Mormons<\/a> and the American West,\u201d\u00a0with BYU Professor Daniel Peterson, a regular at FreedomFest.\u00a0 Prof. Peterson will speak of the Mormon pioneers settling of the West, their practice of polygamy and socialism (\u201cUnited Orders\u201d), their attitude toward the native Americans, and the Book of Mormon as American scripture. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a lot of material to cover, and I also need to allow for at least ten minutes of questions and answers at the end. \u00a0So it won\u2019t be the deepest of treatments, and it will be aimed principally at what I assume will be a largely non-LDS audience.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll spend a few minutes on the handcart pioneers. \u00a0I especially like the story of Levi Savage, who counseled the Willie handcart company against leaving so late in the season \u2014 and was fiercely rebuked for doing so, on account of his supposed lack of faith \u2014 but who vowed that, if they chose to go, he would accompany them, suffer with them, and, if necessary, die with them. \u00a0Which he very nearly did. \u00a0It\u2019s a story that illustrates both the human side of Latter-day Saint history (and leadership) and the heroic and inspiring side.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I think that I\u2019ll need to talk at least a bit about the Latter-day Saint role in the settling of Las Vegas itself, and I\u2019ll probably allude to the colonizing of extra-Utah places like San Bernardino, Mesa, northern Arizona, and even southern Alberta. \u00a0And I\u2019ll need to mention briefly the persecution that drove the early Saints from New York to Ohio and then to Missouri, and from Missouri to Illinois, and from Illinois to the Great Basin West and beyond. \u00a0(As one General Authority is reported to have quipped several generations back: \u00a0\u201cWe came here voluntarily because we had to.\u201d) \u00a0I don\u2019t know that many non-LDS know much about the history of the \u201cMormon migrations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Any other suggestions would certainly be appreciated, although I can\u2019t guarantee that I\u2019ll be able to use them all. \u00a0Good quotations. \u00a0Rich anecdotes. \u00a0Etc.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
This request came late, and I have a lot of other pressing things to do. \u00a0But I want to do a good job for the audience at Freedom Fest.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 It\u2019s now confirmed that I\u2019ll be speaking \u2014 a late addition, in response to a quite last-minute request \u2014 at FreedomFest 2019 in Las Vegas in a few days. \u00a0Unfortunately, I\u2019ll just be able to spend part of a day there, flying down in the morning and returning to Utah that evening. \u00a0Here\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>