10th annual Mormon Night at the Los Angeles Dodgers

This evening was the annual Mormon Night at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. It was perfect weather, the game was exciting, and the Latter-day Saints were out in the thousands. LDS singers performed the national anthem and a few other songs. Elder Ballard threw the night's first pitch. It was a great evening!

The L.A. Dodgers host Mormon Night on an annual basis as a way to thank and recognize the Mormon community in Southern California for being the most active supporting organization. According to the Dodgers' website, this was the 10th annual Mormon Night!

For more information, check out:

http://www.mlb.com/la/ticketing/supergroup.jsp?group=lds

Mormon Night at the Los Angeles Dodgers

The L.A. Dodgers played (and lost to) the Arizona Diamondbacks at home this past Thursday. We attended the game as a part of Mormon Night.

Elder L. Tom Perry of the Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was invited to throw the first pitch.

Mormons leading Beijing Olympic Committee's legal team

Two LDS attorneys are heading legal operations on behalf of the BOC (Beijing Olympic Committee).    

They are based out of both Beijing and Los Angeles.

The full article here.

Mormon Night at the Los Angeles Dodgers

The annual tradition continues:

the L.A. Dodgers host "Mormon Night" at their stadium.

July 31, 2008

7:00 pm

All are invited!

LDS women win first place in international film festival

(courtesy Rodger L. Hardy, Deseret News)

Two LDS women, Anne Bradshaw of Mapleton, Utah, and Jeanne McKinney of San Diego, Calif., joined forces via e-mail to write a screenplay that took first place at the recent International Family Film Festival.

The festival took place at Raleigh Studios in the Charlie Chaplin Theater in Hollywood.

The women drew from the history of politico-religious strife to create a tale of time travel that brings about change in today's world. The screenplay, "The Ardanea Pendant," was entered in the science fiction category and competed against hundreds of others from 17 countries, McKinney said.

Los Angeles Times discusses Mormons & Muslims

(This photo courtesy Meridian Magazine; in the photo are Mr. Flake, of LDS Church humanitarian services, with Mr. Shawky, his counterpart at the partner organization Islamic Relief, with tons of load of international food and medical aid.) 
(Photo courtesy a professor at Oxford who took this picture of a Muslim gentleman with two Mormon missionaries in France.)

Last night my sister-in-law showed me an article in the Los Angeles Times by David Haldane about Mormons, Muslims, and the relationship between the two groups.

The full text of the article is available here.

Recently I attended an event held at UCLA featuring a panel discussion of representatives from Islam and Mormonism.  I wrote on the event here.  The reporter responsible for yesterday's L.A. Times article, David Haldane, was at that event as well.

The Los Angeles Times article addresses the interaction of Arabic scholars at Brigham Young University and the Islamic clerical community.  BYU has become a sort of center for Arabic text translation.  Also, while I was a student at BYU, the school partnered with the FBI to become an official Arabic language training location for the agency.  

The relationship between the Mormons and Muslims demonstrate just how much the two peoples and religions have in common.

The late LDS scholar, Dr. Hugh Nibley, wrote extensively about the similarities between Islam and the Restored Gospel (LDS), citing among other things, the religions' dedication to humanitarian service and prophetic visions.  In fact, many in the LDS Church have recognized that Mohammed was called by God and received divine inspiration.  

Snoop Dogg becomes member of the LDS Church

The musician, Snoop Dogg, has joined the Mormon Church in the Los Angeles area.

For more information, read this article from CNN.

Mormons & Muslims unite at UCLA

A recent public dialogue was held on the campus of the University of
California Los Angeles (UCLA). The November 29, 2007, dialogue was organized by local
Muslim & LDS students and scholars.  

The event was entitled "Mormons, Muslims, and the Media." Many Muslims and Mormons came from across Los Angeles County to attend the discussion.  It was a remarkable event that intensified the friendship between the Islamic and Mormon groups in Southern California.

At the event, we enjoyed a stimulating discussion of Mormonism, Islam and the media's role y in informing public udnerstanding of these two dynamic faith groups.  

The panelists included:

• Dr. Claudia Bushman, Columbia University (visiting scholar at the Huntington Library in Pasadena, California), Author of Contemporary Mormonism
• Mr. David Haldant, The Los Angeles Times, reporter on Mormon & Muslim communities in Southern California
• Dr. Amir Hussain, Loyala Marymount Univ., Author of Oil & Water: Two Faiths, One God
• Moderator: Dr. Karen Torjesen, Dean of the School of Religion at Claremont Graduate University
  

This event was a great opportunity for all to interact, learn, reach out, and understand each other's religion, culture, and (mis)representations in the media.  Thanks to all who organized the event.