2017 FairMormon Conference tickets

[Calm]

You can now purchase your tickets for this year's FairMormon conference here:

https://www.fairmormon.org/conference/august-2017

Speaker lineup is still being worked on.  Here is what we have so far:

 

"Garrit DirkmaatPending

Keith EreksonWitnessing the Book of Mormon: The Testimonies of Three, Eight, and Millions

Brant GardnerThe Book of Mormon as a Seer Stone: Having Faith In and Through the Book of Mormon

Elizabeth A. KuehnFinances and Faith in the Kirtland Crisis of 1837

Ugo PeregoWhat does the Church believe about evolution?

Neal Rappleye“Put Away Childish Things”: Learning to Read the Book of Mormon Using Mature Historical Thought

Ben SpackmanTruth, Scripture, and Interpretation: Some Precursors to Reading Genesis"

[Duncan]

is Daniel Peterson speaking?

[Calm]

Probably.  

[Scott Lloyd]

2 hours ago, Calm said:

Probably.  

Probably as in he hasn't been asked yet or he has been asked but hasn't committed?

[Calm]

Probably as in I don't know as I am not on that committee but given past conferences I see it as likely.  Also I haven't heard anything to suggest he is not available.

Edited April 19, 2017 by Calm

[Darren10]

15 hours ago, Duncan said:

is Daniel Peterson speaking?

Well, he's the organizer of and culprit for everything apologetic in Mormonism, so....sure, he's speaking.  

[Derl Sanderson]

18 hours ago, Duncan said:

is Daniel Peterson speaking?

I'm begging the organizers ... please allow Dan the time he needs for his presentation this year. It seems like the last few times he has presented he has been so rushed due to his time slot having been shorted by the day's previous presenters.

But the conference is always great (love the bookstore!). And if we ever had Jeff Lindsay and/or Kevin Christensen present, I'd go peacefully into the "winter of my discontent" (though I imagine there would be some travel challenges in getting them here).

[Duncan]

Just now, Derl Sanderson said:

I'm begging the organizers ... please allow Dan the time he needs for his presentation this year. It seems like the last few times he has presented he has been so rushed due to his time slot having been shorted by the day's previous presenters.

But the conference is always great (love the bookstore!). And if we ever had Jeff Lindsay and/or Kevin Christensen present, I'd go peacefully into the "winter of my discontent" (though I imagine there would be some travel challenges in getting them here).

Those two would be great!! I wouldn't mind hearing from Elder Marlin Jensen, though how to get a hold of him I dunno!

[Calm]

Added another speaker to the lineup:

https://www.fairmormon.org/conference/august-2017#johnson

"Janiece Johnson is a transplanted Bay Area, California, native who loves history, design, art, good food, and traveling. She has master’s degrees in American Religious History and Theology from Brigham Young University and Vanderbilt’s Divinity School respectively. She finished her doctoral work at the University of Leicester in England. Janiece has published work on gender and American religious history—specializing in Mormon history and the prosecution for the Mountain Meadows Massacre. She is a co-author of The Witness of Women: First-hand Experiences and Testimonies of the Restoration (Deseret Book, 2016) and general editor of the recently published Mountain Meadows Massacre: Collected Legal Papers(University of Oklahoma Press, 2017)"

[Calm]

On 2017-04-18 at 3:53 PM, Duncan said:

is Daniel Peterson speaking?

I noticed Dan is listed as "pending", which would be his title of his talk, not him talking.

[Calm]

Here is the updated list:

Matthew Bowen-Semitic Semiotics: The Symbolic, Prophetic, and Narratological Power of Names in Ancient Scripture

Gerrit Dirkmaat-Pending

Keith Erekson-Witnessing the Book of Mormon: The Testimonies of Three, Eight, and Millions

Brant Gardner-The Book of Mormon as a Seer Stone: Having Faith In and Through the Book of Mormon

Tyler Griffin-Book of Mormon Geographical References: Internal Consistency Taken to A New Level

Janiece Johnson-Restoring the Tapestry of the Restoration: Early Mormon Women’s Witness

Elizabeth A. Kuehn-Finances and Faith in the Kirtland Crisis of 1837

Ugo Perego-What does the Church believe about evolution?

Daniel Peterson-Pending

Neal Rappleye-"Put Away Childish Things”: Learning to Read the Book of Mormon Using Mature Historical Thought

Ben Spackman-Truth, Scripture, and Interpretation: Some Precursors to Reading Genesis

[Calm]

Update on a presentation, sounds very interesting:

Quote

 

Gerrit J. Dirkmaat is an assistant professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University. He received his PhD in American History from the University of Colorado in 2010 where he studied nineteenth-century American expansionism and foreign relations. His dissertation was titled “Enemies Foreign and Domestic: US Relations with Mormons in the US Empire in North America, 1844–1854.” He worked as a historian and writer for the Church History Department from 2010 to 2014 as historian on several volumes of the Joseph Smith Papers project. Since taking his position at BYU, he continues to work on the Joseph Smith Papers as a historian and writer. He currently serves as Editor of the academic journal Mormon Historical Studies, published by the Mormon Historic Sites Foundation, and on the Church History editorial board for BYU Studies. He is the author of dozens of scholarly articles and is the co-author, along with Michael Hubbard MacKay, of the book From Darkness Unto Light: Joseph Smith’s Translation and Publication of the Book of Mormon, published by Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University and Deseret Book, 2015. He and his wife Angela have four children.

Presentation: Lost Teachings of the Prophets: Recently Uncovered Teachings of Joseph Smith and Others from the Council of Fifty Record

 

https://www.fairmormon.org/conference/august-2017

[Scott Lloyd]

On 5/24/2017 at 7:06 PM, Calm said:

Update on a presentation, sounds very interesting:

https://www.fairmormon.org/conference/august-2017

I don't think I'll be spoiling anything if I post this, so here goes.

[PeterPear]

On 6/2/2017 at 7:59 PM, Scott Lloyd said:

I don't think I'll be spoiling anything if I post this, so here goes.

Nice! 

I like the last paragraphs:

 "Volume editor Matthew J. Grow said the minutes reveal the personalities of some of the men involved.

 For example, in the first meeting, the council members were congratulating themselves on being of one mind. In response, Joseph Smith directed them to speak their minds and say what was in their hearts whether good or bad, exclaiming that he did not want to be 'forever surrounded by a set of dough heads.' "

I appreciate the Prophet Joseph Smith the more I learn of him.

Which begs the question, will there be any dough heads speaking at the FairMormon Conference again claiming the Prophet Joseph Smith learned the actual geography of the Book of Mormon from a travel book written by John Lloyd Stephens?

poster removed

[Scott Lloyd]

7 hours ago, PeterPear said:

Nice! 

I like the last paragraphs:

 "Volume editor Matthew J. Grow said the minutes reveal the personalities of some of the men involved.

 For example, in the first meeting, the council members were congratulating themselves on being of one mind. In response, Joseph Smith directed them to speak their minds and say what was in their hearts whether good or bad, exclaiming that he did not want to be 'forever surrounded by a set of dough heads.' "

I appreciate the Prophet Joseph Smith the more I learn of him.

Which begs the question, will there be any dough heads speaking at the FairMormon Conference again claiming the Prophet Joseph Smith learned the actual geography of the Book of Mormon from a travel book written by John Lloyd Stephens?

Oops.

You used the phrase "begs the question" improperly.

To beg the question does not mean to raise the question. "Begging the question is a logical fallacy in which a question or claim is assumed to be true with no other evidence than the question or claim itself."

[PeterPear]

18 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said:

Oops.

You used the phrase "begs the question" improperly.

To beg the question does not mean to raise the question. "Begging the question is a logical fallacy in which a question or claim is assumed to be true with no other evidence than the question or claim itself."

Fine. I ask the question.

I also noticed from the speaking list FairMormon will attempt to justify the theory of organic evolution with the Restored Gospel. Let me guess, similar to its website the pattern will be:

This is what the Church says, BUT....

The scriptures state this, BUT...

Then after attending the FairMormon Conference, the attendees can relax knowing they are justified in believing that the Mother of the Lord evolved from an "ape" and we can all partake of the sacrament each Sunday in worship of a glorified resurrected ape-man.

Yep. FairMormon. On the cutting edge of mingling scripture.

[Calm]

What FairMormon actually says on evolution:

"

In the evolution debate, difficulties have arisen when readers assume that statements by certain leaders represent an official position beyond that expressed by the First Presidency as a body. As expressed by David H. Bailey, a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and author of numerous articles on the relationship between Mormonism and science,

The LDS Church has a great scientific tradition, including notable, respected researchers in virtually every field of modern science. Indeed, our motto is “The glory of God is intelligence.” Why not just acknowledge that science and religion address two very different sets of questions, and that the methodology in one arena cannot settle controversies in the other?[1]

Harold B. Lee's plea may be the wisest stance:

Perhaps if we had the full story of the creation of the earth and man told to us in great detail, it would be more of a mystery than the simple few statements that we have contained in the Bible, because of our lack of ability to comprehend. Therefore, for reasons best known to the Lord, He has kept us in darkness. Wait until the Lord speaks, or wait until that day when He shall come, and when we shall be among the privileged either to come up out of our graves and be caught up into the clouds of heaven or shall be living upon the earth likewise to be so translated before Him. Then we shall know all things pertaining to this earth, how it was made, and all things that now as children we are groping for and trying to understand.

Let's reserve judgment as to the facts concerning the Creation until we know these things for sure.[2]

The Church's response: Official statements regarding organic evolution

• First Presidency letter, "The Origin of Man" (November 1909) This was reprinted in 2002 (“The Origin of Man,” Ensign, Feb 2002, 26)
• First Presidency statement, "Words in Season" (December 1910)
• First Presidency letter, "'Mormon' View of Evolution" (September 1925)

Some general authorities and lay members have considered evolution to be at variance with scriptural teaching

Despite the fact that the Church has no official position on evolution beyond those expressed by the First Presidency (above), some general authorities and lay members have considered evolution to be at variance with scriptural teaching. This view is well summarized by Elder Bruce R. McConkie's statement, "There is no harmony between the truths of revealed religion and the theories of organic evolution."[3] Other authors, including Joseph Fielding Smith, held similar views.

Other Church authorities and members have seen much of value in evolutionary theory, even if they have not endorsed every aspect of it. Examples include James E. Talmage, John A. Widtsoe, and LDS chemist Henry Eyring.

Gordon B. Hinckley:

What the church requires is only belief 'that Adam was the first man of what we would call the human race.' Scientists can speculate on the rest.[4]

Notes

1. Jump up ↑ David H. Bailey, Latter-day Creationism–A guest post by David H. Bailey!, Mormon Organon (Oct. 28, 2008)
2. Jump up ↑ Harold B. Lee, Teachings of Harold B. Lee (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1996), 29.  GospeLink (requires subscrip.)
3. Jump up ↑ Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2nd edition, (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966), 256. GL direct link (read quote in context).
4. Jump up ↑ Gordon B. Hinckley in 2002; cited in Elaine Jarvik, "Beliefs on Darwin's evolution vary from religion to religion," Deseret Morning News (19 January 2006)."

[Calm]

Link for the above (wanted to preserve formatting and sometimes editing can mess it up):

https://www.fairmormon.org/answers/Question:_What_is_the_Church's_stance_on_the_theory_of_organic_evolution%3F#Question:_What_is_the_Church.27s_stance_on_the_theory_of_organic_evolution.3F

PS:  There is a range of beliefs from what I have seen discussed over the years on creation among FM members, including man's physical body is a result of evolution, man's physical body is a result of a special creation, all life was created and not evolved, and "we don't know".

Edited June 4, 2017 by Calm

[Calm]

The title of the talk is "Presentation: What does the Church believe about evolution?"

Ugo Perego may or may not attempt a justification of belief for organic evolution for humanity.  I don't see any reason to assume one way or the other though I wouldn't be surprised.  We have had at least one scholar in the past do so, imo, at our conference.  However, there was no claim I remember that this was the Church's stance, so if Ugo focuses purely on the Church's stance, he may not do the same.  Or he may present a variety of viewpoints.  Or he may not and instead include on how science could be reconciled in his view as Trent Stephens did.

Ugo is one of the primary scholars involved with the Church's Gospel Topic on DNA and the Book of Mormon.  Church leaders apparently feel comfortable with his research and analysis in this area.

Edited June 4, 2017 by Calm

[Calm]

On our blog:

"Question: Now, as I read some statements on a few different topics, please tell me if you completely agree, mostly agree, mostly disagree or completely disagree.

(c) Evolution is the best explanation for the origins of human life on earth.

Seventy-six percent of the 600+ respondents who self-identified as Mormon reported that they either mostly or completely disagreed with the statement. The indication, then, is that 76% of LDS don’t agree with evolution.

Of course, it is very possible that the wording of the question was parsed rather finely by the LDS respondents. I know many LDS who accept evolution, but don’t believe that humans evolved naturally from some primordial ooze. Thus, a literal response to a question about whether evolution accounts for the origins of human life would, for such people, be negative even though they accept evolution in other ways. (The Pew survey did not get more nuanced in its responses than what is indicated in the question above.)

Let’s assume for a moment that 76% of Mormons really do reject evolution. Does such rejection indicate that evolution must be doctrinally rejected? Some would say so—particularly those for whom evolution has become a gospel hobby horse. Yet, even the Pew Forum indicates on their resource page (under Mormonism) that it is not an open-and-shut issue within the Church.

It is safe to say that the Church has no official position relative to evolution. Leaders and influential people within the Church have taken positions on both sides of the issue—for and against—and it is taught at Church universities. Like the institutional Church, FAIR takes no official position on the matter, yet as a reflection of the Church membership there are members of FAIR who accept evolution and those who dismiss it. Regardless of their personal views on evolution, all FAIR members that I know accept that we are all children of God who lived with Him before coming here and seek to live with Him again.

Whatever your feelings on the matter, it is important that dismissal of evolution not be presented as doctrine and equally important that Church members not be viewed as homogeneous in their views on evolution."

https://www.fairmormon.org/blog/2009/02/16/evolution-and-mormonism

[Calm]

Talks at FairMormon conferences only reflect part of the range of FM members' beliefs.  We do look for academic approaches to the subjects.  This below describes our own approach to the subject.

https://www.fairmormon.org/blog/2008/03/25/a-fair-ask-the-apologist-case-study-evolution

"The FAIR approach is generally to support those things that have clearly been revealed, and to offer a range of acceptable beliefs when revelation is silent. Evolution is a perfect example of the latter. It doesn’t do any good to be dogmatic when there is room for interpretation and disagreement among believing Mormons.

This, I think, is especially important in raising our youth. The sister who wrote that letter castigated us for perpetuating “great confusion among the youth of the Church.” Yet the very youth who may be taught by this well-meaning sister will eventually go to universities — including BYU! — where evolution is taught in science classes, and where anti-evolution viewpoints are treated with considerable amusement.

They’ve been assured that a denial of evolution and death before the Fall is a key part of LDS doctrine. So, what gives? The Church? The science? One hopes they take the third route, and learn to integrate those things God has revealed with those things God has given us intelligence to discover. Sadly, all too often, it’s either science or the Gospel that gets chucked.

FAIR volunteers disagree among themselves on evolution and other “non-core” subjects, but there is one thing we do agree on: That we will be open to a range of possibilities when certainty has not been revealed."

[Calm]

I probably should start a different thread if this is going to continue though I probably won't be joining in if it is the usual...let me know if anyone wants to discuss the issue of why Church leadership allows evolution to be taught at the BYUs without qualifications if it is fundamentally against Church doctrine instead of being an open subject in their view?  Don't discuss this please, just let me know if you want to discuss or just start a thread we can transfer this discussion to...

I will let you know up front my only interest in posting the above was to establish how FM approaches the topic and I believe I have done so.  I felt it was necessary given the claim against FM, the other option was to ask the comment be deleted.  As long as this is it, I don't see the need, but will ask if it continues here that others' posts and my own be deleted as confusing to and wasting the time of those coming to the thread for info on the conference.  Anything else posted on the detail would be just opinion that FM is misrepresenting Church position or not and people can see for themselves in the above whether we are or not.

Unless someone has something besides the Church leadership allows lies to be taught to our children, I don't see anything worthwhile to be said on evolution itself that hasn't already been said hundreds of times on the board so I am not inclined to start a thread on the subject but will rather than have it continue here.

Edited June 4, 2017 by Calm

[Calm]

[Calm]

The cutoff date for the special conference rate at the Marriott Hotel is approaching. Wednesday July, 5 is the last day you can get the special reduced rate.

Here is the hotel information:

The official hotel for the FairMormon Conference is the Provo Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, located across the street from the Convention Center.

Not only is it convenient, but the Marriott is an upscale hotel providing rooms (standard room, 1 king or 2 queen beds) at the discounted rate of $117 per night (plus tax). This rate includes free in-room wifi. This special FairMormon Conference room rate is only available through 5 July 2017.

You can make your reservation by phone or online.
Call 1-800-228-9290 or 801-377-4700 and request the FAIR Defending Mormonism Conference room block.

Click this link to book our special rate.

http://tinyurl.com/y94ydvhk

Provo Marriott Hotel & Conference Center
101 West 100 North
Provo, Utah 84601 USA
1-801-377-4700

 

[Calm]

Final conference schedule is up:

https://www.fairmormon.org/conference/august-2017