Free Republic

Jan 23,1852 - Brigham Young instructs Utah Legislature to legalize slavery because "we must believe in slavery." Aug 20,1859 - Brigham Young regarding slavery: "We consider it of divine institution, and not to be abolished until the curse pronounced on Ham shall have been removed from his descendants. Dec 10,1862 - Deseret News reports that Church Historian's Office is displaying sample of tobacco crops grown in Provo during past summer. May 15,1864 - Brigham Young preaches, "I don't want Mormonism to become too popular... we would be overrun by the wicked." Sep 1,1870 - Salt Lake City's 9th Ward reports that only thirty one...

Anthony Sweat's honest treatment of the religious teen's insecurities opens with a confession: "When I was a teenager, I was afraid to die." After all, which kingdom would God deem him worthy of? Terrestrial? Telestial? Sweat, a veteran LDS educator who currently teaches seminary at West High in Salt Lake City, has seen his share of high school students struggling to make sense of the afterlife, has experienced fear of the unknown himself. But he was troubled when nearly half of Mormon youths he polled in his classes felt they fell tremendously short of celestial criteria; how some even felt...