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He’s from a “conservative city with a scandalous past”

He’s from a “conservative city with a scandalous past”

Last updated on: October 14, 2025 at 9:37 pm by Dan Peterson

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He’s from a “conservative city with a scandalous past” 2025-10-14T21:37:49-06:00 Dan Peterson

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The new First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (fair use, I hope). From left: President Henry B. Eyring, President Dallin H. Oaks, and President D. Todd Christofferson

The big news for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today, of course, was the organization of a new First Presidency, with President Dallin H. Oaks heading it up as the eighteenth President of the Church. The ordination of President Oaks was scarcely surprising; he had already been the presiding officer in the Church since the moment of President Russell M. Nelson’s passing. The call of Henry B. Eyring to serve as First Counselor to President Oaks wasn’t exactly a surprise either, although I thought it conceivable that he would not be so called. D. Todd Christofferson’s selection as Second Counselor was somewhat unexpected, and it apparently surprised him, as well. You can watch the announcement here. I feel a bit bad for Elder Gary E. Stevenson, who opened the press conference and flubbed both the word revelatory and, unfortunately, President Oaks’s first name. This was a very historic moment, and scores of thousands of people were watching; I guess that one isn’t immune to nervousness even in his position. He’s a really good man; I’ve known him since even before his call as a mission president in Japan — where one of my sons served under him (and predicted his call to the Twelve) — let alone as a general authority and then as an apostle.

In case you would like to learn more about President Oaks, I call your attention to some materials that have been created and assembled for that purpose by the Church: “President Dallin H. Oaks”

President Oaks has repeatedly spoken of the importance of families and, during the recently concluded October general conference of the Church, expressly referred to the famous 1995 Proclamation on the Family that was issued under President Gordon B. Hinckley. So this article, by Walker Wright, caught my eye. It’s well worth reading: “The Family Proclamation in Context.”

An aerial view of part of Temple Square, in Salt Lake City, before President Russell M. Nelson authorized its dramatic redesign and renovation. (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)

And, while we’re at it, you might enjoy this little item from a time capsule: “Noted heart surgeon Russell Nelson unlikely to transform Mormon church as new president: Russell Nelson, 93, a world-renowned heart surgeon, signaled he would stay the course as he was announced as the 17th president of the Mormon church.” (Alex Johnson, NBC News, 16 January 2018)

Incidentally, with all of the coverage of the passing of President Nelson and the deaths in Grand Blanc, Michigan, and the pending organization of a new First Presidency, some may have missed the death of Elder Tad R. Callister, an emeritus member of the Seventy (including a period in the presidency of the Quorum) and a former general president of the Sunday School. In his memory, Meridian Magazine has republished an article of his that I think worthy of note: “Why There is No Room for Middle Ground Concerning the Book of Mormon”

A view of Mount Timpanogos from Y Mountain, above the Provo campus of Brigham Young University (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Here’s a really weird one from England’s Daily Mail: “Americans flock to conservative city with a scandalous past where religion and reality shows collide and homes are cheap” I’ll bet you can’t guess the identity of the “conservative city with a scandalous past” to which the headline refers. So I’ll give you a hint: It’s Provo. (I promise that I’m not making this up.) The reader comments are definitely entertaining. Or discouraging.

“The Brother of Jared Sees the Finger of the Lord,” by Arnold Friberg (Wikimedia Commons). In Latter-day Saint understanding, of course, “the Lord” here is the antemortal Christ.

A thought to ponder from Robert A. Rees, Imagining and Reimagining the Restoration:

Jesus must have tried to imagine what it would be like to condescend by stepping down from his heavenly throne to become that helpless of all creatures, a human baby. Standing in the heavens on the verge of what must have been—even for him—an inconceivable transformation, beholding the earth, seeing the events unfold toward that dramatic, liminal moment in which he would cross the threshold from the indescribable glories of his heavenly home to the stark simplicity and commonness of a humble manger, he must have imagined what it would be like to surrender his godly power to become that helpless child. Yet, it is likely also true that, not having ever been mortal, he was not capable of imagining or even envisioning all that mortality held for him. We surmise this because thirty-three years later in Gethsemane, he seemed surprised, even astonished at the weight of the burden of our sins, and the next day was so overwhelmed by the excruciating pain of being nailed to the cross that he cried out for deliverance to that same heaven where he had once reigned supreme. (page 27)

A photo of then-Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Council of the Twelve, and former actiing dean of the University of Chicago Law School, president of Brigham Young University, and justice of the Utah Supreme Court

I close, however, with a quotation from President Oaks that I found in the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™:

“I am grateful for the marvelous examples of Christian love, service, and sacrifice I have seen among the Latter-day Saints. I see you performing your Church callings, often at great sacrifice of time and means. I see you serving missions at your own expense. I see you cheerfully donating your professional skills in service to your fellowmen. I see you caring for the poor through personal efforts and through supporting Church welfare and humanitarian contributions. All of this is affirmed in a nationwide study which concluded that active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “volunteer and donate significantly more than the average American and are even more generous in time and money than the upper [20 percent] of religious people in America.”

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