"We Ever Pray For Thee, Our Prophet Dear" -- And The Opposition

The FP and 12 in Rome — In Rome: President Russell M. Nelson and his counselors in the First Presidency, President Dallin H. Oaks and President Henry B. Eyring. Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are President M. Russell Ballard, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Elder David A. Bednar, Elder Quentin L. Cook, Elder D. Todd Christofferson, Elder Neil L. Andersen, Elder Ronald A. Rasband, Elder Gary E. Stevenson, Elder Dale G. Renlund, Elder Gerrit W. Gong, and Elder Ulisses Soares.

Here is an expression of a traditional believer’s position regarding the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which still remains as Hymn 23 in the Church’s official hymnal:

1. We ever pray for thee, our prophet dear,
That God will give to thee comfort and cheer;
As the advancing years furrow thy brow,
Still may the light within shine bright as now,
Still may the light within shine bright as now.

2. We ever pray for thee with all our hearts,
That strength be given thee to do thy part,
To guide and counsel us from day to day,
To shed a holy light around our way,
To shed a holy light around our way.

3. We ever pray for thee with fervent love;
And as the children’s prayer is heard above,
Thou shalt be ever blest, and God will give
All that is meet and best while thou shalt live,
All that is meet and best while thou shalt live.

Text: Evan Stephens, 1854-1930

Music: H. A. Tuckett, 1852-1918; adapted by Evan Stephens, 1854-1930

President Nelson — President Russell M. Nelson
President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Here is the current mission statement of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship:

Our Mission

The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship both gathers and nurtures disciple-scholars. As a research community, the Institute supports scholars whose work inspires and fortifies Latter-day Saints in their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and engages the world of religious ideas.

D. H. Oaks — President Dallin H. Oaks
First Counselor to President Nelson in the First Presidency of the Church
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Jaclyn Foster — who, I believe, is a doctoral student in history at the University of Utah — was a 2018 “Summer Fellow” of the Maxwell Institute, where her work resulted in a paper and a presentation entitled “The Influence of Scientific Racism on Mormon Racial Thought.”

Now, thanks to the miracle of modern technology, you can read a tweet that Jaclyn Foster published at 12:45 PM, on Saturday, 3 August 2019 — in other words, yesterday. Let’s call it “tbh, or ‘to be honest'”:

“The True Ugliness of ‘Progressive Mormonism'”

The Pope with a member of the First Presidency — Pope Francis and President Henry B. Eyring, currently second counselor to President Nelson in the First Presidency of the Church
(LDS Media Library). Somehow, President Eyring escaped Ms. Foster’s damning judgment.

“We ever pray for thee, our prophet dear” — and the opposition

Our Mission