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
Friends,
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
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.
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
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”
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.
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
Another conference has come and gone! Each year they seem to go by more quickly, even when more is added (besides going for 3 days, we also had a special Thursday evening presentation). We were glad to be able to have 300 people in attendance at our new venue after having an online-only event last year. We also did have a streaming option, which you can still take advantage of by purchasing one of our on-demand viewing options.
As always, there was a wide range of topics. This year they included subjects such as polygamy, Book of Mormon authorship, LGBT issues, women and the priesthood, the Wilford Woodruff papers, and how to discern between truth and fiction. Carl Trueman, author of The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution, gave an excellent presentation to his first Latter-day Saint audience. You can view the full list of presentations in the conference program here.
Each day we did a free public stream of one presentation. On Wednesday, it was “Let’s Talk About Polygamy” by Brittany Chapman Nash. [Read more…] about Recap of 2021 FAIR Conference
Sponsored by(Anniversary of Joseph Smith’s martyrdom)
For more information, including schedule, presenters and live-stream links, go to https://interpreterfoundation.org/conferences/a-life-lived-in-crescendo-firesides/
In 1997 a small group of Internet message board warriors started an organization named the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, or FAIR. FAIR was staffed by young, strident defenders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
However, our really cool name soon created problems. People asked, “What does the word “Apologetic” mean?”[1] “Why are you apologizing?” “What is it that you actually do?”
It was confusing. So that people weren’t always stumbling over our name, in 2013, we changed it to FairMormon. We thought of ourselves as Mormon, and we want the facts to be covered “FAIRly”. The name was perfect! As the then Vice President of FAIR, Steven Densley, exclaimed, “Hopefully this will be easier to remember and will allow us to spend more time doing apologetics rather than spending our time explaining what apologetics is.”[2] [Read more…] about New Name and New Directions
