Sunstone Podcast

The LDS Church has an actual policy of never apologizing. Is it just to ward off lawsuits, or is something deeper going on? In this episode, Stephen Carter uncovers the roots of this policy and its surprising consequences.

In 2019, Kyle Ashworth released the “On the Record” project (lattergaystories.org/record), a detailed chronology of quotes and messaging about LGBTQIA+ issues from the LDS Church. In this episode, Ashworth takes us on a whirlwind tour of that history. Recorded at the 2021 Sunstone Symposium.

Most discussions about faith transitions center on adults. But what about the children of these parents? After his own faith transition, Jon Ogden wrestled with how he and his wife could best raise their kids — particularly while living in Utah County. In this episode, recorded at the 2021 Sunstone Symposium, Ogden shares lessons he and others have learned while building a new community and curriculum for their children.

Many people who transition from orthodox Mormonism to either post or nuanced positions often look back on their sexual journey and feel that a lot of their decisions were co-opted by the Church. And now they’re dealing with grief, anger, feelings of betrayal, and the “what if?” syndrome. This episode addresses some of the common “what if’s?” that people deal with and how to move into healthier paradigms. Presenters include Natasha Helfer, Sara Hughes-Zabawa, Jennifer White, and Jenny Elledge. This episode was recorded at the 2020 Sunstone Digital Symposium.

To believe is to be human. But belief has a price—one that has risen higher and higher in recent years. Can we afford it anymore? That’s the question Stephen Carter asks as he explores Amanda Montell’s book “Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism.”

“Queer polygamy” is probably one of the most provocative phrases you could throw into an LDS conversation. But Blaire Ostler thinks it can open up constructive new ways of reimagining the ways we relate to each other. In this episode, Ostler and professor of religion Taylor Petrey unpack this phrase and explore its possibilities.

The idea that our spirits are the literal offspring of heavenly parents is found nowhere in LDS scripture or the writings, sermons, and contemporaneous teachings of Joseph Smith. In fact, the theology of Smith’s King Follett Discourse undermines the doctrine. Drawing from LDS scripture and Smith’s famous sermon, Rob Lauer presents a Mormon theology that fully embraces and celebrates people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Recorded at the 2021 Sunstone Symposium.

Liz Brown MacDonald interviewed fifteen young adults from rigidly religious homes who had left the LDS Church and was amazed by how many similarities their stories had. For example, the lengths the children would go to to cover up their disaffiliation with the church; the way their parents would blame themselves for the children’s disaffiliation; the heartbreak that attended both parents and children. What could the LDS Church do to alleviate this suffering? This episode is from the 2021 Sunstone Summer Symposium.

Displays showing the remains of Native Americans were pretty normal in LDS museums for many decades. In this episode, Thomas Murphy gives a brief history of how these displays came to be, who protested them, and why repatriation is finally starting to happen. This episode is from the 2021 Sunstone Symposium.

Is an LGBTQ worldview more Mormon than Mormonism these days? After reading Blaire Ostler’s book “Queer Mormon Theology,” Stephen Carter thinks so. In this episode, Stephen follows some of Ostler’s concepts to discover some startling compatibilities between the LGBTQ and LDS worldviews.