FAIR

FAIR Staff

On The Record

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This presentation will cover the role of Church Public Affairs and how it interacts with the Church and the press. Brother Otterson will also discuss many of the issues and misconceptions he deals with, as well as respond to questions from the audience.

Michael R. Otterson has been serving as the Managing Director of the Public Affairs Department since 2008, with responsibility for public affairs issues of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worldwide.

He was educated in England, his birthplace, where he completed his formal journalistic training. For eleven years he worked as a journalist on newspapers in Britain, Australia and Japan.

Since 1976, he has worked in the London, Sydney and Salt Lake City Public Affairs Offices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In his current role as Managing Director he oversees many contemporary concerns facing the church such as women’s issues, religious freedom and an ever-expanding global church.

Faith and Reason 52: Mesoamerican Cultures

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From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

by: Michael R. Ash

When we compare Book of Mormon cultural history with what is known of Mesoamerican history for the same period, we find some amazing similarities and no areas of serious conflict. A list of common cultural traits includes a belief in the cosmos with multiple realms, an underworld, flood legends, mountains as holy places where man connected with deity, and mounds…symbolizing the ascent to heaven. Modern archeology also verifies that the level of civilization depicted in the Book of Mormon generally agrees with Nephite and Lamanite chronology. When we compare this picture to what we find in Mesoamerican archaeology and historical research, the similarities fit the Book of Mormon in ways that Joseph Smith could not have known.  In addition to this, Mesoamericanists now agree that native inhabitants built seagoing rafts and traveled from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec both northward and southward in trading expositions…yet another interesting connection.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a media personality in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Faith and Reason 51: Unknown New World

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From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting

the Prophet Joseph Smith

by Michael R. Ash

While Mesoamerican archaeology has seen tremendous advances in the last two decades, a lot more research, money, and time will be required before a full picture and evaluation of ancient Mesoamerican life can be made. The emerging picture, however, fits neatly into the descriptions contained within the pages of the Book of Mormon. In the days of Joseph Smith, almost nothing was known about the former inhabitants of Mesoamerica. What little knowledge we do have about the ancient New World has come to light in very recent years.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a broadcast journalist living in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Faith and Reason 50: Book of Mormon Geography

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From the book: Of Faith and Reason, 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

by Michael R. Ash

Is there an official Church position on the location of Book of Mormon events? The answer is a simple no.  Just because Joseph Smith spoke with Moroni and translated the Book of Mormon, doesn’t mean that he necessarily knew where the events took place. Joseph Smith never claimed to have revelation on the question of Book of Mormon geography. Without revelation to settle the issue, Joseph was as free to speculate as anyone else. The fact that Joseph could have made incorrect assumptions about the geography of events in his own book supports the proposition that Joseph was not the author, but was instead, the translator.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a broadcast journalist living in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Faith and Reason 49: Disarming Ammon

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From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

by Michael R. Ash

At least as early as the ninth century BC, artwork in the ancient Near East attests to the practice of cutting off the arms, hands, feet, or other body parts of vanquished enemies. Scholars who have studied this ancient custom suggest the severed limbs might have served as vouchers for rewards or mercenary pay upon presentation to an authority.

It has just recently been shown that the Aztecs had a similar practice. Ancient artwork depicts Aztec warriors holding the severed arms of their enemies like trophies. Aztecs who proved their prowess in battle often gained social privileges such as the right to wear special clothing and enjoy special foods. Bringing back the severed arms of an enemy was one way to prove valor in combat.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a broadcast journalist living in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Faith and Reason 48: King Benjamin’s Speech

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From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

by Michael R. Ash

Secondary to the spiritual insight gained by reading the sermon of King Benjamin, we also find additional evidence of the Book of Mormon’s link with the ancient Old World. Not only does King Benjamin’s speech have strong similarities to ancient Near Eastern traditions, but so does his son Mosiah’s coronation.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a broadcast journalist living in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Faith and Reason 47: Columbus

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From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

by Michael R. Ash

In the early part of the Book of Mormon, Nephi saw in a vision a “man among the Gentiles” who left his people and crossed “many waters” (1 Nephi 12:22). Nephi saw that “the Spirit of God” was with this man who eventually came to the Americans and the descendants of the Lehites.  Latter-day Saints have interpreted this verse as referring to Christopher Columbus.

In the last few decades there has been a growth in scholarship regarding Columbus –much of it starting in 1991 with the translation of Libro de las profecias. This new look at Columbus reveals a spiritual man who was driven, in part, with a desire to spread Christianity. Columbus believed that he was guided to the New World by the Holy Spirit.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a broadcast journalist living in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Faith and Reason 46: King Benjamin’s Speech

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From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

by Michael R. Ash

Secondary to the spiritual insight gained by reading the sermon of King Benjamin, we also find additional evidence of the Book of Mormon’s link with the ancient Old World. Modern research suggest that King Benjamin’s speech fits the patterns of ancient “farewell addresses”.

Not only does King Benjamin’s speech resemble Near Eastern traditions, but so does Mosiah’s coronation. Hugh Nibley writes, “Imagine a 23-year-old backwoodsman [Joseph Smith] in 1829 giving his version of what an ancient coronation ceremony would be like –what would be done and said, how, and by whom?”

Order the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith in time for Father’s Day at http://bookstore.fairlds.org/

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a broadcast journalist living in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

“By the Gift and Power of Art”

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“By the Gift and Power of God” by Anthony Sweat.

Professor Anthony Sweat (an assistant professor of Church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University) and the Religious Studies Center at BYU have kindly allowed FairMormon to post an excerpt from the new volume From Darkness unto Light: Joseph Smith’s Translation and Publication of the Book of Mormon by Michael Hubbard MacKay and Gerrit J. Dirkmaat. (See these two blog posts here and here for more information on the book.) Professor Sweat wrote an appendix to the book discussing artistic depictions of the translation of the Book of Mormon, including his new piece “By the Gift and Power of God.” The appendix is posted below as a PDF file. Among other things, Professor Sweat explores the “language of art” and depictions of the translation of the Book of Mormon done by past and contemporary Latter-day Saint painters. He likewise discusses the significance of the Church’s commissioned artwork of the translation of the Book of Mormon and the artistic process behind his own piece.

From Darkness unto Light can be purchased in hardcover or eBook format from Deseret Book and the FairMormon Bookstore.

“By the Gift and Power of Art”

Faith and Reason 45: Olive Culture

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From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

By Michael R. Ash

In Jacob, chapter 5 of the Book of Mormon, Jacob quotes the ancient prophet Zenos regarding the allegory of the wild and tame olive trees and how the Israelites would be scattered, and the Gentiles would eventually be grafted into the olive tree. This allegory goes into considerable detail about olive horticulture and care, including pruning, digging, grafting, and fertilizing methods. What makes this interesting is that in Joseph Smith’s time, there was no information about olive culture… in nineteenth century new England.

Order the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith in time for Father’s Day at http://bookstore.fairlds.org/

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a broadcast journalist living in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.