A Thoughtful Faith - Mormon / LDS

Anthony Miller lives in Billings Montana.  He grew up Mormon  He did all the things required of good Mormon boys and he thought he knew where his life was heading.  But a dramatic and sudden period of faith deconstruction had him reconsidering everything about his religious life.

Mormon leave-takers don’t usually manage the God and church conversation without some nervousness but Anthony wanted to understand his inner journey well and despite his resignation, he has remained open and curious about spirituality and spiritual formation inside and outside of the LDS Church.   And, Anthony has found gracious and wise ways of accommodating his still adherent wife’s journey in the LDS faith.

Anthony joins me to talk about gracious LDS leave-taking, deconstruction and spiritual reconstruction.

Direct download: anthony_Miller_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:59am NZDT

At the beginning of May 2019 two mothers of children who were sexually abused by convicted pedophile, Michael Jensen, appeared back in their former ward in Martinsburg, West Virginia to warn the congregation that the children there are not safe.

This is a community, they argued, that circled their wagons around the perpetrator and their leaders.  This is a community that made sinners out of those who pointed out the sin.  This is a community that never apologized for their role in creating a climate that turned a church against the victims and their families.

Alice Koivu and Kelly Plante join me to talk about their journey back (as uninvited guests with a message) to the LDS Church pulpit.



Direct download: West_Virginia_Mothers_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:00pm NZDT

Lucy Cammock talks passionately and with clarity about the subtle side of sexual abuse trauma that trailed her (a sexual abuse survivor) through her life.  

"I'm never done with the trauma", she argues. 

And while that may sound hopeless to some, for Lucy, what was more harmful was any idea that at some predetermined stage it will all be over. 

Lucy discusses the ideas that she has worked through as a woman and a mother as she works to get into a healthy relationship with her childhood sexual abuse.




Direct download: Lucy_Cammock_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01pm NZDT

Section 132 was Joseph Smith's revelation that provided the theological justification that allowed select men of the early LDS restoration to have sex with more than one authorized partner.

For The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, section 132 and the doctrines that have emerged from it inform gender inequality, the continued practice of post-mortem polygyny, male priesthood and more importantly it lays out the doctrine of the New and Everlasting Covenant which is central to the ordinances of the LDS temple.

It's absolutely essential that those of us in the LDS restoration movement understand Section 132 in order to make sense of Mormon History and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint's contemporary theological challenges.


In that spirit I read Section 132 in plain English.

Direct download: Section_132_Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:33pm NZDT

Tim Kosnoff, victims' advocate and attorney, returns to the podcast to discuss the growing wave of sexual abuse allegations being made against the Boys Scouts and the long-standing relationship between the BSA and the LDS Church.

Direct download: Kosnoff_2_final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:42pm NZDT

1