Part Two of Enmeshed Family Systems.  A discussion with psychoanalyst Wendy Christian about enmeshment and differentiation in the Mormon context.

Part one of the Enmeshed Mormon Family Systems episode.  In this episode Lacey, Paula and Delilah discuss their experiences being in enmeshed families and they reflect on the effect on their family when their engagement with the church shifted or when they differentiated.

The Open Stories Foundation Podcast team gather together to discuss the fall-out over the US Elections.  They offer some advice on how to get through this somewhat divisive and challenging time.

A conversation with Mormon political commentators Brad Kramer, Joshua Madson, Mehrsa Baradaran about the US Presidential elections.  They tackle the question 'What happened to America?'  & 'What happened to the Mormons?'

Mica McGriggs, Kalani Tonga and Fatimah Salleh discuss what it means to be women of colour in an American church that so overwhelmingly voted for a candidate who leveraged American's deep-seated racism to win the 2016 Presidential election.

One of the core teachings of the LDS church is that everyone is born with an essential gender identity based on one's biological sex.    Either you are male or female.  Intersex upsets the notion that there are always clear biological sex distinctions.  Emily Quinn has XY chromosomes, she has no ovaries, no uterus but identifies as a girl - with testes, demonstrating how muddied the idea of the binary male/female can be.  

A discussion with Dakota Professor Elise Boxer about the Dakota Access Pipeline and the sacred work of protecting our environment in a world filled with corporate greed.

A conversation with contemporary spiritual artist J.Kirk Richards about the power of art to create social disruption.

In late October 2016 the LDS replaced their Mormons and Gays orphan/unofficial website with a new site linked to LDS.org.  While softer in tone Kimberly Anderson, Lisa Tensmeyer Hansen and Natasha Helfer Parker raise some important critical questions about its usefulness particularly in therapeutic contexts.

What happens when a life that seemed so perfect implodes and you are left to reassemble everything?  Suzy Benson Billies tells her story about her recovery and growth and the joy that waiting for her on the other side of suffering.

Part two of a collaboration with Lindsay Hansen Park from 'A Year of Polygamy' where we discuss the new book 'The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy' with author Carol Lynn Pearson.

Part One of a collaboration with Lindsay Hansen Park from 'A Year of Polygamy'.  We discuss Carol Lynn Pearson's new book - 'The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy.'

Assistant Director of Sunstone, Lindsay Hansen Park and Gina Colvin discuss the state, purpose and future of progressive Mormonism.

A discussion with Ordain Women Chair Bryndis Roberts about the latest OW actions along with a consideration of the feminine divine in Mormonism.

Noah Rasheta shares his thoughts on Buddhist practice and how it can be integrated into a Mormon life.

A conversation with writer and philosophy professor Adam Miller about his new book Future Mormon.

A conversation with a co-director of the Mormon Women's Oral History Project,  Liz Johnson about what it means to collect stories from ordinary Mormon women, the power and the importance of them for Mormon women's history.

Gary McNaughton, Roy Hann and Nathan McCluskey discuss American Mormon Cultural Imperialism and its effects in Scotland.

In this discussion we talk about the issues related to LGBTQ Mormon Youth suicide and how we can build more loving, inclusive and compassionate communities for all regardless of sexual orientation.

Executive Director of the Kaizan Foundation - an American non-profit who specializes in sending groups of young people to orphanages in the Global South.

A further conversation with Thomas McConkie, author of Navigating Mormon Faith Crisis: A Simple Development Map about developing a compassionate response in hard spiritual times.

A discussion with Exponent II board member Suzette Smith about her faith journey, and her passion for Mormonism's oldest and most well established feminist magazines.

A discussion with American and Religious Artist Greg Olsen about his work and what it means to paint Jesus.

A discussion with Brad Levin, a founder of Free BYU, about the practices and policies that discriminate against st udents who change their beliefs or disaffiliate from the LDS Church, and what FreeBYU are doing about it.

Gina's interview with Lynn Packer about his book "Lying for the Lord" that covers the story of Paul H. Dunn's sanction.

Part two of Henning Muller's interview with Lynne Packer.

In the Parts One and Two  Henning interviews Lynn about his life, work with broadcasting in Vietnam, his interaction with and feelings for his uncle Boyd and the events that led up to the publication of the Book “Lying for the Lord – The Paul H. Dunn Stories” as well as the AFCO Fraud scandal where Paul Dunn had acted as co-president. We also discuss Lynn’s thoughts on the LDS Church’s stance on contemporary issues.

Jensen and McKay have recently edited a collection of essays from 33 US Mormons about their thoughts on 21st century Zion.  We discuss contemporary notions of Zion and discover there is still much to say about this transcendent idea.  

Tariq Khan an anti-authoritarian and anti-colonial activist and Mormon with Muslim Pakistani roots discusses the current political context that has lead to the rise of fascism in the United States fueled by Donald Trump.

We talk about the violence of white supremacy and imperialism and how the Book of Mormon can give us another way of looking at historical and contemporary violence and its remedies and how Mormons can, of their own accord, side with the most oppressed.  

Mormon Millennial and Blogger Jon Ogden challenges us to find a balanced intersection between truth, beauty and goodness as a way of managing faith crisis.

Atlanta based attorney Bryndis Roberts is the chair-elect of Ordain Women.  In 2008 Bryndis joined the LDS church from the Black Baptist church, served for a number of years as a  Relief Society President in an inner city Atlanta Ward  soon discovering several concerns with gender inequality in Mormon leadership.  In this podcast Bryndis talks about why she is so passionate about women's ordination.  We discuss the hope that she believes gender equality will offer the church in terms of its spiritual health and survival.

Author and scholar Charles Inouye discusses his book The End of World:  Plan B, A Guide for the Future.  

A discussion with feminist theologian and scholar Caroline Kline.

Author and academic Mehrsa Baradaran joins me to discuss her unique Mormon upbringing, her work on Wall Street, and the Christian ethics of the financial system.

A Discussion with change designer Russ Osmond.

A discussion with change designer Russ Osmond.

A discussion with author Patrick Mason about his book "Planted":  Belief and belonging in an age of doubt.

In this discussion we talk about faith and its meanings in Mormonism.  We consider Robin Meyer's 2013 Beecher Lectures at Yale at wonder together about his proposition that Faith IS Crisis.

A frank and open conversation with three insightful Mormon lesbian and gay youth.

A discussion with author Patrick Mason about his book 'Planted - Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt.'  Including co-host Dan Wotherspoon of Mormon Matters and Boyd Peterson editor of Dialogue:  A Journal of Mormon thought.

A discussion with Greg Prince about this cultural moment in Mormonism.

A conversation with Mormon subversive and Mormon social media celebrity Jerilyn Hassell Pool.

Indie pop musician Mindy Gledhill joins us at A Thoughtful Faith to discuss her life, her career, her personal politics and her changing world view.

A discussion with Mormon feminist scholar Joanna Brooks.

A discussion with Julie Hanks from Hollywood to Utah, from music to counselling.

Author Thomas McConkie discusses his book "Navigating Mormon Faith Crisis: A simple developmental map.

A Discussion with popular blogger C.Jane Kendrick.

Sermons by Trace Rogers (Come Unto Christ),  Doug Christensen (Holiness)  and Fatimah Salleh (The Book of Mormon).

Kristina Tenney, Marion Fust Saeternes and Wiktoria Heinz discuss the tensions when trying to negotiate their own culture and Mormon culture.

Kristina Tenney, Marion Fust Saeternes and Wiktoria Heinz discuss their experiences negotiating the tensions between their birth culture and Mormon culture.

John Dehlin discusses the evolution of his faith life, his work as founder and host of Mormon Stories and his subsequent excommunication.

John Dehlin discusses the evolution of his faith live, his work as founder and host of Mormon Stories and his subsequent excommunication.

John Dehlin discusses the evolution of his faith life, his work as the founder and host of Mormon Stories and his subsequent excommunication.

Award winning psychiatrist discusses her new book 'Mission Possible' and the issue of mental health disorders among missionaries.

A conversation with Fatimeh Salleh and Janan Graham Russell about black liberation theology and womanism within (or without) Mormonism

Corbin Volluz, Emily Thorne and Brian Dillman talk the Atonement, pornography and grace.

A regular series of church talks from around the world.

Kris Black discusses her her resignation from the LDS church and her recent rebaptism.

A discussion with Bryndis Roberts about the June 17th 2015 murders at that Emmanual AME Church in Charleston South Carolina.

Rock Waterman discusses his excommunication

Rock Waterman discusses his excommunicated

This episode explores how Lincoln synthesizes his Mormon Christianity and transhumanism. He talks about the body of Christ and the atonement.  He helps us understand our responsibility to become one in the body of Christ.

Lincoln Cannon serves as the President of the Mormon Transhumanist Association. In this episode he really explores the essence of transhumanism and how it has shaped his deep faith in Mormonism.  He explains how he sees Joseph Smith as a transhumanist and addresses our Mormon transhumanist doctrines.

Lincoln Cannon serves as the President of the Mormon Transhumanist Association, an internationl nonprofit that has become the world's largest advocacy network for the ethical use of technology and religion to improve the vitality of our world.  In this episode he speaks about his personal history, how tragedy shaped his perspectives on God and Faith, and how he came to be passionate about Mormon transhumanism. 

Church Talks from the ATF Podcast community

In Part two of this interview James Ott, the director of Red Willow Couseling & Recovery, talks about different types of addiction within the context of Mormonism. He discusses the biology of addiction and the different issues that loved ones and addicts face together.  He talks about healthy approaches to addiction and also the spiritual aspects of recovery. In this episode he also addresses the role the church plays in the addict's life and makes suggestions for improvements.

James Ott, the director of Red Willow Couseling & Recovery, explores addiction in the LDS community. This topic is often ignored but James suggests the urgent importance of this discussion. He addresses the history of the Word of Wisdom in Mormonism and how it has impacted LDS culture. He defines addiction and talks about how we can establish healthy boundries with the addicts in our lives. 

The recognition of adult singles in the LDS Church is usually a footnote buried in the dominate family rhetoric of Mormon culture, and yet it is estimated that 30% of Mormons are single.  Julie Lefgren has never married is a life-long, active Mormon and is now in her mid-40s.  Currently an adjunct professor of Chinese at BYU her life paths have wandered the globe, explored other cultures, focused on learning Mandarin and works hard on developing and maintaining deep friendships with those she meets.  In the winter , when not teaching, you will find her searching for a powder shot on the Utah ski slopes and in the off-season traveling, fishing and generally being outdoors.  But many of her life choices have revolved around assisting in the parenting of her 21 nieces and nephews.  

A lifetime of never marrying, not having children and yet staying active in the family-centric Mormon Church can be distressing. In our discussion Julie  addresses with candor the pain of that path, but also how to achieve happiness and peace too.  With Julie we look in depth at this interesting, and yet often invisible space of Mormon single adults.

The recognition of adult singles in the LDS Church is usually a footnote buried in the dominate family rhetoric of Mormon culture, and yet it is estimated that 30% of Mormons are single.  Julie Lefgren has never married is a life-long, active Mormon and is now in her mid-40s.  Currently an adjunct professor of Chinese at BYU her life paths have wandered the globe, explored other cultures, focused on learning Mandarin and works hard on developing and maintaining deep friendships with those she meets.  In the winter , when not teaching, you will find her searching for a powder shot on the UT ski slopes and in the off-season traveling, fishing and generally being outdoors.  But many of her life choices have revolved around assisting in the parenting of her 21 nieces and nephews.  

A lifetime of never marrying, not having children and yet staying active in the family-centric Mormon Church can be distressing. In our discussion Julie  addresses with candor the pain of that path, but also how to achieve happiness and peace too.  With Julie we look in depth at this interesting, and yet often invisible space space of Mormon single adults.

Kirsty Money has given up a lot in order to speak with her own authenticity.  Naturally quietly spoken and by preference, not in the lime light, Kristy reflects on the mechanisms both private and public, domestic and religious  that have sought to cause her shame and silence her.  She reflects on the spiritual and cultural tensions that cause her to simultaneously recoil from the shame of her outspokeness and embrace the spiritual transcdence that comes from living with authenticity.

A faith crisis within a marriage can be devastating and painful particularly when only one of a couple begins to question their attachment to the religion that bought them together.  Gina Colvin and her husband Nathan McCluskey discuss their experience over the last eight years.

Lindsay discusses her motivation for and her journey as a public historian into the waters of Mormon polygamy.

A chat with feminist Mormon non-Mormon LGBQT activist, Sara Burlingame.

Discussions and readings about the life of, and from the work of Eugene England.

Kirk and Lindsay van Allen discuss their repudiation of Mormon polygamy and Doctrine and Covenants Section 132.

Its not often that Mormon couples with similar progressive political dispositions get hitched.  Kristy Money and Rolf Staubhaar are one very fortunate couple.  To find each other in a faith tradition that has embraced a more conservative cultural bent is rather miraculous, but not really unexpected, in a broader social world that is asking hard questions of social institutions.  With Kristy -a  feminist activist, and Rolf -  an advocate and an academic interested in  social activism their relationship is indicative of a new wave of educated Mormon.   Less inclined to feel bound by the ideological expectations of Mormonism, and unwilling to  sit quietly in their dissidence they have determined that the Mormonism of the future can and ought to be more critically conscious andinnovative - where our community direction is owned more by the people than an invisible leadership.  They are as passionate about their faith as they are about their ideas and philosophy - and are aching to be able to bring their whole selves into their religious experience without fear or judgement.   In so many ways they are a quintessential young Mormon couple, fresh out of graduate school with young children, but full of ideas and dreams for a more expansive and inclusive vision of  the faith that has their devotion.

Gina Colvin interview Bob Rees, former Dialogue editor, poet, author, essayist and blogger.

Gina Colvin interviews Bob Rees, former editor of Dialogue, author, poet, essayist, blogger.

Gina Colvin interviews Bob Rees, former editor of Dialogue:  A Journal of Mormon thought, author, poet, essayist and blogger.  

The second part of my discussion with Mormon feminist women of colour, Bryndis Roberts and Jennifer Gonzalez.

So often the conversation in the Mormon moment is dominated by white  men and women who are both dominant numerically in the church, but have also claimed the space at the heart of contemporary LDS cultural debates.

In this episode I discuss the dilemmas facing women of colour in Mormonism with Bryndis Roberts and Jennifer Gonzalez.  Both are busy women both in the church and in their legal professions.  Bryndis is a relatively new member of the church who lives in Atlanta, Georgia and serves as a Relief Society President.  Jennifer Gonzalez works in immigration law and has served most recently in the Young Women organization.  

Both women are active participants in the 'Feminist Mormon Women of Color' - FEMWOC group.  Bryndis is on the Executive Board of Ordain Women.

In January of 2014, former New Zealand Bishop, Ganesh Cherian posted a heart-wrenching blog at KiwiMormon called 'A Former Bishop's Doctrinal Dilemmas'.  This was on the heals of the first of the series of LDS.org
 essays and was his response and in many ways his 'coming out' as a formerly orthodox Mormon turned 'doubter'.  In this interview we discuss the origins of his faith transition which began with his realization that US culture has a great deal to do with the current state of the LDS church, for good and bad.  We talk about his life in the LDS faith, his experience as a bishop, we discuss his concerns about the church and where he would like to see the church go and become in the future.

Ganesh and his wife Lindy are the parents of five boys and live in Wellington New Zealand where Ganesh is a business man, a social entrepreneur, and works with charities both at home and abroad.

Note that this interview was recorded before the polygamy essays were released.  Unfortunately the sound quality of Ganesh's computer was not great so my apologies for the persistent buzz!  Enjoy.

In January of 2014, former New Zealand Bishop, Ganesh Cherian posted a heart-wrenching blog at KiwiMormon called 'A Former Bishop's Doctrinal Dilemmas'.  This was on the heals of the first of the series of LDS.org
 essays and was his response and in many ways his 'coming out' as a formerly orthodox Mormon turned 'doubter'.  In this interview we discuss the origins of his faith transition which began with his realization that US culture has a great deal to do with the current state of the LDS church, for good and bad.  We talk about his life in the LDS faith, his experience as a bishop, we discuss his concerns about the church and where he would like to see the church go and become in the future.

Ganesh and his wife Lindy are the parents of five boys and live in Wellington New Zealand where Ganesh is a business man, a social entrepreneur, and works with charities both at home and abroad.

Note that this interview was recorded before the polygamy essays were released.  Unfortunately the sound quality of Ganesh's computer was not great so my apologies for the persistent buzz!  Enjoy.

In this Episode Curtis Henderson explains how he came to understand that Polygamy wasn't ordained of God.  He speaks about his views on Joseph Smith's prophetic mantle, accepting that he was a man capable of great works and great mistakes. Curtis speaks about his quest for knowledge and truth, and explains how he has held on to his faith in Mormonism despite it's troubled history. He gets to the heart of personal responsibility and inspires us to follow our consciences and the evidence when addressing such a difficult topic like this. 

Mormon polygamy arouses very strong feelings as the response to the latest LDS.org essay bears witness.  Outside of the official rhetoric which positions the practice as historical (kind of) there are a multipicity of complex emotional reactions.  In this episode we discuss our personal positions on the topic of polygamy and Joseph Smith's involvement with the practice.

 In this episode, film producers Kendall Wilcox and Jon Hastings discuss the purpose of their film project 'Far Between' which has thus far captured the stories of over 300 participants.