Stokes Sounds Off: Additional Church News Items

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Sunday, August 13, 2017

Additional Church News Items

This will be a minor Church news update. Following the violent attacks in Virginia by white supremacists, the Church issued this statement advocating tolerance and love. That wasn't surprising at all. In the wake of violent incidents of the past, the Church has always been among the first to express sympathy and support for the victims of such tragedies, and to encourage all Americans, Church members or not, to use disasters like this to unite in our support for one another.

Additionally, Elder D. Todd Christofferson spoke at Cambridge University to the local chapter of BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law Society on the subject of religious freedom. As I have previously noted in other blog posts, I am glad to see that the Church is taking more opportunities to emphasize the important role of religious freedom. Elder Christofferson's remarks continue those ongoing efforts. You can read a summary of what he said here or the full transcript of his remarks here.

It was good to read about those updates. As always, this has been a very busy day in terms of Church news and happenings. It will be interesting to see what the Lord has in store for His Church during this next week. If the first 13 days of this month have been any indication, the final 18 will be jam-packed with so many other important news items and events. For my part, I will continue to keep an eye out for such things, and to pass on such updates as I am able to once that information crosses my radar.

In the meantime, thank you for the privilege of your time. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Until my next post, I wish you all the best.

2 comments:

  1. A young man in my ward got his mission call to the Sierra Leone Freetown mission. He will enter the Ghana MTC.

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    Replies
    1. That's awesome, Chris! Thanks for sharing that information. It has been interesting for me to realize that the first two weeks of this month have seen me post more frequently than I ever have in the first two weeks of any other month. And if Church news continues to come at a similar or greater frequency during the final 2.5 weeks left in August 2017, I will have made the greatest number of posts than I have ever done within the span of one month in the history of my blog. That is significant any way it is considered. As always, thank you, Chris, for your continuing comments and how much they always inspire me. Hope you are well. Thanks again.

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In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.

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