Show notes
In this seven-part series, Trevor Haugen shares and analyzes his March 3, 2017 meeting at LDS Church headquarters with General Authority Elder Don R. Clarke (his former mission president) and LDS Church historian Dr. Matthew J. Grow, director of publications at the Church History Department and general editor of the Joseph Smith Papers, as they attempt to address his mounting concerns with troubling Mormon history and doctrine.
This episode. Part 4b: Trevor and John conclude: polygamy and polyandry, prophetic authority, tithing and church finances, Trevor's decision to release the recording and the fallout, and his conclusions about his future relationship with the church.
Part 1: Trevor discusses his life as an orthodox Mormon believer, including his mission service, his temple marriages, the beginning of his faith crisis, and how he came to request a meeting with a General Authority.
Part 2a: The audio recording of the March 3, 2017 meeting between Elder Clarke, Dr. Grow and Trevor, recorded legally by Trevor. Topics include spiritual witness and how truth is known, the Book of Abraham, Book of Mormon origins and Lamanite identity, prophecy and evidence, polygamy and polyandry, prophetic authority, tithing and church finances.
Part 2b: Trevor and Dr. John Dehlin begin walking through the meeting: its date and setting, the appeal to spiritual witness, and the Book of Abraham arguments.
Part 3a: Recorded live on March 24, 2017, a panel of Lindsay Hansen Park (Year of Polygamy, Sunstone), historian John Hamer and Glenn Ostlund (Infants on Thrones), moderated by Dr. John Dehlin, reacts to the recording: how the meeting was framed, spiritual witness versus evidence, the Book of Abraham, what Joseph Smith meant by "translation," and whether facts alone can settle these questions.
Part 3b: Trevor and John continue through the meeting: Book of Mormon origins and historicity, Lamanite identity and racial language in scripture, prophecy and the credibility of witnesses, and the church's use of its own scholars.
Part 4a: The panel continues with polygamy and polyandry, Doctrine and Covenants 132, Joseph Smith's youngest wives, Elder Clarke's warning about raising children outside the church, prophets and the Hofmann forgeries, and closing reflections on why members seek the church's validation of the facts.
Note: When this series was first released in March 2017, the recording (Part 2a) and the panel discussion (Parts 3a and 4a) were taken down shortly after release and replaced by Parts 2b to 4b. The recording was legal under Utah law, and the complete series was restored in September 2026.
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