Saturday and Sunday, LDS Church leaders and millions of Mormons around the world convened—whether in person at the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City, or by internet, cable television, satellite broadcast, and radio—for the Church’s semi-annual General Conference. For Mormons, Conference means listening to a set of sermon-like addresses by Church leaders, not "conferring" in committee and deliberating policy, as is the case for other Protestant denominations. And although Church spokespeople stressed that Conference this year would be a routine affair, attentive Conference observers noticed signs that the Church is aware of what the media has called "the Mormon Moment:" an intensity of public attention driven largely by the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman.
Political watchers' ears pricked up on Saturday afternoon when J. Willard Marriott and Jon Huntsman Sr. were among a group of LDS Church officials "released" from their callings. With both men being the namesakes of current political candidates—Mitt Romney's first name is Willard, and Marriott was a close friend of Mitt's father George Romney—the changes in office led to some speculation that the move was motivated by the Church’s desire to underscore its stated non-involvement in the Huntsman and Romney campaigns. Church spokespeople, however, described the changes as a routine "rotation."
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