From Deseret News archives:
Conferences tackle faith-based issues
At least four conference/symposium events designed to generate discussion and even some debate among LDS Church members are scheduled in August and September, providing fodder for family and water-cooler discussion that goes beyond the standard Sunday School fare.
Kicking off the discussion Aug. 5 and 6 at the South Towne Expo Center will be the sixth annual Mormon Apologetics Conference, sponsored by the Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research. With topics to include homosexuality, the role of women, being black in the church and the nature of God, FAIR president Scott Gordon believes the event will continue to grow in size and stature this year.
More than 250 people participated in last year's event, and the nonprofit organization's publication the FAIR Journal has more than 5,000 subscribers. Scholarly papers presented during the conference typically focus on answering critics of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as on new developments in the sociology, anthropology and applied theology of the faith.
Scholarly presenters enjoy the forum, he said, "because they can discuss the topics in a safe environment. We start with the presumption that the church is true and make no bones about that. Some people say we're biased because of that and we freely admit that 'yes we are, now let's get over it and move on.' "
Though the FAIR conference is the conservative counterpart of the long-running and liberally minded Sunstone Symposium, Gordon believes that LDS members "who enjoy Sunstone tend to really enjoy our conferences. We also attract many people who have never been to Sunstone." Speakers will include historian Davis Bitton, ancient religious texts scholar Dan Peterson, researcher Dean Byrd and author Margaret Young.
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