Radio Free Mormon

What is it like to be a Mormon missionary in Japan? RFM reflects on different aspects of his mission through the use of some recently acquired letters he himself wrote while serving his mission almost half a century ago!

Tonight on Mormonism Live, we tackle one of the most persistent and uncomfortable questions in modern Mormon scholarship: What does DNA actually say about the Book of Mormon? Our guest is Dr. Thomas W. Murphy, anthropologist, award-winning scholar, and author of Unsettling Scripture: Iroquois and the Book of Mormon. Dr. Murphy’s latest presentation, “DNerAsure: Unsettling Science & Scripture” DNerAsure – Unsettling Science, challenges both apologetic narratives and oversimplified dismissals of the DNA debate. What We DiscussThe acknowledged lack of Middle Eastern DNA in ancient and modern Indigenous American populationsWhy the science is not “settled” in the way many assumeThe apologetic argument that Book of Mormon DNA may have “disappeared” over timeWhy autosomal DNA makes total genetic erasure extraordinarily implausibleThe limited geography model and why it does not solve the DNA problem The ethics of Indigenous DNA collection — including BYU’s controversial accumulation of Indigenous genetic samplesThe concept of a “Galileo Event” and whether Mormonism is approaching one How racialized readings of scripture intersect with real Indigenous identities

In this episode, we step into one of the most provocative and uncomfortable chapters ever written about Joseph Smith — “The Don Juan of Nauvoo,” from Dr. W. Wyl’s 1886 exposé. These are not modern critics looking backward with hindsight. These are men and women living in Utah in the late 1800s — people who lived through Nauvoo, who knew Joseph personally, who saw the culture firsthand, and who were willing to share their memories of Joseph’s behavior with women. Their recollections paint a portrait very different from the sanitized image often presented today. We will read their words directly. Their observations. Their accusations. Their recollections of Joseph’s charisma, his influence, and his interactions with women in Nauvoo. This episode isn’t about speculation. It’s about historical memory — and how Joseph Smith’s contemporaries understood him. You’ll hear: How Joseph was perceived by those who lived in Nauvoo The reputation he carried among insiders What Utah Saints privately said decades later Why these accounts were preserved and published And how charisma, authority, and attraction intersected in Nauvoo Whether you see Joseph Smith as prophet, fraud, or something in between, these firsthand recollections provide a window into how he was experienced by those who lived in his shadow. Donate to Mormonism Live:https://mormonismlive.org/Donate-To-Mormonism-Live/ If you need support navigating a faith transition or spiritual trauma, coaching and support groups are available at: https://awakenandthrive.org/

This week, Radio Free Mormon gathers an all-star panel of Mormon influencers to respond to President Dallin H. Oaks’ recent devotional address delivered at Brigham Young University on Tuesday, February 10. Front and center is Oaks’ warning about “speculation and false information in podcasts and on social media” — and his counsel to avoid being persuaded by those voices. Instead, he urges members to seek out “faithful, well-informed friends,” renew covenants weekly, attend the temple regularly, and stay firmly on the covenant path. So what does it mean when Church leadership cautions members about podcasts… in a media landscape where podcasts are one of the primary spaces for discussion, nuance, and historical transparency? Is this about protecting faith? Controlling narrative? Reducing doubt? Or something more complicated? Our panel dives deep into the psychology behind information control, authority, and epistemic trust. Who gets to define “well-informed”? Why are certain conversations labeled speculation while others are framed as revelation? And what happens when members are told to avoid sources that challenge official claims? Expect thoughtful analysis, sharp humor, and candid reflection as we explore what this devotional signals about the Church’s current moment — and what it means for creators, critics, and everyday members trying to navigate faith in the digital age. If you care about truth, trust, and who controls the story, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

THEY NEVER DESTROYED THE HELPLINE RECORDS! Did RFM just catch the LDS Church lying about its CSA Helpline records? In order to avoid turning over Helpline records, the Church has previously sworn all the records are destroyed at the end of each day. Now suddenly, in order to defend itself against the allegations of Beau Oyler, a former bishop, the LDS Church miraculously goes back to August of 2013 and . . . finds the Helpline records for one particular phone call! How is that possible if those records were destroyed at the end of the day? How indeed? Watch this eleven-minute clip from the February 6, 2026 Mormonism After Dark show for details!

RFM and esteemed co-counsel Kolby Reddish dissect Chapter 12 of Austin Fife’s “Lite on Truth Letter.” They completely decimate the apologetic attempt to make excuses for why Mormon prophets have a historically disastrous record of making failed prophecies and disavowed doctrinal pronouncements. Astonishingly, some new apologists such as Austin Fife and Jacob Hansen are trying to stake out the position that it’s okay for prophets to get doctrinal pronouncements wrong . . . but you can totally trust everything else they say! You can imagine the fun we have with this! Join RFM and Kolby for a fun romp through the ridiculousness that has become Mormon apologetics!

Was Joseph Smith’s relationship with Fanny Alger an early plural marriage, a sexless sealing, or a scandalous sexual affair? Long before Nauvoo polygamy, secret sealings, or theological justifications, there was Fanny Alger; a teenage girl living in Joseph and Emma Smith’s home in Kirtland, Ohio. When the relationship was discovered, it triggered scandal, apostasy, and one of the earliest crises in Mormon leadership. In this episode, we start by taking a look into the life of Fanny Alger sharing details of her life that are little known even to those familiar with Mormon history. We then examine every major historical source connected to the Fanny Alger story including letters, later reminiscences, church disciplinary records. Then onto the Apologetics and what they are trying to resolve. And lastly we share something that hasn’t been used by either side in this discussion and this you won’t want to miss. We ask the uncomfortable questions: • Why did Oliver Cowdery call the incident a “dirty, nasty, filthy scrape”? • Why did church leaders discipline Cowdery for accusing Joseph of adultery — without denying the accusation itself? • Why does Fanny Alger quietly disappear from official church records for decades? • And do apologetic claims that “we can’t know what happened” actually hold up? We also follow Fanny’s life after Mormonism; her marriage, property ownership, and long, stable adulthood and ask what her silence might tell us about power, authority, and who controls the narrative. This is not folklore. This is not anti-Mormon spin. This is history read carefully. RESOURCES: https://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Fanny-Alger-Episode-Sources-1.pdf

Did Joseph Smith’s understanding of God come through divine revelation — or did it evolve alongside his education? In this episode of Mormonism Live, we examine one of the most important and least discussed developments in early Mormon history: the dramatic shift in Joseph Smith’s theology of the Godhead. Using early Mormon scriptures, historical documents, and Joseph’s own study journals, we walk through how the earliest teachings portrayed God as a single divine being, closely resembling early Christian modalism. We then trace a clear timeline showing how those teachings changed over time — especially following Joseph Smith’s intensive study of Hebrew in Kirtland, Ohio. As Joseph learned Hebrew grammar, biblical structure, and concepts such as Elohim as a plural noun, Mormon theology began to change with it. The singular God of the Book of Mormon and Book of Moses gradually gave way to a plurality of Gods, divine councils, embodied deities, and ultimately the revolutionary teachings found in the King Follett Discourse.This episode explores: Why early Book of Mormon passages describe Jesus as both Father and Son How later scripture reverses earlier creation accounts The connection between Hebrew study and the emergence of the “Council of the Gods” Why Joseph’s First Vision accounts evolve alongside his theology And what this means for claims of unchanging revelation and restored truth Rather than attacking belief, this conversation asks a deeper question: If revelation reveals eternal truth, why does the nature of God change so dramatically over time? Whether you are believing, doubting, or long past Mormonism, this episode offers a thoughtful, historically grounded look at how doctrine develops — and why that development still matters today.

What does it say when you have to lie to defend your religion? Time to get a new religion? Not if you’re Jacob Hansen! For Jacob, lying is all in a day’s work for a Mormon apologist. Radio Free Mormon was an apologist for ten years back in the 1980s. RFM got to the same point as Jacob Hansen; where he realized he was actively misleading his audience to convince them Mormonism was true. That’s when RFM gave up apologetics. When Jacob Hansen got to that same point, however, that’s when he doubled down. In this podcast, RFM exposes how Jacob Hansen misrepresents fundamental teachings of the LDS Church in order to win an argument. Talk about selling your birthright for a mess of pottage! What this shows us incontrovertibly is that the Mormon Church cannot be defended as it is; it must first be changed into something else. And even then it isn’t defensible. Check this one out and share it with your friends whenever the subject of Jacob Hansen’s credibility comes up!

This is it! The final episode! Words cannot express how happy Kolby and RFM are to finally be finishing their two-man demolition of this piece of apologetic dreck presented to the world by Austin Fife as “The Light and Truth Letter.” But after 58-hours of commentary from these two post-Mormon attorneys, spanning over an entire year, we can see quite clearly why it will be known forever after as “The Lite on Truth Letter.” And thank YOU so much for following us all the way through this adventure! It has been one helluva ride! We hope you will enjoy us for the after-party in a few weeks. And Austin? You’re invited too! Love you, man! We couldn’t have done it without you!