Sunstone Podcast

Ten years ago, President Thomas S. Monson opened the City Creek Shopping Center across from Temple Square with the immortal words, “Let’s go shopping!” Where is the line between the sacred and the secular in Mormonism? Matthew Bowman explores that question in this week’s episode. Recorded at the 2019 Sunstone Summer Symposium.

According to Paula Baker, the LDS Church is trying to become more empathetic. But when is empathy real and when is it fake? Baker explores the differences and how they could apply to an LDS context. This episode was part of a session at the 2021 Sunstone Summer Symposium.

As more people experience faith transitions, many LDS couples find themselves grieving over their suddenly mixed-faith marriages. In this episode, eight therapists and life coaches give both personal and professional insights into honoring the challenging and the beautiful aspects of differing beliefs in a marriage. This episode was recorded at the 2020 Sunstone Summer Symposium.

A recent Pew Research poll showed that 72% of Americans believe in a literal heaven, 58% in a literal hell. Most people who hold these beliefs are Christian and assume they are the age-old teachings from the Bible. But eternal rewards and punishments are found nowhere in the Old Testament and are not what Jesus or his disciples taught. In this episode, Dr. Bart D. Erhman unfolds the history of post-mortality, drawing from his latest book, Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife. This episode comes from the 2020 Sunstone Summer Symposium.

The largest massacre of Native Americans by federal troops in the history of the United States took place in Cache Valley, Idaho, and it was both invited and condoned by the Mormons settling the area. Darren Parry, author of “The Bear River Massacre: A Shoshone History,” tells the story of that day on this episode of the Sunstone Podcast. This episode comes from the 2020 Sunstone Summer Symposium.

Heather Robertson and Christina Dee, both practicing members of the LDS Church, have experienced a significant shift in their approach to the LGBTQ community. This is their story. This episode comes from the 2020 Sunstone Summer Symposium.

Most people see their faith journey as taking them away from religion. But, using The Matrix, The Hobbit, and Star Wars, Stephen Carter uncovers evidence that faith journeys have something completely different up their sleeves.

It seems like every general conference is the same, but data analytics tells us otherwise. Quentin Spencer talks about the surprising things the prophets have stopped talking about during the past 80 years. This episode is a recording from the 2020 Sunstone Summer Symposium.

Susan Meredith Hinckley used to feel like she needed a bigger church, but behind that need was a more fundamental one: the need for a larger God. Regaining her spiritual footing after her children left Mormonism has required a new kind of faith: a turning away from the confines of what she had been taught and toward what she has seen and lived for herself. This episode is a session from the 2020 Sunstone Summer Symposium.

What is it like to grow up as a “Lamanite” in the LDS Church? Sarah Newcomb talks about her complicated history as a seventh-generation Native American Mormon in this recording of a 2020 Sunstone Summer Symposium session.