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1 week ago | 
religionnews.com | Jana Riess
(RNS) — When John Turner’s biography of Brigham Young was published more than a decade ago, I marveled at his skill in dealing with a (very!) complex historical subject fairly. He sifted through a mountain of evidence — much of it conflicting — and assessed it in a way that was balanced but also maintained a consistent POV for the reader. The book let us know what Turner thought, after weighing all of the evidence, but without being driven by any kind of agenda.
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2 weeks ago | 
sltrib.com | Jana Riess
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2 weeks ago | 
religionnews.com | Jana Riess
(RNS) — For decades, Glen Nelson heard from Latter-day Saint artists, writers, musicians, dancers and filmmakers about how much their faith had shaped their creative work. Some of these were people he hosted in his family’s tiny New York apartment. Over and over, he heard the same refrain: that they had no idea how many other creative professionals existed in the Mormon world.
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4 weeks ago | 
sltrib.com | Jana Riess
Over the weekend, I cheered the runners of the Cincinnati Flying Pig marathon, in my hometown, then learned later that the winner of the women's division was from Utah. Because Latter-day Saints are snoopy and tribal that way, I was curious about whether she was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A 2022 Deseret News article turned up some information.
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1 month ago | 
religionnews.com | Jana Riess
(RNS) — Over the weekend I cheered the runners of the Cincinnati Flying Pig marathon, in my hometown, then learned later that the winner of the women’s division was from Utah. Because Mormons are snoopy and tribal that way, I was curious about whether she was a Latter-day Saint. A 2022 Deseret News article turned up some information. “Eric Nelson wins Deseret News Half Marathon; Tori Parkinson claims women’s division title,” read the headline of the LDS church-owned newspaper.
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1 month ago | 
religionnews.com | Jana Riess
(RNS) — “Data over dogma.”That’s the tagline of Dan McClellan, the TikTok and YouTube star who had about a quarter-of-a-million followers when RNS first profiled him in 2022. Today, his combined social media presence has nearly 1.4 million followers spread across platforms. But some things haven’t changed. The biblical scholar with two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. still sports his superhero T-shirts on camera as he seeks to debunk the various kinds of bunk people claim about the Bible.
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2 months ago | 
sltrib.com | Jana Riess
Traditional religion may be destined for the walls of Cracker Barrel, a space filled with nostalgic advertisements for products of yesteryear, like Victrolas, lace antimacassars or butter churns. All things, in other words, that have been rendered obsolete by modern life. According to social scientist and author Christian Smith, a professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame, "obsolete" describes the situation facing traditional organized religion in the United States.
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2 months ago | 
religionnews.com | Jana Riess
(RNS) — Traditional religion may be destined for the walls of the Cracker Barrel, a space filled with nostalgic advertisements for products of yesteryear, like Victrolas, lace antimacassars or butter churns. All things, in other words, that have been rendered obsolete by modern life. According to social scientist and author Christian Smith, a professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame, “obsolete” describes the situation facing traditional organized religion in the United States.
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2 months ago | 
religionnews.com | Jana Riess
(RNS) — In 2022, sensing a need among her fellow Latter-day Saints, Valerie Hamaker started the “Latter Day Struggles” podcast, to address the faith crisis many Mormons were experiencing. A mental health counselor serving a mainly Latter-day Saint clientele in Kansas City, Hamaker began airing conversations with active members about challenges they were facing with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her husband, Nathan, an ophthalmologist, soon became her co-host.
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Feb 6, 2025 | 
religionnews.com | Jana Riess
(RNS) — This coming Sunday (Feb. 9), as the Kansas City Chiefs battle the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl, many Americans will wager on the game for money. ESPN is reporting legal bets on the game should amount to $1.39 billion, to say nothing of the billions more that will be wagered informally (and sometimes illegally). Utah is not one of the 38 states that now permit some form of legal sports betting.
