I well remember the very first annual conference convened by what was then called the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, or FAIR.  It was in 1999.  All of the speakers, I think, stayed at the home of FAIR’s then-president, in Ben Lomond, California, not far from Santa Cruz.  And then, for the next couple of days, we trooped dutifully over to a nearby Latter-day Saint chapel, where we delivered presentations to each other.  There were very few in the audience beyond the speakers themselves, who, when they weren’t actually presenting their remarks, did double-duty as listeners.  The meeting was held in the chapel’s Relief Society room, which was entirely adequate for the size of the gathering.

The organization has come a very long way since then.  For one thing, “FAIR” is now its actual name, and no longer merely an acronym for its real title.  (And it now has a motto:  “Faithful Answers, Informed Response,” which, when examined, seems curiously reminiscent of, well, “FAIR.”)  For another, the annual meeting now attracts audiences in the hundreds, as well as additional viewers online.

For those who take an interest in the issues and controversies that always swirl around the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as for those who are interested in defending its claims, the annual FAIR Conference has become one of the most anticipated events in Latter-day Saint apologetics and scholarship.  It brings top scholars, speakers, and faithful members together to explore Gospel questions, to tackle tough issues, and to strengthen testimonies.  Over the years, subjects have ranged across such fields as history, science, archaeology, philosophy, sociology, law, and theology, all presented in an accessible manner by thoughtful people who seek to help defend the Gospel and share evidence of its truth.  It’s a good place to look for answers, either for yourself or for loved ones who might be encountering challenges to their faith.  It’s also an excellent place, simply, to deepen your understanding of the restored Gospel and its history.

Some Latter-day Saints are put off by the term “apologetics,” which—although fairly common among our Protestant and Catholic fellow-Christians—is rarely used among us.  They wonder why anybody should feel the need to “apologize” for the doctrines of the Restoration.

But this is to misunderstand the word.  The original sense of the English verb “to apologize” isn’t to say “I’m sorry.”  That meaning appears to come later.  The original sense is “to defend.”  It comes from the Greek word “apologia,” which refers to “a speech in defense”—for example, in a trial.  A classic example is Plato’s “Apology,” in which Plato recounts the remarks that his teacher, Socrates, gave to his accusers in Athens in 399 BC.  They are anything but an “apology” in our modern sense.  Rather, they are a (genial but still rather defiant) defense of the actions and the mode of life for which he had been brought to trial.

In the New Testament, the classic passage about apologetics is 1 Peter 3:15, though I’ll quote the following verse (3:16) as well:

“Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.”

That’s the King James version of the passage.  It’s important, I think, to know that the Greek word that the King James translators rendered as “answer” is nothing other than “apologia.”  Thus, Peter is saying that Christian believers should “be ready always to give a defense to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you.”  Accordingly, and for the sake of clarity—King James words like “fear” and “conversation” can confuse modern readers—I also quote 1 Peter 3:15-16 in the Common English Bible translation:

“Whenever anyone asks you to speak of your hope, be ready to defend it.  Yet do this with respectful humility, maintaining a good conscience. Act in this way so that those who malign your good lifestyle in Christ may be ashamed when they slander you.”

So do we have an obligation to prepare ourselves to defend the claims of the Gospel?  Not everybody is called, of course, to be a scholarly advocate of the Restoration.  Still, if, as President David O. McKay taught, every member of the Church should be a missionary, all of us should try to equip ourselves to justify our beliefs to those with whom we come in contact.  When asked why we believe what we believe, we shouldn’t just stand there, tongue-tied.  In a famous essay of his called “The Weight of Glory,” C. S. Lewis—who, in my judgment, has no serious rival as the most prominent Christian apologist of the twentieth century—put it in rather military terms and had special reference to philosophy, but I think that his point can easily be applied more generally.  Here is what he said:

“To be ignorant and simple now—not to be able to meet the enemies on their own ground—would be to throw down our weapons, and to betray our uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defense but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen. Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.”

This year’s FAIR Conference, the twenty-seventh in a row, will be held—curious as it may sound!— in the Show Barn at Thanksgiving Point (2975 Thanksgiving Wy, Lehi, UT 84043).  An evening session on Wednesday, 6 August, will open the conference:  Aaron Sherinian is a public affairs professional with extensive international experience who currently serves as the Managing Director of the Church Communication Department for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He will deliver remarks that evening under the title “Fluent in Our Faith: Identifying Evidence of the Glad Tidings of the Gospel in Our Everyday Reality.”

Thereafter, on Thursday and Friday (7-8 August), sessions will run from 9 AM until roughly 5 PM.  The topics covered will range widely, from questions of gender equality in the Church, faith crises, the Church and child abuse, coping with life’s disappointment, and peacemaking through a Mesoamerican approach to the Urim and Thummim.  Other topics will include the role of women in defending the Church, working through times of “spiritual silence,” a case for “contention,” the lived experience of Latter-day Saint women, and concepts of doctrinal purity and doctrinal drift, as well as mathematical modeling of the plates of the Book of Mormon.  One interesting speaker, scheduled for Thursday, will be Brandon Mull, The New York Times bestselling author of the “Fablehaven,” “Dragonwatch,” “Beyonders,” “Five Kingdoms,” and “Candy Shop War” series.

It must candidly be admitted, though, that I’ll be the concluding speaker at the final session of the conference on Friday.  Conference organizers have adopted the custom of having me conclude the conference because it’s an effective tool for reducing grief and separation anxiety at the close of excellent meetings that will not reconvene for a full year.  My remarks help to ease conference patrons back into the routine and humdrum world of ordinary life.

I will be addressing the question of “Brigham Young and Slavery” and, to a lesser degree, Brigham Young and race.  The topic seems to me an important one for several reasons.  First of all, believing Latter-day Saints regard him as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ and as a prophet, a seer, and a revelator.  The line of priesthood authority that leads the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints even today comes, overwhelmingly, through him.  The mode of apostolic presidency that we still follow is rooted in the succession of the Twelve, led by Brigham Young, to the leadership of the Church after the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in 1844.

And yet we can’t avoid the fact that President Young said some things about race that make us wince uncomfortably in the twenty-first century. Indeed, to make matters even worse, he presided as territorial governor of Deseret over the enactment of an 1852 law that established and legally recognized slavery.

Or did he? Very recent scholarship has carefully examined that law and has overturned much of what I, at least, had ignorantly assumed about it. (Part of our modern problem is our simplistic and uninformed understanding of how labor and employment were categorized in antebellum America.)

I propose to share some of the results of this recent scholarship that, I believe, greatly reduce (although they don’t altogether eliminate) the challenges posed to contemporary Latter-day Saints by Brigham Young’s racial attitudes—and that have furnished weapons to critics of the Church for at least the past century.

The scholarship to which I refer wasn’t created with apologetic intent, but I intend to turn it in that direction. I will cite not only the conclusions of the scholars, with whom I believe my own conclusions will be consistent, but statements of Brigham Young and others who were directly involved in the discussions of race, slavery, and servitude that threatened to divide the Church and its settlements in the Great Basin West prior to Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which rendered some of the relevant issues moot. For me, this new scholarship has been deeply helpful, and I think that some of its results need to reach a general audience.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926-2004), formerly a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was very fond of something that the late English Anglican philosopher, theologian, and biblical scholar Austin Farrer wrote about C. S. Lewis.  Elder Maxwell cited it often and, since then, it has become a favorite among Latter-day Saint defenders of the faith:

“Though argument does not create conviction,” Farrer wrote, “lack of it destroys belief. What seems to be proved may not be embraced; but what no one shows the ability to defend is quickly abandoned. Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a climate in which belief may flourish.”

I invite you to participate in the 2025 FAIR Conference, whether in person or online.  For registration, the full program, and other details, see here:  https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/conference/august-2025-fair-conference.