The Peacemaker Summit, Part 2: Keynotes to the Kingdom

Click here for part 1!

Following some initial audio/visual difficulties (which drove my professional A/V friend crazy), the Peacemaker Summit finally got underway with some introductory remarks by Marla Gale, the event sponsor, then by Travish Lish and Christian Williams, the co-owners of The Holy Rebellion social media accounts. What followed over the next several hours were eight keynote addresses and a lunch break.

Alternatively, skip to the end to see my final thoughts.

In summarizing and evaluating each speaker, I'm employing the rubric below (I am a teacher, after all):

Does the speaker...

1. have a consistent thesis related to the stated mission of the conference?
2. clearly articulate an application of content creation online?
3. rigorously demonstrate an actionable metric for peacemaking?
4. utilize a high-quality and engaging presentational format?

Christian Williams: "The Accusatory Fog & Two Ineffective Responses" @theholyrebellion

Christian begins his address the same way he does his interview with Greg Matsen - that he and Travis pivoted away from interfaith dialogue in order to "shepherd the flocks of the king" through LDS apologetics and devotional content creation. Christian alleges that the appropriate space for "critical content" regarding the LDS faith is through the #exmormon hashtag, which Christian claims has overtaken the internet only because faithful LDS members have "abdicated" the online "battlefield."

This leads to Christian's call to action: comment, like, and follow The Holy Rebellion - or, I'm sorry, "faithful content" - turning the algorithm into a tool for LDS "member missionaries," a popular title in LDS communities. "There's some sedentary guy in his basement 500 miles away calling you names," Christian reassures the audience, meaning there's no need to fear responding to them, turning the social media "warzone" into a "vineyard."

This seems lackluster even for an introductory speech. Christian's advice seems more of a plug for his own channel; he praises the desire for creating content creation but gives no mission statements or objectives in general; his solution for creating peacemaking content is to classify the opposition as basement-dwellers, and he frequently pauses to invoke the soft "missionary voice" as a replacement for informative supporting details (he doesn't even fulfill the title he apparently went with).

Thesis: D
Application: D
Metric: F
Format: F
Christian's Grade: D-

Cade Alvey: "Theology Sucks!" @allthoseinfavor

Cade presents this title as the "thesis" for his address, drawing on a story of one Caspar Zacher, a 16th-century German who was found not guilty of heresy because he was, in fact, a rather coarse and belligerent man rather than the pacifistic and compassionate (but heretical) Anabaptists who he had been accused of associating with. With this anecdote, Cade declares all "orthodoxy" to be "boiled down to a list of propositions" presented as a quiz of Christian identity politics, which in Cade's view entirely misses the "shared life in Christ" that Cade believes the Christian gospel is meant to produce. Discussions over theology must be abdicated within LDS engagement, Cade warns, if they are to pursue a Christlike spirit.

Cade's talk abruptly concludes with several nebulous couplets: that Christians should heal the world rather than fight it, replace posturing with embracing (I think, at least; Cade merely pantomimes a bear hug and juxtaposes it with a boxing stance), and find purpose in "shining light into dark places." Cade never elaborates on any of these metaphors.

Thesis: F
Application: F
Metric: F
Format: D

Cade's Grade: F

Baylor Johnson: "The Peacemaker's Guide to War" @allthoseinfavor

Baylor first recounts hearing contradictory advice from two podcasts about the nutritional value of olive oil. Baylor admits he tends to assume a claimant is correct because they are making the claim in the first place (which reminded me of this viral clip). Baylor asserts that this is where LDS members and defenders often "win the battle but lose the war" by failing to engage with the claimant at all, making them appear the victor by default. Instead, Baylor contends, LDS members should engage with critical content with their own perspectives, seek to be peacemakers rather than rude or condescending ("the viewer will never side with a jerk"), and to validate the lived experiences of the claimants to break down barriers of identity politics.

Baylor attempts to drive this home with the observation that, while Jesus flipped tables in the temple, "You aren't Jesus! If you think you're Jesus, there's bigger questions to figure out here." Baylor gives the audience the admonition that they will be accountable to anyone who is offended by their words or actions, that peacemaking represents seeking the opposite of those things: to see a broader perspective of the conflict and avoid a pyrrhic victory that tarnishes the reputation of the LDS church and its membership. However noble the allegorical intent, the advice fails to become more than platitudes that can be tergiversated to excuse any number of behaviors online, toxic or not.

Thesis: C

Application: B-

Metric: C-

Format: C

Baylor's Grade: C

Maddy Packer: "From Passive to Peacemaker"
@thesurefoundation

Citing the need for multiple perspectives on peacemaking, Maddy approaches her address as the classic devotional speech featured weekly in LDS sacrament meetings, complete with spliced quotes from a variety of modern LDS leaders and various verses of LDS scripture. Maddy insists that peacemaking is possible without compromising on "difficult conversations" about LDS doctrine and theology, as Maddy sees "peacemaking" often conflated with "peacekeeping," which she goes on to compare and contrast:

Peacekeeping                   Peacemaking

avoids conflict                    disrupts conflict

provides comfort                challenges comfort

seeks not to offend            seeks truth

submits to defeat               defies defeat

easy                                   hard

In Maddy's mind, it's not the avoidance of contention, but the boldness, that separates the peacemaker from the peacekeeper. Peace is achieved when the enemies of God are made to be silent, as Maddy references the strawman stories of "anti-Christs" in the Book of Mormon who the prophets contend with boldly until the opposition is somehow easily and immediately confounded. Maddy even classifies Jesus flipping tables at the temple as a form of "peacemaking" by being brave enough to expose evil, an example that Maddy believes was teaching us to follow in his footsteps to walk the line "between submission and retaliation...cunning as serpents and harmless as doves."

Thesis: B

Application: D-

Metric: C-

Format: D

Maddy's Grade: D+

Jasmin Rappleye: "Answering Hard Questions with Compassion and Boldness" @jasminrappleye

Jasmin states her address is intended to be a "tactical, step-by-step breakdown" of how she approaches content creation, and it shows. Using an infamous image of former LDS president Heber J. Grant at a meeting with a Nazi flag just behind him, Jasmin creates a case study of how to combat the human fight-or-flight impulse and learn to respond constructively to misinformation about LDS doctrine or history.

1. Identify why the criticism feels uncomfortable or painful
2. Study "trustworthy" sources and primary documents
3. Communicate the central thesis as supported by your sources
4. Draft a script with your content platform and audience in mind
5. Review and revise based on peer and valued input
6. Align your content and feedback with your identity and values

With each point, Jasmin engages the audience with concrete examples and applications, effortlessly drawing attention toward herself and her presentation with compelling visuals and clear language. Jasmin highlights how online content can often be used to sensationalize or muddy the waters of discourse; or even worse, be intensely uninteresting and fail to reward the effort put into creating the content. Jasmin gives this comparison: "Immature students see critique as a threat or insult; insecure students see critique as a sign of failure; flourishing students respect and evaluate critical feedback with both humility and confidence." She even shows off her personal mission statement and invites online influencers to adapt it to their own needs and priorities.

My only real complaint with Jasmin's address is the final product of this case study is a short reel that pivots to her YouTube podcast, Informed Saints, rather than the informational communication she promised was on her checklist of objectives. For the price of admission, couldn't the audience get an advance screening of her full response? Still, this is good advice for any content creator, not just the LDS ones.

Thesis: A

Application: A

Metric: B+

Format: A

Jasmin's Grade: A

David Snell: "Balancing Difficult Topics While Growing Testimony" @keystonelds

The final and longest speech of the summit's morning session, David pursues a number of convoluted and clumsy allegories to put forth the concept that there are stages of faith that move from simplicity to complexity to what David calls "simplicity beyond complexity," although David never explains what that means in a gospel or apologetic context. David reminds the audience not to neglect their own needs as they pursue online discourse and that they have a responsibility to love their neighbors, aka "the random people on the internet." From scuba diving to gardening to the Golden Gate Bridge, David repeats the theme of making large achievements through tenacity and patience.

Thesis: D

Application: F

Metric: D

Format: B-

David's Grade: D

Jared Halverson: "Detecting Misinformation Online" @unshakensaints

A current CES instructor (the LDS educational wing), Jared gives the longest keynote speech at the conference. Jared treats us to a meta-historical view of the innovations of communication across human history, and how in each stage there have been those who are concerned that new methods of communication - from written text to the printing press to social media to AI - would somehow dilute human society and its ability to progress or trust each other. Jared insists that this has applicative power within LDS tradition to: contrary to repeated warnings by LDS leaders and even others at the Peacemaker Summit, the rise of online discourse is something that will strengthen the LDS church rather than weaken it.

Jared characterizes misinformation (that is, information on the LDS church that is deemed incorrect or inappropriate) as sensationalized, superficial, and selective. Responses from LDS members ought to fulfill the "opposite" criteria: faithful, from an eternal perspective, using "reliable" sources. Jared also notes that the "blackwashing" of the LDS church from critics is often rooted in the same motivations that drives LDS defenders to "whitewash" the same topics and warns LDS members not to overstate their case anymore than the critic.

Thesis: B+

Application: D+

Metric: B-

Format: C-

Jared's Grade: C+

Concluding Thoughts

I tried to avoid as much editorializing as I could in my summary of each speech, but you may have caught a few of the same observations I did.

Firstly, there was never a clear or consistent definition of what "peacemaking" was. Each speaker seemed to have differing and even contradictory notions of how peace would look in the utopia promised by The Holy Rebellion. My favorite contradiction of this sort was Baylor's reprimand of anyone thinking they could toss tables as Jesus did, while Maddy as the very next speaker said Jesus's flipping tables was an example to us of how to be bold. Meanwhile, Cade seemed adamant that LDS online discourse ought to recuse itself from topics of theology, whereas Christian earlier had decried that as abdication from the divine mandate of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Secondly, it was clear from the keynote speakers why most conferences of this type take far more planning and preparation than The Holy Rebellion was willing to give for whatever reason they thought they had. Speaker presentations were clearly not coordinated or correlated with even a common mission statement, as if their mere identity as card-carrying Mormons was enough to establish a coherent mission statement, which outside of Jasmin was never communicated by anyone.

Lastly, these were long speeches that were mostly about platitudes and flowery metaphors rather than anything that an aspiring content creator could use to their advantage. I cut out a lot of fluff from almost every address, or was able to sum up their longwinded allegories in a sentence or two. The Holy Rebellion would go on at the end of the conference to advertise a separate event that would actually go into the technical details of content creation, which calls into question what the purpose even was for this conference!

After Halverson we have the AMA panels, which ended up being a microcosm of the same complaints I had about the keynote speakers, and which I'll be covering in part 3. Until then, adieu.