Mormon Land

'Mormons in Media' crossover: 'Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' villains, patriarchy in religion, and the impact of young marriage

Content warning: We touch lightly on the topic of sexual assault. Please take care while listening.
On the December crossover episode between ‘Mormon Land’ and ‘Mormons in Media,' Rebbie and Nicole break down all that has happened over the last month in the realm of Utah reality television. You've got an entire new season of 'Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,' a docuseries from 'Real Housewives of Salt Lake City' star Heather Gay, 'Dancing With The Stars,' 'The Bachelorette,' and so much more. Let's get caught up and let's discuss.

How and why some football players are choosing one year missions | Episode 418

Brigham Young University star football recruits Ryder Lyons and Brock Harris are stepping away from the gridiron and stepping up to serve missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Nothing new there. After all, about half the players on coach Kalani Sitake’s roster at the church-owned Provo school are former missionaries.
But wait. Lyons and Harris say they are going on one-year missions. Is this some new exception for elite athletes?
Turns out, no.
Of course, Latter-day Saints can — and do — leave their missions whenever they want. But the church maintains that full-time proselytizing missionaries are “expected to serve their full term of service” — two years for young men and 18 months for young women.
Still, Harris and Lyons are announcing in advance their intention to fulfill half that stint.
Is this good for the players? Is it good for BYU? Is it good for the church?
On this week’s show, Tribune sports writer Kevin Reynolds, who covers the Cougars, and columnist Gordon Monson discuss those questions and more.

Why stories of the ‘Three Nephites’ continue to teach, tantalize and amuse members | Episode 417

If you ask members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints if they know about the “Three Nephites,” chances are most will know the allusion.
The story comes from the Book of Mormon in chapters where the risen Christ visits the Americas and chooses 12 apostles. Of those, three ask to linger in mortality until Jesus comes again, ministering to the people.
From the time when the book of scripture was first published until today, members have reported encounters with these shape-shifting strangers, who seem to pop up randomly angelic visitors of sorts sent to help people.
For decades, Brigham Young University professor William A. “Bert” Wilson, seen as “the father of Mormon folklore,” gathered these accounts. After he died in 2016, the collection went to one of his students, Julie Swallow, a teaching and learning consultant at the church-owned Provo school.
The collection now forms the nucleus of a new book, “The Three Nephites: Saints, Service, and Supernatural Legend,” from Swallow and co-authors Christopher Blythe, Eric Eliason and Jill Terry Rudy.
On this week’s show, Swallow and Blythe, an assistant professor of folklore at BYU and co-host of the “Angels and Seerstones” podcast, discuss these stories, what they mean spiritually and communally, and why the “Three Nephites” continue to engage and entertain believers.

How much sway do top LDS leaders hold over members’ views? | Episode 416

A grassroots movement centered in Salt Lake City more than 40 years ago kept Utah and Nevada from hosting the world’s largest nuclear weapons system. During the final years of the Cold War, a peaceful rebellion against the MX mobile missile saved the Great Basin from significant environmental impacts and helped change the course of the arms race.
Aiding the activists was a powerful ally: the then-president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Spencer W. Kimball. In 1981, Kimball and his counselors, apostles N. Eldon Tanner and Marion G. Romney, came out against the project in a lengthy statement that read in part:
“Our fathers came to this Western area to establish a base from which to carry the gospel of peace to the peoples of the Earth. It is ironic, and a denial of the very essence of that gospel, that in this same general area there should be constructed a mammoth weapons system potentially capable of destroying much of civilization.”
The church leaders’ forceful opposition helped turn the tide of public opinion in Utah against the MX, and the U.S. eventually abandoned weapons plan.
Now, some of those same activists are agitating again, this time against the ongoing development, partially in Utah, of a new generation of nuclear missiles designed to replace an aging arsenal. Once again, they’re looking for an assist from the church’s top brass, now led by President Dallin H. Oaks. In an October letter mailed to the faith’s Salt Lake City headquarters, they called on the newly ascended prophet to condemn the Sentinel missile project.
To date, church leaders have offered no response.
How much impact would it have if they did is unclear and, according to political scientist Quin Monson, depends a great deal on how it would be framed and communicated.
On this week’s show, Monson, a professor at church-owned Brigham Young University, outlines research on how Latter-day Saint leaders have shaped — and can shape — public opinion with members in the pews.

A deep analysis of the 55 new LDS missions | Episode 415

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently announced plans to add 55 missions across the globe next year.
That’s the most since the Utah-based faith of 17.5 million members created 58 missions in 2013 and brings its total tally worldwide to 506.
At the same time, the current corps of full-time missionaries has topped 84,000 and, according to apostle Quentin Cook, convert baptisms during the first six months of 2025 ran 20% higher than the first half of last year.
So what do all these positive numbers mean when it comes to the pace and prospects of church growth now and in the future?
Independent researcher Matt Martinich, who tracks such data for the websites cumorah.com and ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com, wrote an analysis of the new missions and discusses his findings.

Fact and fiction in “Truth & Treason” | Episode 414

The heroic tale of Helmuth Hübener, a teenage Latter-day Saint activist who was executed in 1942 for trying to warn Germans about Hitler’s lies, is familiar to many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United States and abroad.
He has been the subject of plays, articles, books and a documentary. For those who still don’t know it, though, there is now a feature film, “Truth & Treason,” that recounts Hübener’s harrowing experience of faith and courage.
What is fact and what is fiction in the film? More important, what is its message to modern believers?
Discussing those questions and more on this week’s show is Alan Keele, an emeritus professor of German language and literature at Brigham Young University, who first publicized the story.

'Mormons in Media' crossover: Secret Lives vs. SLC Housewives: What's going on with Utah women and reality TV?

On the November crossover episode between ‘Mormon Land’ and ‘Mormons in Media, ’ Rebbie and Nicole are joined by humor columnist Eli McCann to talk Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. Rebbie is coming in blind to the Real Housewives franchise, so this go around, she's the one with the questions. The three discuss differences between 'Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' and 'Real Housewives of Salt Lake City' and why one is so much easier to consume than the other. How is the church represented in RHOSLC? Let's discuss.

How LDS temples have changed over time | Episode 413

If there is a constant in the history of Latter-day Saint temple worship, it is change. Language used, covenants made, clothing worn and meaning ascribed to all of it — each has evolved since the early 1830s, when Joseph Smith introduced the idea of sacred rituals beyond baptism and confirmation.
In his newly published book, “Holiness to the Lord: Latter-day Saint Temple Worship,” historian Jonathan Stapley explores those changes in greater detail than any other work to date.
Those changes have not only practical but also theological implications, he argues, for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the past and the present.

LDS leadership succession could change under a 'bold' president | Episode 412

Of the major Western religious traditions in the United States, only The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints retains the service-until-death policy for its top leader.
Last week, Dallin H. Oaks, at age 93, became the 18th prophet-president of the faith, succeeding Russell M. Nelson, who died Sept. 27 at 101. Unlike a leader in any other American-based faith, Oaks will be expected to serve until the end of his life — as Nelson and 16 others did before him.
Oaks’ first counselor in the governing First Presidency, Henry B. Eyring, is 92. D. Todd Christofferson, his second counselor, is 80, one of four apostles in their 80s. Does this collective “gerontocracy” give rise to a stagnant, intractable, out-of-touch leadership? Would switching to a system that brings younger blood into the leadership invigorate the global faith of 17.5 million?
Historian Gregory Prince, who studied and written about these issues, discusses these, frankly, age-old questions — including how leadership succession has evolved throughout Latter-day Saint history, the advantages and disadvantages or having aging church leaders, and the prospect of apostles and First Presidency members someday being granted emeritus status rather than serving until they die.

The life of Dallin H. Oaks | Replay

It’s fitting this week to revisit our 2021 “Mormon Land” podcast with the biographer of President Dallin H. Oaks, the newly installed leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In this episode, historian Richard Turley discusses his book “In the Hands of the Lord: The Life of Dallin H. Oaks," which documents the personal journey of a church leader known for his devotion to religious liberty, his doctrinal dissections and his pointed preachings from the pulpit.
Oaks’ father died when he was 7 years old. Reared by his mother and his maternal grandparents, he committed himself to hard work and diligent scholarship.
He became a star student, earned a degree at one of the nation’s most prestigious law schools and launched a legal career that would see him rise to the Utah Supreme Court with whispers that he someday could land a seat on the country’s highest court.
Then, virtually overnight, Oaks changed his life’s trajectory, trading his career in the law for a commitment to his Lord. He accepted a call to be a Latter-day Saint apostle, a lifetime appointment in which he now serves as the faith’s prophet-president.
Enjoy this episode and learn about life of the church’s 18th president.