The year 2025 presented moments of great chaos and confusion, and it remains important, perhaps now more than ever, to respond with faith and reason.
Utah has set the stage for national conversations this year regarding political violence, artificial intelligence, religion, immigration, congressional district boundaries and more. Throughout it all, the Deseret News has aimed to elevate those conversations with nuance and perspective.
Here are the top 10 articles published by the Deseret News this year that analyze complex issues facing our nation — and world — today.
Mia Love: My living wish for the America I know
As her battle with brain cancer came to an end, former Rep. Mia Love took up her pen — not to say goodbye but to say thank you.
“As my season of life begins to draw to a close, I still passionately believe that we can revive the American story we know and love. I am convinced that our citizens must remember the principles of our story so that our children, and those seeking freedom around the world, will know where to look to find a place for their story.
“We must fight to keep the America we know as that shining city on a hill — truly the last best hope on earth. Like Benjamin Franklin and countless patriots down through the ages, I believe the American experiment is not a setting sun but a rising sun."
The Deseret News Editorial Board: Charlie Kirk shooting is an unspeakable attack on freedom
The shocking murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Orem, Utah, sparked a number of responses — some civil, others inappropriate. As our reporters were on the ground in Orem covering the shooting, our editorial board penned this editorial affirming free speech as a foundational human right enshrined by the Constitution and condemning violence.
“Violence is the opposite of freedom. In a nation that declares free speech as a foundational human right, it is intolerable. Its intention is to end speech; to impose might as the deciding factor, not ideas that rise through a marketplace of freely expressed thoughts.
“The murder of conservative speaker Charlie Kirk while he answered questions on the Utah Valley University campus Wednesday is an unspeakable tragedy. While the bullet took his life, it was aimed, as well, at all Americans.”
Sarah Jane Weaver: President Russell M. Nelson: He saw me for who I had the potential to become
President Russell M. Nelson died in September at the age of 101 after living a life of service as a pioneering heart surgeon and later as the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Before she became the editor of the Deseret News, Sarah Jane Weaver was the executive editor of the Church News, where she had the opportunity to observe President Nelson’s ministry in nations across the globe. Here, she reflects on how he comforted victims of crime and others who grieve, called children to him, led the church through a global pandemic and linked arms with top leaders of the NAACP.
“President Nelson expressed confidence and gratitude in a moment that should have sown doubt. He didn’t see me for who I was, but for who he believed I had the potential to become.
“With a heart brimming with confidence for all of God’s children, President Nelson saw everyone this way ... We carry on his legacy by seeing others not only as they are now, but also for who they can become.”
Meagan Koehler: Maybe male critics are not experts on religious women’s underclothing
After The New York Times published an article on the religious underclothing of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, writer Meagan Koehler took on the tired dichotomy of the “perfect Mormon stereotype” vs. “the free-thinking rebel” and explained what the garment means to her.
“Many religious traditions wear symbolic clothing to express their religious commitments, and for members of our church, this clothing is — quite purposefully — the layer worn closest to the skin. When I began wearing the garment at age 24, I never could have dreamed I’d one day be reading about it in the country’s preeminent newspaper.
“This one-sidedness renders garment-wearing opaque and dogmatic, in contrast with influencers who are ‘broadcasting a new vision of the church to their tens of millions of followers.’ It seems incredibly strange to reference only those who are estranged or detached from the church to talk about something so sensitive and spiritual. So consider the credibility, or lack thereof, of such sources who suggest that Latter-day Saint women now come in just two varieties: ‘pioneer women in long dresses,’ or mermaid hair and ‘plunging gowns.’”
Jennifer Graham: The ‘war on boys’ led to a ‘masculinity crisis’ — what’s new in the effort to help America’s struggling young men?
In February of 2012, the Deseret News published a deep dive on the “War on Boys,” examining how young men were losing ground in education, health and jobs. This year, our Ideas and Culture editor opined that this “boy crisis” led to what’s been called a “masculinity crisis” plaguing young men today and analyzed political solutions to the problem.
“Loneliness and suicide among young men are rising — young men are now more at risk of suicide than middle-aged men. Many want a family, but nearly half aren’t dating. They are living with their parents longer, and despair of being able to afford a house and provide for a family. They are being written off, even scorned, by young women, whose political leanings are often different from their own.
“And their increasing isolation is part of a wider societal trend accelerated by COVID-19: All Americans are less likely to leave their house for entertainment and dining, and even to go to a job or to church.
“But there are rumblings of hope coming from an unlikely place: the world of politics.
“After years of the ‘boy crisis’ being discussed in academia and social science, it’s becoming a priority for governors — among them, Utah’s Spencer Cox, California’s Gavin Newsom and Maryland’s Wes Moore."
Jay Evensen: What America can learn from the George Washington of Bangladesh
The Deseret News has kept a close eye on the transformation currently underway in Bangladesh, examining what has been one of the most consequential and least covered international stories of 2025. Our opinion editor traveled to Bangladesh earlier this year to interview Yunus and write a five-part series on the price of freedom. In this piece, Jay reflects on that experience and Yunus’ visit to the United Nations in September and explains why the revolution of this small, distant country matters to America.
“Americans — from politicians to pundits to average people — argue and agonize over the future of constitutional democracy and the threats it must navigate to survive in a changing world. They speculate about the loss of prestige, diminished strength and eroding liberties caused by this or that policy or executive decision. They fear the rise of political violence and threats to free speech.
“In Bangladesh, a densely populated, relatively new nation in volatile South Asia, these issues are playing out in real time against echoes of the American Revolution and the age-old struggle for self-governance and human rights.
“In short, Bangladesh holds some lessons for a United States that is growing ever more hyperpartisan.”
Matt Grow: What the tired tropes of ‘American Primeval’ get wrong about Brigham Young, early Latter-day Saints
The managing director of church history for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responds to the Netflix miniseries “American Primeval,” a work of fiction that depicts Brigham Young and other Latter-day Saints in the 1850s as violent fanatics.
“For the most part, Latter-day Saints and native peoples had better relations than did white settlers and native peoples in other areas of the American West.
“‘American Primeval’ particularly depicts violence between Latter-day Saints and Shoshone. This false depiction inverts actual history and draws on negative stereotypes that both the Saints and the Shoshone were violent peoples.
“The real-life stories of Latter-day Saint settlers and the Shoshone are compelling and meaningful. ‘American Primeval’ is just a distortion.”
Shima Baradaran Baughman: The Constitution is not partisan — it protects us all
As a toddler in Iran, Shima Baradaran Baughman’s mother was torn from her and sent to prison — all for raising money for an organization that believed in free speech and freedom of religion. Now a law professor who studies the constitutional rights of defendants, Shima reflects on her experiences living without constitutional rights and explains why people across the world still long for America’s freedoms.
“To brand the Constitution as partisan cheapens its genius, weakens the unity it was designed to create, and undermines the very rights that aim to safeguard all of us.
“The reality is that the Constitution protects speech and religious practice across the political spectrum. From civil rights activists to Christian pastors, from pride parades to prayer revivals — the Constitution safeguards liberty for everyone.
“For someone who grew up in a system without those safeguards, the difference is a land people will risk losing everything to call home. And for every American it is a reason to celebrate a day set aside to honor it.”
Ryan Burge: The church I led closed a year ago. I’m still not over it
The First Baptist Church of Mount Vernon, Illinois, opened in 1868 and closed in 2024. Its final pastor, Ryan Burge, has received a lot of unsolicited advice in the year since its closure. He misses his faith community, although, as he writes, as long as any member of the First Baptist Church of Mount Vernon is still alive, he will always be their pastor.
“I grew up in an evangelical church, and I have to admit that the general worldview of evangelicalism is still deeply rooted in my psyche. I knew where they were coming from: no one is beyond the redemption of Jesus Christ and so there’s no church that can’t be saved by a little bit of religious revival.
“Many corners of the Christian world have this foundational optimism, believing that all the ills facing the American church are going to be solved when that next revival comes — and it’s certainly right around the corner. But the composers of these ‘I can save you’ emails did not understand that I and my congregation were just completely exhausted — physically, spiritually and financially, we were on our last legs. The church closing its doors was a burden lifted off our shoulders, a weight that some of them had been carrying for decades.
“Not every church needs to be saved. Sometimes, they need to die.”
Amanda Freebairn: Hulu makes sure the bitter consequences of ‘sexual liberation’ for families are no secret
One of Hulu’s most popular reality shows claims to peel back the curtain on Latter-day Saint womanhood. While much has already been written about how “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” doesn’t actually reflect the lives of Latter-day Saint women, Amanda Freebairn, associate editor at Public Square Magazine, analyzes the show’s presentation of sexual freedom and its consequences.
“In the end, ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ isn’t really about Latter-day Saint wives at all. It’s about what happens when you try to keep the aesthetics of a faith — matching Christmas pajamas, temple wedding photos, Sunday dresses — while discarding its substance.
“Like so many other reality shows, the show’s theme is familiar: the fallout of a culture chasing liberation at the expense of lasting peace. The only new revelation is that even some Latter-day Saint women, though I seriously doubt very many, are falling prey to this dominant societal trend.
“The result isn’t empowerment. It’s confusion, loneliness and often regret. Latter-day Saint teachings, especially around sex, marriage and family, are not outdated shackles but scaffolding for something far more radical: joy through commitment, strength through self-restraint and healing through divine grace.”