Mormon Stories Podcast

Dr. Dave Christian, a psychologist with LDS roots, shares his journey from faith crisis to serving as a therapist for Mormons. He discusses epistemology, manipulation in religious faith, and his experience with a polygamous mission president. The podcast explores the intersection of science and spirituality, ethical concerns in missionary work, and uncovering deceptions within the LDS Church.

Julienna Viegas-Haws has a fascinating story. Her mother is from the Belgian Congo. She was raised in Belgium. Her mother converted to the LDS Church when Julienna was a child, and credits the LDS church with saving her life. Julienna was raised a highly devout Mormon girl in Belgium, and served a mission on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. After a life of full devotion to the LDS Church, Julinenna began to experience cracks in her orthodoxy testimony when her husband began questioning/doubting the LDS Church's truth claims. While Julienna remains committed to LDS Church activity, she recently penned an article with the Salt Lake Tribune entitled "What do progressive Mormons want? A dialogue about change." In this two-part episode for Mormon Stories Podcast Julienna tells her story, and discusses possible changes that the LDS Church can make to become a healthier organization for its members.      

Julienna Viegas-Haws has a fascinating story. Her mother is from the Belgian Congo. She was raised in Belgium. Her mother converted to the LDS Church when Julienna was a child, and credits the LDS church with saving her life. Julienna was raised a highly devout Mormon girl in Belgium, and served a mission on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. After a life of full devotion to the LDS Church, Julinenna began to experience cracks in her orthodoxy testimony when her husband began questioning/doubting the LDS Church's truth claims. While Julienna remains committed to LDS Church activity, she recently penned an article with the Salt Lake Tribune entitled "What do progressive Mormons want? A dialogue about change." In this two-part episode for Mormon Stories Podcast Julienna tells her story, and discusses possible changes that the LDS Church can make to become a healthier organization for its members.      

On August 2, 2015 I was asked to deliver the sermon for the First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City, Utah.  The topic was my experiences as a Mormon that led up to my excommunication.

My appearance on the Friendly Atheist podcast with Hemant Mehta and Jessica Bluemke. Hemant Mehta is the editor of Friendly Atheist, appears on the Atheist Voice channel on YouTube, and co-hosts the uniquely-named Friendly Atheist Podcast. He is a former National Board Certified high school math teacher in the suburbs of Chicago, where he taught for seven years. Jessica Bluemke is a contributor to Friendly Atheist and a graduate of Ball State University. She lives on the north side of Chicago and performs stand-up comedy in her free time.

For decades, and heavily over the past ten years, Mormon historians, podcasters, and critics have been urging the LDS Church to be more open and honest about Joseph Smith's use of folk magic and a peep stone/hat in his production of the Book of Mormon text. On August 4th, 2015 the LDS Church released the third volume of the Joseph Smith Papers, which includes the printer's manuscript of the Book of Mormon. It also released photos of the seer stone that Joseph Smith used as a scryer to search for buried treasure, and that he also placed in a hat to produce the text for the Book of Mormon.  (for detailed discussions of Joseph's use of a seer stone in the Book of Mormon's creation, see CES Letter, Mormon Think, or D. Michael Quinn's "Early Mormonism and the Magic World View." An October 2015 Ensign article is set to appear called "Joseph the Seer" which attempts to explain Joseph's practice of using a seer stone. In this episode John Hamer, J. Seawright, Micah Nickolaisen, Jamie Hanis Handy, and Jonathan Streeter join us to analyze these events.

In this episode we interview Lindsay Hansen Park to discuss her experiences producing the Year of Polygamy podcast.

Kristy Money is impressive on so many levels. She graduated from BYU at age 19, completing a Ph.D. in counseling psychology at age 25 (dissertation on LDS suicide) She serves on the Ordain Women board of directors as a co-founder of OW, assembled the famous "6 discussions" for Ordain Women, and is the host of Ordain Women podcast. She has authored three incredibly influential op-eds for the Salt Lake Tribune: LDS Church should make clear Smith was wrong to take 14-year-old wife Think, seminary teachers, before acceding to church essay on Joseph Smith’s polygamy LDS Church should go further to disavow racist priesthood ban She is the creator of the http://voicesoflove.org project (in support of same-sex love within Mormonism), which is a response to Ty Mansfield's Voice of Hope project (promoting either mixed-orientation marriages or celibacy). She is currently serving on the Mormon Mental Health Association Board of Directors. Her journey has been featured in the New York Times and in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution She is currently facing church discipline for her efforts with Ordain Women, and for speaking openly in her congregation about matters of racial injustice. In this 3-part interview we discuss her early years growing up in the church in South Carolina, her intellectual awakening at BYU, her experiences as a psychologist, and her various efforts of Mormon activism, culminating in her now being silenced by her bishop, and threatened with church discipline.  She also discusses the incredibly high personal price she's paid for her work, which has led to almost complete isolation from her parents and siblings.  

Kristy Money is impressive on so many levels. She graduated from BYU at age 19, completing a Ph.D. in counseling psychology at age 25 (dissertation on LDS suicide) She serves on the Ordain Women board of directors as a co-founder of OW, assembled the famous "6 discussions" for Ordain Women, and is the host of Ordain Women podcast. She has authored three incredibly influential op-eds for the Salt Lake Tribune: LDS Church should make clear Smith was wrong to take 14-year-old wife Think, seminary teachers, before acceding to church essay on Joseph Smith’s polygamy LDS Church should go further to disavow racist priesthood ban She is the creator of the http://voicesoflove.org project (in support of same-sex love within Mormonism), which is a response to Ty Mansfield's Voice of Hope project (promoting either mixed-orientation marriages or celibacy). She is currently serving on the Mormon Mental Health Association Board of Directors. Her journey has been featured in the New York Times and in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution She is currently facing church discipline for her efforts with Ordain Women, and for speaking openly in her congregation about matters of racial injustice. In this 3-part interview we discuss her early years growing up in the church in South Carolina, her intellectual awakening at BYU, her experiences as a psychologist, and her various efforts of Mormon activism, culminating in her now being silenced by her bishop, and threatened with church discipline.  She also discusses the incredibly high personal price she's paid for her work, which has led to almost complete isolation from her parents and siblings.  

Kristy Money is impressive on so many levels. She graduated from BYU at age 19, completing a Ph.D. in counseling psychology at age 25 (dissertation on LDS suicide) She serves on the Ordain Women board of directors as a co-founder of OW, assembled the famous "6 discussions" for Ordain Women, and is the host of Ordain Women podcast. She has authored three incredibly influential op-eds for the Salt Lake Tribune: LDS Church should make clear Smith was wrong to take 14-year-old wife Think, seminary teachers, before acceding to church essay on Joseph Smith’s polygamy LDS Church should go further to disavow racist priesthood ban She is the creator of the http://voicesoflove.org project (in support of same-sex love within Mormonism), which is a response to Ty Mansfield's Voice of Hope project (promoting either mixed-orientation marriages or celibacy). She is currently serving on the Mormon Mental Health Association Board of Directors. Her journey has been featured in the New York Times and in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution She is currently facing church discipline for her efforts with Ordain Women, and for speaking openly in her congregation about matters of racial injustice. In this 3-part interview we discuss her early years growing up in the church in South Carolina, her intellectual awakening at BYU, her experiences as a psychologist, and her various efforts of Mormon activism, culminating in her now being silenced by her bishop, and threatened with church discipline.  She also discusses the incredibly high personal price she's paid for her work, which has led to almost complete isolation from her parents and siblings.