Latest news with #IRFSummit2025
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
JD Vance spoke, then a TV star. A BYU professor was next and suggested a major shift in direction
This article was first published in the ChurchBeat newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Wednesday night. WASHINGTON — The speaker lineup during a 20-minute stretch at IRF Summit 2025 certainly was unusual. First, JD Vance spoke from teleprompters for 12 minutes to nearly 2,000 people in the ballroom of the Washington Hilton near the White House. He stood behind his own specialized podium bearing the seal of the Vice President of the United States of America and declared the Trump administration will support international religious freedom. As what appeared to be Secret Service employees swiftly dismantled the podium, large screens around the ballroom broadcast live video of actor Rainn Wilson, who gained fame playing Dwight Schrute for laughs on 'The Office.' Wilson spoke for seven minutes from New York City, where he is appearing on Broadway. 'What a strange and profound honor to be following the vice president of the United States in any kind of talk,' Wilson said. So, how do you follow both the veep and a famous comedian? That job fell to Brett Scharffs, a stylish BYU law professor who has helped lawmakers around the world add religious freedoms to national constitutions in many countries. Scharffs needed just three minutes to outline a new framework for thinking and talking about religious liberty. His point was that countries and cultures committed to religious freedom should actively promote certain virtues as the seedbed for those rights to grow and flourish. 'Or to put it another way,' he said, 'if Heraclitus was right, that character is destiny — what kind of character, both individual and social, would we strive to develop if we want to be people, and to live in places, that value religious freedom?' He broke down his list of 13 of the most important virtues of religious freedom into three categories — habits of the head, habits of the heart and habits of the hand to be cultivated personally and in others, including children. Those who care about religious liberty will seek to develop people who: Are curious. Are open-minded. Seek for truth. Stand for truth. Are tolerant of others. These seven virtues value reverence, awe and wonder, Scharffs said. He added, 'Where better to learn these virtues than Sunday School, the synagogue, the mosque.' Faith, hope and charity. Humility, kindness, respect and love. Finally, those who want to protect religious freedom rights will seek to develop and spread a specific kind of desire: To lift the downtrodden, to be of service to those in need, to reach out to the vulnerable and the broken. 'So in all of our talking about rights ... let us not forget to speak about the virtues of religious freedom,' Scharffs said. 'We want to live in cultures that cultivate people who will value religious freedom, not just as a right, but as deeply ingrained traits of character, habits of the head, heart and hand, indeed, virtues of our very soul.' What a TV star says we can learn from members of his persecuted faith (Feb. 11) BYU applications jump 15% since 2023 (Feb. 7) 'Dignity is a universal birthright,' Elder Soares says at religious freedom summit (Feb. 5) The renovated Toronto Ontario Temple is open for public tours through March 8. Free reservations are available at Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson said at the Provo MTC that missionaries can 'mind the gap' through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Young Women General President Emily Belle Freeman visited Japan for five days and spoke at a national devotional. She is also visiting Micronesia. BYU religious education professor and Wheatley Institute fellow Jenet Erickson delivered the BYU-Idaho devotional and said, 'Heaven is not so much a place. It is a quality of relationship,' in a talk titled 'Designed for Love and Connection. Designed for Family.' She said, 'We are deeply relational beings, designed not for independence, but for radical dependence and connection. We are designed for family.' The 13th Relief Society General President, Mary Ellen Wood Smoot, died at age 91. While I was a BYU student after serving a mission in Frankfurt, Germany, I learned and became fascinated by the story of Helmuth Hübener, a faithful Latter-day Saint boy who resisted Hitler's rule and was executed by the Nazis. Now two German cities are honoring his life. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf said Hübener 'will always serve as a reminder and an invitation to follow the teachings of Christ.' The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl with four Latter-day Saint coaches and players: offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, backup quarterback Tanner McKee, injured wide receiver and kick returner Britain Covey and practice squad offensive lineman Laekin Vakalahi. They beat the Kansas City Chiefs, who had at least three Latter-day Saints: head coach Andy Reid, assistant coach Porter Ellett and backup offensive lineman Kingsley Suamataia. Kellen Moore was named the new head coach of the New Orleans Saints after the Super Bowl. So, yes, now a Latter-day Saint is coaching the Saints. Of course, the end of football means the start of baseball. Good news on that front, TV ratings for baseball show it is a resurgent sport. I loved this story about Brian Billick, a former BYU player who won a Super Bowl as a head coach and is part of the LaVell Edwards coaching tree. The Deseret New spoke with Ross Douthat about why everyone should be religious. Democrat and Republican presidents have backed the idea of ending the production of the American penny for a long time. President Trump said he's instructed the Treasury Department to stop. Did you know that the Treasury has discontinued the following coins in U.S. history, per NBC News: The half-cent coin in 1857. The trime, a 3-cent coin, in 1873. The gold dollar coin in 1889. (It was different than the one now in circulation.)
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The time The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated 7,000 Qurans to Muslims
Shaykh Hamza Yusuf grew up as a white Irish Catholic but converted to Islam, changed his name and co-founded Zaytuna College, the first accredited Muslim undergraduate college in the United States, where he serves as president. Elder Ahmad S. Corbitt is a Black American with a Muslim first name who worked as a trial attorney and led corporate and government communications for a company on the Eastern Seaboard before he became a General Authority Seventy for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The two men found themselves on stage together Tuesday for a dialogue at IRF Summit 2025, a major international religious freedom conference. 'If we can start off with why we agreed to do this?' Elder Corbitt said with a smile, prompting laughter from Shaykh Yusuf and hundreds in the Washington Hilton ballroom near the national capital's famous Embassy Row. The two religious leaders swiftly found common ground. 'I think getting to know one another is very important,' Shaykh Yusuf said to answer Elder Corbitt's question. 'I think America is uniquely positioned to teach a lot of places about civic society and religious freedom. We obviously have our failures, but we do have something extraordinary here.' The hallmark of the possibility embodied by America is education, he said. 'I think the more educated people are, the easier it is to get along with people' because the more they know, the more they realize they know less. 'The Quran says, 'As of knowledge, you've been given a very small amount.' There's kind of a certitude that too many people have that creates a very ugly world,' he said. They firmly agreed that conviction in faith in God is vital, but also offered moderating ideas. Shaykh Yusuf suggested it is a mistake for believers to be certain about their understanding of their faiths and that it is problematic to not 'allow for the possibility that somebody else might have a more valid opinion.' Elder Corbitt said there is something important 'about a humility in our conviction that affords someone else the same right. One of the Articles of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that, 'We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our conscience and afford all people the same privilege, let them worship, how, where and what they may.' That's a fundamental tenet to us and to Islam.' Shaykh Yusuf expressed concern that American education is in decline, in part because of digital devices and digital addictions. 'I think religious faith, more than anything, is going to be the most important element in being able to survive what's coming because things are getting really difficult for people out there,' he said. Shaykh Yusuf also said it his belief that the light of God is refracted through the prism of the intellect. 'If it's not refracted through that prism, it blinds, it doesn't guide,' he said. 'That refraction,' Elder Corbitt said, 'is facilitated, in my opinion and experience, most powerfully and clearly and effectively through service, through actions.' He said he was inspired to learn that after the 2004 tsunamis devastated South Asia before he was a church leader, the Church of Jesus Christ went into Aceh Province in Indonesia and asked what the people needed. The first, grim answer, he said, was thousands of body bags. The church also provided new fishing boats and mosques. 'But the thing that most moved me is that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated 7,000 copies of the holy Quran to our Muslim brothers and sisters in the Aceh Province. That had nothing to do with proselytizing,' he said. 'It had to do with ...' 'An act of good will,' Shaykh Yusuf said.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
At major religion summit, faithful wonder and worry what Trump will do as Vance speech looms
WASHINGTON —Vice President JD Vance is scheduled to speak Wednesday at IRF Summit 2025, billed as 'the largest religious freedom gathering in the world, ever,' by co-founder Sam Brownback, the former U.S. senator and ambassador at large for religious freedom. The faithful who are gathered in Washington, D.C. are looking forward to Vance's speech. They said they aren't sure what to expect from a second Trump administration, but believe he will continue to champion religious freedom generally. The question is will his efforts to secure America's borders eclipse one of their most important issues. 'I know a lot of people are worried right now about what happens with refugees and what the administration is doing,' Baptist Pastor Bob Roberts told a crowd of 500 on Monday night at the Global Faith Forum, which he led. 'There's a lot of concern over that, and I have concerns over that. But let me make something very clear: As people of faith, we still should be caring for refugees, he said as part of the IRF Summit. The issues involved couldn't be more crucial, for believers and nonbelievers, who in some countries face punishment for leaving the majority or state religion. Over the past two decades, extreme poverty has been cut by 75%, but the number of displaced people has jumped 300%, World Relief president Myal Greene said. Meanwhile, the number of countries where freedom of religion or belief doesn't exist or severely restricted has grown from 27 to 40, said Freedom House interim co-president Annie Wilcox Boyajian. 'Souls are at stake,' Brownback said. Another leader said he believes Trump wants to build peace. 'I think the president does not just want to end conflicts, but I think he also wants to be a peacemaker,' said Scott Flipse, director of policy and media relations for the bipartisan Congressional Executive Commission on China. Flipse hoped the Trump administration will continue to keep the ambassador at large for religious freedom at the table when major world issues are discussed so the role of faith is central in bridge-building and solutions. 'I don't want to be pollyannish about this, but there is a role here for religious groups, religious organizations and people of faith to build peace. I think the president wants to do that. I think this is a pretty a big goal for religious freedom in the future,' he said. Trump's new Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is a man of faith who served as co-chair of a previous IRF Summit. One leader told the Deseret News there is confidence in Rubio's understanding of the issues and excitement to introduce Vance to the summit's work, who participants Brownback called 'the heart and nerve center of the religious freedom movement around the world.' Flipse said he would counsel Rubio that personnel is policy and to move quickly with the White House to place people in positions in bureaus to carry out his priorities and whatever reevalutions the administration is undertaking. Boyajian said Rubio has been incredible on religious freedom issues as she has worked closely with him and his staff. She said she would urge him 'not to throw the baby out with the bath water.' 'There's so much excellent work on religious freedom being done,' she said. 'It's very, very critically important that it make it through an expeditious review, because lives really are on the line. The second thing I would add is that he's a man of faith. For me, personally, as a Christian, we as believers, it's so important that we're advocating for religious freedom. Every single human being is precious and made in the image of God, and in my personal view, it is incumbent on us to also help protect others who are targeted and bring them along also. Beasley's suggestions for Rubio are to focus on the big things that matter, be authentic and show your heart. 'Be yourself,' he said. 'He's a man with a good heart, great faith and leaders read your heart. Body language is vital. How you touch, embrace, hug, respect the other is powerful. Body language is the most powerful thing in these meetings. ... First make a connection from the heart. That begins the ball game. 'Our governments teach, 'Let's have an agreement, then we'll be friends.' Faith says, 'Be friends, then you'll have long-lasting agreements.' There's a difference.' World Relief's Greene said the freeze on immigration is delaying the legal arrival of refugees who the government has already scrutinized and approved. 'It's unfortunate that individuals who are refugees, who are fully vetted and screened by the government, they're legal immigrants, most of them come to this country on a plane with a visa, are being denied their benefits, denied their opportunity to adjust right now,' he said. Most of them are from the countries that Open Door has listed as the places where Christians and others are most persecuted, Greene said. 'This is the only legal avenue for people who are persecuted for their faith to enter this country in meaningful numbers, and that door has been closed in this season,' he said. 'I think that's something that we really need to see and that we care about. As a Christian, care about people of all faiths who are persecuted because of their beliefs, and what that means, and I think that we need to stand together and show our support for people who are looking for safety for their family and a chance to raise their family and in a safe community that wants to welcome them after communities they've lived in have forced them out.' The networks growing at these religious freedom conferences need to move forward together regardless of the administration's direction, said Pastor Roberts, the Global Senior Pastor at Northwood Church in Dallas and co-founder of the Multi-Faith Neighbors Network. 'Whatever the administration does is what they do,' he said. 'God hasn't changed his mind about who he loves and what he expects of those of us he is blessed, and so we must be a blessing.' Roberts pleaded with believers to united in love for one another so they can continue to grow as a force to love and help others. 'Our country is in a tough spot,' he said. 'I don't know who you voted for. It doesn't matter. No matter who won, we were going to have some challenges in our country. Here's what I want to say to you: If our country turns a corner and things get better, it's not going to be because we elect the right person. It's going to be because we start acting like the right people. 'I challenge you, don't wait for an election to do the right thing. You're Americans, and that's enough. Act like Americans — e pluribus unum — out of many, one. Now go love somebody different than you. Let them know you care about them, and let's make a different country and a different world.'
