Smith is focus of 2 annual gatherings

As local youth celebrations of the bicentennial year of LDS Church founder Joseph Smith's birth come to fruition in the coming days and weeks, two annual conferences are also offering a variety of discussions about his life and work.

The 2005 Sunstone Symposium runs July 27-30 at the downtown Sheraton City Centre hotel, featuring nearly 20 presentations directly related to Smith's life and work. Organizer Dan Wotherspoon said he actively sought out a non-LDS scholar to give a perspective on Smith that many local audiences don't often hear.

Laurie Maffly-Kipp, associate professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, will address the topic, "Tracking the Sincere Believer: 'Authentic' Religion and the Enduring Legacy of Joseph Smith Jr." She suggests that the quest by both Latter-day Saints and nonbelievers to uncover whether Smith was a "caring leader or a crafty seducer . . . tells us much more about ourselves and our own times than it does about Smith."

A description of her presentation states it will get at the heart of "what is sincere about religion" and "religious sincerity."

"There's something about the human condition that wants authentic or real things, and the variety of things you see and read about Joseph Smith probably says more about us as people than anything else," Wotherspoon said.

Maffly-Kipp's keynote lecture is scheduled July 27 at 8 p.m. in the Three Seasons Ballroom and is free and open to the public.

The conference, which has drawn increasing numbers of young attendees in recent years, will also feature a variety of presentations by "laymen" who are not scholars but "intelligent, well-informed Latter-day Saints" who have perspective to add on several topics, Wotherspoon said.

Discussions scheduled range from plural marriage yesterday and today to stem cell research, DNA and the Book of Mormon and an examination of Martha Beck's recent controversial book about her father, the late Hugh Nibley.

Wotherspoon said he considered inviting Beck to the conference but decided against it, opting rather for a variety of panelists to offer their assessments from praise to criticism.

A second LDS-themed conference the following week will also discuss Beck's book from the perspective of Nibley's biographer.

Scott Gordon, president of the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, said the group's 7th annual conference will be held Aug. 5-6 at the South Town Expo Center in Sandy.