Perhaps the most controversial speaker on Sunday, though, was Julie Beck, the new president of the church's all-women Relief Society, who talked about the powerful influence of motherhood.

Faithful Mormon women want children and do not delay child-bearing, Beck said, quoting the late LDS President Ezra Taft Benson as saying, "children - not possessions, not position, not prestige - are our greatest jewels."

Mormon mothers honor their sacred covenants by bringing daughters to church "in clean and ironed dresses with hair brushed to perfection; their sons wear white shirts and ties and have missionary haircuts," Beck said.

They establish a good climate where children can be nourished physically and spiritually. "Another word for nurturing is homemaking," Beck said. It ''includes cooking, washing clothes and dishes, and keeping an orderly house.''

In partnership with their husbands, mothers "plan for missions, temple marriages and education," she said. These women "are selective about their own activities and involvement to conserve their limited strength in order to maximize their influence where it matters most."

The speech triggered a firestorm of criticism on the Mormon blog timesandseasons.org from listeners who objected to Beck's stereotyping of women's roles or guilt-inducing comments about the necessity of being the best mothers in the world.

"Mothers who know desire to bear children, whereas in many cultures of the world children are becoming less valued. In the culture of the gospel, we still believe in having children." Julie Beck, Conference 2007