A Thoughtful Faith - Mormon / LDS

Tom Christofferson is gay and he's Mormon.  His recently published book 'That We May Be One' is a touching memoir of love, loss, and faith.  We discuss the story within his story that our life's journey be underscored by a demonstrative, kind and gentle love, particularly for our LGBTQ brothers, sisters and children.

Direct download: thomas_christofferson_fina.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:08pm NZDT

Filmmaker, Kendall Wilcox and I delve into the question of why the LDS Church has poured so much legal and political energy into the preservation of heterosexual marriage and its corollary debates over religious freedom.

Direct download: kendallwilcox_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:19pm NZDT

Ian Thomson is a public defender in Boise, Idaho.   

In this podcast, we deconstruct the ideology and practice of excommunication.  We also discuss how enmeshed LDS excommunication is with the US judicial system.

Direct download: Ian_Thomson_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:53am NZDT

Amiee Flynn-Curran is a non-Mormon ethnographer who did her PhD fieldwork in the Oakland First Ward of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Amieeā€™s was interested in finding out how a conservative Christian church community negotiates the question of gender and sexuality inclusivity.   For 18 months Amiee participated in the life of the Oakland First Ward as a participant researcher.

Amiee shares some of her research conclusions as an observer looking into how social politics is played out in an LDS ward widely hailed as one of Mormonism's most liberal congregations. 


Direct download: Amiee_Curran_Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:01pm NZDT

Melissa Inouye is Chinese, Japanese American and grew up as a Mormon in California, aware of her cultural and ethnic differences from the general LDS population.

Melissa reflects on the experience of being Asian in the LDS Church along with other reflections on Mormonism and God and spirituality in the religious margins.

 

Direct download: Melissa_Inouye_Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:50am NZDT

Low retention and a failure to contextualize means that the LDS Church continues to be a minority faith tradition in South American.   Missionaries who are called to serve from nations outside,  are more often than not culturally incompetent to proselyte in this region of the world and sometimes do more mischief than good.  With complex economic and political conditions and even more strained historical relationships with the United States, missionaries and General Authorities too often speak into a cultural void,  organising the LDS Church around ideas that work in Utah but have little relevance anywhere else.

Samy Galvez (Guatemala) joins me to discuss the Latin American Mormon context and to critique the issues of class, religion, politics, race, culture and ethnicity that are either overlooked or misunderstood in LDS Latin American mission and ecclesial practice.

Direct download: Samy_Galvez.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:17am NZDT

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