"There is a growing curiosity and desire to participate in rational discourse with us, and also a greater interest in inviting (LDS scholars) into broadening religious conversations."

For example, Millet was contacted several months ago by a professor of religion at Centenary College of Louisiana, a private, Methodist-funded school. The two men had never met, but the professor asked Millet to help him organize a three-day conference on Joseph Smith later this month.

"It's one thing for us to mount that kind of event, but another thing entirely for someone else to do so. His specialty is religion in America, and he said he felt Joseph Smith hadn't been given his due. . . . I was shocked," but pleasantly so, he said.

Widespread phenomenon

Such meetings at home and abroad have featured both LDS and other Christian scholars, some of whom have researched Smith in their native countries and want to share their views. "This is not just an American phenomenon. Latter-day Saints in other lands have a similar desire to do this," Millet said, and they're being joined by those who have become curious about the man who founded what historians often refer to as the "quintessentially American religion" that now counts members in more than 100 nations.

Terryl Givens, professor of religion and literature at the University of Richmond, said while the church is "clearly behind most of these efforts," he believes a "receptiveness by other scholars and institutions to host them is an indication we may be turning the corner. It would be nice if we were at a moment in history where (non-Mormon) scholars were taking the lead, but they're clearly participating. That's significant progress."

Givens just returned from Taiwan, where a major university hosted one such event. He listened to a non-LDS journalist from India present a paper on what he thought was "the relevance Joseph Smith had to solving inter-ethnic conflicts in both the Middle East and Kashmir. It was quite a striking paper to hear from an Indian journalist."

The presenter said Smith "demonstrated a sincerity in his religious quest that many people in the midst of religious conflict today would do well to imitate . . . because religion is often the excuse for conflict." He also used Joseph Smith's history as "an example of how much can be accomplished by a person with a nuclear family. That's an important part of the (public) dialogue going on there."

The mayor of Taipei addressed the gathering, he said, speaking favorably of the church and noting the government there has put templates and formats for weekly Family Home Evenings on their Web site, attributing them to the church.