They embedding a religious worldview in my family culture that many of us who resonate with the best bits of Mormonism mourn for as we watch the beating heart of this potential world religion leave the dying institutional Church as it bleeds out… and then discover that it continues to live on in the thriving online and personal communities of the LDS Church in Exile. 

As always, my message is that you were never stupid to have loved this religion and its remarkable potential, and you are not stupid to be disappointed and exasperated at how badly it has screwed up, becoming everything it taught us in Primary and Seminary to avoid and oppose.

In this final conversation Paul shares his conclusions about the Godhead that the text of the Book of Mormon actually describes, and it’s nothing like the ‘Fullness of the Gospel’ deity the LDS Church thinks it is telling us to believe in.  We also talk about the what a final judgement may involve when administered by a merciful deity who is rooting for us to learn and grow and become like them. 

In this penultimate episode we try to make some sense of 5 of the biggest conundrums in Mormon theology:  

1 - How is God male and female?

2 - Who actually is Jehovah in the Temple Endowment?

3 - Disentangling who is what in the several different Mormon Godheads

4 - Who exactly is who in the world planning scene in the Book of Abraham?

5 - The nature of the Atonement of Christ.  

Mormon Doctrines can be a lot wilder than even I imagined. And along the way Paul says something so profound and comforting I have already made a meme of it.

As we continue to ponderize how to integrate the religiously ideal with the real in our normal lives, Paul and I discuss what it means to base a religion on the glory described in Mormon scriptures of truth, light and freedom to think for yourself rather than Lucifer’s religion of militaristic acclaim for conquering and controlling other people. What a Mormonism of open minded curiosity and respect for science blesses you with compared to the miserable and lonely certainties of judgmental fundamentalism, even if it seems less secure.  

In this meaty episode we explore all kinds of aspects of what taking the LDS temple endowment’s promises seriously can unlock for autonomous, ordained men and women empowered to free themselves from authoritarian control by General Authorities and instead replace them as the democratic, equal ‘Quorum of the Anointed’ Joseph Smith originally established. We reflect on what Community of Christ has pioneered in making Common Consent actually work as a leadership and decision-making philosophy.  What President Russell M. Nelson said when challenged by journalists to have more inclusive leadership of the Church, and what they did to heroic Elder Ronald E. Poelman of the Seventy when he dared to teach this model of mature autonomy separating the institutional Church from the true Gospel in General Conference in actual 1984.  You couldn’t make it up. 

In the first of a 2-parter we start to learn what Paul Toscano means by ‘Chapel Priesthoods’ and ‘Temple Priesthoods’.  After a much more sophisticated beginning, how did the LDS leaders establish a male-only, correlated bureaucracy that tightly controls every expression of priesthood authority and blessing?

And is there any way for an asphyxiating Church, and particularly women, to escape its iron grip?

How do you solve a problem like Joseph Smith?  Can a master manipulator, con artist, skilful storyteller, sexual predator, financial fraudster, and destroyer of printing presses also be a prophet of God?  The Apologists for the LDS Church have had to concede enormous amounts of territory in recent decades to acknowledge his many flaws, but is their rather weak pleading to ‘give Brother Joseph a break’ by saying we cannot know his true motivations, and that ‘the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there’, really a good enough excuse?  Surely God could have chosen someone much less conflicted and controversial than HIM for such an important job?  Joseph was more successful than many religious founders, but he also sowed the landmines of Mormonism’s failure to become a world religion from the start.  …BUT… he also gave us scriptures about change, accountability and democracy that could have neutralised a lot of that damage if his successors had applied them. 

We grapple with it all… and we just about save ourselves from being blood-atoned by Magnificent Maven and the Feminist Mormon Housewives. 

In this episode we wrestle with the conflicting qualities required of the leaders of a religion.  Ideally they need to balance a mystical sensitivity for the divine, a calling to challenge society to do better and champion the interests of the poor and oppressed as social justice warriors, a duty to protect and pass on sacred rituals, and the ability to manage practical day to day administrative and financial matters.  Is it possible for anyone to have all these skills?  How have we ended up with a leadership oligarchy that only seems to care about being, and promoting, managers, yet isn’t even very competent at management?  

Is it their fault?  Or simply inevitable when the Common Consent checks and balances on power commanded by the Church’s constitution in the Doctrine and Covenants have been abandoned so, as warned in those scriptures, the LDS General Authorities have mostly become absolutely corrupted by absolute power with no accountability?  Have any real prophets made it to the top of this system to give us hope?  How can we do better?

If it is not accurate, literal history, why should we still bother with the Book of Mormon as metaphorically or religiously useful literature? After all, we can learn dozens of profoundly helpful and ‘true’ life lessons about self-sacrifice, love, courage, compassion, salvation, ethical complexity and what to do with power from The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Shakespeare, The Handmaid’s Tale, Battlestar Galactica or Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Novels.  And those are much more beautifully written and fun to follow than most of the Mormon scriptures.

We may struggle to tell the difference between dreams and visions, but do we need to? 

In this third of 12 conversations we discuss how to have a rational faith.  What is the difference between using our intellectual reasoning and imagination rooted in all available evidence and lived experience to construct and evolve a belief system personally or collectively, and a much less credible religion based on fantasies disconnected from evidence and science? 

And I ruminate on the pros and cons of Paul’s couplet ‘Theology Can’t Save Us.  Love Saves Us.’

In this second of 12 conversations we explore the ultimate theological conundrum:  If religion and Gods are real rather than a human invention to help us cope with our own inevitable deaths, how are we to bridge the gap between our existence as limited mortal animals trapped in a brief space-time continuum or timeline with a beginning and an end, and the existence of a God that is eternal and is not limited like that?  And how can we and a God have both imperfect and mortal and perfectly eternal aspects of ourselves as part of our natures at the same time?  Quantum physics and theology are both pointing to lots of ways this could be real… but why even care when the religion that taught us about God and our immortal souls in the first place is doing all 17 of the things New Testament Jesus specifically commanded religious leaders never to do?  

The Church's public reputation has transformed in just one year of mayhem from harmless conservative Mom 'n Apple Pie wholesomeness into a blood-soaked tabloid horror show, but there are much deeper connections between what these apparent extremists are teaching and doing and the mainstream Latter-day Saints and General Authorities than most people realise. 

What if in reality the First Presidency are teaching that the racist ban on anyone with a single black African ancestor being ordained to the priesthood or allowed to receive temple ordinances WAS God's commandment all along? What if Ahmad Corbitt is quoted front and centre in the current Institute curriculum saying exactly the same things that Brad did about the racism, and much worse? What if that same curriculum and same First Presidency have admitted that LDS prophets make up their own inaccurate nonsense and teach it as doctrine so often they should just stop even trying to explain or justify ANY of their commandments.... but we should all still
unconditionally obey them anyway? 

You REALLY couldn't make it up. It's back to the future for LDS racism. It’s back to the future for “When the Prophet speaks, the thinking has been done.”  It's all more whackadoodle than even I suspected... and my expectations are astonishingly low!

We also have some serious thoughts and fun with superstar Mormon historian Patrick Mason's startling suggestion that he and his academic peers should really be the ones running the Church and deciding its theology while the General Authorities concentrate on using their lawyer and Business Management skills to do the admin.  And I have to admit that this is basically what has been going on for years already.

What does it reveal about the state of ideological and numerical collapse in the LDS Church today, and how the leaders are trying to persuade the kids not to leave? 

We also take a Jubilee Bonus canter through the 7 lies Susan Bednar's Husband told in 20 minutes during the first appearance by an LDS General Authority before the National Press Club in 22 years on 26 May 2022 among other treats, including my attempt to read the Prologue of the Canterbury Tales in Middle English! 

No foxes were shouted at in the making of this episode.

- 25 brilliant ideas in Mormonism that are worth fighting to defend and restore!

- How exactly we could make the reconstruction happen in time before defeat becomes inevitable?

It was a great event with lots of fun and games with the Britvengers and inspiring presentations and talks by everyone from lovely English emeritus Community of Christ Apostle Andrew Bolton, recently excommunicated LDS sex and relationships counsellor Natasha Helfer, Community of Christ First Presidency member Stassi Cramm and my always thoughtful and wise emeritus Maidstone Stake President David Eton.  Sunstone is a great opportunity to meet and learn from people all over the Mormon family and spectrum from orthodox Latter-day Saints to wild rebels. 

It was wonderful to finally spend time in person with my podcasting Britvenger collaborators Nemo the Mormon, Alana Wilson Bryce and Jane Christie the Scottish '21st Century Saints' and the hilarious new kid once-bishop Priesthood Dispatches, who had us in stitches.  Thankyou Julian and Laura Heath for running Sunstone UK now and doing a fantastic job of it. 

The desire to have LDS Mormonism globally and in he UK deal with its dysfunctions and be much more healthy is becoming an organised movement.  It is really encouraging to see so many others stepping up to hold our leaders accountable and contributing their unique perspectives and talents to the cause.  Please consider joining it in whatever way works for you if you care about Mormonism's health and survival in our country as time to turn it around is quickly running out. 

My amazing wife Lynn took a big step at our ward conference on Sunday and bossed it like Boudicca standing up twice to calmly but firmly vote opposed to the current First Presidency and the 12 Apostles who are not holding them accountable for their ongoing lying, control freakery, leader-worship and stealing (the Ensign Peak slush fund has grown rapidly to $140 BILLION now and still not a penny of it has been spent on helping a single person or saving the shrinking Church.  At current rates of growth it will be $1 Trillion in 30 years).  Freedom Fairy is spreading her wings and the world had better watch out!  

I was giddy with excitement when my Stake President formally invited me to write to the First Presidency if I wished to appeal against his decision to excommunicate me.  There is so much I want them to know about our real experiences, and the havoc they are wreaking upon my family and the Church in my country.   Whoever it is that does wind up reading it, I determined that they will be taken on a mind expanding journey!  And if Presidents Nelson, Oaks or Eyring do actually read it, you can rest assured that they HAVE been told.  They have been told precisely what they are getting wrong that is crashing the Church’s active membership and credibility with the next generation. They have been told what they could do to save the Church.  They have been invited to retire or radically reform.  And they have been invited to answer the 3 simple questions my CES Director Stake President has repeatedly refused or been unable to answer, and excommunicated me for publicly asking.  In a gripping sequel to Jeremy Runnells’ ‘Letter to a CES Director’, MY letter to a CES Director is now a ‘Letter to the First Presidency.’  ...I’ve become a bit competitive since being cast into Outer Darkness as a dangerous apostate!

Pop your popcorn, slurp on a caffeinated soda and enjoy the ride intrepid listeners!

- MANSPLAINING MANIFEST DESTINY ON THE SPECTRUM 

- DARING HOAX AND THE MUSKET MADNESS

- INVALIDATING THE VALEDICTORIANS

- IT’S TIME TO SPEAK IN A TIME OF WAR

1 – AWE AT THE NATURE OF OUR EXISTENCE.  

2 – THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM BUILDS A BRIDGE TO MODERN ASTROPHYSICS.  

3 – SCIENCE HAS NOW MADE PLAUSIBLE EVERY KEY COMPONENT OF A RELIGIOUS REALITY.  

4 –A ROBUST ANSWER TO THE AGE OLD PHILOSOPHICAL POBLEM OF EVIL                       

5 - OUR SCRIPTURES ABOUT METAPHYSICS INTENTIONALLY CROSS THE BOUNDARY INTO PHYSICS – TRUE SCIENCE REALLY IS TRUE RELIGION IN THE BOOK OF MORMON

6 – The BOOK OF MORMON IN ALMA 32 TEACHES US TO USE THE ACTUAL SCIENTIFIC METHOD TO GROW A RELIGIOUS TESTIMONY

7 – MORMONISM HAS A COSMOLOGY AND PURPOSE FOR OUR EXISTENCE THAT HAS FAR MORE IN COMMON WITH THE EASTERN RELIGIONS THAN MAINSTREAM CHRISTIANITY DOES    

8 - IN THE TEMPLE WE GO FULLY ANIMIST AND CATHOLIC. 

9 – MORMONISM’S FEEMASONRY CONNECTIONS ARE A GOOD THING! 

10 - MORMONISM EMBRACES THE REAL TIMELINE OF THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF CIVILIZATION.

This minisode 6C has a lot of laughs and hope as it takes a close look at the the Church's ACTUAL Thought Police - they are a real thing - who monitor and keep files on Church members speaking or writing thought crimes and then lean on local leaders to excommunicate the thought criminals, and then takes a deep dive into some of the most awesome aspects of how Mormonism is meant to be - a fearless and open minded religion scouring the earth to learn truth from anyone and everyone and make it part of our own, which if we practiced that instead of the opposite could make ours a religion to fill the world in the 21st century information age. And it ends with a survey quiz - find out if you are a Christian Mormon or a Pharisee Mormon!

- WHITE MALE CISGENDER HETERONORMATIVE PRIVILEGE

- PONDERISE EMERITISE AND DECOLONISE