Lots of news to report this week. First, hooray for new temples in South Africa, Colombia, and the D.R.C. as well as two in the American West. Apparently the prototype at left is the preferred redesign among my Facebook friends for the Provo Tabernacle/Temple. I think it will play well in Utah County.
I confess I enjoyed following the Twitter feed hashtag #ldsconf more than the actual conference. It’s fascinating to see, in real time, how radically different various individuals’ responses can be to the same talk. Conference has gotten generally good reviews throughout the Bloggernacle, with live responses going on at By Common Consent and Feminist Mormon Housewives. From what I saw, the most popular talk seems to have been Elder Uchtdorf’s. (Can we clone him, BTW?)
I was astonished to find myself agreeing with Elder Packer’s talk on the millennium not beginning anytime soon. I hope he’s right, because I have not yet finished eating last year’s Halloween candy.
Not all the GC discussions were wholly favorable. By Common Consent also posted a terrific short piece about women praying in General Conference. Apparently, no woman has ever given the opening or closing prayer in GC in the entire history of the Church. The time has come for that to change, says this author. Brava.
In non-Conference news (yes, there were actually other things going on this weekend!), the Church is expanding its “I’m a Mormon” ad campaign to a dozen new cities this week. On tap are:
- Denver
- Atlanta
- Phoenix
- Seattle
- Spokane, Wash.
- Indianapolis
- South Bend, Ind.
- Fort Wayne, Ind.
- San Antoni, Texas
- Austin, Texas
- Omaha, Neb.
- Lincoln, Neb.
Here’s a good article about the stepped-up ads, despite the fact that the journalist talks of the “tenants” of the Mormon faith instead of its “tenets.” My students used to do that all the time too. Let’s all heave an English-teacher sigh.
And speaking of sighing . . . Before I wrote last week’s post on Mormonism’s cultural assimilation I had not even heard of — wait for it! — The Mormon Bachelorette. Yes, an enterprising group has created its own squeaky-clean LDS version of the Bachelorette, which fans can follow online. I haven’t seen the show yet, but having been plenty appalled by the original Bachelor/Bachelorette concepts, I fear the worst. On the other hand, perhaps there is something promising about the fact that a young Mormon woman isn’t out there waiting passively for her prince to come, but reeling him in herself with a pretty impressive and tech-savvy effort.
In any case, it’s great that Elder Packer can reassure her that the world won’t end before she finds that very special RM.
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