Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
Travel and Religion
Christian California

Christian California

Last updated on: March 1, 2024 at 10:43 am by Dan Peterson

0 Comments

Christian California 2024-03-01T10:43:50-07:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Los Angeles California Temple by night. During my years growing up in California, and again while I was in graduate school, this was “my” temple. It still holds a special place in my heart: It was where my family was sealed together after my father’s baptism at the age of nearly sixty.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

I would like to call your attention to a few articles by Latter-day Saint social scientists whom I find consistently interesting and worth reading. One of them is Stephen Cranney:

“How many churches still favor traditional marriage? Have most American churches accommodated by now the sea change in public attitudes about marriage? Not really”

Recently, Dr. Cranney has written three fascinating articles with Josh Coates, who heads up the B. H. Roberts Foundation:

“We sent out 80,000 postcards to Latter-day Saints in the U.S. Here’s what we learned: Our representative survey found high percentages of self-identified members agreeing with church teachings on historical questions and sexuality”

“New survey shows strong cross-generational faith among Latter-day Saints: After we sent out 80,000 postcards to Latter-day Saints in the U.S., we dig deeper into their responses”

“Applying Moral Foundations Theory to current and former Latter-day Saints: While listening to what current and former Latter-day Saints say about their lives, it can be valuable to also understand what they tell us about core values and what matters most to them.”

Another of my favorite Latter-day Saint social scientists is Jacob Hess:

“Church education is promoting an endangered species: Dating: In the face of global relationship trends away from marriage formation, the Church Educational System is taking steps to re-instill a courtship culture”

In this connection, another Deseret News article is interesting: “Are we on the verge of a ‘marriage renaissance’? Despite discouraging numbers, the conversation about marriage is suddenly changing in positive ways” We can hope!

“‘Make keeping covenants cool again’: Exploring the stories of ex-ex-Latter-day Saints: Inside the increasing numbers of reconversion stories being shared online”

And here is a possibly relevant essay from the Evangelical Protestant magazine Christianity Today: “Doubt Is a Ladder, Not a Home: Churches should welcome questions. That doesn’t require embracing perpetual doubt.”

While I’m listing articles that I think worthy of your attention, I want to share these links by and about a legislative initiative sponsored by my friend Utah Senator John Johnson:

Deseret News: “Opinion: To save the university, we must go ‘back to the future’: SB226 proposes that we begin by redirecting general education to once again inspire free thought and solid citizenship”

National Review: “Can Utah Save America’s Universities?”

The Spectator: “The fight for civilization in higher education: The ‘School of General Education Act’ insists that all students in a state’s public university system take a prescribed sequence of courses that will take them through most of Western history”

The American Mind: “The Return of Western Civ: Utah is prepared to revolutionize higher education.”

I really feel strongly about this issue, and I’m proud that Utah might be potentially taking the lead on so important a front. Of course, the Utah Senate bill directly concerns only the state’s public colleges and universities, but the Utah university about which I care the most is a private one.

The Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, shown here in 2005, was visible from my high school. For my first seventeen years, I typically saw it multiple times each week. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Flying yesterday from Honolulu to Los Angeles, I sometimes had my personal screen on the “My Flight” channel, or whatever it’s called. As we neared California, I was seeing the names of various towns and cities and trying to figure out where we were. We came in from the north, flying between Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands and then eastward over greater Los Angeles until we executed a great turn right over the skyscrapers of downtown for an approach to the airport from the east.

Seeing the place names made me think. (Few things do, of course, but I promise that it really happened this time.) I occasionally run into atheists who profess to be offended (or even, sometimes, somehow injured) by any overt presence of religion in the public square.

I was wondering how such folks must handle the place names in California, which so often reveal not only its Hispanic heritage but its religious history. They probably simply haven’t noticed them or haven’t paid attention to them. But they’re almost everywhere. Almost, one might say, inescapable.

Santa Barbara is an obvious example. But scores of other specimens can be supplied, including San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Ynez, Sacramento (both city and river), Santa Maria, San Diego, San Fernando, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo (the last word being needed in order to distinguish it from San Luis Rey), San Onofre, Mount San Jacinto, San Clemente, Santa Catalina, San Ysidro, the San Joaquin Valley, Mount San Gregorio, San Bernardino, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Gertrudes, Santa Monica, my own home town of San Gabriel, and on and on and on. And then, of course, there is the literal queen of them all: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles, ‘The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels” (aka Los Angeles).

If anybody ever really seeks to do so, it will be very difficult to erase the legacy of Hispanic Catholicism from the history — and from the map — of the state.

Another view of the Los Angeles California Temple (LDS.org)
This was the first temple in California. Now, if I’m not mistaken, there are eleven of them that are either fully operational, or under construction, or newly announced..

I close with a modest little item from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™: “Help for Job Seekers”

I have had some limited experience with the services provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for people seeking employment. I was very, very impressed.

However, I note that at least a few of the linked articles with which I opened this blog entry might also be found in the almost infinitely capacious Hitchens File.

Posted from Los Angeles, California

Travel and Religion

History and Religion

Previous Post

February 28, 2024

With aroha for all

Next Post

March 1, 2024 "Kingly Names, Kingly Ambitions"

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"I have cpnsidered in my mond if the 4 volume Saints could be made into ..."

John Pack Lambert

From Serbia’s “White City,” Belgrade

"Another class of memories are of individuals who previously lived. Some of these remembered individuals ..."

PlasmaMiasma

Accounts of Premortality?

"Sutherland's lecture sounds interesting. He seems to restate the Washington consensus that trade brings peace ..."

B. Wilson

Learning more about a region of ..."

"In a meeting today, I learned another important reason why accurate (or at least as ..."

the PROBLEM

From Serbia’s “White City,” Belgrade

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did Jesus feed the 5,000 with?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Figs and water Manna and honey Loaves and fish Bread and wine