-- During 1979
[General Religious History] The Iranian Revolution results in the establishment of an Islamic Republic in Iran. (1)
[Leonard J. Arrignton] His book The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints with Davis Bitton, published by Knopf in 1979, has been widely disseminated. (2)
[Media] The first satellite broadcasts of General Conference. (3)
[Spencer W. Kimball] Oversees the publication of the LDS edition of the King James Bible. (4)
New Orleans Jazz move to Salt Lake City and become the Utah Jazz. (5)
[Wallace Stegner] Stegner's several novels with a California setting show a concern with contemporary life--the ahistorical or hedonistic lack of values of the present impinging on the settled but sometimes narrow familial and social patterns of an older America--and the process of the salvaging of a personal past. They include A Shooting Star (1961); All The Little Live Things (1967); The Spectator Bird (1976), a tour de force for which he was awarded the National Book Award; and Recapitulation (1979), set in Salt Lake City. (6)
-- Jan 22, 1980
[U.S. Religious History] Jerry Falwell attended a prayer breakfast at the White House prayer with Jimmy Carter. Falwell would later claim, incorrectly, that he asked Carter why there were "well known practicing homosexuals" on his staff and received the answer that Carter considered himself the president of all citizens. (7)
-- Jan 24, 1980
[U.S. Religious History] On this night, William Murray (son of American atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair) had a dream which he interpreted as a religious vision from God, leading to his conversion to a fundamentalist brand of Christianity. He gave up drinking and smoking and engaged in efforts to undue the separation of church and state which his mother had long struggled for. (7)
-- During early 1980s
[Utah Coal Mining] Utah coal production reached an all-time high in the early 1980s, a trend that has again been reversed. (8)
[Ute Indians] In the 1970s and early 1980s, Northern Utes benefited from increased oil and gas development on reservation lands in the form of jobs and severance taxes. The Northern Utes have also been key players in the Central Utah Project, receiving money and stored water in return for the diversion of their watershed runoff into central Utah. (9)
-- Feb 22, 1980
The Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy was reorganized to strengthen the lines of administration at Church headquarters. The executive directors of the Missionary, Curriculum, Priesthood and Genealogy departments became members of the presidency. (10)
-- During February 1980
Consolidated meeting program introduced. (11)
-- Mar 2, 1980
U.S. and Canadian members began a new consolidated meeting schedule that put priesthood, sacrament, and auxiliary meetings into one three-hour time block on Sundays. (10)
Footnotes:
1 - Wikipedia, Timeline of Religion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_religion#History_of_Religion
2 - Utah History Encyclopedia: Leonard J. Arrignton, http://www.media.utah.edu/UHE/a/Arrington_Leonard.html
3 - The Mormon Channel: The Broadcast and Media History of the LDS Church Timeline, http://radio.lds.org/eng/about/media-timeline
4 - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball, Salt Lake City, Utah
5 - History to Go, Utah Today, http://historytogo.utah.gov/timeline/utahtoday.html
6 - Utah History Encyclopedia: Wallace Stegner, http://www.media.utah.edu/UHE/s/STEGNER%2CWALLACE.html
7 - Cline, Austin, History of American Religion: Timeline, http://am-rel-hist.gu.ma
8 - Utah History Encyclopedia: Utah Coal Mining, http://www.media.utah.edu/UHE/c/COALMINING.html
9 - Utah History Encyclopedia: Ute Indians, http://www.media.utah.edu/UHE/u/UTES%2CNORTHERN.html
10 - Church News: Historical Chronology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/58765/Historical-chronology-of-The-Church-of-Jesus-Christ-of-Latter-day-Saints.html
11 - Sherry Baker: Mormon Media History Timeline: 1827-2007, http://byustudies.byu.edu/showTitle.aspx?title=7984
Mormon History Timeline /Chronology
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
