Will I get excommunicated for this rant about the ludicrous lawfare the Church of Christ of Latter-day Saints is waging on John Dehlin? (Let's hope so! I could use some media coverage!) I would have named this episode something cuter but I really want search engines to pick up because I want to support Mormon Stories. So, what the heck, eat these keywords you hungry bots: Mormon, LDS, Latter-day Saints, Open Stories Foundation, Mormon Church Sues Podcast, First Ammendment

Seriously though, for the benefit of the listener, that's not all I talk about in episode 12. Here's what this episode covers in a nutshell:

• How freaking easy it is to slip back into old patterns, for me that means high achieving Worky McWorkface.
• Changing careers midlife is as fun as being a child again, and even less profitable
• I played the game "Find the Irish Person" at a brewery convention AND WON! 🇮🇪
• Americans are embarrassingly self referential, myself included
• I'm going to have guests on the show starting next week!
• I'm getting a cockatiel and would like to name it Stanley Spadowski
• My faith transition began with Richard Rohr's very Jesus-y podcast and ended with John Dehlin's grumpy, yet academic exMormon episodes about things like LDS lawyer hush money for SA victims
• The weirdo at church with a mask that looked like sexy panties
• UK Mormons don't own guns but USA ones bloody do
• Nemo the Mormon's recent video about the very problematic and oft quoted "Happiness Letter" where Joseph Smith blatantly tried to manipulate a teenage girl into giving him nookie and now it's a fridge magnet. All hail to the brave Victorian pioneer Nancy Rigdon for standing up to Mormonism's favorite s*xual predator, Joseph Smith Jr. #teamNancyRigdon
• Unhinged Mormon bishops who freestyle life advice with no training or legal oversight, Mormon Stories gives a limitless repository of reasons the Latter-day Saint church desperately needs organizational reform.
• Clergy penitent privilege is dangerous bullcrap that hurts already devastated victims. Bartholomew's survey found the privilege has expanded enormously in scope over the last few decades without any corresponding evidence that the expansion produces social benefit.
• I love my Mormon friends and family: they are wholehearted, generous, and kind. I do not love the organization and leadership rampant with nepotism, fraud, and deliberate coverups and tax evasion.
• Leaving the Mormon church is like finding your way out of The Truman Show, just a difficult, just as freeing.
• The sad truth about Chris Farley and old school showbiz. While social media mostly sucks, it's a way for creators to find audiences without needing old media outlets to push them into the spotlight.
• Why personality tests are often nothing more than confirmation bias machines
• The very batsh*t beginnings of Meyers-Briggs, the most well recognized psuedo-science in the personality test space
• The Forer Effect and why you are more likely to strongly agree with a horoscope as long as it doesn't hurt your feelings
• China's social credit score could be the model for determining what you're *really* like. 😀

Apologies the podcast quality changes 30 minutes in, forgive my dead recorder and doom on my children for obfuscating my battery charger with all the effectiveness of a Kirton McConkie law team trying to hide a church s*x scandal.

Thanks for listening! See more of Leah's stuff at leahrenee.co

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