Mormon Land

Separating fact from fiction in ‘American Primeval’ | Episode 374

Note to listeners • This episode contains spoilers for “American Primeval.”
It’s bleak. It’s bloody. It’s barbaric. It’s also the No. 1 TV show on Netflix. But what millions of viewers may misunderstand about “American Primeval” is that it is fictional.
While the six-part series is centered around real places, a few real events and some real people — ranging from the Utah War and the Mountain Meadows Massacre to mountain man Jim Bridger and pioneer-prophet Brigham Young, the show is not a docudrama. It gets many historical facts “wrong,” though the filmmakers weren’t necessarily trying to get everything “right.”
Did, for instance, any Latter-day Saints die in the Mountain Meadows Massacre carried out by Mormon militiamen? Did Native tribes participate in the atrocity? Did Brigham Young order the massacre? Did Latter-day Saints torch Fort Bridger? And are the portrayals of Young, Bridger and various Native American tribes accurate?
Answering those questions and more are Barbara Jones Brown, director of Signature Books and co-author of the critically acclaimed “Vengeance Is Mine: The Mountain Meadows Massacre and Its Aftermath,” and Darren Parry, former chair of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation and author of “The Bear River Massacre: A Shoshone History.”

What is happening at BYU and why it matters | Episode 373

Brigham Young University has a “unique and compelling faith-based mission to develop disciples of Jesus Christ,” says school spokesperson Carri Jenkins.
To that end, the school has long required students and faculty to hold a “temple recommend,” which attests to belief and behavior standards set out by BYU’s owner, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Under the leadership of the church’s commissioner of education, Clark Gilbert, the school has added extra layers of rules, meant to ensure devotion to beliefs beyond what the church expects of its members — namely a firm “testimony” of the faith’s current teachings on marriage, family and gender.
To a number of faculty members, the extra demands feel onerous and unfairly compel employees and prospective employees to embrace a conservative interpretation of church doctrine.
Here to discuss BYU’s new approaches to hiring and firing, as well as the atmosphere on campus are Latter-day Saint historian Benjamin Park, author of “American Zion: A New History of Mormonism,” and Latter-day Saint researcher Jana Riess, author of “The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church” and columnist for Religion News Service.

New garments, social media stars, temple push (and pushback) and 2024′s other big LDS news | Episode 372

While Russell Nelson, the 100-year-old leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is, by his own admission, slowing a bit, the pace of news in the global faith he oversees is hardly letting up.
The headlines from 2024 prove it.
Temples top the list. The centenarian prophet-president dedicated the church’s 200th temple and has now announced more than half of its 367 planned or existing temples. The Utah-based faith also bought the church’s first temple — the historic edifice in Kirtland, Ohio — from a sister sect. The Angel Moroni statue returned to its perch on the Salt Lake Temple, but the yearslong renovation work still going on inside the iconic six-spired structure came under fire.
Meanwhile, temples planned for places across the U.S. encountered community pushback, often over the height of proposed steeples.
Money also drew attention as the church’s publicly reported reserve fund added billions to its bottom line and lawsuits accusing Latter-day Saint higher-ups of fraudulent financial practices wended their way through the courts.
Speeches from Relief Society leaders about women’s authority, careers and motherhood stirred up controversy, while Latter-day Saint women gained national recognition as social media stars.
Nothing, though, caused more of a sensation than the church’s crackdown on the wearing of temple garments and its unveiling of new “sleeveless,” full-slip and half-slip styles.
On this week’s show, Emily Jensen, web editor for Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, and Patrick Mason, head of Mormon history and culture at Utah State University, discuss an eventful 2024.

NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young says to stop making deals with God | Episode 371

Steve Young — yes, that Steve Young, the Hall of Fame quarterback and former Brigham Young University star who earned multiple MVP awards and Super Bowl rings with the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers — is talking about love and faith.
In 2022, he wrote “The Law of Love,” in part to dispel the idea that love should be transactional. “If I do this, God will love me, or God will reward me.” Rather, Young wrote, love is about following Christ, helping to heal others and embracing all people, no matter where they are in their personal journeys. He drew on his football experiences and revealed much about his own shyness, anxiety and insecurity.
Now Young is back with a follow-up book, “The Law of Love in Action,” that moves from theory to practice, from believing to doing. He turns to Latter-day Saint scriptures as well as other faith traditions and personal experiences — his own and those of dozens of others.
On this week’s show, Young explains why he continues to think about these issues, and why it’s important to love without expectation, how not to “over-elevate” obedience, why perfectionism is a problem and how the “law of love” can improve everyday living.

What the Bible and historical records really say about Jesus’ birth | Episode 370

Dan McClellan was working full time as a scripture translation supervisor for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2023, when he quit his post of 10 years to go all-in as a podcaster and social media influencer.
Rather than peddling parenting or workout tips, McClellan, who has a doctorate in theology and religion, has attracted more than 1 million followers with his hot takes on the Good Book. Through it all, the author of “The Bible Says So,” due out in April, is particularly interested in rooting out misconceptions about what the text teaches.
On this week’s Yuletide “Mormon Land,” McClellan help us better understand the evolution of the story of the Nativity and how the rendition enacted in countless Christian households this season — scenes dominated by toddlers donning bath robes and lightsabers doubling as shepherds’ hooks — strays from the descriptions found in the Gospels and historical records.

Single Latter-day Saints discuss faith, dating and the search for love | Episode 369

The long-standing cultural practice of courting, pursuing or wooing prospective romantic partners by asking them out to dinner, a movie, a hike or a play is often called the “dating game” — and for a reason.
There are rules, sometimes written but mostly unwritten. There are bad moves and good moves. There are winners and losers.
In Utah, this tradition takes on additional twists, turns and even, as some see it, traps. Some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for instance, desire to date only fellow believers so that if the couple marry someday, they can be “sealed” in one of the faith’s temples.
Others rule out ever dating a Latter-day Saint, worried perhaps that they may be pressured to convert or at least hoping to avoid any entanglements with the religion.
All of these factors — plus a multitude of other scenarios — make dating a pinch point in the “Unspoken Divide” between those who belong to the state’s predominant faith and those who don’t.
On this week’s show, Utahns Kristen Jex and Jimmy Henderson, two single Latter-day Saints, discuss those dating dynamics.

All about the LDS Church's rapid growth in Africa | Episode 368

It wasn’t until 1978 (after the priesthood/temple ban on Black members ended) that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began sending full-time missionaries in earnest to sub-Saharan Africa.
Since then, though, the Utah-based faith has seen dramatic growth on the continent, and now Latter-day Saint chapels and temples can be found in a multitude of African nations.
So, what are the appeals of this American-born faith in lands so physically and culturally distant? Why do some Africans see this patriarchal faith as a “woman’s church”? How has the Word of Wisdom helped transform African families? And why is the church’s wealth sometimes viewed as a “double-edged sword” in these countries?
On this week’s show, Laurie Maffly-Kipp, the director of Mormon studies at the University of Virginia, answers these questions after delivering her first major speech at the school. It was titled, appropriately enough, “Mormonism Through an African Lens.”

How practicing gratitude can cure road rage and combat loneliness | Episode 367

For more than 160 years, Americans have celebrated a public holiday to express thankfulness — whether for a bountiful harvest, a successful business, a happy marriage, healthy children or a welcoming community.
And, in 2020, President Russell M. Nelson, leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, urged members to flood the internet with messages of gratitude, even as a global pandemic was sewing death and disease in every nation.
These days, there seems to be a national trend for keeping gratitude journals or practicing mindfulness. But what’s the benefit of it? Does it really help anyone, or is it just glib talk? Can those in dire circumstances really feel grateful, or is that just a naive view of life?
On this week’s show, Marybeth Raynes, a licensed clinical social worker, discusses the benefits of giving thanks.

Final 'Saints' volume covers key moments in LDS history | Episode 366

Six years after the first volume in the “Saints” series hit the stands, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is out with its fourth and final installment in the faith’s latest official history.
Titled “Saints: Sounded in Every Ear,” the text documents the years of 1955 to 2020 and covers a range of milestones, including the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the end of the priesthood/temple ban against Black members, the struggles over LGBTQ rights, and the church’s opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment.
On this week’s show, Jed Woodworth, the managing historian of the series, and Tesia Tsai, a writer for the volume, discuss the memorable experiences of top church leaders and everyday members from this period in the quickly globalizing faith.

The Atlantic's McKay Coppins on the LDS Church and a second Trump term | Episode 365

Like most Americans in the buildup to the 2024 election, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints found themselves caught up in the polarizing tug-of-war over who should be the next president of the United States.
Four years ago, a number of Latter-day Saints, for decades a reliably Republican voting bloc, had bucked Donald Trump and backed Joe Biden, helping to deliver a crucial battleground state, Arizona, for the Democrat.
Those forces were at play again this time around in Arizona and neighboring Nevada for Kamala Harris, with the Trump campaign courting Latter-day Saints as well.
In the end, the nail-biter results pundits had predicted for months never materialized. Trump won the Electoral College count by a comfortable margin and even captured the popular vote.
Early exit polls have shown Latter-day Saints again overwhelmingly stuck with Trump, though his support among these voters may have slipped since 2020. That could be significant, given that the former president’s margins improved among many other constituencies.
So, what happened? What does the election say about the partisan breakdown among Latter-day Saints in the pews? And what might a second Trump administration mean for the church and its members?
On this week’s podcast, McKay Coppins, an award-winning Latter-day Saint journalist who covers national politics for The Atlantic, helps to answer those questions and more.
Coppins is the author of “The Wilderness,” exploring the GOP’s post-2012 drive to win back the White House, and, more recently, “Romney: A Reckoning,” a biography of Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, the Latter-day Saint politician who famously became one of the most visible and vocal anti-Trump Republicans.