Mormon Land

When No. 3 Utah hosts No. 7 BYU on Saturday — with national rankings, a possible conference championship and potential berths in the College Football Playoff on the line — it will be a BIG — all caps — game. But, truthfully, both teams could be winless, and it still would be a big game. Such is the stuff of rivalries, and the Cougars-Utes matchup — like Ohio State-Michigan, USC-UCLA and Harvard-Yale — is one of the hottest in the nation. In recent decades, the rivalry has even earned a special moniker: the Holy War. But does that loaded nickname really fit? Yes, Brigham Young University is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but it has its share of nonmembers. The University of Utah, for its part, is a state school attended by thousands upon thousands of Latter-day Saints. And, in the end, it is just a football game. On this week’s show, Salt Lake Tribune sports and faith columnist Gordon Monson discusses the rivalry, not from an X’s and O’s standpoint but rather from a religious and cultural perspective.

As the United States inches toward a possibly momentous Election Day, it could be instructive for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to think about the quixotic — and idealistic — presidential campaign of church founder Joseph Smith in 1844. It came in the wake of persecution from neighbors that drove the growing band of Latter-day Saints from state to state. When Mormonism’s leaders sought redress from the government and were rebuffed, Smith decided to run himself as a protest candidate for the highest office in the land. His motive seemed to be to speak up for the voiceless, religious minorities and others shunned by the major political parties. Indeed, Smith “seemed to identify with all of the underdogs in society,” historian Richard Bushman has said. “I think that was why he thought he might get elected — because the little people, the beat-up people, would rise and select him.” On this week’s show, historian Benjamin Park explores the historical setting of Smith’s campaign, how it differs from today’s partisan climate and what lessons Latter-day Saints can learn from their founder’s political vision.

Are Latter-day Saints Christians? It’s not an uncommon question. Members respond with an emphatic “yes” and point to the signs outside their chapels and temples: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “You see,” they say, “It’s right there in the church’s name.” Jesus is indeed present and central in the faith’s sermons and teachings. But is he present and central when the faithful speak and teach? Sometimes, it turns out, he may not be. Authors Patrick and Melissa Mason argue that needs to change. In their new book, “Rooted: Centering Christ in Everything,” they show how Jesus can and should be at the heart of every Sunday school lesson and sacrament meeting talk — whether the subject is Mother’s Day or Joseph Smith, pioneers or patriotism. Patrick Mason, chair of Mormon history and culture at Utah State University, and Melissa Mason, a licensed social worker and therapist, talk about a range of topics that arise for Latter-day Saints and how to root all of them in Jesus Christ.

The U.S. Central Area Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued an official statement last month opposing the Idaho Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act, better known as Proposition 1. The memo was brief. Its signers, all men, did not get into the debates swirling around the ballot measure widely seen as having a decent shot at passing this November. Instead, it read: “Our long-held stance on abortion remains clear and unchanged.” A few weeks later, the church cut a check for $1 million to the group opposing the measure. Official church policy opposes “elective abortion for personal or social convenience.” However, it has long noted that there are circumstances in which abortion is not a sin. Those include a pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, if the “life or health” of the mother is in “serious jeopardy,” and instances when a fetus is found to have “severe defects that will not allow the baby to survive beyond birth.” Current Idaho law is more restrictive, barring abortion at all stages of pregnancy with an exception for the life of the mother. Survivors of rape and incest who have reported the crime to law enforcement can also seek an abortion during the first trimester. In contrast, Prop 1 goes, arguably, further in its allowances than church policy, establishing “a right to make private reproductive healthcare decisions, including abortion up to fetal viability and in medical emergencies.” The result is a Latter-day Saint community split on the measure, along with heated arguments online and off over what these laws and proposed laws mean for maternal and newborn health. This week, Heather Pugmire, a Latter-day Saint and OB-GYN, describes her own experience practicing in Idaho and her wrestle with the question of how to vote come Election Day.

The explosion in gambling — especially through the emergence of online sports betting and so-called prediction markets — has been debated in the courts, Congress and now Latter-day Saint living rooms. The latter comes after President D. Todd Christofferson’s blistering broadside against all types of wagering in this past weekend’s General Conference. While the church’s anti-gambling stance is hardly a revelation, the environment, energy and extent to which it was delivered made headlines and even caught some members by surprise. Gambling, Christofferson said, is “morally wrong” and incompatible with Christ’s gospel. Joining us remotely to discuss his message, its theological roots and potential culture impact — along with other conference moments — is Latter-day Saint scholar Matthew Bowman, chair of Mormon studies at Claremont Graduate University and co-author “Game Changers: AJ Dybantsa, BYU, and the Struggle for the Soul of Basketball.”