Deseret News

The Black Entertainment Awards 2022, hosted by Taraji P. Henson, showcases “Black excellence” by honoring various artists. But the show Sunday night also acted as an international stage for several artists, including Henson herself, Janelle Monáe and Jazmine Sullivan, to criticize the recent overturn of Roe v. Wade.

In its recent 6-3 decision in Carson v. Makin, the Supreme Court struck down a Maine law that prevented parents from using state-funded vouchers for their children’s education at religious schools. In most ways, the decision is a modest extension of previous precedents barring government from discriminating on the basis of religion. The case makes clear that states cannot discriminate against religious institutions based on “religious use” of funds, as well their religious “status,” thereby plugging a potential loophole states might have used to exclude religious entities and individuals from various government programs. But that is an essential element of any effective anti-discrimination rule.

As the first notes of “I’m Proud to be an American” sounded, former President Donald Trump took the stage in Nashville, Tennessee, last week at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s annual Road to Majority conference. He stood by the American flag for the entirety of the song, looking out at the crowd with his trademark expression that falls somewhere between a smile and a smirk.

Mormon crickets and grasshoppers nearly decimated the harvest soon after Latter-day Saint pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. After these difficult years, many Latter-day Saints started storing grain to avoid their previous trials, to exercise principles of self-reliance and to feed the poor. As part of the grain storage efforts,...

Elder Michael A. Dunn had a career in film and television before he was called as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2021. The former managing director of BYUtv and BYUradio wasn’t sure what to expect when he was appointed to serve on the committee overseeing the Book of Mormon Videos project.

Three churches were raided by the FBI Thursday, the Augusta Chronicle reports. The churches, all of which are near military bases, are affiliated with The House of Prayer Christian Church (HOPCC). The organization, a 501(c)(3), has five bible seminaries, and 12 churches (11 near military bases). In 2020, the Veterans...

A bestselling author recently watched “Under the Banner of Heaven” and saw the FX series not only as an indictment of Latter-day Saints, but apparently of “most” religion. The writer seemed to not know that the show has been widely criticized for inaccuracies and that the...

News of Quin Snyder stepping down as head coach of the Utah Jazz earlier this month didn’t really surprise former Jazz player and BYU basketball star Andy Toolson. “It seemed like it had been brewing for a month or so, that there was some questions as to whether he would return or not,” Toolson said. “It takes a lot emotionally, and if it’s not the right situation, he must have felt that and felt it was time to move on.”

The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square took time Sunday to commemorate the farewell of a man who is considered the “father and certainly the shepherd of the Orchestra at Temple Square.”. Barry Anderson, the choir’s administrative manager, logistical master and unsung hero in the shadows, is retiring...

The Hong Kong Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been rededicated and will reopen next month. Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presided at the temple’s rededication services on June 19, according to The Church News. “This beautiful Hong...

Early in her career, Minerva Teichert studied drawing and portraiture under Robert Henri in New York City. As she completed her training, Henri asked her if any artist had told “the great Mormon story.” Teichert said, “Not to suit me.”. Henri paused and said, “That’s your birthright....

This article was first published in the State of Faith newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Monday night. I received some lovely news last week: My work on faith-based resistance to the COVID-19 vaccines was recognized by the Society for Features Journalism in its “feature series” category. However, in the midst of my celebrations, it dawned on me that I’ve hardly touched on the topic in the past few months.

When Steven Smith reflects on the magnitude of the modern school prayer conflict, he thinks about how it all started with a prayer that was just a sentence long. That prayer, produced by the New York board of regents in the early 1950s, had been carefully crafted to avoid causing offense. It was meant to boost public schoolchildren’s moral education, not to challenge whatever their parents or pastors had taught them about God.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program turned 10 years old this week but celebrations were tempered by calls for permanent solutions. While DACA allows some of those who were brought to America by undocumented parents to stay in the country legally and work, religious leaders point out that the policy excludes many people in similar circumstances — sometimes even siblings. This situation leads to mixed-status families that live under threat of losing immediate family members to deportation, they say.

When the enslaved community in Galveston, Texas, learned on June 19, 1865, that they’d been freed, they went to their church and prayed. They understood that President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had ordered their freedom, but they believed God had made it possible, said Lisa Fields, founder of the Jude 3 Project.

A Latter-day Saint missionary died Friday from injuries sustained in a bicycle accident in Mexico, according to statement by a church spokesman released Saturday evening. Elder Francisco Rene Lamadrid, 22, of Mérida, Mexico, died in Mexico City, where he had been serving since March 21 in the Mexico City East Mission, church spokesman Sam Penrod said.

This article was first published in the ChurchBeat newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Wednesday night. Thomas L. Kane was curious when he first heard about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the 1800s. So he attended one of its conferences in the eastern United States.

SMITHFIELD, Cache County — Two apostles with Cache Valley roots were sent “home” Saturday by the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to participate in the ceremonial groundbreaking of the Smithfield Utah Temple. Elders Quentin L. Cook and Gary E. Stevenson of...

Two cast members working on a planned Netflix streaming series called “The Chosen One” were killed in a car accident in Mexico, according to reports. The Associated Press reported that Raymundo Garduño Cruz and Juan Francisco González Aguilar were killed, according to the Baja California Department of Culture.

Three people were killed Thursday evening in a shooting at a church potluck near Birmingham, Alabama. Police have arrested the suspect, who allegedly opened fire inside St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills, killing three parishioners who were attending an event called Boomers Potluck. Someone subdued the suspect, who has been arrested.