Deseret News Authors

Sara Israelsen-Hartley

Sara Israelsen-Hartley is a reporter for the Deseret News where she covers how faith informs the lives of individuals from all backgrounds, as well as how faith is challenged and protected in the public square. During her more than six years with the Deseret News, she has also covered BYU, family issues such as marriage, parenting and abortion as well as crime and the judicial system. She was honored in June as the Best Newspaper Reporter in 2011 by the Utah chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Originally from Columbia, Missouri, she lives in Provo with her husband, Jon, and their two rambunctious sons.

Connect with Sara Israelsen-Hartley

Email sisraelsen@desnews.com Subscribe

Recent Articles by Sara Israelsen-Hartley

Dangerous silence: Why you need to talk to your kids about sex

Published: Saturday, May 26, 2012 12:00 am MDT

Today's society is awash in depictions of sexuality, ranging from salacious magazines, ads and Internet sites to more-than-suggestive television shows and movies that glorify casual sex and promiscuity. Yet rel...

Service, not sermons: Churches put aside differences to work together during crises

Published: Thursday, April 19, 2012 12:00 am MDT

For the past few days, Kelsey Tokunaga and Ashley Vomund have been happily wielding paintbrushes and sporting smudges of khaki green, gray and brown paint in their hair and fingernails.

Wandering from worship: What churches are doing to hold on to the next generation

Published: Thursday, March 22, 2012 12:00 am MDT

Will Mitchell remembers childhood Sunday mornings as dramatic.

New CEO of University of Utah Health Care aims to make a real difference in the challenges patients, doctors face

Published: Tuesday, February 28, 2012 12:00 am MST

As they walked down the tile corridor, 12-year-old Vivian Lee stayed close on the heels of Dr. Hal Belknap. He carried a clipboard filled with medical charts and test results, yet each time he walked into a pat...

Colliding causes: Gay rights and religious liberty

Published: Sunday, February 12, 2012 12:00 am MST

Scrolling through her e-mail inbox on a fall day in 2006, photographer Elaine Huguenin opened a new message from a potential client expecting to rattle off prices, extra travel fees and proofing policies.

Conservatives shrug at Obama birth control rewrite

Published: Saturday, February 11, 2012 12:00 am MST

President Barack Obama's political shifting over contraception coverage has united conservative Republicans in protest even as they split over which GOP presidential hopeful should face him in the general elect...

Christian student wins appeal in discrimination case against university

Published: Saturday, January 28, 2012 12:00 am MST

MICHIGAN — A university that expelled a Christian graduate student from its counseling program because she refused to affirm homosexual relationships may have violated her Constitutional rights, the Sixth...

Christian student wins appeal in discrimination case against university

Published: Saturday, January 28, 2012 12:00 am MST

Obama Administration: One year for religious exemption to birth control provision

Published: Saturday, January 21, 2012 12:00 am MST

There will be no permanent exemptions for the majority of religious organizations that don't want to provide birth control as part of employee health care.

Obama Administration: One year for religious exemption to birth control provision

Published: Saturday, January 21, 2012 12:00 am MST

There will be no permanent exemptions for the majority of religious organizations that don't want to provide birth control as part of employee health care.