The Salt Lake Tribune's Mormon Land

Latter-day Saint Jenna Carson, who became the first member ever to serve as a chaplain in the federal prison system, was a student at Harvard Divinity School when, she said, God called her to become a military chaplain. That was 2015. And although Carson did not yet know it, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did not at that time grant women the all-important endorsement required by the Defense Department. Female Latter-day Saints could obtain endorsements to serve as chaplains in hospitals, education, hospice care and prisons — but not, it turned out, the military. Nevertheless, the feeling persisted. And so did she. Setbacks followed, but, in 2021, she won Salt Lake City's go-ahead. The next year, she was on her way to boot camp. Two years into being an Air Force chaplain, Carson has more than a little to say about what it's like to be a female spiritual authority operating if not within the LDS Church, then with its approval.

In 2014, Neylan McBaine wrote a groundbreaking book, “Women at Church: Magnifying LDS Women's Local Impact.” Even given the patriarchal structure of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, McBaine argued that there was much more the global faith could do to see, hear and include women. “At that time, there were many who felt discussing these facts was unfaithful or dangerous,” McBaine told an audience of 4,000 at last week's Restore conference. “We swim so entirely in the waters of patriarchy that many of us do not see the extent to which our organizational structure, the language we use, our understanding of God, our quoting of spiritual authorities, our visual representations in our meetings, and the stories of our scriptures center the experiences and viewpoints of men.” Now McBaine hopes Latter-day Saints will call out “patriarchy” and acknowledge how different its goals and rules are from other systems that exist in the U.S. On this week's show, she discuss where women in the church are now and how it has — or has not — changed in the decade since she published her book.

Like Salt Lake City's mayor, he oversees a major Western municipality founded by 19th-century Mormon pioneers. Like Salt Lake City's mayor, the heart of his diverse, dynamic and growing city features a historic temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint bounded by a sparkling mixed-use development built by the Utah-based faith. And like Salt Lake City's mayor, he supports Kamala Harris for president. But unlike Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, Mesa Mayor John Giles is a Republican and a Latter-day Saint — and that's why his support of the Democratic ticket is grabbing national headlines. A graduate of Brigham Young University, Giles is a lawyer serving his 10th and final year leading Arizona's third-largest city. He also has run dozens of marathons, but it's his stance in 2024′s presidential race — in a swing state that could determine who wins the White House — that catapulted this moderate Mormon mayor into a prime-time speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention. On this week's show, Giles discusses his decision to buck Donald Trump and instead back Harris, along with his desire to see the reemergence of a more-centrist Republican Party and a less-polarized political climate.

In 2017, a Utah family began discussing some of the challenging questions facing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From those modest beginnings, a multidimensional platform emerged called Faith Matters, which defines itself as a “space in which an expansive, radiant approach to the restored gospel can be considered.” The effort now includes a popular podcast, book publishing, online courses, and, coming next week, its third in-person “Restore” conference. The giant gathering at the Mountain West Expo Center in Sandy has attracted more than 3,000 paid registrants and will feature speakers, poets, musicians and artists — including Astrid Tuminez, Jennifer Finlayson-Fife, Jennifer Walker Thomas, Terryl and Fiona Givens, Mauli Bonner, Neylan McBaine, Allison Dayton and Eboo Patel. It is, organizers say, meant to “inspire, enlighten and nourish faith.” On this week's show, Zachary Davis, executive director of Faith Matters, editor of its Wayfare magazine and co-director of the conference, discusses this organization, the upcoming conference and how they appeal to, help and inspire a range of Latter-day Saints.

The occasional updates to the online General Handbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are often routine, addressing relatively mundane policies, practices and procedures within the global faith of 17.2 million members. Not so this week. The new guidelines spelled out for local lay leaders and their approach to transgender individuals have created a firestorm among LGBTQ members and their allies not seen, perhaps, since the hotly disputed — and now-discarded — exclusion policy of November 2015 against same-sex couples. The new rules state, for instance, that members who have transitioned in any way — whether surgically, medically or socially — cannot receive a temple recommend, work with children, serve as teachers in their congregations or fill any gender-specific assignments, such as president of the women's Relief Society. They cannot stay at most youth camps overnight. And they are urged to use single-occupancy restrooms at church meetinghouses or station a “trusted person” outside to keep others from entering when they use a restroom that aligns with their personal gender identity. Discussing these new policies and their potential impact on members are religion scholar Taylor Petrey, editor-in-chief of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought and author of “Tabernacles of Clay: Sexuality and Gender in Modern Mormonism,” and Michael Soto, a transgender and queer man who grew up in the church and now serves as president of Equality Arizona.

A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wants to invite her daughter's friend to join them for their congregation's annual Halloween trunk-or-treat. But it's being held in the parking lot of the church, and she worries the parents will think the invitation carries ulterior motives. Across the street, a couple plan a neighborhood dinner party. They want to throw the invite open to everyone, but there will be alcohol, and they fear offending their teetotaling Latter-day Saint neighbors. In the end, they opt to play it safe and invite only a few (non-Latter-day Saint) couples. The Salt Lake Tribune heard stories like this and more when, nearly a quarter century ago, it undertook no small task: an in-depth exploration of Utah's religious divide. And we heard them again when, this year, we solicited feedback from readers about how the dynamic shapes their neighborhoods. On this week's show, Latter-day Saint LaShawn Williams, a licensed clinical social worker with a doctorate in education, and Bob Goldberg, a U.S. historian, member of Utah's Jewish community and former director of the Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah, discuss this “unspoken divide.”

Religion, in general, has prompted believers to have a more positive view of their bodies, and Mormonism specifically teaches that Heavenly Parents are embodied, that humans are created in their divine image, and that the body is a temple. Why, then, do some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints struggle with their body image? Why do many turn to cosmetic surgery to “improve” their bodies? Two researchers from Brigham Young University have just completed what they say is the largest study ever done of how Latter-day Saint doctrine and culture may affect body image. On this week's show, study co-author Lauren Barnes, a licensed therapist and professor in BYU's School of Family Life, discuss the findings — and suggestions for improving body image.

Last August, nearly 20,000 Latter-day Saint young single adults came together to sing, dance, play, pray, run and worship over three weekends. By all accounts, it was a smashing success. They're back again this weekend for a three-day festival to celebrate their membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to strengthen their faith, and to feel a sense of belonging. And, they say, to try to break a mark recognized by the Guinness World Records for “the most contributions to a birthday card” — for President Russell M. Nelson, who turns 100 in September. Earlier this month, the Utah-based faith raised the age limit for “young single adults” from 30 to 35, while the term “single adults” now describes unmarried members ages 36 and older. Here to talk about the coming event and the changing demographics is Sara Sumsion, a young single adult who is working on a master's degree in marriage and family therapy at Northwestern University, and Richard Ostler, who has served as a bishop over a YSA ward, or congregation.

For many Latter-day Saints, church is a place of solace, service and spirituality. Some folks, though, find their participation in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be painful, a source of inner conflict. These days some members, especially younger ones, feel betrayed to discover that the faith's history is not as pure as the simplistic narrative they were taught as children. Or they wonder about men called to be prophetic who have said hurtful things about people of color or LGBTQ believers. They challenge the church's vast wealth and what they see as its ethical failings. They have a hard time seeing any value in organized religion, which leads some to question the existence of God, who seems absent rather than consistently present in their lives. Tyler Johnson, an oncologist at Stanford who has served as a bishop in a young single adult congregation, has heard and wrestled with all of these issues. On this week's show, Johnson, author of “When Church Is Hard,” offers a road map to developing a more nuanced, understanding, empathetic approach to the questions of today.

Claudia Bushman was 40 years old, a mother of six and working on an advanced history degree when she, essentially, was volunteered to become the first editor-in-chief of Exponent II, an independent feminist magazine for Latter-day Saint women. That was 1974. Rachel Rueckert, a 30-something novelist, career woman and the magazine's current top editor, wasn't even born then. Despite the age difference, the two share an important passion: giving voice to women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As the magazine celebrates its 50th anniversary, Bushman and Rueckert discuss their feelings about the magazine, the personal stories it has shared, how it has changed over the decades, what it has accomplished, and why they believe it remains relevant — and crucial — today and will stay that way well the future.

Few groups exist in the world like missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They may be assigned to different countries or speak different languages, but for 18 months to two years, tens of thousands of these mostly young proselytizers share the same strict schedule, routine, identity and purpose: namely, to share the good news of — and seek converts to — their religion. More than a million have served in the church's history, so missionary stories are practically as ubiquitous in the 194-year-old global faith as are soaring steeples, crying babies and tiny sacrament cups. Some stories are inspiring. Some are scary (with odes to devilish humans and even Satan himself). Some are funny. And some are, well, tall on tale and short on truth. Talking about these narratives, some of which are cataloged at church-owned Brigham Young University, on this week's show are folklorist Christine Blythe, executive director of the Mormon History Association, and her husband and fellow folklorist, Christopher Blythe, author of “Terrible Revolution: Latter-day Saints and the American Apocalypse.” Together, they host the Latter-day Saint podcast “Angels and Seerstones.”

In 2014, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints published an official essay detailing Joseph Smith's marriages to multiple women. After decades of insisting otherwise, the Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has since conceded that the faith founder did participate in polygamy. Highly regarded scholarly works have documented Smith had at least 33 wives, and most historians widely accept that the church leader preached — albeit privately — and practiced plural marriage. So why is this issue gaining increased attention in various Mormon circles and why are so-called polygamy deniers arguing that Smith had but one wife, Emma, while pinning the practice instead on perhaps the Western world's most famous polygamist, Brigham Young, and his associates? What does the evidence really show? Why is this debate springing up now? And what do the competing factions stand to win or lose? Answering those questions and more on this week's show are Brooke LeFevre, a doctoral candidate at Baylor University who has written about the experiences of 19th-century Latter-day Saint women in plural marriages, and Matthew Bowman, chair of Mormon studies at Claremont Graduate University who penned a recent Salt Lake Tribune column on the topic.

Janette Petersen, a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had been attending Sunday services with her wife, Tammy, as faithfully as her job would allow for nearly five years when her membership was withdrawn. Although the letter she received informing her of the decision did not state a reason, Janette told The Tribune her local lay leader, known as a stake president, had pinned it on her marriage. The church teaches that while being attracted to individuals of the same sex is not a sin, physical intimacy is and that marriage ought to be between a man and a woman. Ryan and Liz Giles, on the other hand, have been faithful members of two congregations — one in Houston and their current ward in Washington state — since the two women tied the knot in 2021. They have yet to have their membership challenged. All three women join us today to talk about their church experience as individuals in same-sex marriages, and what they believe is behind the inconsistency playing out when it comes to treatment of couples like them.

For 115 years, the NAACP, the nation's oldest civil rights organization, has been advancing the cause of justice for Black Americans. For 111 years, the Anti-Defamation League has been doing much the same for Jewish Americans. And for 104 years, the American Civil Liberties Union has been safeguarding the constitutional rights of everyone in the United States. So which group is protecting, advocating and advancing the rights of Latter-day Saints? While The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints certainly looks out for its own interests and apologetic groups defend church teachings, no independent organization is dedicated to civil rights for members. It's time to change that, argues Public Square Magazine. In a recent staff editorial, the online publication written from a Latter-day Saint perspective, called for the establishment of a civil rights organization to advocate for the rights of members in “political, legal and cultural spaces.” On this week's show, Public Square Managing Editor C.D. Cunningham and Associate Editor Brianna Holmes discuss why such a group is needed, how it could operate and whom it could benefit.

Jeff McCullough took a trip to Utah in 2020, and it changed his life. No, the evangelical pastor didn't convert to the state's predominant religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he didn't launch a virulent campaign to explore what some have seen as Mormonism's heresies. Instead, he felt a divine call to launch a YouTube channel, titled Hello Saints, to, as he put it, “fight criticism with curiosity.” “Most of my Christian friends didn't say very nice things about the people from the LDS Church,” McCullough says in his introduction, “and I don't really like that.” So the 43-year-old Hope Chapel minister from the Bible Belt, who calls himself a “recovering Mormon basher,” set about exploring the beliefs and practices of the Utah-based faith, eager to build bridges between that church and evangelical Christians. McCullough now lives in the Beehive State and has produced more than 90 short videos comparing and contrasting “the lifestyle, culture and beliefs of Mormons and mainstream Christianity,” including questions like these: Are Mormons Christians? What do Christians and Latter-day Saints agree and disagree about? On his journey to familiarize himself and his audience with this unfamiliar faith, he has viewed General Conference, attended Sunday services, read the Book of Mormon and toured a Latter-day Saint temple. His Hello Saints channel, which operates as a nonprofit, has 60,000 subscribers and nearly 7 million views. He is currently hosting a virtual summit with interviews and presentations by Latter-day Saints and evangelicals on topics ranging from Jesus and marriage to politics and heaven. On this week's show, McCullough discusses his online efforts, his approach and what he hopes to accomplish.

Forty-six years ago this month, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, under then-President Spencer W. Kimball, lifted its prohibition preventing Black men from entering the all-male priesthood and Black women and men from participating in temple rites. This historic shift, the most significant since the faith stopped practicing polygamy, abruptly ended this racist ban, but it hardly ended racism within the church. After all, 126 years of theological justifications for the ban remained, including influential works such as “Mormon Doctrine” by apostle Bruce R. McConkie. Cleanup still needed — and needs — to be done. Building on President Gordon B. Hinckley's outreach efforts, current church leader Russell M. Nelson has called on members to lead out against racism and has cemented ties with the NAACP. Matthew Harris' new book, “Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality,” explores the history of the priesthood/temple ban, from its racist roots under Brigham Young to its removal and its aftermath, with an eye especially on its effects on Black Latter-day Saints. With unprecedented access to the papers of Kimball, McConkie, Hugh B. Brown and Joseph Fielding Smith, Harris offers an insider view of the decision-making process among the church hierarchy regarding issues of race and this momentous move. Join us for this conversation.

For The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there is much to celebrate in its latest statistical report: The worldwide growth rate in the 17.2 million-member faith is growing. The expansion of congregations is expanding. And the number of U.S. states with declining membership is, well, declining. East Africa, meanwhile, is booming, the U.S. is rebounding, and many growth measures have met or surpassed pre-pandemic levels. Still, there are causes for concern: West Africa, unlike the continent's eastern and central regions, has seen its Latter-day Saint growth slow. While the U.S. enjoyed an increase in net membership, it once again had the largest net decrease in wards and branches. California continues to bleed Latter-day Saints and growth rates in Utah, home to the global faith's headquarters, remain near historic lows. On this week's show, Matt Martinich, an independent researcher who tracks church movements for the websites cumorah.com and ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com, dissects all this data and deciphers what the numbers say about the state of the church.

Since shortening its Sunday services and refocusing its curriculum more than five years ago, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has trumpeted a home-centered, church-supported approach with an emphasis on covenant-making and covenant-keeping. This shift has some members worried about a loss of community. Gone are roadshows, pageants, sports leagues, cultural celebrations and more. While there has been an explosion of temple building, there has been a slowdown in chapel building. The church meetinghouse of today has become just that — a house for staid and stiff meetings, mainly on Sunday — and not the buzzing and bustling community centers of yesteryear. Would a return to some of that past help not only the church's present but also its future? Candice Wendt, a staff member of McGill University's Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and a contributing editor at Wayfare magazine, wrote about the church's evolution from community to covenants in a recent blog post for Exponent II. She joined us for this week's episode of “Mormon Land” to talk about what she feels is lost in the church's efforts to emphasize individual covenants over community building. As she put it “I find when community connection and belonging get weak, motivation to be engaged in the faith tradition falters and religious life actually becomes a lot less relevant to people.”

Born in West Germany, Ralf Grünke has been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for most of his life. But it was complicated. And, among his Catholic and Lutheran peers, that meant he sometimes keenly felt his “otherness.” Still, being “an ugly duckling between the swans,” Grunke has written, was a “blessing in disguise.” He studied his own faith deeply, reading everything he could find, pro or con, as well as other faiths, and developed a strong foundation spiritually and scholarly. He now enjoys a spectrum of friends and contacts among all religions, while representing the Utah-based church. Grunke is the church's assistant communication director for Central Europe, headquartered in Frankfurt. He joined “Mormon Land” for a special on-location podcast in Hamburg about the faith's status on the Continent.

Without a doubt, says writer and scholar Caroline Kline, Latter-day Saint leader President Camille Johnson would have heard former church presidents telling working mothers to “come home” and focus on their families. Instead, she pursued a 30-year career as a corporate lawyer. In this episode of “Mormon Land,” Kline, assistant director of the Center for Global Mormon Studies at Southern California's Claremont Graduate University, explains just how radical it is that the top brass of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are lauding her as a role model — and why their decision to do so may be a tough pill to swallow for some. The author of “Mormon Women at the Crossroads: Global Narratives and the Power of Connectedness” also breaks down what she sees as an increased anxiety by church leadership over female members' activity and level of devotion, why their current efforts to reverse worrisome trends could backfire and what they could do instead to make women feel more at home.

The role of women in any patriarchal faith is always fraught. It is especially confusing in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which celebrated women who led the charge for suffrage while also practicing polygamy. Past Latter-day Saint women like Eliza Snow and Emmeline Wells held high-profile positions in the hierarchy almost until their deaths — Susa Young Gates, an influential daughter of church prophet Brigham Young, was even dubbed a “13th apostle” — while today's top female leaders are in and out in just five years. Earlier general presidents of the women's Relief Society were well known to members and wielded wide personal power, but, like the current high-level female leaders, they never held offices as “general authorities.” Now comes word that, unlike yesteryear, today's General Relief Society Presidencies don't even meet weekly with an apostle “liaison” to the governing First Presidency. On this week's show, April Young Bennett, a blogger and essayist for Exponent II who has seen the evolving changes for Latter-day Saint women, discusses where top female leaders stand in today's church, what could or should be done to elevate their status, and whether women's ordination is the only way to truly balance the gender scales in the global faith.

All kinds of believers and nonbelievers have described brushes with death in which they briefly left their bodies to see and feel otherworldly elements. While most scientists say these “near-death experiences” are the product of neurons firing in particular ways under particular stress, many who are religious view them as objective encounters, occurring in space and time. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seem particularly intrigued by the way such experiences affirm their teachings of the afterlife and have rushed to buy the many books on the topic, including Betty Eadie's 1992 bestseller, “Embraced by the Light,” and, more recently, John Pontius' “Visions of Glory: One Man's Astonishing Account of the Last Days.” While Eadie's book tapped into New Age Mormonism popular in the 1980s and ‘90s, “Visions of Glory” — and the writings of Chad Daybell, a Latter-day Saint writer in Idaho who has been accused of murder — seems to draw on apocalyptic and political speculations. On this week's show., historian Matthew Bowman, director of Mormon studies at Claremont Graduate University in Southern California and author of “The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill: Alien Encounters, Civil Rights, and the New Age in America,” discusses this genre and its implications in Latter-day Saint culture.

Few conversations are as fraught as those among family members who disagree about ideas they hold dear, and none more so than religion. Such exchanges can be especially painful for believers in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a faith that can be all encompassing with strong teachings about here and the hereafter, especially about family relationships, and practices that reflect those teachings. So what happens in families when some hold firm to the faith and others walk away? How do parents, children and siblings respond to those who have chosen a different path? Can they still love one another or does judgment make that impossible? Do they talk about it or do they slink away in silent agony? Utah Valley University's Kimberly Abunuwara, director of the humanities program, came up with an unusual way to explore these questions. She enlisted a group of students to interview various families about how their attachment to — or distance from — Mormonism affected their connections and communications. The team then staged a performance, titled “In Good Faith,” in which student actors used those firsthand accounts from members and former members to reveal these wrenching experiences. In a special “Mormon Land” episode, recorded live at Orem's UVU, Abunuwara and two of the student performers — Brielle Szendre and Caleb Voss — are discuss what they discovered, how the experience affected them and what others can learn from this effort.

The recently completed 194th Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may merit no more than a mere mention in the history books of Mormonism. There were no theological breakthroughs, no major policy changes, no sweeping shake-ups among the top echelons. But the sessions did feature significant speeches, memorable moments and notable nuances. A British church leader delivered his debut conference sermon as an apostle. A longtime apostle returned to the conference pulpit after an extended absence. A Black general authority rose in the ranks to a historic level. Speakers publicly addressed the private wearing of so-called temple garments by the faithful. And the church's aging senior leadership, led by a prophet-president inching ever closer to the century mark, made conspicuous accommodations to conference procedures. On this week's show, Emily Jensen, web editor for Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, and Patrick Mason, head of Mormon history and culture at Utah State University, look back at the conference and what it may mean to the church and its 17.2 million members moving forward.

Latter-day Saint leaders seem to be concerned about what they believe is the causal, even “cavalier” wearing of religious underclothing by devout members. Indeed, in a recent speech, a general authority Seventy reportedly condemned women who wear temple garments only on Sunday and to the temple and the rest of the week can be seen in “yoga pants.” He warned that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was planning to issue stricter rules about the wearing of garments. The standard instruction has essentially been for women and men to wear them “day and night.” According to a recent survey, though, some women are donning them when and where they want — and they don't, it seems, view that as disobedience or inappropriate. At the same, it is getting tougher to find clothing, especially for women, that completely covers garments. On this week's episode, author Kristine Haglund, former editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, and Laura Brignone, a Latter-day Saint research analyst at Sacramento State University, discuss the challenges in wearing garments, what some members are choosing, and what it means for their faith.

A decade after the Ordain Women movement within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made national news, another feminist issue is getting lots of media attention. During a March 17 meeting to celebrate the creation of the church's Relief Society, J. Anette Dennis, first counselor in the faith's global women's organization, declared that “there is no other religious organization in the world that I know of that has so broadly given power and authority to women.” Dennis went on to say that “other faiths ordain women to roles like priest or pastor, but those individuals represent a small minority when compared to the total number of women within their congregations.” In the Utah-based church, all women “who choose a covenant relationship with God in the House of the Lord are endowed with priesthood power directly from God.” It is a sentiment that has been expressed previously by Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the church's governing First Presidency, and by Sheri Dew, a former counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency. But when the church posted Dennis' quote on Instagram, a flood of responses from women ensued — more than 15,000 comments. And, in an unusual acknowledgment, the church's social media team promised to share the “thoughts, feelings and experiences” with the faith's leaders. On this week's show, discussing this speech, the overwhelming response it generated and the role of women in the church, are Julie Hanks, a Latter-day Saint therapist in Utah, and Amy Watkins Jensen, a Latter-day Saint middle school humanities teacher in Oakland, California, who created the Women on the Stand letter-writing campaign in the wake of women's leaders being removed from the stand at worship services in the Bay Area.

In the past, historians and preservationists were not always pleased with how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints treated its treasured buildings. Bulldozing Utah's Coalville Tabernacle and gutting the Logan Temple led to cries of anguish from insiders and outsiders alike. These days, though, the same groups are lauding the painstaking and resplendent renovation of the faith's pioneer-era Manti Temple, which is now open to public tours. And they are reassured by the Salt Lake City-based church's plans for its recent purchase of Mormonism's first temple, in Kirtland, Ohio. On this week's show, Matthew Grow, managing director of the church's History Department, and Emily Utt, a curator of Latter-day Saint historic sites, discuss these preservation efforts.

The recent acquisition by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of Mormonism's first temple — in Kirtland, Ohio — along with historic buildings in Nauvoo, Ill., similarly tied to founder Joseph Smith and his band of believers thrilled the global faith's members. For followers of the Community of Christ, formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the longtime diligent, devoted caretakers of these properties, the sale, which that faith's top leaders acknowledged was “painful,” brought sadness, heartache and tears. While grateful for the good the $192 million purchase price will do for the Community of Christ's future, they lament losing ownership of these cherished pieces of their past. On this week's show to discuss that past and that future is David Howlett, a Community of Christ historian, visiting religion professor at Smith College in Massachusetts and author of “Kirtland Temple: The Biography of a Shared Mormon Sacred Space.”

Money talks. It makes headlines, too. Just ask The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Utah-based faith's finances have become a source of discussion, debate and, yes, dissent among insiders and outsiders. In recent weeks, the church's chief investment arm, Ensign Peak Advisors, has seen its publicly reported stock portfolio shoot past $50 billion, helping to propel the global faith's total wealth to an estimated $265 billion. Days ago, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals handed the church a mini-victory, agreeing to rehear the fraud lawsuit brought against it by a prominent Utahn, James Huntsman, who has accused Latter-day Saint leaders of misleading members about how the faith spends tithing funds. In addition, the church has been targeted in at least five states by a string of what it has called “copycat” tithing lawsuits seeking class-action status. On this week's show, Salt Lake Tribune reporter Tony Semerad, who has been tracking the church's finances and legal entanglements for a number of years, helps sort out all this money maneuvering and courtroom drama.

Even in the 19th century, Brigham Young Academy (later Brigham Young University) welcomed students of both sexes, all nationalities, religions, races and colors. Nearly from the start, it included women, which made it distinctive among other American higher-education institutions. And the school — owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — had a small but consistent nonwhite student population. That included the school's first Black graduate, Norman Wilson (not a Latter-day Saint), who earned his degree in 1939. Grace Ann Soelberg curated a BYU exhibit honoring Wilson. She also explored how Black students were treated at the school, and how they were depicted, including examples of blackface, in its yearbooks from 1911 to 1985. On this week's show, Soelberg, now a graduate student at the University of Utah, discusses her findings.

What most Latter-day Saint historians and other scholars know about D. Michael Quinn is that he was, by all accounts, a remarkable researcher who could assemble disparate dots into a colorful mosaic. They may know that he was excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as part of the “September Six” for his discussion of post-Manifesto polygamy and other controversial topics or that he was an expert in the faith's financial dealings and hierarchy. But now, nearly three years after his death at age 77, the public will hear for the first time of his inner struggles as a gay man in the church that for most of his life preached that homosexuality was a sin. Signature Books has now published Quinn's heartbreaking autobiography, titled “Chosen Path: A Memoir,” described as a “relentlessly episodic” look at the deeply personal agonies and ecstasies of his life and work, while offering his perspective on significant church events that occurred while he was writing about Mormonism. Three themes are thread through his entries: his relationship with himself as a closeted gay man, with his oft-absent and secretive father, and with his church. On this week's show, Moshe Quinn, his son, who wrote a foreword, and Barbara Jones Brown, who edited the volume Quinn gleaned from his multiple journals, discuss the revelations in his memoir.

Ah, Valentine's Day, a holiday full of hearts and hopes, cards and candy, roses and romance. It's a time couples seek their favorite table at their favorite restaurant and view their favorite rom-com from their favorite couch. What does it mean, though, for young members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Are they on the lookout for more than gestures — indeed, eternal marriage — or do they just want to have a good time? On this week's show, two young single adult Latter-day Saints, Sara Sumsion, who is working on a master's degree in marriage and family therapy at Northwestern University, and Matt Judd, a health statistics consultant, discuss what the Latter-day Saint dating scene is REALLY like.

Easter is the most significant holiday on the Christian calendar, celebrated in solemnity and song, pageantry and prayer, rituals and rejoicing, “hosannas and hallelujahs.” While members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe deeply in Christ's resurrection, they have not participated as a church with the rest of Christendom in immersive traditions like waving palms on Palm Sunday, washing feet on Maundy Thursday or carrying a large cross for Good Friday. So, many Latter-day Saints have joined with other Christians on these holy practices. Last year, though, top Latter-day Saint leaders encouraged members to find ways to better commemorate the sacred moment when they believe Jesus rose from the dead. Eric Huntsman, a Brigham Young University professor of ancient scripture, has spent his career reading biblical texts in their original languages. Last year, Huntsman, who is currently on hiatus from his position as academic director at BYU's Jerusalem Center, co-wrote a book with Trevan Hatch, “Greater Love Hath No Man: A Latter-day Saint Guide to Celebrating the Easter Season.” As many Christians prepare for next week's Lent, Huntsman offers other tips on how Latter-day Saint individuals and families can better remember the “climax of the gospel story.”

Chelsea Goodrich was a returned missionary pursuing a graduate degree in California when she came forward with allegations that her father, John Goodrich, had molested her throughout her childhood. (In a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune, John Goodrich has denied the accusations of sexual assault.) The alleged abuse, the subject of a recent Associated Press investigation, is not the reason, however, that Chelsea, now a 38-year-old licensed counselor, no longer identifies as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She attributes that shift to the response she received when she tried to protect children. Friends and family, many from the tightknit Latter-day Saint community of Mountain Home, Idaho, where she grew up, discouraged her from continuing to press the matter, urging her instead to forgive her father. In this week's episode, she joins Deidre Nicole Green, a Latter-day Saint and theologian at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif., to discuss how church leaders, members and others sometimes “weaponize” forgiveness, silencing survivors and preventing justice.

Every year, a new crop of young Latter-day Saints turning 12 by December will graduate from Primary, the faith's program for children. The boys will get a new title — “deacon” — and start passing the bread and water of the sacrament (known as Communion in other Christian faiths and mostly distributed by priests and pastors), while the girls will start attending the Young Women's program and get no new identity. Why is there such a gender difference around the sacrament in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Tradition, says Sam Brunson, a Latter-day Saint tax attorney in Chicago who often writes about church issues on the blog By Common Consent. Or, in other words, “policy choices that church leaders made decades ago.” Yes, the church has an all-male priesthood, but is passing the sacrament really a priesthood function? And if the Utah-based faith allows young women to carry those trays, does that mean they have to open up the priesthood to women? On this week's show, Brunson talks about how such differences came to be in the church and why he thinks some of them could be revised — without formally giving women the priesthood.

Scholar Benjamin Park's new book, “American Zion: A New History of Mormonism,” tells the sweeping saga of the rise, rifts and resilience of the nation's most successful homegrown religion. “The Mormon story,” he writes, “is the American story.” Under the guidance of founder Joseph Smith, this new movement was cradled in upstate New York and nurtured in the heartland. But mounting persecutions and prosecutions left leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints feeling so abandoned by the country that gave the faith birth that they abandoned the country itself. Out West, Brigham Young and his band of beleaguered believers built a remote religious empire. In the decades that followed, though, successive generations of Latter-day Saints slowly but surely returned to the arms of the American fold, eventually becoming among the nation's most passionate, even partisan, patriots. But like the country it once battled and now embraces, this global faith of 17 million members finds itself caught up in polarizing culture wars. Former frictions — between church and state, faith and intellect, obedience and dissent, patriarchy and feminism — regularly resurface even as new conflicts emerge. On this week's show, Park talks about some key players and moments in Latter-day Saint history, along with the tensions that persist to this day.

Grant Hardy is among the preeminent scholars of the Book of Mormon. The North Carolina history professor has produced two volumes on Mormonism's sacred text: a study edition from Brigham Young University's Maxwell Institute, and a reader's edition from the University of Illinois Press — and now, from Oxford University Press, a third, The Annotated Book of Mormon. His latest effort is hailed as “the world's first fully annotated, academic edition of the Book of Mormon.” Indeed, its 900 pages have almost as many footnotes and commentary as the text itself. Hardy lays out the narrative like a series of stories, not as short verses, with extensive commentary and analysis about important themes, biblical connections and symbolic meanings. At the end, he adds essays to explore various ways of thinking about the Book of Mormon — as literature, ancient history, fiction, revealed scripture and world scripture. On this week's show, he talks about this massive undertaking; what Latter-day Saints often get wrong about their foundational text; why context matters when reading it; how the Book of Mormon compares and complements the Bible; and why, as a believer in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and as a scholar, he finds the book “amazingly coherent and consistent.”

At every spring General Conference, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offers a glimpse of its growth by reporting worldwide membership statistics, including the number of converts and children added to the faith's rolls the previous year. A more reliable barometer for tracking church expansion, however, can be found in the congregations created (or subtracted). So when the governing First Presidency recently announced new requirements for establishing wards and stakes, or clusters of congregations, insiders and outsiders naturally wondered what impact the changes would have. For instance, stakes in most of the world previously needed 1,900 members; now they need 2,000, or 5% more. While stakes in the U.S. and Canada also need 2,000, that's 33% fewer than the previous 3,000. On its face, this appeared to make it easier to form new stakes in much of North America and, in essence, inflate the church's congregational count. But experts say that may not be the case. In fact, Matt Martinich, an independent researcher who tracks church movements for the websites cumorah.com and ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com, argues the overall rules could result in fewer stakes and wards coming on line. On this week's show, Martinich discusses the recent changes and other trends in church membership, including a newly released study showing self-identifying Latter-day Saints make up 42% of Utah's adult population.

This is a war story unlike any other. It's about a fighting force of nearly 500 men who were drafted, in a very real sense, not by the president of their nation but by the prophet of their faith. Though they were prepared to die for a country they were fleeing, they labored to live for the families they were supporting. Though they were armed and marched through hundreds of miles of hostile territory, they never fired a single shot against their enemy. Though they never tasted death from combat, they endured casualties from foes just as dangerous and deadly: thirst, fatigue, hunger and sickness. Though they never recorded a military victory, they achieved a triumph perhaps far greater. So why is the Mormon Battalion — a ragtag band of hundreds of reluctant riflemen, along with dozens of women and children, most of whom trekked nearly 2,000 miles from Iowa to Southern California — remembered not only in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but also in the annals of the American experiment? Discussing those questions and more and is Brent Top, retired professor of church history and doctrine at church-owned Brigham Young University and now president of the Mormon Battalion Historic Site.

Lowell Bennion was among Mormonism's greatest humanitarians, while also being one of its most prominent thinkers and teachers. Indeed, he was among the few non-general authorities or officers ever to speak in General Conferences of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As the first director of the church's Institute of Religion at the University of Utah, Bennion spoke powerfully and courageously against the church's former priesthood/temple ban on Black members — which may have cost and encouraged students to see science and religion as complementary rather than contradictory paths to truth. But he did more than teach or preach. Bennion, who died in 1996, created the Community Services Council in Salt Lake City to aid poor and marginalized populations. Eventually, a center for service was created in his name at the U., integrating outreach to the disadvantaged into the curriculum. Of the service he rendered, he once said, “I used to teach religion; now I practice it.” Yet Bennion's life and work remain largely unknown to today's Latter-day Saints. On this week's show, George Handley, professor of interdisciplinary humanities at Brigham Young University and author of “Lowell L. Bennion: A Mormon Educator,” discusses the life and legacy of the legendary scholar, considered by many to be one of the founders of Mormon studies.

Newly named Latter-day Saint apostle Patrick Kearon brings an unusual biography to second highest leadership council of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A British convert, he joined the faith at age 26. Kearon has lived and worked in the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and the United States. He does not have a university degree, but, having been trained in communication, his speeches are earnest, eloquent and evocative. He is the second European in the current Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the third born outside the United States. What will the 62-year-old Brit's background, passions and personality bring to the apostleship and how might he influence the global faith? On this week's show, Patrick Mason, Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University, addresses those question and more.

For more than a decade, women's Relief Society leaders were invited to sit on the stand facing the pews during Sunday services among some Latter-day Saint congregations in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was an uncontroversial tradition until October, when an area president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ordered an end to the practice. The move felt arbitrary to many members and was made without consulting any of the women affected, all of whom were devout believers. After a Salt Lake Tribune story about the edict, many women in the region and across the country are writing letters to church headquarters in Salt Lake City, explaining why the tradition had been good for women in a church governed by men as a sign of inclusion and gender equity. On this week's show, we discuss this issue with two women who have felt the impact personally: Amy Jensen, who has served as a Young Women leader in Lafayette, Calif., and Laurel McNeil, a current Relief Society president in Sunnyvale, Calif. One solution, they suggest, to bring uniformity to Latter-day Saint services: Invite women's leaders to sit on the stand in congregations across the globe.

Deseret Book has been the church-owned commercial publisher for more than a century, producing landmark theological volumes such as James E. Talmage's “Jesus the Christ” and LeGrand Richards' “A Marvelous Work and a Wonder.” It is a sought-after brand for Latter-day Saint leaders, scholars and writers, and remains the go-to retail outlet for rank-and-file members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Through the decades, the focus of D.B., as it has come to be known, has expanded to include not only books by and about Latter-day Saint prophets and apostles but also a range of novels and art. The woman overseeing all that is Laurel Day, who rose through the ranks to become D.B.'s president. On this week's show, she talks about her vision for the global company; the new openness in detailing the church's unvarnished history; the increasing visibility of women; the part she plays in deciding what is published and what is put on — and sometimes pulled off — the shelves; and Deseret Book's role in building the worldwide faith.

With senior apostle M. Russell Ballard's death, church President Russell Nelson's back injury and apostle Jeffrey Holland's recent illnesses, the focus has fallen once again on the top men who lead the 17 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Years, even decades, of policy, practice and precedent have established how the hierarchy is ordered — a governing First Presidency, usually made up of the faith's president and two counselors, at the pinnacle, followed by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the Presidency of the Seventy and general authority Seventies. But with all the members of the First Presidency in their 90s and increasingly aged apostles, questions are reemerging about a gerontocracy among these men, who must serve for life and are charged with guiding a global religion. Is emeritus status for these leaders an option? Should it be? And what about the general women's leaders? Does their service, capped at five years, prevent them from having more influence in the church? Historian Matthew Bowman, Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University, addresses these questions and more on this week's podcast.