Sunstone Podcast

Utah’s first AIDS cases were confirmed in 1983. How did gay and lesbian people in Utah respond to this new disease? How did the LDS Church respond? J. Seth Anderson presents an overview of this tragic part of Utah’s history. This episode was recorded at the 2017 Sunstone Summer Symposium. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/SLP-134.mp3

What if we could free polygamy from patriarchy and inequality? In this episode, Brady Williams and Blaire Ostler talk about how we could greatly expand the definition of this odd Mormon concept to make room for more types of relationships. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/SLP-133.mp3

Stephen Carter found a copy of “The Miracle of Forgiveness” at DI . . . and read it. How does the book that launched a million bishop confessions sound more than 50 years after publication? And how has the very idea of forgiveness changed along the way? https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/SLP-132.mp3

https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/SLP-131.mp3 When people leave the LDS Church, they rarely go join another church. Why do ex-Mormons go from “all in” to “all out”? Ryan Wimmer presents his ideas in this episode, recorded at the 2018 Sunstone Summer Symposium.

After working with Helen Whitney on the PBS documentary “The Mormons,” Whitney told Greg Prince, “You have a good religion, but you need to own it. Most of its members are borrowing it.” In this episode, Prince reflects on what it means to own one’s religion. Recorded at the 2018 Sunstone Summer Symposium. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/SLP-130.mp3

How many of your beliefs, words, and actions are driven not by your self, but by your context? Social psychologist Peter Leavitt proposes some disconcerting answers, giving us more reason question ourselves as well as more reason to be compassionate with others. This episode was recorded at the 2018 Sunstone Summer Symposium. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/SLP-129.mp3

After an LDS apostle suggested the existence of “counterfeit families,” Sunstone sponsored a conference that gave many types of families a voice. In this episode, LaShawn Williams, Jerilyn Hassell Pool, Brady Williams, Richard Ostler, and Weston Clark talk about their unique families. This episode was recorded at the 2018 Sunstone Summer Symposium. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/SLP-128.mp3

https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/SLP-127.mp3 During early Utah’s “Mormon Reformation,” LDS leaders whipped the Saints into a religious fervor. Along with this reformation came an unprecedented spate of polygamous marriages. Scholar John G. Turner tells the story of the run-up and fallout of this matrimonial frenzy. This episode was recorded at the 2016 Sunstone Summer Symposium.

https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/SLP-126.mp3 Will the personality we develop in mortal life have any kind of staying power in the post-mortal life? Stephen Carter uses the television series “Severance” to explore the possibilities.

https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/SLP-125.mp3 Who was living in Salt Lake Valley when the Mormon pioneers arrived? What relationships existed between the Mormons and the Natives during Utah’s settlement? Forrest Cuch talks about the role generational trauma played in Utah’s settlement and how can we reconcile the difficulties of Utah’s past. This episode was recorded at the 2018 Sunstone Summer Symposium.