Mormon Land

A new biography finds both “prophet” and “scoundrel” in Joseph Smith | Episode 394

In 2012, scholar John Turner published an award-winning biography of Brigham Young, a mountain of a man in Western Americana. But there remained a bigger fish to pursue, namely Joseph Smith, the “white whale” of Mormon history, the religious icon who gave birth to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Turner’s voyage is now complete and the resulting book, “Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet,” is available this month.
Infused with the latest scholarship, the volume reveals a Brother Joseph who is sometimes playful, sometimes reckless, sometimes incensed, often inspired, but always enterprising and forever fascinating.
The book appears certain to go down as the most significant and up-to-date biography of the Mormon founder since Richard Bushman’s “Rough Stone Rolling.”
On this week’s show, Turner, professor of religious studies and history at George Mason University, discusses what he discovered about Joseph Smith — the husband, the father, the book publisher, the community organizer, the city builder, the religious innovator, the polygamist, the visionary, and, above all, the prophet to millions of followers.

Mormons in Media crossover: Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Season 2 — Did they really do all of this sober?

In the second monthly bonus episode brought to you by a collaboration of “Mormon Land” and “Mormons in Media,” Latter-day Saint Rebbie Brassfield and non-Latter-day Saint Nicole Weaver recap season two of “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” From discussing maternity garments and Gen-Z Latter-day Saints bringing back cross necklaces, the pair talks about all the things you may have been wondering. You might even learn the Young Women Theme.

From Africa: Why the LDS faith is drawing so many converts | Episode 393

It took more than three decades for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to grow its membership in Kenya from a handful in the late 1980s to more than 21,000 today.
These days, though, the number of conversions is rising more rapidly in this East African country. Kenya now even has its first Latter-day Saint temple.
Such expansion brings with it challenges brought by having young lay leaders, adapting to cultural practices like “bride prices,” a kind of dowry, and finding new meetinghouses across urban and rural landscapes.
In this special “Mormon Land” episode from Nairobi, Denis Mukasa, who serves as a stake (regional) president and directs the faith’s humanitarian work in the area, and his wife, Eunice Kavaya Mukasa, describe how they met (singing in a church choir), how the church has changed from when they both joined, and how local leaders are coping with growth — and poverty.
“When I joined the church, there was a lot of negativity towards the church,” Eunice says. “But now people are being more receptive. People are listening, even if they are not joining, they can see that the church is a good place, and we as members of the church are good people.”

Catholic conclave vs. LDS succession — Is one system better? | Episode 392

As the world held its collective breath for white smoke at the Vatican to signal the selection of a new Catholic pope, some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were smugly thinking how straightforward their faith‘s succession process is.
No guessing. No politicking. No top candidates. The senior apostle simply moves up a seat.
Some wonder, though, what’s wrong with mystery and surprise? Is an election in this context necessarily devoid of the Holy Spirit? Couldn’t God make any system righteous? Why does it matter?
On this week’s show, Latter-day Saint historian Matthew Bowman and Utah Catholic archivist Gary Topping discuss how the two global religions pick their top leaders — the precedents at play, the politics involved, the pluses, the minuses, and how both can see God’s hand in the result.

The real story about perfectionism | Episode 391

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are more prone to perfectionism.
That was the assumption, at least, that Justin Dyer, professor of religious education at church-owned Brigham Young University, was used to hearing.
Then the statistician, along with a few colleagues, started digging into the data. What they found was more complicated than the common wisdom that church membership, with its lofty eternal aim of helping followers to become like God, leads its members to hold themselves to unhealthy and unrealistic expectations.
On this week’s show, Dyer joins Latter-day Saint psychologist Debra Theobald McClendon to talk about how the faith’s teachings and culture impact the rank and file, their goals, their perceptions and their self-worth.

From stay-at-home-mom to breadwinner — help for LDS women if the marriage ends | Episode 390

In 1981, then-apostle Ezra Taft Benson rose to the pulpit during a General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and told women: “You were elected by God to be wives and mothers in Zion. Exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom is predicated on faithfulness to that calling. Since the beginning, a woman’s first and most important role has been ushering into mortality spirit sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven.”
Even when another eventual church president, apostle Gordon B. Hinckley, encouraged women in 1989 to “get all the education you can,” he paired it with a wish for his female audience that none of them would ever have to work for pay.
In other words, get an education and, if you absolutely must, a job.
Such messaging from the faith has since changed, but, for decades, this was the counsel faith leaders gave Latter-day Saint women, many of whom came to see their degrees, if they had them, as a backup plan.
Susan Madsen is a Utah State University professor and founding director of the Utah Women & Leadership Project. Tiffany Sowby is the founder of the nonprofit Rising Violet, which gives cash gifts to single mothers.
Both have witnessed — again and again — the downstream effects of the advice encouraging Latter-day Saint women to dedicate themselves to the role of stay-at-home mom.
On this week’s show, they talk about their observations and what women and the church can do to prevent mothers and their children from falling into poverty if marriages end.

Mormons in Media crossover: What is Heather Gay teaching people about Latter-day Saint heaven?

In the first monthly bonus episode brought to you by a collaboration of “Mormon Land” and “Mormons in Media,” Latter-day Saint Rebbie Brassfield and non-Latter-day Saint Nicole Weaver talk about season one of “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” and what they’re expecting, and hoping to see, from season two.
Rebbie is surprised to learn that Nicole knows about the Celestial Kingdom and even more surprised to learn she heard about it on TV.

Announcing a new podcast partnership all about Latter-day Saints in pop culture | Episode 389

Taylor Frankie Paul. Litia Garr. Shari Franke. Andy Reid. Lisa Barlow. Hannah Neeleman. What do all these people have in common?
For our online friends, the answer is obvious: All are Latter-day Saints. Maybe you’ve heard of them. Maybe not. But these are just some of the names representing and defining, albeit unofficially, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for millions around the world.
Put simply, they matter. So do the Mormon-themed Netflix miniseries and Hulu tell-alls that studios are churning out at ever faster rates.
Here at “Mormon Land,” we’ve done our best to blend those conversations with all the other reporting our readers and listeners care about. And we will continue to host some of those conversations. But there’s no way we can do it all anymore. There’s just too much happening that deserves attention.
And that is why the “Mormon Land” brand is expanding.
We are excited to announce a new partnership with “Mormons in Media,” a podcast and Instagram account that has been tracking pop culture’s portrayal of Latter-day Saints and their church since 2018.
Co-hosts of this monthly “Mormon Land” bonus podcast will be Salt Lake Tribune guest columnist Rebbie Brassfield — the creator of “Mormons in Media” and perhaps the only person in the world to equate playing pickleball to crossing the Plains with handcarts — and Nicole Weaver, a Tribune audience team manager whom our superfans will recognize as a co-producer of our “Mormon Land” podcast.
Brassfield is an active Latter-day Saint. Weaver has no background in the faith. What she does have are a keen interest in this genre and a range of questions. Together, the two plan to track the developments of Latter-day Saint representations in the media — from “Under the Banner of Heaven” to “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” and everything in between.
On this week’s show, they tell us more about what listeners can expect from this new venture.

Racism in the LDS Church: There's still work to do, says Mauli Bonner | Episode 388

While the racist priesthood/temple ban in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is indeed in the past, racism itself remains very much in the present — for the faith and for society as a whole.
In fact, the Utah-based church recently published a new webpage addressing the topic, reminding members that President Russell Nelson directed them to “lead out in abandoning attitudes and actions of prejudice” and his top counselor, Dallin Oaks, urged Latter-day Saints to “help root out” the sin of racism.
The article went so far as to encourage members to speak up when racism arises in their congregations. So how can Latter-day Saints play their part? And do they need to start by looking honestly in the mirror and asking: Do I hold racist views?
Mauli Bonner — a well-known Black Latter-day Saint, and an award-winning filmmaker and songwriter — penned an opinion piece recently for The Salt Lake Tribune to help members examine themselves and answer their leaders’ call.
On this week’s show, he shares those ideas, assesses how the faith and the faithful are doing in combating racism, addresses how more inclusive art and music can help, and offers suggestions for ways top church leaders can help propel the battle against prejudice.

LDS missionary program offsets falling birthrates — for now | Episode 387

As a proselytizing faith with a committed corps of volunteer missionaries, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is forever driven to boost its ranks and broaden its reach. It did so last year at a level not seen in decades.
Convert baptisms topped 308,000 in 2024, a 27-year high, and pushed total membership above 17.5 million. The army of missionaries shot past 74,000, a number not seen since 10 years ago after leaders lowered the age minimum for full-time service. And the tally of missions around the globe swelled to 450, more than at any point in the faith’s 195-year history.
Amid all these encouraging statistics for the church, discouraging trends persisted. Babies added to the rolls continued to fall and the loss of members continued to rise.
This week’s show aims to make sense of all these figures, including nations where the church is growing the fastest or shrinking the quickest, with the help of independent researcher Matt Martinich, who tracks such data for the websitescumorah.com and ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com.