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News from FAIR

Call for Papers: FAIR Book of Mormon Conference

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Virtual conference to be held September 22-23, 2023

In an effort to expand understanding and appreciation of The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, the executive committee of FAIR (Faithful Answers, Informed Response) welcomes you to submit your research as your application to present at this event.

This conference will be an excellent opportunity to connect with other experts in your field and make a meaningful contribution to the advancement of excellent scholarship and reasoned answers to critical questions about The Book of Mormon in an effort to create conditions where faith in Jesus Christ and His gospel can flourish.

Unlike FAIR’s Annual Conference in August, this will be a virtual-only conference – presenters may participate in person, remotely, or by submitting a pre-recorded presentation. Sessions will be live streamed at no cost. Conference presentations will then be published in book format. 

Dates to remember:

  • Intent to submit: May 15, 2023
  • Submission deadline: June 15, 2023 – abstract & rough draft
    • Submission guidelines:
    • Please submit your full research paper, including the abstract.
    • Papers – no more than 4000 words
    • Abstracts – approximately 300 words
  • Decision date: August 1, 2023
  • Final Draft due: Sept 15, 2023

Submitting is easy! Just use our handy submission portal available here:

Apply here

New Resources Available on Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell and Religious Extremism

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The Lori Vallow murder trial has begun, and the Chad Daybell murder trial will likely take place later this year. Each trial is expected to last several weeks, and to bring up many of Vallow and Daybell’s extremist religious beliefs. There has already been a great deal of public discussion of their ideas like reincarnation (which they called “multiple mortal probations”), a prophesied “Davidic Servant,” a group of 144,000 servants foreseen in the Biblical book of Revelation, end times calamities, and their interpretation of scripture to justify violence. People have also been curious about the “Preparing A People” website and conferences that hosted Daybell and Vallow as speakers and podcasters.  [Read more…] about New Resources Available on Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell and Religious Extremism

FAIR Blog feed subscription change

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We Moved Our Blog Feed to Follow.it

You may have noticed that we’ve recently moved our blog feed from Feedburner to Follow.it. Feedburner was a free service from Google that we used for many years, but they’ve been winding it down and finally quit sending out e-mails for us. (Follow.it is not a free service, but is very reasonably priced for our needs.)

We’ve now imported all of our Feedburner subscribers into Follow.it. If you were previously subscribed to our Feedburner feed, you should now be automatically subscribed to our Follow.it feed. [Read more…] about FAIR Blog feed subscription change

“Bamboozled by the ‘CES Letter'” by Michael R. Ash now available on audiobook!

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We are pleased to announce that Michael R. Ash’s book, Bamboozled by the “CES Letter”, is now available in audiobook format from Audible and iTunes!

We’d especially like to thank Derrick Duncan for volunteering his time and talent to narrate it.

The e-book version is still available from the FAIR Bookstore and Amazon.

Press Release: Under the Banner of Heaven: Fact vs. Fiction

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June 27, 2022

You may have watched the fictionalized television series Under the Banner of Heaven, which depicts the murder of Brenda Lafferty and her daughter Erica. Brenda was a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). She, and her daughter, were murdered by Dan Lafferty, a man recently released from jail who had been excommunicated from the Church.

Now you can find out what really happened. [Read more…] about Press Release: Under the Banner of Heaven: Fact vs. Fiction

Under the Banner of Heaven: Fact vs Fiction

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Under the Banner of Heaven movie posterFriends,

Today a new television series has been released titled Under the Banner of Heaven. It is based on a best-selling book by that same name, published in 2003, written by Jon Krakauer.

The book, and now the television series, talks about the 1984 horrific murders of Brenda Lafferty, and her 15-month-old daughter Erica, by Dan and Ron Lafferty in American Fork Utah. The theme of Jon Krakauer’s book is that Dan and Ron’s religious upbringing in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the underlying cause for what they did. Krakauer, an atheist, believes that since bad things are sometimes done in the name of religion, religion breeds violence.

This series will likely lead to questions from your friends and family members. We’ve created a page of resources. Here are a few things to be aware of: [Read more…] about Under the Banner of Heaven: Fact vs Fiction

Aversion Therapy at BYU

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FAIR, a volunteer organization that provides information about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has prepared a thorough explainer regarding aversion therapy, Brigham Young University (BYU), and President Dallin H. Oaks.

President Oaks was president of BYU from 1971 to 1980. During that time, psychology graduate student Max McBride conducted research on aversion therapy, or the use of weak electric shocks to the arm to decrease unwanted homosexual attraction. McBride’s research was overseen by BYU professor Eugene Thorne. Thorne also used aversion therapy as part of his private psychology practice. Both used nearly identical methods, and McBride’s research was intended to finesse the techniques used by Thorne and other mainstream psychologists.

Some church critics have made unsupported claims about the research and about President Oaks.  The accompanying explainer provides thorough documentation showing why those claims are misleading and irresponsible.

Read more here

“Ask the Egyptologist” Virtual Fireside for Sustaining Members on Dec. 1

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The Book of Abraham is an incredible book that contains many truths about the gospel. But there are often questions about the Book of Abraham that can be difficult to understand or answer. There is a feeling among some critics that the Book of Abraham is evidence that the Church is not true.

With this in mind, we are pleased to announce a video streaming fireside “Ask the Egyptologist” with Dr. John Gee.  Dr. Gee has a Ph.D. in Egyptology from Yale University and has been prolific in academic publication. The fireside will take place on December 1st at 7 pm Mountain Time. For those in other time zones where it’s not convenient to watch it live, it will be recorded for later viewing.

Please submit your questions to him now, and then he will do his best to answer as many of the questions as possible.

This is, however, an exclusive event that is only available to our sustaining members and to our larger donors. To become a sustaining member you can sign up here for an annual membership, or here for a monthly subscription.

We hope to see you there!

About John Gee:

John Gee is the William (Bill) Gay Research Professor in the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages at Brigham Young University. He has authored over one-hundred and fifty publications including three books and editor of eight books and has edited a peer-reviewed international professional journal. He has served on the board of trustees of national and international organizations.

The FAIR Bookstore is currently carrying two of John’s books: An Introduction to the Book of Abraham and Saving Faith: How Families Protect, Sustain, and Encourage Faith

Three Important FAIR Conference Presentations to Help Parents, Leaders, and Other Teachers of Children and Youth

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These three presentations are important to families and Church leaders of all faiths. We hope you will watch them and share them with your Latter-day Saint, and non-Latter-day Saint, friends.

Jeffrey Thayne – “Worldview Apologetics: Revealing the Waters in Which We Swim” (transcript)

Carl Trueman – “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution”

Ed Gantt – “Agentic Sexuality: How a Latter-day Saint Perspective Can Rescue Humanity from the Tyranny of the Abstract”

Jeffrey Thayne is from BYUI, Carl Trueman is with Grove City College and is an Orthodox Presbyterian, and Ed Gantt is from BYU.

This is a reposting from a previous blog to highlight the conference presentations.

Three Conference Presentations Now Available to Help Parents, Leaders, and Other Teachers of Children and Youth

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by Cassandra Hedelius

Late last year, I started brainstorming suggestions for who we could invite to present at the 2021 FAIR conference. We usually look for presenters to counter criticisms of the church on issues like polygamy, Book of Mormon translation, and race. But in addition to these, I wanted this conference to provide more immediately vital resources for parents, building on John Gee’s excellent presentation in 2020. Children are bombarded with not only explicit arguments, but very subtle messages that shape their imaginations and moral judgment in ways that make it very difficult to accept divine authority and parental guidance. I’m the mother of three young children, and my dearest hope is to succeed at building their faith in the Lord, His church, and the prophets and other leaders He calls. I was determined to find speakers that would significantly help me and other parents like me. 

Around that time, I started reading a new book by Carl Trueman: The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution. I was instantly captivated by Trueman’s skill at naming and explaining cultural forces that I had dimly intuited but never fully grasped. His bracing exposition gave me the consciousness and competence I need to shape my childrens’ worldviews instead of allowing them to be shaped by the world’s philosophies. [Read more…] about Three Conference Presentations Now Available to Help Parents, Leaders, and Other Teachers of Children and Youth