Mormon Land

The 'crisis' of members leaving the LDS Church | Episode 441

Jeff Strong, a former bishop, mission president and BYU faculty member, finds himself in a similar position to an increasing number of parents in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While he remains a believing, practicing and devout member, he has loved ones (including three of his five children) who have left the faith. Thus, his new book, titled “Torn: Why People We Love Are Leaving the Church and What We Can Learn From Them,” is more than instructive and insightful; it’s personal.
The volume includes a sweeping study on Latter-day Saint disaffiliation, revealing that about 40% of active members in the United States have stopped participating over the past quarter century.
Why is that? Is it church doctrine, policy or culture? Is it, for instance, the faith’s opposition to same-sex marriage or the occasionally cruel comments about the LGBTQ+ community that may spring up in Sunday school? Does the tension come from the racist remarks Brigham Young made about Black people or from diminished trust in the church for not sharing that part of the faith’s history?
On this week’s show, Strong discusses the church’s disaffiliation “crisis,” why so many Latter-day Saints are abandoning the faith, what the stayers get wrong about the leavers, and how members of every stripe can better find belonging no matter where they are in their spiritual journeys.

It’s time for members to call out racism, says Black Latter-day Saint leader | Episode 440

Ronell Hugh says he was recently hiking a trail in Highland, Utah, when a white man in a gray truck leaned out his window and shouted a racist threat.
It was a moment both startling and deeply troubling for the president of the Genesis Group, a support organization for Black Latter-day Saints.
Hugh hadn’t been threatened like that before since living in the Beehive State. But he had heard lots of stories from other members of his Black congregation, who told him that racism has been on the rise due to the current political climate in the country as well as in Utah, where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the dominant religious institution.
On this week’s show, Hugh, a Latter-day Saint convert and marketing executive who most recently worked for church-owned Deseret Book, discusses the increase in racial tension, what top church leaders have said about it and how Latter-day Saints can counter the sin of racism.

LDS women who pursued careers when it was seen as a no-no | Episode 439

It’s the late 1960s to mid-1970s. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues a century-old priesthood and temple ban against its Black members. It takes a high-profile public stance against the proposed Equal Rights Amendment. And a persistent patriarchy urges women to abandon careers and return home to care for their children and husbands — all the while limiting their leadership and other opportunities within the religion.
These policies and practices created friction for a number of working women in the church. But rather than leave the fold, a number of talented trailblazers chose instead to turn to Christ and seek personal answers to private prayers to carve their own paths and not only stay true to the faith — and their ambitions — but also emerge even stronger.
On this week’s show, Robin Ritch discusses their journeys, which she documents in her newly released book, “Using Friction to Grow.”

What does a ‘sustaining’ vote really mean in the church? | Episode 438

On April 4, millions of Latter-day Saints worldwide raised their hands to show symbolic support for their new prophet-president, Dallin H. Oaks.
It was a rare ritual, called a solemn assembly, done primarily at the time of a new leader for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But this act of “sustaining” is also commonly used in congregations as a way to express goodwill and welcoming to new members and to members who have completed their volunteer assignments or are accepting new ones.
“With those raised hands and encouraging smiles, we [are] participating in common consent, where we can choose to sustain, by the raising of the right hand, those called to serve,” apostle Patrick Kearon explained right after Oaks’ solemn assembly. “Common consent is not a mere formality but a beautiful mix of our agency, unity and faith. It is a voluntary, personal commitment to support, uphold and help the Lord’s called servants in their responsibility.”
And it is almost always unanimous.
But does that act imply members are or should be in complete agreement with those who are sustained? Or that the leaders are infallible? Or that the thinking among members is done?
On this week’s show, Taylor Kerby, author of “Scrupulous: My Obsessive Compulsion for God,” and Heather Sundahl, a historian at Exponent II and a marriage and family therapist in Provo, discuss the church’s teachings about “sustaining.”

Why peace lovers aren’t enough. Jesus called for peacemakers. | Episode 437

Nearly 50 years ago, Latter-day Saint prophet-president Spencer W. Kimball warned boldly and directly about the dangers of war, including the vast resources used in the destruction of America’s enemies. The Yoda-like leader cautioned that members were becoming a “warlike people.” His successors in the office, though, have rarely spoken with such passion and purpose. Their condemnations of war and proclamations of peace have been more tempered, more cautious, more general.
Now the U.S. is at war again and other religious leaders, most notably Pope Leo XIV, have condemned the military assault. In his first General Conference sermon as the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Dallin H. Oaks gave a major address urging members to be peacemakers — echoing Jesus’ call in the Sermon on the Mount — but his remarks were mostly aimed at interpersonal rather than geopolitical conflicts.
What has happened in the intervening decades to cause Latter-day Saint presidents to avoid speaking up about war? Why are some members wishing their leaders were following the pope’s lead?
Discussing those questions and more related to war and peace are Patrick Mason, chair of Mormon history and culture at Utah State University who wrote a book titled: “Proclaim Peace: The Restoration’s Answer to an Age of Conflict" and Holly Burton, a Utahn who is studying conflict management and resolution at the Kroc School of Peace Studies at the Catholic-led University of San Diego.

'Mormons in Media' crossover: Processing "Trust Me: The False Prophet" with Mormon Fundamentalism Expert Cristina Rosetti

Netflix's harrowing 4-part docuseries focuses on the crimes of Sam Batemen, but before Sam Bateman there was Warren Jeffs. As outsiders, Nicole and Rebbie can't begin to understand how either of these men were able to do what they did. Cristina helps contextualize what these religious doctrines and communities are like, how they differ from each other, where they can be mischaracterized, and what kinds of media can help vs. hurt.
Resources: 
Cherished Families: https://www.cherishfamilies.org/
Kidnapped From That Land: https://www.amazon.com/Kidnapped-That-Land-Government-Polygamist/dp/0874805287
Unfinished Short Creek podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/lu/podcast/introducing-unfinished-short-creek/id1516705248?i=1000488964911
 

Are members leaving in droves? No. But ‘deeply concerning’ trends exist amid those record conversions. | Episode 436

There was plenty of good growth news — at least on its books — for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2025: a record number of convert baptisms of more than 385,000; an overall global membership climbing ever closer to 18 million; and at least 44 nations or territories with annual growth rates above 10%.
At the same time, the United States, the nation with the most Latter-day Saints, saw its net raw numbers decline for the first time, and children of record continued to lag well below 100,000.
On this week’s show, we dissect the latest data — from the exceptional expansions in parts of the Global South to the stagnant figures in other parts of the world — with independent researcher Matt Martinich, who tracks such data for the websites cumorah.com and ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com.

An apostle's plan to prevent 'old men' from running the church | Episode 435

The three most recent presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints died at ages 101, 90 and 97.
In fact (not counting founder Joseph Smith) church presidents live to an average age of 87. And the current leader, Dallin Oaks, is 93.
Decades ago, liberal apostle Hugh B. Brown, a self-proclaimed “rebel,” saw this emerging gerontocracy as a problem and proposed a remedy, which included granting emeritus status at age 70 to all apostles, even members of the governing First Presidency.
In addition, Brown wasn’t particularly fond of how tradition has enshrined the process for picking church presidents and attempted to change it.
On this week’s show, historian Matthew Harris, author of the acclaimed “Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality” and who is writing a biography of Brown, discusses the apostle’s views on succession and aging leaders.
Brown “had strong feelings,” Harris notes, “about so-called old men running the church, as he put it.”

Does the General Conference format need an overhaul? | Episode 434

At least four aspects of the just-completed General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stood out:
• The Easter weekend focus on the death, resurrection and Atonement of Jesus Christ.
• A solemn assembly combined with Dallin H. Oaks’ first conference sermon as the 18th church president.
• A record number of convert baptisms in 2025.
• The choice of an African woman to lead the faith’s Primary organization for children.
Oaks gave a powerful talk about peace, definitely a timely topic. And the elevation of the first African as head of any of the faith’s global organizations was historic. But the weekend falling on Easter meant that most of the talks began to sound alike — even repetitive — and quite similar to what you might hear at any Christian church on that sacred holiday.
That begs a number of questions: Is it time to rethink the structure and substance of these semiannual gatherings? Are there too many sessions? Are they too long? Does the Saturday evening session need to return? What about a women’s meeting? What about the speeches themselves, especially since they will form the basis of Relief Society and priesthood quorum lessons (occurring every Sunday starting in September)?
On this week’s show, Margaret Olsen Hemming, co-editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, and Sam Brunson, a law professor and Latter-day Saint blogger with By Common Consent, address those questions and more.

With women now able to serve as leaders, how might LDS Sunday schools change? | Episode 433

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently announced that women could now serve in Sunday school presidencies, a position that has traditionally been filled by men.
Allowing women to oversee the teaching of scriptures and church doctrine to members was seen by many as a further move toward gender equity.
The news, though, came with a caveat: If a woman were named as president, her two counselors would also have to be women. Same with men. That element caused much consternation at a change that might have brought unalloyed delight.
So was this a big stride or simply a little step? What are the implications, if any, for the global faith?
Discussing those questions and more are Emily Jensen, web editor for Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, and LaShawn Williams, a clinical social worker in Orem with a private practice and current president of the Mormon Mental Health Association.