Mormon Discussion Podcast

RFM and Bill Reel are joined this week by Meggan Hayes from “Generally Unquotable” to break down several of the talks from this past FAIRMormon Apologetics conference. Many budding apologists came to hear some of the worst talks on defending Mormonism ever given! Apologetics wasn’t that great in the 1980s. But in the past forty-years, it has done nothing but go downhill! Come join us as we show the logical fallacies in how FAIRMormon defends the LDS Church. Mormon Apologetics has never been so much fun!

The post Mormon Apologists DEBUNKED! appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

LDS Church Burying Zelph Under Data Center? | Mormon Newscast | October 19, 2026 Is the LDS Church preparing to build a massive data center over a significant piece of Mormon history? Tonight on The Mormon Newscast, we’re looking at the proposed development at Arthur Plantation in Missouri, a site connected to Zion’s Camp and the discovery of the bones Joseph Smith reportedly identified as belonging to Zelph, a “white Lamanite” warrior. What happens when modern development collides with Mormonism’s historical claims? And what does this project tell us about how the church values and preserves its own history? Also on tonight’s Newscast: BYU Football Chaos: A dramatic showdown with Notre Dame brings religious controversy, Pat McAfee reading the Book of Mormon, a quarterback with a grudge, and questionable officiating. Racist Book of Mormon Lawsuit: A legal controversy involving the Book of Mormon and allegations of racism. BYU Medical School Takes Major Steps Forward: New developments in the church’s ambitious medical education plans. Julie Hanks on Soft White Underbelly: Our friend Dr. Julie Hanks shares her Mormon experience with a massive new audience, sparking pushback from faithful LDS commentators. Two Missionary Deaths: Tragic news involving two Latter-day Saint missionaries. Half a Million New Converts? LDS leaders anticipate potentially record-breaking convert baptisms in 2026. But what about retention? The Evangelical/LDS Trad Wife Trap: Exploring the cultural and religious expectations surrounding women, marriage, and traditional gender roles. Priest Killed by Falling Cross: A tragic accident in Ecuador raises interesting questions about religious symbolism and whether crosses might eventually appear inside Mormon chapels. Join us as we examine the news, challenge assumptions, and explore what’s happening in the world of Mormonism, with the context, critical thinking, and occasional humor you’ve come to expect.

Support The Mormon Newscast:

Explore more Mormon history, news, and analysis:

Home

Subscribe and join the conversation every Monday at 6 PM Mountain Time.

#MormonNewscast #MormonNews #LDSChurch #MormonHistory #Zelph #BYUFootball #JulieHanks #BookOfMormon #Mormonism

Radio Free Mormon’s 10 year celebration –

An Evening Celebrating 10 Years of Radio Free Mormon – Dinner, Roast & Karaoke!

The post LDS Church Burying Zelph Under A Data Center? appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Are Mormons Raising Their Kids Wrong? | Audra Phelps on Mormon & Post-Mormon Parenting What happens when you leave Mormonism and realize you must rethink not only what you believe, but how you raise your children? In this episode of Mormon Discussion, Bill Reel sits down with Audra Phelps for an honest conversation about Mormon parenting, religious conditioning, and raising emotionally healthy children beyond the framework of the LDS Church. Together, we explore how obedience, shame, fear, and rigid expectations can shape parent-child relationships—and how parents can replace those patterns with trust, autonomy, emotional connection, and critical thinking. We also discuss navigating mixed-faith families, teaching children about sex and modesty without shame, managing our own emotional triggers, and learning to give children the freedom to make mistakes. At the heart of this conversation is a powerful question: Are we raising children to obey and conform, or helping them become healthy, independent adults who trust themselves? Whether you’re Mormon, ex-Mormon, or simply questioning how you were raised, this conversation offers practical insights into breaking generational patterns and becoming a more intentional parent.

Watch the full conversation with Audra Phelps: https://youtu.be/WpATtluH3lg

Explore more Mormon history, news, and thoughtful conversations: Website: https://MormonDiscussions.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MormonDiscussion

Stay connected! Join our free mailing list for Mormon news, historical insights, new episodes, and updates from the Mormon Discussion network: https://preview.mailerlite.io/preview/786485/sites/113074994382112075/mormondiscussion

#MormonDiscussion #AudraPhelps #PostMormonParenting #ExMormon #Parenting #ReligiousDeconstruction #religioustraumahealing

00:00 Introduction: Are Mormons Raising Their Kids Wrong?

Resources:

PLEASE LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE And Support Mormon Discussion by visiting https:/

The post Audra Phelps: Mormon (And Post-Mormon) Parenting appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Bill Reel and RFM take a look at the recent FAIRMormon apologetic conference that took place last August. The amazing thing is that Mormon apologetics isn’t getting better with age. If anything, Mormon apologetics is getting worse. And that’s saying something! It’s like they’re not just trying to fool nonbelievers, anymore. They’re trying to fool each other! But rest assured, no matter the tricks they try, they won’t get much past our intrepid pair, RFM and Bill Reel!

Please Join the Team Today and Donate to Support Mormonism Live

The post FAIRMormon Conference Dissection! Part 1 appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

What happened to the apostles who helped build early Mormonism—and then walked away? When the original Quorum of the Twelve was organized in 1835, these men were not fringe figures. They preached the gospel, served missions, worked directly with Joseph Smith, participated in the movement’s spiritual experiences, and occupied some of its highest positions of authority. Yet six of those original apostles would eventually leave, be excommunicated, challenge Joseph Smith, or follow a very different version of the Restoration. In this episode of Mormonism LIVE, we tell the stories of Thomas B. Marsh, William E. McLellin, John F. Boynton, Luke Johnson, Lyman Johnson, and Joseph Smith’s own brother William Smith. Their stories take us into the Kirtland banking collapse, charges brought against Joseph Smith, the violence of 1838 Missouri, succession disputes, polygamy, prophetic authority, broken trust, and the question some early Mormon leaders eventually faced: Had Joseph Smith himself gone astray? Some came back. Some never did. Some continued believing in the Book of Mormon while rejecting Joseph Smith’s later leadership. And several went on to build successful lives completely outside the LDS Church. The deeper story is that early Mormonism was far less inevitable—and far more complicated—than it can appear when history is told by the people who ultimately won the succession struggle. The six apostles who stayed in the historical spotlight became prophets and heroes. These six largely became cautionary tales, footnotes, or disappeared from the story altogether. It’s time to put them back into the history.

The post The Lost Apostles: Why Half of Mormonism’s Original Twelve Left appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

The post John Dehlin Joins Mormonism Live!: LDS Church vs. Mormon Stories — Who’s Telling the Truth? appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

On this episode of Mormonism Live, we sit down with Rachelle and John Moyer, the creators behind “Ex-Mormon: The Musical,” to talk about how the project came together, what inspired the songs, and why music can be such a powerful way to process faith, identity, loss, humor, and life after Mormonism. We’ll dig into the story behind the album, the creative process of turning the ex-Mormon experience into a musical, and some of the themes woven throughout the soundtrack. We’ll also play and discuss several of the songs along the way. Whether you’ve left Mormonism, are questioning, still believe, or simply appreciate clever songwriting about complicated human experiences, this should be a fun and fascinating conversation about what happens when religious deconstruction meets musical theater. Listen to “Ex-Mormon: The Musical (Original Musical Soundtrack)” on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4OxkzS1jbuwicBjZkGw2TS Join us as we talk with Rachelle and John Moyer about the humor, pain, creativity, and lived experience behind Ex-Mormon: The Musical.

#ExMormon #ExMormonMusical #MormonismLive #Mormon #LDS #FaithTransition #ReligiousDeconstruction #PostMormon #MormonStories #musicaltheatre

Ex-Mormon The musical

John’s comedy Shows

The post Ex-Mormon The Musical appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie gave one of his most famous talks in history in 1980 named “The Seven Deadly Heresies.” RFM and Bill Reel break down this talk, exposing not only what Elder McConkie says, but why he says it; together with the things Elder McConkie doesn’t say at all! This one you won’t want to miss!

Support Mormonism LIVE! and its hosts Bill Reel and Radio Free Mormon as take the deep dives into Mormonism and its history!

The post Heresy Hunters On Planet Provo! appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Tonight on Mormonism Live, we examine a recurring pattern in Joseph Smith’s prophetic career: when he encountered something mysterious, incomplete, inaccessible, or simply unknown, he rarely seemed content to say, “I don’t know.” Instead, he supplied an answer—and often an extraordinarily detailed one.

A skeleton becomes Zelph, complete with a name, identity, history, and ancient associations. Egyptian papyri become the writings of Abraham. Egyptian figures become Abraham, Pharaoh, Shulem, Olimlah, gods, and cosmic teachings. The Kinderhook Plates produce an ancient genealogy. A stone becomes a seer stone capable of revealing hidden knowledge. Native Americans become Lamanites. Landscapes become Cumorah, Zion, the Garden of Eden, Adam-ondi-Ahman, and the “plains of the Nephites.”

And the pattern extends beyond objects and geography. Where scripture appears incomplete, Joseph supplies the JST, Book of Moses, Enoch material, and D&C 7’s hidden parchment. Where ancient language is unknowable, he supplies the “Pure Language” of Adam. Where the universe remained largely mysterious, Joseph supplies an elaborate Abrahamic cosmology involving Kolob and an entire hierarchy of named heavenly bodies.

But this raises a more important question than whether any single claim sounds strange: How reliable was Joseph Smith’s method of knowing?

We separate these claims into those that eventually became independently testable, those where some physical evidence exists but Joseph’s specific identification remains difficult to test, and those constructed around realities essentially beyond external verification. And a troubling pattern emerges: where later evidence allows us to check Joseph’s extraordinary claims, serious problems repeatedly appear.

So what should we make of the claims that remain safely beyond our ability to test?

This episode explores the possibility that Joseph Smith’s greatest prophetic advantage may have been the unknown—because the less anyone around him could verify, the more room he had to “know.”

Joseph Smith Always Had an Answer: The Pattern Behind His Claims

The post How Did Joseph Smith Know All This? appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

What happens when a religious system spends a lifetime teaching you to trust authority, obey, forgive, sacrifice, endure, distrust your own doubts, and fear the consequences of leaving? In this episode of Mormon Discussion, Teresa Hobbs leads Bill Reel and special guest Wendi Wilcock Jensen through a difficult question: Can LDS teachings and institutional structures unintentionally condition members with some of the same psychological habits that make coercive control and abusive relationships harder to recognize, resist, disclose, and escape? We trace these patterns across the Mormon lifespan—from Primary lessons about obedience and following the prophet, to teenage worthiness interviews and sexual shame; missionary obedience and surveillance; BYU’s institutional controls; temple marriage, gender hierarchy, forgiveness and divorce stigma; and finally the enormous social, familial and spiritual costs that can accompany dissent or leaving the Church. We also examine how these dynamics have affected women, LGBTQ and transgender members, racial and ethnic minorities, and others whose personal judgment or identity has sometimes collided with institutional authority. The argument is not that every Mormon experiences abuse or that every LDS teaching was deliberately designed to facilitate it. The question is what happens cumulatively when obedience, authority deference, confession, shame, hierarchy, self-sacrifice, institutional dependency and high exit costs become deeply embedded in a person’s understanding of righteousness. Because the disturbing possibility is this: the qualities someone has been taught make them faithful may sometimes be the very qualities an abusive person can exploit.

Wendi Wilcock Jensen Wendi Jensen is an author, speaker, and identity reconstruction coach who helps people rebuild a relationship with themselves after high-demand religion, toxic relationships, and other systems that taught them to distrust their own inner knowing. Her work bridges emotional healing, nervous-system awareness, and embodied self-reconnection, helping people move beyond simply understanding what happened to them and begin creating a life rooted in autonomy, authenticity, and self-trust by reconnecting with the body. She is also the author of The Healing Questions Guide- relevant questions to ask the mind to activate healing in the body. To reach Wendi – [email protected]

Teresa Hobbs Teresa Hobbs is a Certified Trauma Recovery Coach, Pain Reprocessing Therapy practitioner, and Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) provider and founder of Monarch Integrative Coaching. Her work integrates nervous-system regulation, Polyvagal Theory, attachment theory, mindfulness, somatic practices and mind-body approaches. She also works with people rebuilding self-trust and identity following high-demand religion. Coaching and Chronic Fatigue support https://www.monarchintegrativecoaching.com/

This conversation ultimately asks something larger than whether Mormonism explicitly condemns abuse. What does a lifetime of religious conditioning teach a person to do when authority conflicts with intuition, obedience conflicts with boundaries, forgiveness conflicts with accountability, and “enduring to the end” conflicts with getting yourself to safety? #MormonDiscussion #Mormonism #LDS #ExMormon #ReligiousTrauma #SpiritualAbuse #CoerciveControl #DomesticAbuse #ReligiousDeconstruction #Trauma #HighDemandReligion #MormonChurch

The post Trust, Obey, Endure: How Mormon Conditioning Makes Abuse Harder to Recognize appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.