General Conference April 2021 - Discussion Thread

[SamBee]

It's hard to recall all the talks and they haven't posted a listing yet but from memory.

Saturday morning: Gong, Stevenson, Uchtdorf
Sunday morning: All talks except Nelson's

It's a good start.

I'd like to avoid anything which talks about how wonderful the response to Covid supposedly is.

[Ebowalker]

Speaking as a non-American, I can respect some of the views in it. The US Constitution enshrines some values desperately needed elsewhere, e.g. power proceeding from the people not wielded over them, the rights to free woship and expression and so on, and also the abolition of slavery as he mentions. Many countries do not have this especially the likes of Iran or China.

It was a personal agenda and not appropriate in General Conference. Especially where all that effort was made to push the "global church" theme. It will never be a global church as long as its deep focus is one country.

[DarkJedi]

Speaking as a non-American, I can respect some of the views in it. The US Constitution enshrines some values desperately needed elsewhere, e.g. power proceeding from the people not wielded over them, the rights to free woship and expression and so on, and also the abolition of slavery as he mentions. Many countries do not have this especially the likes of Iran or China.

It was a personal agenda and not appropriate in General Conference. Especially where all that effort was made to push the "global church" theme. It will never be a global church as long as its deep focus is one country.

Looking at it from a certain point of view, the whole thing was a really a dance around opposition to gay marriage - he all but came out and said it.

[nibbler]

This phenomenon isn't unique to members but is very prevalent among members...

Many have the attitude that the founding fathers of America were directly inspired by god and any slight departure from what the person imagines the founding father's beliefs and values to be is a non-starter. Same deal with the Constitution of the US, it was directly inspired by god.

I'm sure parts of the Constitution of the US are inspired but people treat it like it's perfect, the gold standard for the world. It's arrogant and it's also hard to make improvements when you have the attitude that you're already perfect.

I feel America, constitution, and founding father worship borders on nationalism and I've developed a distaste for the American flavor of it. America is a great place, so are other places. America has some stuff right where other countries get it wrong and America has some stuff wrong where other countries get it right. I've been in far too many conversations where people cannot concede that other countries might do some things better than America and I worry that the first half of Oaks' talk will feed people with that attitude.

[nibbler]

Looking at it from a certain point of view, the whole thing was a really a dance around opposition to gay marriage - he all but came out and said it.

He did dance around that subject but I felt he also danced around the subject of denouncing some of the recent extremism on display in America.

[SamBee]

Speaking as a non-American, I can respect some of the views in it. The US Constitution enshrines some values desperately needed elsewhere, e.g. power proceeding from the people not wielded over them, the rights to free woship and expression and so on, and also the abolition of slavery as he mentions. Many countries do not have this especially the likes of Iran or China.

It was a personal agenda and not appropriate in General Conference. Especially where all that effort was made to push the "global church" theme. It will never be a global church as long as its deep focus is one country.

I am a foreigner who has never lived in the USA. I do not worship its system, but I think there are aspects which are admirable.

Freedoms have been heavily under attack in the last few years across the world. Some countries have never been free, but the West is going backwards right now.

[Minyan Man]

I've been thinking more about Pres Oaks talk about the US Constitution. When he started talking, I was a bit surprised. This is the Easter
season, Christ has risen & now let's talk about the US Constitution? Then I was thinking about the recent election & the turmoil at the Capital
afterwards. It is good that the church reinforces our (collective) beliefs regarding the inspiration & support of the Constitution.

Is it possible that he was trying to address the conspiracy theories going around too? Like Qanon? Does the Qanon movement have any
appeal to rank & file members of the church? Or even members that are marginal or on the outside looking in? Just curious.

[DarkJedi]

I've been thinking more about Pres Oaks talk about the US Constitution. When he started talking, I was a bit surprised. This is the Easter
season, Christ has risen & now let's talk about the US Constitution? Then I was thinking about the recent election & the turmoil at the Capital
afterwards. It is good that the church reinforces our (collective) beliefs regarding the inspiration & support of the Constitution.

Is it possible that he was trying to address the conspiracy theories going around too? Like Qanon? Does the Qanon movement have any
appeal to rank & file members of the church? Or even members that are marginal or on the outside looking in? Just curious.

Yes, I do think Oaks was trying to send a message about the current US political turmoil. Last GC he also spoke about political turmoil and obeying the law and he has also recently spoken about peaceful vs violent protest. It appears to be his issue of the moment while he sort of puts gay marriage on the back burner for a bit (although not out of view completely).

I enjoyed this Jana Riess article titled LDS leader Dallin Oaks blasts right-wing extremists, but will they know he’s talking to them? from the Salt Lake Tribune. I think she sums it up well.

Somehow I have a feeling when this conference’s talks are parsed out for Relief Society and priesthood lessons over the next six months, this one will not be in the rotation in most stakes. As Oaks said, church meetings are not the place to talk about politics. But the talk was historic nonetheless.

[nibbler]

I've seen a few images out there that shed some perspective on conference.

The first is an image of the male speakers juxtaposed with the female speakers during conference.

Men
Number of speakers: 33
Number of prayers: 9
Number of minutes: 419

Women
Number of speakers: 2
Number of prayers: 1
Number of minutes: 20

More ethnic and cultural diversity was on display during the April 2021 general conference than any other conference I can remember but we still have a glaring issue with lack of representation by women.

I'll share the second image I came across in another post.

[nibbler]

Granted covid slowed temple construction but temple announcements are currently outpacing our ability to construct temples.

https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/construction/

Announced: 48 (including the most recent 20)
Under construction: 35
Under renovation: 8

For a total of 91 temples either planned or under construction, many of which don't even have a location.

If it's about setting a record, they're on their way. I can foresee a time in the near future where there are no new temple announcements because we'll be playing catch up with the back log for several years.