Eli McCann: LDS General Conference — a time for protests, proselytizing and ... bagpipes

A protester lets his voice and views be heard before a General Conference session in April 2022 in downtown Salt Lake City.In the late 1990s and early 2000s, controversy swept Salt Lake City and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when locals complained about a deal between the two entities to. The idea was to allow the church to develop it into a small plaza connecting two of its large downtown properties.

Latter-day Saints lined up to express their appreciation that this small section of Main Street was going to be put to better use, in their view. Another crowd — of what I’m sure I thought of as “antagonists” at the time — gave speeches about the right to free assembly and their discomfort with the idea that a government can sell important public property to the area’s predominant religion.

The circus scene appeared to grow with each passing year. The battle to out-noise one another, probably counterproductive to the broadcast’s administrative efforts inside the conference venues, didn’t die down when sessions began. The sidewalks’ various stakeholders stayed firm at their posts, continuing to shout down and drown out one another’s attempts at screamed evangelism.

It sounds like I’m being glib, and I probably mostly am, but I do really wonder about all this effort we put into yelling at one another. If it doesn’t change hearts and minds, isn’t it a waste of energy and well-being? I once heard that advocacy without a sincere attempt to persuade only serves the activist. Is the yelling motivated by a sincere attempt to persuade? Maybe. Maybe the screamers and singers really believe their efforts might amount to a successful recruitment.

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