Mormon Land

Experts explore Mormonism and sex | 200th episode live

In today’s world, ideas about sex are ever present and often confusing. Sexual relations can bond couples together, or be abusive, manipulative and unhealthy.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, like most faiths, views the creation of life as sacred, but it also sees sexual intimacy as an expression of love. The Utah-based faith does not preach sex as “original sin,” but it also sometimes sends conflicting, even harmful messages about human desire to members, producing guilt and shame.
There are also endless questions about homosexuality and same-sex marriage, the evils of pornography, and what constitutes healthy sexuality.
On this week’s show — streamed live Tuesday night to our Patreon supporters — we invited the following panel to explore the wide-ranging issues surrounding sexuality and Mormonism:
• Jennifer Finlayson-Fife, a licensed therapist who specializes in working with Latter-day Saint couples on sexuality and relationship issues.
• Michael Austin, a university administrator who has a deep interest in Mormon theology, particularly the nature of sexuality.
• Jacob Hess, a mindfulness teacher and writer at Public Square Magazine who has explored the problems of pornography.

The new push to get BYU to trim its beard ban | Episode 199

If Brigham Young wanted to enroll at his namesake university, he’d have to shave his beard. A number of other former Latter-day Saint prophets would have to do the same.
Warner Woodworth, an emeritus professor from Brigham Young University, argues that’s just wrong. So he launched a Change.org petition urging the Provo school to end its prohibition on whiskers.
Others have tried before to overturn the 1960s-era beard ban but failed. Still, Woodworth is confident this push will succeed.
On this week’s show, Woodworth talks about his campaign to “bring back the beard” at BYU.

The life of a previous professor forced out at BYU | Episode 198

Eugene England was at the center of Mormon intellectual life from the early 1960s until his death 20 years ago. As the founder of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, a popular professor at Brigham Young University, and a widely respected essayist, England was one of the most influential — and controversial — figures in the modern church.
He lived in the crosshairs between religious tradition and reform, tackling issues of race, feminism, orthodoxy and the nature of God. He was a devout and believing member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who sustained leaders even as they sometimes chastised him and eventually forced him out of the school he loved.
On this week’s show, Latter-day Saint scholar Terryl Givens talks about his newly released biography, “Stretching the Heavens: The Life of Eugene England and the Crisis of Modern Mormonism.” He also explores England’s influential essays (his preferred literary medium), his frequent feuds with church higher-ups (including the late apostle Bruce R. McConkie), his ultimate ouster from BYU (in an era well before apostle Jeffrey R. Holland’s recent speech at the faith’s flagship school), and his lasting imprint on intellectual pursuits in Mormonism.

How to debunk LDS myths — from Brigham’s temple elevators to Elvis’ Book of Mormon | Episode 197

Did sea gulls save Mormon settlers’ crops? Did Brigham Young mysteriously and miraculously leave a space in design plans for the Salt Lake Temple that later would be filled by elevators? Did Elvis Presley make margin notes in a Book of Mormon? Was Yoda of “Star Wars” fame really modeled after former church President Spencer W. Kimball?
Those are just some of the stories that float around Latter-day Saint circles. But are they true?
Keith Erekson, director of the Church History Library, answers those questions and more in his new book, “Real vs. Rumor: How to Dispel Latter-Day Myths.” Even more important, he arms readers with the tools needed to discern for themselves the difference between fact and fiction whether in religion, politics, medicine or other fields.
On this week’s show, Erekson talks about myth-busting and faith-building. He also answers the most common question he receives: Does the Church History Library have the sword of Laban of Book of Mormon fame?

How Jeffrey Holland’s talk on LGBTQ issues could have consequences for BYU | Episode 196

Latter-day Saint apostle Jeffrey R. Holland addressed Brigham Young University faculty and staff this week, urging them to be committed to the school’s “unique mission” and the church that sponsors it.
He made headlines for criticizing faculty members who challenge teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including its stance on same-sex marriage. The popular apostle even questioned why a BYU valedictorian would choose his 2019 commencement address to come out as gay.
If maintaining the faith’s policies on LGBTQ issues ends up costing the school some “professional associations and certifications,” Holland said, “then so be it.”
On this week’s show, Michael Austin, a BYU alumnus and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Evansville, a Methodist school in Indiana, discusses the reverberating ramifications of the speech and how it could impact the Provo school’s academic research, professional ties, athletic alliances, classroom interactions and more.

A Latter-day Saint ICU physician’s experience battling COVID-19 | Episode 195

The delta variant of COVID-19 is surging across the country, with nearly half of all Americans still not fully vaccinated. As the enduring pandemic once again grows dire, Utah hospitals have been overwhelmed with mostly unvaccinated patients battling the disease.
The new emergency prompted the top leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to issue yet another, even more forceful, message last week to members to wear masks and get vaccinated.
Dr. Samuel Brown is witnessing the pandemic’s devastating toll up close, and all too personally, as an intensive care unit physician-scientist at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray.
Brown, who doubles as a religious historian, is also the author of a new book, “Where the Soul Hungers: One Doctor’s Journey From Atheism to Faith.”
On this week’s show, he talks about his experiences treating COVID-19, his thoughts about fellow Latter-day Saints who choose not to wear masks or be vaccinated, and how the pandemic has affected his faith.

The latest on Temple Square’s makeover | Episode 194

Scaffolding surrounds the Salt Lake Temple. The two visitor centers are no more. The plaza behind the Church Office Building is mainly dirt.
Clearly big changes are in store in and around Temple Square, which ranks among Utah’s most popular tourist attractions, drawing millions of visitors from near and far every year.
You may be wondering what this place in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City will look like when all the work is done. Where will the Christus statue wind up? Will the sculptures of church founder Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum return? And what about the holiday Christmas lights?
On this week’s show, Ben Metcalf, manager of temple visitors centers for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, talks about this massive makeover and what guests can expect when the four-year project ends.

‘The Mormon Hippie’ sounds off on her faith and its culture | Episode 193

The New York Times recently took up the topic of temple garments in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The piece focused on Idaho Falls member Sasha Piton, who is urging the church to produce softer, more comfortable and breathable garments, which the faithful wear as a private and personal reminder of their religious commitments.
Piton, who posts on Instagram under her moniker, themormonhippie, had shared her concerns about the holy underwear with her more than 25,000 followers. It apparently resonated in Latter-day Saint circles, drawing thousands of comments and private messages.
It is just one subject the Mormon millennial discusses on social media. On this week’s show, talks about garments, The Times article and other issues for young members of the Utah-based church.

An unlikely monastery in Utah and an author’s life among Saints and monks | Episode 192

In the 1940s, Trappist monks looked to create new monasteries in unlikely places, places not dominated by Catholics. They found just such a spot in a high mountain valley in Mormon Utah.
For 70 years, Holy Trinity Abbey in the scenic Ogden Valley served as a religious refuge, where monks pondered and prayed, worked and worshipped, lived and died.
For a young Michael O’Brien, torn by his parents’ recent divorce, however, the monastery and his family’s frequent trips up “Abbey Road” offered a more personal connection as the monks provided spiritual fathering, committed counseling, timely mentoring, religious role modeling and paths to peace.
A now-grown O’Brien, a Catholic who works as an attorney in Salt Lake City and often represents The Salt Lake Tribune in legal matters, captures all that and more in his soon-to-be-released memoir, “Monastery Mornings: My Unusual Boyhood Among the Saints and Monks.”

Why we might need to view Pioneer Day differently | Episode 191

This week, Utahns and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are remembering the 1847 arrival of Mormon pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley.
Not everyone, however, believes this epic migration is cause for unmitigated celebration. After all, these settlers ended up displacing Native Americans and transporting slavery to the region.
On this week’s show, W. Paul Reeve, head of Mormon studies at the University of Utah, and Elise Boxer, coordinator of Native American studies at the University of South Dakota and a Dakota from the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands, discuss how we should treat Pioneer Day.