Abstract:<\/strong>\u00a0With a selection of a few notable examples (Zoram, Jarom, Omni, and Mosiah) that have been analyzed by the ongoing Book of Mormon names project, Stephen Ricks argues that \u201cproper names in the Book of Mormon are demonstrably ancient.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n [Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0<\/strong>Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article is reprinted here as a service to the LDS community. Original pagination and page numbers have necessarily changed, otherwise the reprint has the same content as the original.<\/span><\/p>\n See Stephen D. Ricks, \u201cProper Names from the Small Plates: Some Notes on the Personal Names Zoram, Jarom, Omni, and Mosiah,\u201d in\u00a0\u201cTo Seek the Law of the Lord\u201d: Essays in Honor of John W. Welch,<\/em>\u00a0ed. Paul Y. Hoskisson and Daniel C. Peterson (Orem, UT: The Interpreter Foundation, 2017), 351\u201358. Further information at\u00a0https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/books\/to-seek-the-law-of-the-lord-essays-in-honor-of-john-w-welch-2\/<\/a>.]<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cTerryl Givens on the Importance of the Historicity of the Book of Mormon for Latter-day Saint Truth Claims\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A controversy has arisen in connection with possible racial and religious bigotry at Utah State University.\u00a0 It has attracted national attention:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cUtah State Players Opt Out of Final Game Due to President\u2019s Comments, Past Issues\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFrank Maile calls for \u2018thorough and independent investigation of religious, cultural and racial discrimination\u2019 at USU\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cRacial & Religious Controversy Prompts Blake Anderson\u2019s New Team to Boycott\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Strikingly, the issue is alleged anti-Polynesian and anti-Mormon bias at the highest level of the USU administration.\u00a0 I have no idea whether the allegations are true, although I\u2019m struck by the fact that the Utah State football players were so indignant at what they believe themselves to have witnesses that they boycotted their own last game in protest.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I was disappointed, however, to see this article about the matter on the website of CNN:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cUtah State football game canceled after players reportedly vote not to play because of comments from university president\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Why was I disappointed?\u00a0 Because, although the CNN article reports that the boycott followed \u201ccomments reportedly made by Utah State University President Noelle Cockett regarding the religious and cultural background of the team\u2019s interim head coach, Frank Maile,\u201d it chastely fails to indicate that Coach Maile is Polynesian and an active, returned-missionary Latter-day Saint.\u00a0 I fear, accordingly, that most readers of the CNN article, if they think about it at all, will assume that the story is merely yet another confirmation of the stereotype of Utah and of Latter-day Saints as complacent white racists and hyper-zealous religious bigots.\u00a0 CNN could have done much better on this one.\u00a0 Perhaps, I hypothesize, the CNN reporter read about the actual content of the alleged bigotry and, since she simply couldn\u2019t believe what she was reading, failed to include it.\u00a0 Those of us who live in Utah, though, know that anti-Mormon prejudice can be a real factor in local academia.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAre Mormons Christians?\u00a0Not for secular courts to judge, holds the Arizona Court of Appeals\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This roughly five-minute item is another good example of how an informative short video might be created that, in my judgment as an officially certified geezer, would potentially appeal to a younger audience and sensibility:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n
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<\/a>More than any other kind of landscape on earth, Alpine scenery such as this strikes me as a foretaste of heaven. And I love its music.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The latest article to appear in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em> was written by my long-time friend and former companion in the Switzerland Z\u00fcrich Mission,\u00a0Professor Stephen D. Ricks<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n