Forum - Sept 26, Oct 3, and Oct 10

September 26 (this Friday) we will be discussing the place of religious opinion in political discourse and what latter-day saints mean when we say the US Constitution is divinely inspired. Forum materials may be found here. The articles being summarized come from an Oct 1992 Ensign article, Religious Values and Public Policy, and a Feb 92 Ensign article, The Divinely Inspired Constitution, both by Elder Dallin H. Oaks. Additional materials are from the Church's Newsroom. We will be using our Doctrine and Covenants this week. Please bring your scriptures.

October 3 (next Friday) we will follow up the previous article with this one about same-gender marriage. The two materials used are from the Church Newsroom: an official Church statement called "The Divine Institution of Marriage" explaining the Church's stance in detail and the reasons for it; and an interview with Elders Oaks and Lance B. Wickman on the same topic that was done a few years ago. The Church Newsroom can be accessed here.

October 10 - Eliza will be leading our discussion of the General Conference Oct 4-5. Come prepared to talk about the talks that meant the most to you. The conference sessions held at 12-2pm and 4-6pm Saturday and Sunday will be available to the general public: at our local meetinghouse, on Pegasys Channel 13, and via internet at www.lds.org.

We have a standing offer for those taking the Forum for institute credit: one page of notes of General Conference talks = 1 made-up absence. You need 70% attendance (~9-10 weeks in the semester) to pass. If you are taking the class for credit, please make sure to sign the roll that gets passed around each week. If you are not taking the class for credit ... please make sure to sign in anyway because it has sometimes been questioned whether or not our area gets CES missionaries, and it's largely based on Institute attendence whether we continue getting such wonderful people as the Bushes, the Oborns, the Hauns, and the Klands to volunteer a year of their lives to serve the YSAs, oversee our local institute, and make food for Forum. There's my plug.