LDS Church member Beatrice Sparks published two wildly popular diaries of teen drug abuse and Satanism: “Go Ask Alice” and “Jay’s Journal.” But the diaries, and Beatrice herself, were much more complicated than they appeared. Using Rick Emerson’s book “Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World’s Most Notorious Diaries,” Stephen Carter delves into just how Mormon the Beatrice Sparks phenomenon was. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/SLP-138.mp3...
Dec 28, 20220
Utah has often been called the ‘fraud capital of the world.” In this episode, Ryan McKnight takes us on a tour of Utah’s worst fraudsters—all of them LDS. Recorded at the 2018 Sunstone Summer Symposium. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SLP-137.mp3
Dec 06, 20220
They’re embedded in a patriarchal church, so shouldn’t Mormon men be the very definition of toxic masculinity? In this episode, Stephen Carter explores the surprising ways Mormon masculinity has shifted over the past few years. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SLP-136.mp3
Nov 14, 20220
In the Book of Abraham, the gods create intelligences and put them into human bodies. Humans are now creating intelligences. But the intelligences we create could have the capacity to destroy us. Ross Richey shows how this could change the way we think about the Plan of Salvation. This episode was recorded at the 2018 Sunstone Summer Symposium. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SLP-135.mp3
Nov 07, 20220
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
Nov 04, 20220
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
Oct 25, 20220
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
Oct 07, 20220
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.
Oct 07, 20220
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
Sep 21, 20220
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
Sep 15, 20220
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
Sep 15, 20220
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.
Aug 25, 20220
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.
Aug 16, 20220
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....
Jul 21, 20220
In this episode, Zina Bennion and Sara Hanks talk about their journeys from being Mormons to being witches, and how their upbringing still affects the way they practice and believe now. This episode was recorded at the 2019 Sunstone Summer Symposium. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/SLP-124.mp3
Jun 21, 20220
https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/SLP-123.mp3 It would probably surprise both the prophet Mormon and Dustin Lance Black to know how much they have in common. In this episode, Stephen Carter shows how the similarities between Under the Banner of Heaven and the the Book of Mormon should encourage Latter-day Saints to give the television series a chance....
Jun 13, 20220
How important is the “historical” in historical fiction? Three historians, Barbara Jones Brown, Bryan Buchanan, and Cheryl Bruno, talk with Stephen Carter about the historical inaccuracies in Under the Banner of Heaven and whether they were worth it.
Jun 06, 20220
Mormon fundamentalism plays a shadowy, menacing part in Under the Banner of Heaven. This episode gathers Vicki Darger, Benjamin Shaffer, Shirlee Draper, and Moroni Lopez Jessop, all either current or former fundamentalists, to talk about the realities of current-day Mormon fundamentalism, temple ceremonies, blood atonement, and polygamy.
Jun 03, 20220
Lindsay Hansen Park interviews two actors who took on iconic Mormon roles for “Under the Banner of Heaven”: Tyner Rushing as Emma Hale Smith, and Scott Michael Campbell as Brigham Young. Did one of them really end up in Relief Society one Sunday?
May 17, 20220
Stephen Carter and his ex-Mormon brother walked into the Washington DC Temple open house, and what they saw on the walls changed the way they perceive the LDS Church forever. No ex-Mormons were re-converted in the making of this episode.
May 13, 20220
In this episode, S. Richard Bellrock argues that the LDS proselytizing mission hits all the right buttons at all the right times to be a bona fide instance of hazing, with both hazing’s benefits and drawbacks.
May 04, 20220
Most Mormons are suspicious of postmodernism. But Mormon apologists have actually made use of it to defend the faith. How in the world did they do it? Will it backfire? Taylor Petrey takes us on a tour of this fraught relationship in this 2019 Sunstone Summer Symposium recording.
Apr 20, 20220
Stephen Carter believes that a Canadian horror film holds the key to escaping any faith crisis. But will it turn you into a zombie?
Apr 12, 20220
In this episode, scholar Reza Aslan examines how the idea of gods arose in human evolution, was gradually personalized, endowed with human traits and emotions, and eventually transformed into a single Divine Personality. This episode was recorded at the 2019 Sunstone Summer Symposium.
Mar 31, 20220
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.
Mar 28, 20220
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.
Mar 08, 20220
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.
Feb 28, 20220
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...
Feb 15, 20220
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.
Feb 08, 20220
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.
Jan 31, 20220
