Faith Matters

Latest Episodes:

54. Finding Mother God - Carol Lynn Pearson Sep 13, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, we got to speak with Carol Lynn Pearson about her new book, "Finding Mother God: Poems to Heal the World."
Carol Lynn has been a powerful and well-known voice in the Latter-day Saint community for many years. She’s perhaps most well known for her memoir "Goodbye, I Love You," about her marriage to and care for her husband Gerald, a gay man who died of AIDS in 1984. Her full catalog of works is too impressive to list here, but one other highlight is that she wrote one of our very favorite primary songs: "I’ll Walk with You," which has recently been published as a children’s book.
Carol Lynn’s new book of Poetry, "Finding Mother God," is incredibly moving — Carol Lynn found a way to somehow simultaneously mourn and celebrate the way we interact with Heavenly Mother, both personally and in community. We found ourselves both laughing, crying, and everything in between as we read — and we can’t recommend the book highly enough.
Carol Lynn was kind enough to read several of her poems and discuss them with us — we were only able to get through a few of our long list of favorites, but we think you’ll find her words and insights inspiring, and hope you pick up the book to find your own favorites.
Thanks so much to Carol Lynn for coming on, and we hope you enjoy this episode.
Finding Mother God: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1423656687
11:11 Asking Father

21:06 Before Prayer

29:08 Jesus Remembered

36:36 What to Do

40:04 Imagine

42:17 A Motherless House

46:07 First Thought of Me

The Christmas issue of Wayfare is now available to preorder! Order your copies (bulk discounts are available—it's the perfect gift!) or become a paid Wayfare subscriber by October 31 to receive them by the first Sunday of Advent, and get a look inside the issue here!

53. Depression and the Plan of Happiness - Jane Clayson Johnson Aug 23, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, we spoke with Jane Clayson Johnson about a really tough and important topic.

Jane is an award-winning journalist widely known for her work at CBS News, ABC News, and on the nationally syndicated NPR program, On Point. At CBS News, Jane was co-anchor of The Early Show, a regular correspondent for 48 Hours, and an investigative reporter for “Eye on America” segments for the CBS Evening News.

We spoke with Jane about her 2018 book Silent Souls Weeping, an incredibly important book that addresses depression, specifically within a Latter-day Saint context. In our discussion, Jane shared her own moving story about her struggle with depression, along with insights about how depression relates to missionaries and missionary work, a culture of perfectionism, social media usage, suicidality, and the stigma that still remains around mental health issues.

We’re so grateful to Jane for coming on and for her vulnerability and openness. If you or anyone you know struggles with depression, we invite you to listen to Jane’s message of hope, survival and resilience.

11:24 Depression and Feeling the Spirit

22:01 Finding Traction When Depressed

26:51 Having OCD While Serving a Mission

36:36 Dealing With Toxic Perfectionism

47:22 Returning To Our Wards During A Pandemic

52. The New Normal, Part 2 - Melissa Inouye Jul 18, 2020

Show notes

This episode is part 2 of our mini-series we’re calling “The New Normal.”

We spoke in Part 1 with Ashley Mae Hoiland a few weeks back. For this episode, we spoke with Melissa Inouye.

Melissa’s been on our podcast before, and is one of our very favorite guests and people. After receiving her Ph.D. from Harvard in 2011, Melissa became a Senior Lecturer in Asian Studies at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. She’s now working for the Church History Department, and last year published a new book called “Crossings."

In this conversation, Melissa shared with us her reflections on the crazy year we’ve had so far. The discussion we had was wide-ranging, and includes reflections on lockdown, home church, parenting, and even how we can use a lack of stability as a transformative experience.

We’re really grateful Melissa came on the podcast and are excited to share her insights. We hope you enjoy the conversation!

51. The Real Story of the Priesthood-Temple Ban - Terryl Givens with Paul Reeve Jun 30, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, Terryl Givens and Paul Reeve explore the history of the Church’s priesthood-temple ban that concluded in 1978.
Paul is the Simmons Professor of Mormon Studies at the University of Utah. His award-winning book, Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness, is considered by many the best book written to date on the subject.
Dr. Reeve has also written a fantastic essay that addresses how to make sense of our history of denying priesthood and temple blessings to our Black brothers and sisters. It’s a fascinating read—and you really shouldn’t miss it. You can view it on our website here:
https://faithmatters.org/making-sense-of-the-churchs-history-on-race/
In this episode, Paul and Terryl go both wide and deep on the priesthood-temple ban. Among other historical details, they discuss how the church was broadly criticized as being too inclusive in its early years—not white enough. This became a factor in Brigham Young’s 1852 decision to ban Black people from the priesthood and temple.
They also explore some of the explanations that developed in the church to explain the ban during its 126 year duration—and how each of these explanations have since been rejected and disavowed by the church.
We think this is an incredibly important and insightful episode. We suspect you’ll enjoy it.

50. Navigating the Church in an Interracial Marriage - Kimberly and Matt Teitter Jun 25, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, we speak with two amazing guests, Kimberly and Matt Teitter.
Matt and Kimberly have been married for ten years. Kimberly is a clinical psychologist at the Utah Center for Evidence Based Treatment, and Matt is an assistant principal, and Bishop of their ward in Salt Lake City.
In this episode, they discuss their experience as an interracial couple in the Church, their experience of privilege in the different roles they have, what it’s been like navigating local leadership right now, and how we can make our spaces safer for minorities of any kind
Even with their extremely busy schedule, Kimberly and Matt were kind enough to join us for a late night conversation. We just wanted to preface that they have two adorable kids, and in the podcast, you’ll hear some family sounds in the background as we talk. If you’d like to read a transcript of the conversation, head to the website at faithmatters.org and click on the post with this conversation.
We’re so grateful that Matt and Kimberly came on the podcast, and hope you enjoy the conversation.

49. Joanna Brooks - Understanding the Past to Create a Better Future Jun 16, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, we speak with Joanna Brooks, author of a new book exploring the Church's problematic history on the issue of race. Joanna holds a Ph.D. in English from UCLA. She’s the Associate Vice President for Faculty Advancement at San Diego State University, and has written or edited ten books on race, religion, gender, social movements, and American culture.
As we all continue to grapple with issues of race not just in America but in our own faith, we thought it was important to understand how we got where we are. Joanna helps us explore the history of the Church as it relates to race — she illustrates where we could and should have done better in addition to telling the stories of heroes who stood up against racism even at great personal cost.
We’re really grateful to Joanna for coming on the podcast, and for her willingness to share what she’s learned over many years of research. We hope you enjoy the conversation.
Resources:
Mormonism and White Supremacy, Joanna Brooks:
https://www.amazon.com/Mormonism-White-Supremacy-American-Innocence-ebook/dp/B08761ZHCP
The Color of Money, Mehrsa Baradaran
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076526LW5/
The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander
https://www.amazon.com/New-Jim-Crow-Incarceration-Colorblindness-ebook/dp/B086CFB2NT/
13th
https://www.netflix.com/title/80091741
When They See Us
https://www.innocenceproject.org/central-park-five-tragedy-reframed-in-netflix-series-when-they-see-us/
Between the World and Me, Ta-Nahisi Coates
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SEFAIRI/

48. Lord, Is It I? LaShawn Williams and Yahosh Bonner Jun 14, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, we speak with two amazing guests, LaShawn Williams and Yahosh Bonner.
In addition to the work they do in their communities, LaShawn is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Utah Valley University and Yahosh is the Athletic Director at American Heritage School and host of BYUtv’s Family Rules.
LaShawn and Yahosh discussed with us what it’s like to be a Black person in America and in the Church today, how we can healthily engage in introspection to find our own biases and shortcomings, and how we can move from listening and understanding to making a difference in our communities.
We’re so grateful that LaShawn and Yahosh came on the podcast, and hope you enjoy the conversation.

47. The New Normal, Part 1 - Ashley Mae Hoiland May 30, 2020

Show notes

The global Covid-19 pandemic has caused a huge amount of suffering and death. It’s disproportionately afflicted vulnerable and minority populations, and its second-order effects have destroyed livelihoods and wreaked economic havoc on society.

All of that remains true, and truly awful. But there has been an unexpected silver lining for many of us in which we’ve discovered new things about ourselves and our lives that only surfaced due to such an intense disruption.

In this episode, and a short series of episodes, we’ll be discussing the New Normal — we’re hoping to to find ways to take what we’ve learned and, as society begins to reopen, make sure we’re living intentionally and incorporating the best of what this period of stillness has brought us.

This first conversation is with Ashley Mae Hoiland, author of “One Hundred Birds Taught Me to Fly” and several other books. We’re really grateful that Ashmae came on — she shared some fantastic insights, and we hope you enjoy the conversation.

Links referenced:

Free prayer writing course and written prayer collection: https://ashmae.teachable.com/p/prayerwriting
Ashmae’s other work: https://minetotell.com/
Ashmae’s books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ashley+mae+hoiland

46. Belonging: On the Edge of Inside - with Jeralee Renshaw May 16, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, we have a conversation with our friend Jeralee Renshaw about what it means to be “on the edge of inside.”
In Richard Rohr’s wonderful essay on the topic, he says that one who lives on the edge of inside is “not an outsider throwing rocks, not a comfortable insider who defends the status quo, but one who lives precariously with two perspectives held tightly together.”
In referencing Martin Luther King, Jr., Dietrich Bonnhoeffer, Dorothy Day, and others, Rohr says: “they tend to be, each in their own way, orthodox… conservative, intellectuals, believers, but that very authentic inner experience and membership allows them to utterly critique the systems that they are a part of. [They] critiqued Christianity by the very values that they learned from Christianity.”
We’re really grateful Jeralee came on the podcast to discuss this important topic with us, and hope you enjoy the conversation.
01:58 What is the edge of inside?

14:30 Value(s) in discomfort

17:58 How to find belonging in church

24:37 The importance of local leadership

29:56 Patience in waiting it out

39:22 Drawing circles like Christ

45. In what way is our church the true church? May 02, 2020

Show notes

This episode is part of our Big Questions project, and in it, we discuss our Big Question #12 - “In what way is our church the true church?”
For this conversation, we asked Patrick Mason to come back on — Patrick is the Leonard Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University. Bill Turnbull, one of the founders of Faith Matters, also joined us for the conversation.
We know that this is a really big question for many Latter-day Saints, ourselves included — and if you’d like to explore more of what we’ve published on this subject, you can check out our website here:
https://faithmatters.org/the-big-questions-project/
Thanks so much, as always, for listening, and we hope you enjoy the conversation.
4:22 Is the concept of a “one true church” still relevant?

12:00 The problem with total exclusivity

18:12 In what sense is the Church true?

27:18 The Body of Christ today

31:29 A Methodist reads the Book of Mormon

38:01 The Gift of Saving Ordinances

43:58 Why the Church is as True as the Gospel