seems clear he just can’t imagine our experience is real, so he convinces himself it isn’t.
• Russell M. Nelson: “The adversary never stops attacking. So, we can never stop preparing!” So wait, which group is the one living a life filled with fear?
• Ronald A. Rasband: “Let me emphasize, whether you have access to a temple or not, you need a current temple recommend to stay firmly on the covenant path.” Thanks, I guess, for making clear that the “covenant path” is not for me.
• D. Todd Christofferson: “I think it safe to say that when people turn from a sense of accountability to God and begin to trust instead in the ‘arm of flesh,’ disaster lurks.” I think several Scandinavian countries, at the very least, would beg to differ.

Schrodinger’s line (maybe worst, maybe best): William K. Jackson said,

In the culture of Christ, women are elevated to their proper and eternal status. They are not subservient to men, as in many cultures in today’s world, but full and equal partners here and in the world to come.

This doesn’t describe the Church very well at all, so either he’s intentionally blind to all the inequality we have in the Church, or maybe he’s subtly calling the Church out on its institutional sexism, in which case I’m totally on board!

Worst line in a talk I otherwise loved: Sharon Eubank: “I believe the change we seek in ourselves and in the groups we belong to will come less by activism and more by actively trying every day to understand one another.” I think it’s great to work at the individual level, but I think activism is important too, and I’m sad that she put it down.

Most misleading line: Russell M. Nelson, in the Women’s/YW session: “You are more than eight million strong.” There’s no way his audience was anywhere near that big, even if every active woman and YW was watching.

Lines from speakers gunning to take Neal A. Maxwell’s place as the apostle of alliteration:

• David A. Bednar: “Faithfulness is not foolishness or fanaticism.”
• Neil L. Andersen: “[Jesus] will come in the clouds of heaven . . . with all His holy angels . . . not [just] the cherry-picked cherubim”
• Russell M. Nelson: “You do not need to wander or wonder.”
• Milton Camargo: “the world can be . . . full of deception and distractions . . . harsh and heartbreaking”

Line that sounds like a subtle call out of a fellow GA: David A. Bednar: “The consistency of prophetic counsel over time creates a powerful concert of clarity and a warning volume far louder than solo performances can ever produce.” I wonder whose solo performances (gospel hobbies?) he’s referring to.

Best framing of suggestions: Sharon Eubank said “From my soul-searching, I have three suggestions. Maybe they will help you too.” I love this, especially in contrast to the more commandment-oriented approach of so many GAs, where they present their ideas as God’s Very Will.

Line that annoyed me but even I realize is of no real consequence: In conducting sessions, Presidents Oaks and Eyring always said that the music “was previously recorded,” which suggests that it had been deliberately planned and recorded in advance, rather than the reality that someone just selected recordings from music that had already been performed at previous Conferences.

Best admission of weakness: Michelle D. Craig said “With all of my heart I do not want to be like the priest or the Levite on the road to Jericho—one who looks and passes by. But too often I think I am.” I appreciated that she said this because I often fear that this is me too.

Worst admission of weakness: When discussing a failing that a leader and his wife pointed out in him, Scott D. Whiting could not even bring himself to say what the failing was. He said,

I had a soul-stretching experience when a loving Church leader made a very direct suggestion that I could use greater measure of a certain attribute. He lovingly cut through any distortion. That night, I shared this experience with my wife. She was mercifully charitable even as she agreed with his suggestion.

Most defensive footnote: In some live discussions of Conference, I saw D. Todd Christofferson draw lots of people’s ire when he included “out-of-wedlock births” as one of the “bitter fruits that grow out of the ongoing sexual revolution.” It was interesting to see, then, that he added a footnote to this phrase in this talk to defensively explain that “In giving this example, I am speaking of potential adverse consequences to children as “bitter fruit” and not of the children themselves.” (See his note 15. I’m pretty sure it was added after the fact not only because of its tone, but also because it’s the only one of the 25 in his talk that falls in the middle of a sentence without being attached to a quoted phrase). I would really have preferred that he just modify the text of the talk itself to drop this needlessly hurtful example, as few people are likely to read the footnote, and it really doesn’t soften the blow at all even if they do. I’m sure it’s too much to wish for to ask him to acknowledge that there are lots of good fruits of the sexual revolution too, such as more accessible divorce to make it easier for people to escape abusive marriages or better access to birth control to allow women who are done having children from being forced to have more.

Best portrayal of God as petty: Russell M. Nelson said:

We often pray that we and the missionaries will be led to those who are prepared to receive the truths of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I wonder, to whom will we be led when we plead to find those who are willing to let God prevail in their lives?

Seriously? What kind of monkey’s paw God does he believe in, to imagine that this little change in wording will suddenly release a torrent of new converts who God was only holding back until now because we weren’t asking for them in exactly the right way?

Reduce, reuse, recycle: A few years ago when Russell M. Nelson ascended to the Church Presidency, Neil L. Andersen gave a hagiography of him as a Conference talk. Apparently, Elder Andersen didn’t get enough of it, because in this Conference, he brought back some more low-key worship of President Nelson. I am really not a fan of prophet worship, and Elder Andersen is probably the worst offender in the Q15.

Worst manipulation: Henry B. Eyring said to the women and YW, “You are daughters of a loving Heavenly Father, who sent you into the world with unique gifts that you promised to use to bless others.”

Worst contribution to Mormon sexual hang-ups: Ulisses Soares talked about how awful lust is. He defined lust as “an intense longing and improper desire for something.” But I think it’s a very short step for his listeners to run into a more common definition of lust as something like strong sexual desire, and figure that it’s wrong for them to experience sexual desire even for a spouse. In a vacuum, a talk like this might not be much of a problem, but in the strong anti-sex culture of the Church, where the For the Strength of Youth booklet already condemns all sexual feelings before marriage, this type of talk is adding to an ongoing problem.

Thanks for casually mentioning this:

• Sharon Eubank listed some examples of situations where women have influence, including “preparing a presentation with a colleague.” I love that she didn’t mark it at all. Women in the workplace are just doing one of many things women do.
• Jeremy R. Jaggi mentioned “our release from presiding over the Utah Ogden Mission.”
• Along similar lines to Jaggi, Kelly R. Johnson said that “my dear wife and I were serving as mission leaders . . . “

I wonder how well this translated out of English: David A. Bednar‘s point about the word “test” not appearing in the standard works
And this: Becky Craven‘s comparison of “keep the change,” where change means currency in a transaction to our gift to Jesus being change in the sense of personal improvement

A good name for Jesus: Dieter F. Uchtdorf called him “the compassionate one.”

A good name for Satan: Ulisses Soares called him “the enemy,” which I realize isn’t unique to Soares, but is very much out of the norm for Mormons, where he’s most often called other things.

Best comparisons:

• Sharon Eubank compared a group trying to achieve unity to a rowing team trying to achieve “swing.”
• Becky Craven talked about her view of repentance as a kid as feeling like she was forever starting over in a game of Chutes and Ladders. I like this because I totally felt this way when I was younger too!

Worst comparison: Scott D. Whiting compared change we need to make but resist to calories, which is an understandable comparison, but also I think loaded with extra guilt and shame because of all the stress around dieting and body image for so many people.

Most rushed comparisons: Becky Craven, in just the closing paragraphs of her talk, brought up two brand-new comparisons that she hadn’t mentioned before: first, she compared bad habits to rocks that get in your shoe while hiking, and then she compared backsliding after making a change to a butterfly returning to its cocoon.

Interesting comparison strategy: Cristina B. Franco went very much against the rhetorical grain of Conference when she made a comparison using difference rather than similarity: she said that unlike a smashed piano, which can never as good as it originally was, even if repaired, we as broken people can be repaired by the Atonement to be even better than we originally were.

Most muddled comparison: Kelly R. Johnson told the story of his daughter accidentally setting a microwave on fire by setting it to cook with nothing in it, and then compared it to how if we have faith, we can absorb Satan’s fiery darts. I know that no analogy is perfect, but I felt like this one failed pretty badly. Food isn’t put in a microwave to protect us by absorbing a bad thing beyond our control; we intentionally expose it to the microwave’s power to make a desirable change in the food. Not to mention the fact that Satan’s fiery darts are already metaphorical. It was a fun story–especially his description of how he swung the microwave around by its power cord–but I think he should have maybe gone back to the drawing board to find a better comparison for his talk.

Worst term or phrase: “Recommended to the Lord” (Ronald A. Rasband). Elder Rasband loved this phrase used by his father-in-law so much that he gave his talk this title and repeated it over and over throughout the talk. I don’t like it; I feel like he’s overselling a temple recommend as a singular evidence of righteousness.

Attempt to extend the life of a term or phrase: Russell M. Nelson talked in the Women’s/YW session about how his audience was prepared for “the latter part of these latter days.” I guess this means the plain old latter days are over, and we’re now in the latter part of them. I wonder when the latter part of the latter part of the latter days will begin!

Last Conference’s term or phrase (“Didn’t you get the memo?”): Quentin L. Cook slipped up and talked about a “hinge point” again, not remembering that that was so last Conference.

Odd wording:

• Steven J. Lund talked about the sacrament as Jesus did it and as we do it today. He said “We contemplate the bread that He once broke—and the bread the priests before us are, in turn, now breaking. We think of the meaning of the liquid consecrated . . . ” It’s a perfectly fine word to capture “water or wine,” but liquid just sounds jarringly technical to me here.
• Sharon Eubank referred once to Joseph Smith as “President Smith,” which is just not done! It’s usually “the prophet Joseph” and “President” starting with Brigham Young.
• William K. Jackson said that the Church “is hardly a Western society or an American cultural phenomenon. It is an international church, as it was always meant to be. More than that, it is supernal.” I haven’t checked, but to my ear, this is an unconventional usage of supernal. You don’t say “[x] is supernal.” You say “the supernal [x].” Also, tangentially, I’d be interested to hear what someone like Ezra Taft Benson would say about Jackson’s pooh-poohing of the idea that the Church is an American cultural phenomenon. I suspect he would have said that darn right it’s an American cultural phenomenon, and thank God for it, because He wanted it that way!
• Dieter F. Uchtdorf titled his talk “God Will Do Something Unimaginable” and used the line a few times in the talk itself. Unimaginable feels like a slightly odd word choice to me here, as to my ear it doesn’t have the positive connotations of related words like remarkable, amazing, or wonderful. It’s not that it sounds negative; it just doesn’t sound positive.
• Ulisses Soares quoted from Psalm 139: ““Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising . . . ” I love the word downsitting, which just sounds delightfully strange!

Things that should go without saying, but I’m glad they were said anyway:

• Dallin H. Oaks: “we peacefully accept the results of elections.”
• Scott D. Whiting: “I have observed wonderful individuals both within and without the Church who have attributes that emulate [Jesus].”
• D. Todd Christofferson: “I think we would all agree that those who profess no religious belief can be, and often are, good, moral people.”
• M. Russell Ballard: “Praying for justice, peace, the poor, and the sick is often not enough. After we kneel in prayer, we need to get up from our knees and do what we can to help—to help both ourselves and others.” So does this mean “thoughts and prayers” aren’t a sufficient response to mass shootings?

Best patterns:

• In contrast with April Conference, many speakers and prayer-givers mentioned COVID-19. My fear that it would only be mentioned as an object lesson turned out to be groundless.
• I loved that there were many condemnations of racism (e.g., Dallin H. Oaks, Russell M. Nelson) and of the need to reduce prejudice (Sharon Eubank) and statements of the equality of all people (e.g., Quentin L. Cook, William K. Jackson).
• A couple of speakers talked about the importance of loving our enemies (Dallin H. Oaks, M. Russell Ballard).
• Several speakers put women first, mentioning “women and men” or “sisters and brothers.”
• A few speakers mentioned heavenly parents.
• A couple of speakers made the anti-prosperity gospel point that righteousness doesn’t mean you escape bad experiences (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Matthew S. Holland).
• The Family Proclamation was only mentioned once that I noticed, and it most certainly wasn’t canonized.

Worst patterns:

• Even with the condemnations of racism, a few of the speakers (e.g., Dallin H. Oaks, M. Russell Ballard) seemed surprisingly concerned that a few protests that have happened this year have turned violent. This focus is a common tactic of people who want to downplay the evils of historical and ongoing racially-motivated violence, murder, rape, slavery, erection of legal and social barriers, and discrimination of every imaginable kind by equating them with some violence at some protests. I’m not a fan of Presidents Oaks and Ballard repeating this type of thinking.
• Quentin L. Cook and William K. Jackson talked about the “culture of Christ” that everyone should adopt so we can quit our petty fighting over differences in human cultures. I like that they’re concerned with reducing conflict between people, but I think this is really not a good way to go about it given that they didn’t show any evidence that they realized that the culture of Christ might be different from the culture of the Church. There are examples of our Church culture’s misguidedness in this very same Conference.  For example, Carlos A. Godoy described people not fitting in at church “These people may not be wearing white shirts, dresses, or any standard Sunday attire. . . . Maybe their hairstyle is a little extreme or their vocabulary is different . . .” Russell M. Nelson said “When your greatest desire is to let God prevail, to be part of Israel, so many decisions become easier. So many issues become nonissues! You know how best to groom yourself.” The idea of a culture of Christ might make sense in theory, but the practice of it in the LDS Church seems overly concerned with outward appearances, and I really think it’s wrong for us to force converts to homogenize their appearance with middle-class Americans. And in the name of Jesus? It seems pretty blasphemous, actually.
• Many speakers (more than was the case for previous Church presidents) feel like they need to quote Russell M. Nelson. Given how entrenched this pattern is by this point, I think we’ll have to wait and see if a future president can put an end to it, because President Nelson is clearly enjoying the worship.
• Speakers quoting themselves (M. Russell Ballard, Neil L. Andersen). I know GAs give a ton of talks, but quoting yourself seems like just phoning it in!
• Speakers not naming women when they quote them. Eliza Wells at the Exponent recently looked at who gets quoted and how they’re referred to in the past 50 years of General Conference talks. Among other things, she found that women were more likely to be quoted without being named. Sensitized by having read her post, in this Conference, I was particularly struck by M. Russell Ballard quoting BYU professor Sharon J. Harris’s book Enos, Jarom, Omni: A Brief Theological Introduction (see his note 11) without naming her. I mean, come on. She’s not a source anyone would question: she’s a BYU professor! But rather than mention her by name or even her position, he used a passive voice construction and said “it has been observed.”

Other interesting patterns:

• A larger-than-usual number of speakers quoted 4 Nephi and talked about Zion societies (e.g., Quentin L. Cook, D. Todd Christofferson).
• It seems like a lot of speakers quoted Neal A. Maxwell (e.g., Ulisses Soares, Jeffrey R. Holland)

Best musical number: “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” (Saturday morning). I really liked the last verse.

Worst musical number: “Have I Done Any Good?” (Saturday morning). This just seemed like a really weird arrangement.

Highest-tempo musical number: “Oh Say, What Is Truth?” (Sunday afternoon). I didn’t actually time any of the hymns, but this one seemed like it was played and sung quickly.

Longest prayer (“I should have been giving a talk.”): 120 seconds (Kathryn Reynolds, Women/YW session benediction)

Shortest prayer (“Let’s move this thing along!”): 48 seconds (J. Devn Cornish, Saturday afternoon invocation)

Three favorite talks that I would be happy to see lessons based on:

“Do Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with God” (Dale G. Renlund). I love his focus on mercy. As I mentioned above, I really appreciated the story he told about the one doctor reminding the other to treat people without judging them, as well as the story of the Jewish scholar who summarized the message of the Torah as loving your neighbor, with everything else being commentary.

“By Union of Feeling We Obtain Power with God” (Sharon Eubank). I love not only the topic of unity she addresses, but as I mentioned above, what a relatable speaker she is. She’s quickly become one of my favorite Conference speakers. She’s so conversational, and she feels like she’s lovingly encouraging in a way I find much easier to hear than the doctrinaire harshness of so many of the men in general Church leadership. I think it’s really a shame that we don’t get to hear from her every Conference, and that she’ll be released in a few years.

“The Healing Power of Jesus Christ” (Cristina B. Franco).

Three least favorite talks that I would be disappointed to see lessons based on:

“Seek Christ in Every Thought” (Ulisses Soares). I appreciate his concern that small sins lead to bigger ones, but I think his hyperfocus on eradicating every bad thought from our minds reads like nothing so much as a how-to guide for pushing people toward scrupulosity.

“Sustainable Societies” (D. Todd Christofferson). I find this type of gloom-and-doom complaining about creeping secularism very tiresome, especially when he’s doing so much unsupported handwaving about how religion is always a force for good.

“Recommended to the Lord” (Ronald A. Rasband). I realize that it’s utterly mainstream in the Church to look at a temple recommend as the singular measure of a person’s value, but I find this much focus on it to be really distasteful.