A Thoughtful Faith - Mormon / LDS

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276: The Naked Pastor: David Hayward Jan 17, 2019

Show notes

David Hayward is popularly known by his cartoons, his blog, and his books as The NakedPastor.
He started his ministry as a seminarian, an ordained minister and a pastor. But when David began to experience his own faith changes, complicating his relationship with the church, he walked away from full-time ministry and began his work as a 'graffiti artist on the walls of religion.'

And for many years he his drawn his way through his own difficult relationship with the church that he both loves and laments.

275: Spiritual Formation through the Liturgical Year: Maxine Hanks Jan 07, 2019

Show notes

When Maxine Hanks returned to the LDS Church after being excommunicated with the September 6 in 1993, she returned to the LDS Church having taken a spiritual formation pathway in the Gnostic tradition. One of her great passions upon her return to Mormonism has been to surface the LDS Church's own spiritual formation pathway.

In this discussion, we consider the Liturgical Calendar, so important to the sacramental traditions. We consider what the 'church year' from Advent to Pentecost, can offer us in helping us live more intuitively into the story of Jesus Christ and thus more kindly attend to our personal spiritual journeys.

274b: A Complex Spirituality: A Guided Meditation Dec 31, 2018

Show notes

Join Sarah Hughes-Zabawa in this guided meditation to accompany our discussion about Fowler's Stage Five.

274: A Complex Spirituality: Fowler's Stage Five: Sara Hughes-Zabawa Dec 31, 2018

Show notes

Sara Hughes-Zabawa and I discuss a spirituality that pays attention to both the church's tendency to spiritually wound and spiritually enliven. We discuss Fowler's Stage Five in the context of spiritual practice and suggest those moves that we can make to support our living with a complex spirituality that refuses the easy binaries and judgements of either/or and right/wrong.

273: Advent Study: A Faithful Witness of Spiritual Change: Royleane Otteson Dec 31, 2018

Show notes

Royleane Otteson joins me to discuss how to be a faithful witness to another's spiritual journey. Using the Advent reading of Elizabeth and Zechariah as a story of community witness, we unpack what friendship means to those of us who have embarked on our own journeys of spiritual seeking.

272: A Māori Reflection on LDS Church Culture and Discipline: Mahuika, Rangiwai, Hikairo Dec 12, 2018

Show notes

Without any effort to contextualize or indigenize the LDS Church in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Māori are often asked to accept ways of being that get imported from Utah. This 'Utah' worldview is too often presented to LDS Māori as the way Jesus Christ would do things and is called the 'Gospel Culture.'
But the effect of the 'Gospel Culture' is to alienate Māori from those ways of being that support Māori well-being. This lack of interest in Māori ways of being Mormon bears all of the hallmarks of religious and spiritual colonization.

Dr. Byron Rangiwai, Dr. Nepia Mahuika and TeRata Hikairo discuss LDS Church practices, policies and discipline through the lens of Tikanga Māori.

271: Meditations for Advent Week Two: England and Beh Dec 11, 2018

Show notes

Advent marks the beginning of the Church year, and Jody England Hansen and Melissa Beh join me to discuss the Way of Love as part of our Advent Study series.
This week we found ourselves discussing the feminine journey of the Way of Love and that defining moment when two surprised and expectant mothers (Mary and Elizabeth) meet to affirm each other's journey with blessing.

270: Serving Up Children to Paedophiles: The LDS Church and the West Virginia Michael Jensen Sex Abuse Case: Tom and Juliette Nov 21, 2018

Show notes

Lawyer Tim Kosnoff, recently remarked that he thought that churches largely were harmless. That was until he uncovered a system of cover-ups, and he witnessed first hand the immoral and callous lengths that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will go to deny the rights of sexual abuse victims to seek justice.
Tom and Juliette were an ordinary family in Michael Jensen's Mormon community when they were asked to provide a home for him.
What they didn't know was that they were harbouring a paedophile with prior convictions and numerous criminal allegations of sexual assault and abuse against him. What surprised and horrified them was that their church leaders had known of his abuses for years and they said nothing.
With Tim Kosnoff at their side, they took the LDS Church on in court and what they experienced was shocking and life-changing.

269: What are they doing with Mormon tithing in the UK? Chris Mace Nov 19, 2018

Show notes

In the United Kingdom, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a registered Charity overseen by the Charity Commission. This means it is must provide a public benefit and it needs to be transparent.
But the LDS Church in the UK is anything but transparent and rather than present the accounts to its membership for discussion it observes the mandatory public reporting regulations but doesn't tell all interested parties of its availability. And there's good reason because a decent look at the accounts reveals a concerted effort to carry on its activities in the United Kingdom as if it were a US corporation sole with no public accountability.

In this discussion, Chris Mace joins me once again to dive into the public record to see what the latest figures and sums reveal about the LDS Church's financial operations in the United Kingdom.

268: What Do Your Temple Garments Mean to You? : Nancy Ross and Jessica Finnigan Nov 12, 2018

Show notes

A few years ago, Nancy Ross and Jessica Finnigan set about trying to find out something about the relationship that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have with their temple garments. Around 4,500 Mormons responded to their question "What do your garments mean to you?"
Out of the survey data emerged some very strong themes, and to discuss their research Nancy Ross and Jessica Finnigan join me for a very interesting discussion about Mormon underwear.

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