Latter Day Struggles

Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: How & Why Power Hierarchies Were Created [Part III of VI]Welcome to part three of this diving into why and how human beings create hierarchies of power.  So far in this series we have explained the psychological phenomenon itself, zoomed in on how this plays out on the ground in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and now we are going to spend the next two episodes walking through the six-step process of how humans create those groupings whom we choose to dominate, subjugate, and marginalize.This episode tackles in detail the first three steps:Mark the difference in a group of people who are unlike yourself.Stigmatize the difference.Institutionalize the discrimination practiced against the group.FRIDAY’S episode four tackles steps 4-6.In these next two episodes (today’s and Fridays) Val and Nathan will offer both historical and current examples of how each of these steps in the creation of marginalized “out-group” populations looks both within the LDS faith and in other contexts. Get ready to have your mind further expanded.Referenced in this series: Living with History: Making Social Change by Gerta LernerSupport the showListen, Share, Rate & Review EPISODES Friday Episodes Annual Subscription $89 Friday Episodes Monthly Subscription $10 Valerie’s Support & Processing Groups Donate: ⁠Venmo or Patreon⁠ Visit our Website

Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: How & Why Power Hierarchies Were Created [Part I of VI]In this mini-series Val and Nathan will be covering in-depth one of Val’s recent Sunstone Symposium presentations exploring the psychology around human civilization’s tendency to organize themselves into hierarchies. These hierarchies consist of an empowered group whose authority is dictated by selecting a different group over whom they dominate. These disempowered groups are sometimes called “out-groups” or “deviant others”.In Episode 1 of this series Val and Nathan will explore why collectives organize themselves into a dominating few who find identity in their rule over designated disempowered out-groups, how those in power use differences in others to dominate them, how some disempowered ‘out groups’ are common throughout time and place [gender, class, race], and how unique out-groups are arbitrarily selected within micro-cultures.This Friday’s episode Val and Nathan will discuss how this concept applies to hierarchical structures in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, both through macro-issues such as their historical and current struggles with institutional patriarchy, racism, and issues around disempowering gender and sexual minorities.Their desire in shining a light on this phenomenon in this series is to help our community root out the multiple layers of hierarchy to create a community bonded not by the division between powerful in-groups and powerless out-groups, but by equality and Christ-like love.Info on how to subscribe to listen to Friday’s episode is directly below.  See you there!Support the showListen, Share, Rate & Review EPISODES Friday Episodes Annual Subscription $89 Friday Episodes Monthly Subscription $10 Valerie’s Support & Processing Groups Donate: ⁠Venmo or Patreon⁠ Visit our Website

Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: "Tabernacles of Clay” Analysis with Taylor Petrey [Part III of IV]In this portion of their conversation exploring the history of gender and sexuality in the LDS church from post WWII until present, Valerie and Taylor Petrey do a deep dive into gender, sexuality and how the following historical developments, policies, and political engagement are each connected to the LDS Church’s attempts to keep in place heteronormativity due to the contagion theory of sexual orientation:Church Correlation MovementFamily Home Evening ProgramHome Teaching ProgramCollaboration with the Religious RightThe Equal Rights AmendmentProp 8The Proclamation to the World on the FamilyThe 2015 PolicyIn Friday's Final episode,  Val and Taylor wrap up this fascinating series responding to those out there who claim that “No doctrine has ever changed regarding gender and sexuality in the LDS church".  In short...nothing could be more false!They will walk you through a lengthy list of all of the ideas forwarded by various official leaders throughout the years on pre-mortal gender, post-mortal gender, birth control, sexually acceptable behaviors amongst married cisgendered people, and so much more.They also will walk you through a historical list of proposed causes and cures forwarded by the Church for homosexuality over the years.They conclude Friday’s episode on a personal note, sharing how work in this area has deeply impacted them and why they both care so much about shining a light on this history.  Its all about healing our community and helping expand our ability to love.Info on how to subscribe to listen to Friday’s episode is directly below.  See you there!Support the showListen, Share, Rate & Review EPISODES Friday Episodes Annual Subscription $89 Friday Episodes Monthly Subscription $10 Valerie’s Support & Processing Groups Donate: ⁠Venmo or Patreon⁠ Visit our Website

Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: "Tabernacles of Clay” Analysis with Taylor Petrey [Part I of IV]In this first episode in a fascinating four-part mini-series, Valerie and special guest Taylor Petrey break down the historical shifts in the theology of gender and sexuality in the LDS church beginning in the post-WWII era through the present as outlined in his excellent book Tabernacles of Clay (linked below).  Questions addressed in this episode [among others]:How historical racial oppression relates to the larger picture of gender and sexual oppressionA paradox: If gender and sexuality is pre-mortal in nature, why it constantly seems to need human mediation, legislation, commandmentsHow the LDS church’s post-WWII stance on gender/sexuality is related to these same issues within larger Christian culture and are seen as a matter of national securityThe connection between the church's post-WWII stance in strong support of the patriarchal order of marriage and their polygamy legacyFriday's episode continues the conversation covering the following: Culturally and religiously evolving stances on homosexuality An exploration of the very fraught relationship between the psychological world and the Mormon ecclesiastical world in the treatment of psychological issues in general and sexual issues specificallySignificant developments in the administration of Spencer W. Kimball, the "self-help" movement and his book The Miracle of ForgivenessAn exploration of the proposed varying causes and cures for homosexuality throughout the yearsAnd more! Info on how to subscribe to listen to Friday’s episode is directly below.  See you there!Support the showListen, Share, Rate & Review EPISODES Friday Episodes Annual Subscription $89 Friday Episodes Monthly Subscription $10 Valerie’s Support & Processing Groups Donate: ⁠Venmo or Patreon⁠ Visit our Website

Send us a Positive Review!I see you!You're missing your Friday morning fix with Valerie and the Latter Day Struggles Podcast!Well, I gotcha covered :)This quick bonus episode walks you through step by step HOW to subscribe to the Friday episodes of this podcast no matter what provider you use (you do NOT need to listen on Spotify but you DO need to subscribe THROUGH Spotify...just to answer a question asked many, many times!) Here is the link on how to subscribeThis episode will walk you through what to do once you click this link!If you want step by step WRITTEN and visual instructions with screen shots of each page in the subscription process, click here.————————————————————————————————————— SUBSCRIBE: All Friday episodes of Latter Day Struggles can be accessed through ⁠⁠⁠⁠a paid subscription ($9.99/month)⁠⁠. Thank you for supporting Valerie’s professional commitment to your LDS Faith expansion journey!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠     ⁠⁠⁠Click here to subscribe to all Friday Latter Day Struggles Episodes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠——————————————————————————————————————SUPPORT: Like what you’re hearing at Latter Day Struggles Podcast? You can support Valerie’s efforts by becoming a recurring donor on ⁠⁠Patreon.com!⁠⁠——————————————————————————————————————SUPPORT GROUPS: You are invited to join one of Valerie’s space-limited ⁠⁠⁠⁠Faith Crisis and Expansion Support and Processing Groups⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!  As a trauma therapist, she continues to help our LDS faith expansion community become psychologically healthier and spiritually well in and around the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Details about availability on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠latterdaystruggles.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.  These groups ALWAYS FILL UP, so jump in asap!     Support the showListen, Share, Rate & Review EPISODES Friday Episodes Annual Subscription $89 Friday Episodes Monthly Subscription $10 Valerie’s Support & Processing Groups Donate: ⁠Venmo or Patreon⁠ Visit our Website

Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: End of LDS Growth Analysis [Part V of VI]We’ve made it to episode #5 of this six part mini-series exploring LDS church growth struggles as studied in the recent journal article titled, “End of Growth?  Fading Prospects for Latter-day Saint Expansion” (article in full linked below)In today’s episode, the focus of analysis is on the following three points:The historical ‘gathering to Zion’ mentality has created isolationist culture to those gathered; has left many parts of the world with few members to grow the church; has therefore defaulted heavily on Utah-centric “world-view”, with secondary privileging of  US “worldview”; less so on the rest of the worldOccupational hazard of itinerant missionaries with low investment to quality conversion and hyper-focused on number of baptismsThe accelerated baptism program of the church which pressured all parties from mission presidents to missionaries to aggressively pressure lay people to quickly decide to be baptized with inadequate time to understand not only what they were learning about but also to acclimate to a new social network, belief system, an ideologyThe next and final episode of this series tackles perhaps the most fascinating concept explored in this report: a proposal that the LDS church's stance as God's only "true church" is at the foundation of the various administrative struggles that have impeded the church's ability to grow.Link to the article analyzed in this series:   https://jmssa.org/stewartSupport the showListen, Share, Rate & Review EPISODES Friday Episodes Annual Subscription $89 Friday Episodes Monthly Subscription $10 Valerie’s Support & Processing Groups Donate: ⁠Venmo or Patreon⁠ Visit our Website

Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: End of LDS Growth Analysis [Part III of VI]In the next three episodes of this six part series analyzing the article titled “End of Growth?  Fading Prospects for Latter-day Saint Expansion” (article in full linked below) Nathan and Val work through 10 reasons social scientists postulate the LDS church did not grow (as forecasted about 40 years old) into the “the next Islam”. This episode focuses on the following:The church’s emphasis on “building from centers of strength.”  In the 1990’s the church rolled out a program redirecting missionary efforts and funds to parts of the world to "grow in leadership and capital before expanding to other parts of the world.”Multiple trends unfolded that were not expected based on early predictions: LDS fertility rates dropped significantly.  Marriage rates dropped.  New converts worldwide were frequently empty nesters.  Many international converts had less children than their neighbors attending other churches.A contracting LDS missionary force relative to early predictions.Nathan and Val break down each of these topics and weigh in on how each each of these research findings represents (in their opinion) either an administrative situation, gradual and unable-to-predict-societal-evolution, or perhaps a subtle trending towards personal authority and spiritual autonomy that does not concurrently translate into LDS institutional nominal growth.In the next episode Nathan and Val tackle topics 4-6 of the ten topics covered explaining lower than expected LDS church growth according to the journal article linked below. Stay tuned!Support the showListen, Share, Rate & Review EPISODES Friday Episodes Annual Subscription $89 Friday Episodes Monthly Subscription $10 Valerie’s Support & Processing Groups Donate: ⁠Venmo or Patreon⁠ Visit our Website

Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: End of LDS Growth Analysis [Part II of VI]Join Nathan and Val this entire series analyzing the article titled “End of Growth?  Fading Prospects for Latter-day Saint Expansion” published recently in the Journal of Mormon Social Science Association (article in full linked below) where Nathan breaks down some incredibly fascinating data about the growth of several Christian churches in sub-Saharan Africa to offer some context and critique regarding the "massive growth" that some claim is happening in this part of the world in the LDS church.Questions answered in this episode:Are there a lot of LDS baptisms happening in sub-Saharan Africa compared to the rest of the world?How does the nominal growth of the LDS church compare to other missionary-minded churches  in this same area?What are some possible reasons why especially the Seventh Day Adventists and the Jehovah’s Witnesses are baptizing and retaining exponentially more people in this area of the world than the LDS church?What might the LDS church’s tendency to bring the “American church” and it’s culture to Africa have to do with their relative struggles in membership growth and retention?What might the LDS church learn from other thriving religions in this same demographic about allowing locals to infuse their beautiful customs and culture into a basic structure of a religious system?Link to the article analyzed in this series:The End of Growth? Fading Prospects for Latter-day Saint Expansion, David G. Stewart, Jr., University of Nevada, Las VegasInfo on how to subscribe to listen to Friday’s episode is directly below.  See you there!Support the showListen, Share, Rate & Review EPISODES Friday Episodes Annual Subscription $89 Friday Episodes Monthly Subscription $10 Valerie’s Support & Processing Groups Donate: ⁠Venmo or Patreon⁠ Visit our Website

Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: End of LDS Growth Analysis [Part I of VI]Val and Nathan are so excited to jump into a VERY FASCINATING six-part podcast mini-series analyzing a recently published journal article titled, “The End of Growth? Fading Prospects for Latter-day Saint Expansion”.In the mid 80’s a team of social scientists predicted that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was on track to become “The next Islam”, projecting that if the LDS church stayed on track with its current growth, it would achieve a membership between 36.4-121 million members by the year 2020.At year end 2019 the LDS church reached a mere 16.5 million members, less than half of the number projected by these social scientists.What Happened?This is the topic of the next several episodes of the Latter Day Struggles Podcast.In this specific episode, Nathan and Val offer an overview of six “misses” that the research team did not account for and then they break down each general area:  including (but not limited to) serious issues of member retention, a significant drop in child-of-record baptisms,  the shrinking size of the church’s missionary force, unexpected shrinking LDS fertility rates, and skewed membership record keeping practices.IN FRIDAY’S EPISODE Nathan and Val tackle the topic of church growth specifically in Africa (the LDS church’s current missionary growth emphasis) and put the LDS church’s relative success in this geographic area in context by looking at the astronomical growth in Africa of two “cousin” church traditions—the Seventh Day Adventist’s and the Jehovah’s Witnesses.Nathan and Val then discuss some valid reasons why these other faith traditions might be enjoying exponentially more growth in Africa and how the LDS church might benefit from learning from their religious counterparts, who seemed to have cracked some codes in multicultural membership growth and retention.Link to the article analyzed in this series⁠The End of Growth? Fading Prospects for Latter-day Saint Expansion, David G. Stewart, Jr., University of Nevada, Las Vegas⁠Info on how to subscribe to listen to Friday’s episode is directly below.  See you there!Support the showListen, Share, Rate & Review EPISODES Friday Episodes Annual Subscription $89 Friday Episodes Monthly Subscription $10 Valerie’s Support & Processing Groups Donate: ⁠Venmo or Patreon⁠ Visit our Website

Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: Valerie’s Personal Journey [Part I of II]Join Val and fellow therapist Brannon Patrick this week as Brannon interviews Valerie about her first year accidentally diving into the deep end as a professional voice speaking respectfully but directly on behalf of thousands of individuals in the LDS faith and trust crisis and expansion space.In those two episodes Valerie responds to a variety of personal questions including (but not limited to): Her own experiences finding herself a in a role speaking at the intersection of good psychology, a call for healthy theology, with a keen understanding of the dynamics of healthy and unhealthy organizations.How she has navigated activity in the church.Her and Brannon’s experience first deciding to work together and then his deciding to no longer work with her and their touching conclusions about this tough relational period.Her experience with the very real possibility of burnout in this highly emotional work.Her reasons for committing so much time and nurture to the support and processing group process and the unintended benefits of this experience for her as a facilitatorHer and Nathan’s journey as a couple, evolving parents, and working together on the podcastVal’s thoughts on the possibility of church discipline due to her ministryAnd much more! Latter Day Struggles Podcast Episodes mentioned in this episode as most impactful for Valerie:Latter Day Struggles Podcast Episode 118: Stumbling Blocks and the Book of Mormon with Paul Toscano—Part IV⁠Latter Day Struggles Podcast Episode 126: A Glimpse into the Spiritual Journey of LDS Theologian Fiona GivensInfo on how to subscribe to listen to Friday’s episode is directly below.  See you there!Support the showListen, Share, Rate & Review EPISODES Friday Episodes Annual Subscription $89 Friday Episodes Monthly Subscription $10 Valerie’s Support & Processing Groups Donate: ⁠Venmo or Patreon⁠ Visit our Website