Sadly, all good things must come to an end. MHA 2011 finished with a bang. Once again it was hard to pick which session to attend. Steve Olsen, Shawn Bennion, and Brandon Plewe combined for a session titled “New Perspectives on Mormon History”. Steve spoke on how we often argue history. To bolster an argument is to support assumptions–to weaken an argument is to take apart these assumptions. Shawn Bennion talked about how Mormonism is an ethnic group. I’ve never really understood that point of view, but found his presentation compelling. Brandon Plewe announced that he is working on a new LDS atlas of history. It was interesting to see all the maps he was making for the soon to be published book. He also announced that there will be a website wiki about Mormon locations, but said it wasn’t available for public consumption yet. It was a very interesting presentation.
Day 2 of MHA 2011
I absolutely love the Mormon History Association conferences. Â It is wonderful to talk to all the people that I have been writing about the past few years! Â I’ve eaten lunch with Newell Bringhurst, breakfast with Richard Bushman, and received advice from Rick Turley, Gary Bergera, Armand Mauss and Barbara Walden. Â Only John Hamer seems to be missing this year.
Yesterday, Paul Reeve, Associate Professor of History from the University of Utah told us that St. George was once more cosmopolitan in the early years.  It had more (raw numbers of) blacks, Chinese, Polynesians and Europeans in the early days of settlement until the past few decades.  It was a really interesting presentation.
MHA 2011: First Impressions
Re-creation of Mormon Fort in Las Vegas
I’m at the Mormon History Association meetings here in St. George, Utah and thought I would give some first impressions of the conference so far. Yesterday I had the opportunity to be part of the pre-conference tour, and learned a very interesting thing:
Sin City was first settled by Mormons!
The first non-Indian settlers in Las Vegas were Mormons. Wanting to improve relations with Indians and make a road to California, Brigham Young sent missionaries into what is now Nevada (it was part of the Territory of Deseret at the time) in 1855. “Las Vegas” is a Spanish word for “the meadows”. Water was found there and the Mormons set up the Mormon Fort. The mission lasted just 2 years, due to the harsh conditions, and the fort was abandoned.
4 Sports Stories You Should Know About
It’s been an interesting week. Â I was saddened to hear that Hall of Fame baseball player, Harmon Killebrew died Tuesday at the age of 74 of cancer. Â Killebrew played for the Minnesota Twins in the 1960s and 1970s. Â When he retired, he had hit more home runs in the American League than anyone except Babe Ruth. Â I’m too young to have seen him play, but my dad told me he was the “Stormin Mormon.” Â ESPN has some nice stories about Killebrew.
I was also saddened to learn that Margo Dydek suffered a heart attack on Thursday at age 37. Â There aren’t many women I look up to, but at 7 foot 2 inches, Margo is definitely one of them! Â I was a freelance sports writer, and covered the Utah Starzz back in the 1990’s when Margo played for the team. Â Margo was a very nice, shy person to talk to. Â She was born in Poland, and most recently coached in Australia. Â Apparently she is in a medically induced coma in a Brisbane hospital. Â I’m afraid of how things will turn out for her, and pray for a speedy recovery.
On a brighter note, I worked on the tv crew for the National Championships in Rugby on Saturday. Â If you don’t want a spoiler, stop reading now. Continue Reading »
Mormon Enigmas: Linda Newell and Valeen Avery
John Larson of Mormon Expression did a book review of Mormon Enigma by Linda Newell and Valeen Avery. Â I’m not going to quote the whole podcast, but John gives a very interesting introduction to the book. Â In light of my recent post Latter-day Dissent, I thought I would continue the theme of how the church deals with intellectuals.
This book was published in the fall of 1984. Â There sort of a back story to it. Continue Reading »
Book Review: Latter-Day Dissent
A few months ago, I received an advance copy of a new book by Philip Lindholm called Latter-day Dissent: At the Crossroads of Intellectual Inquiry and Ecclesiastical Authority. The book is supposed to be released on Friday by Greg Kofford Books. Lindholm interviews 5 of the “September Six”, as well as 3 others.
The September Six refer to a group of 6 intellectuals that were disciplined by the church in 1993. Continue Reading »
Good Friday, Easter, and Mormons
As Easter approaches every year, it seems that many people type “do mormons celebrate easter†into Google. If you do that right now, you will see that my post from 2008 is the #1 result on Google: Why Don’t Mormons Celebrate Easter? Frankly it’s shocking to me that my post is ranked so high on Google. As of today, it is my 4th most popular post I’ve ever written on my blog, and I am constantly amazed at the continued popularity of that post. It also happens to be one of my shortest posts ever—just 2 paragraphs. Even yesterday, Fern commented on this old post asking “Are these comments from Mormons for real?????â€
Were Israelites Not Slaves to the Egyptians?
With Passover beginning on April 19, I thought it might be nice to look at a new theory of the Exodus. If you want to see some of the previous theories, click here for my post on Questions about the Exodus. I just reviewed a video from the History Channel called Bible Battles. The film analyzes military strategy for many battles in the Bible. They make the surprising claim that the Israelites in Egypt were not slaves, but were a military unit. In some ways, another video seems to corroborate this view. Jim Hoffmeier discussed a mistranslation of the word “elith.” (The following quote comes from Science of the Exodus, by National Geographic.)
Current Race Relations Within the LDS Church
Armand Mauss is an LDS sociologist from Washington State University. Â He wrote a chapter in the book Black and Mormon, where he discusses race relations within the church. Â He has both positive and negative things to say about race relations. Â I’ll start with the positive. Â Mauss notes that the LDS church has been involved in the national celebration of Black History month each February. Â He notes several meetings in conjunction with Black History Month held in LDS churches in Salt Lake City, Oakland, Atlanta, Chicago, and Washington, DC (to name a few.) Â Prominent LDS speakers such as apostle Dallin Oaks and Yoshihiko Kikuchi (First Quorum of Seventy) have spoken at these events.
Will Mexico Stop Issuing Missionary Visas over Immigration Disputes?
The debate about what to do about immigration problems is a big issue in Utah and other states. St. George’s newspaper, the Spectrum has reported that Stephen Sandstrom, a Republican from Orem is sponsoring a bill that
would allow local law enforcement to check people’s residency or citizenship status if officers have “reasonable suspicion” they have entered the country illegally. It would also allow for a warrantless arrest if an officer has a “reasonable suspicion” that the person they are facing is here illegally.
Mormon Heretic 