Yesterday’s landmark talk by Elder David A. Bednar explored numerous examples of how Mormons can share their faith online; you can read the “top takeaway” points here at LDS Living.

Most of what he said is not surprising — that LDS Church members should be open and authentic about discussing their faith on social media and blogs, and that they should be respectful of other people’s views (and their intellectual property, as I was glad he noted).

Here’s hoping that more Mormons pay attention to his counsel about not belittling or condemning people online . . . but I’m not going to hold my breath.

One thing that was surprising is the announcement that the LDS Church has created a full-length documentary called Meet the Mormons — not to be confused with a British film of the same name — to be released in commercial movie theaters on October 10. As LDS Living reports,

The film was originally meant to be shown only in the Legacy Theater in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, but now will have worldwide distribution through various available digital channels. It will be released in select theaters in the United States soon after October general conference, but will later be shown in visitor’s centers, on television, and through internet movie and social media channels.

As the trailer above shows, the production values look strong for the movie. It appears to take the Church’s popular “I’m a Mormon” campaign to a logical extreme, using half a dozen ordinary/extraordinary Latter-day Saints around the world as the calling card for our religion.

I’m glad to see this. At least one study has shown that people’s generally unfavorable views of Latter-day Saints tend to soften or even enjoy a reversal when they know Mormons personally. A movie or a social media contact is not the same as a personal relationship, but it makes an impression.

Hopefully it will be a positive one.

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