Mormon Land

The biggest recent news for members, especially women, in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the introduction in some hot, humid regions of “sleeveless” temple garments.

Faithful Latter-day Saints wear temple garments underneath their clothing as a reminder of sacred covenants. They are not meant to be seen, but the style and cut of them have been difficult to conceal under ever-evolving fashions. That is why so many women were delighted by one of the redesign options — labeled “open sleeve” — because it looks more like a tank top than the current capped sleeve alternatives. They also liked the new “full slip” and “half-slip” designs meant to be worn under dresses.

For now, these new garments are available in the Philippines and parts of Africa. But the church website shows they will be sold in the U.S. by the end of next year.

Discussing the new garments on this week’s show are Laura Brignone, a Latter-day Saint research analyst at Sacramento State University who has assessed current garment cuts and how they work — or don’t work — with popular fashion, and Emily Jensen, a writer and web editor for Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought.

By following an unconventional parenting path, Latter-day Saints Gabrielle and Ben Blair have learned to buck conventional parenting wisdom — and, along the way, remove a lot of the stress that comes with raising kids.

On this week’s show, Gabrielle Blair, founder of Design Mom and The New York Times bestselling author of “Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way to Think About Abortion,” and Ben Blair, co-founder and president of Newlane University, discuss what they have discovered on their parental journey.

They spell all that out and more in their new book, “The Kids Are All Right: Parenting With Confidence in an Uncertain World.”

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir was launched on Aug. 22, 1847, just 29 days after the pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley.

After the Tabernacle on Temple Square in the heart of Salt Lake City was completed, the choir performed there for more than a hundred years. Millions have heard the group’s music via a weekly devotional radio program, “Music and the Spoken Word,” which The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints started in 1929, making it the longest continuously running network broadcast in history.

The show is inspiring to insiders and outsiders but never dogmatic. Ronald Reagan called the troupe “America’s Choir.” The famed choir has sung at six U.S. presidential inaugurations, 13 World Fairs, as well as the 2002 Winter Olympics, and toured in dozens of countries.

In 2018, the choir changed its name to The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, and, in 2020, it was sidelined by the global pandemic.

On this week’s show, former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, former Health and Human Services secretary and the choir’s current president, talks about how the choir navigated those changes and challenges, the group’s mission, and what’s in the future for the church’s most visible goodwill ambassadors.

More than three-fourths of Latter-day Saints say they revere nature and feel a responsibility to protect it. Classes on Earth stewardship at Brigham Young University are filling up as young members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wrestle with the dangers caused by climate change and feel inexorably prompted to act — to do something.

What if the church went all-in on protecting the planet, proposing concrete plans to be adopted in every region? Would being involved in an urgent global effort — much as the food storage mandates prepared members for lean times — give more young people a reason to stay in the fold?

On this week’s show, Ben Abbott, professor of ecology at church-owned BYU, discuss environmental issues, his faith, and the activism and idealism he sees in his students. He also makes the case that safeguarding the Earth and fighting climate change are part of Christian discipleship.

Two federal appellate courts. Two historic hearings. Two tithing lawsuits. One overarching allegation: namely, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-days has misled its members — whether about its finances or its history.

In one case, prominent former Latter-day Saint James Huntsman insists top church leaders misrepresented how they spent $1.4 billion of the faith’s funds to build the for-profit City Creek Center shopping mall in downtown Salt Lake City. Topics ranging from religious autonomy and the U.S. Constitution to outright fraud and even a Beatles classic surfaced last week before a full panel of judges in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In the other, ex-members accuse church authorities of hiding important details of Mormonism’s beginnings in order to persuade the faithful to pay their tithes. Oddly enough, founder Joseph Smith, his “seer stone” and translation of the faith’s signature scripture, the Book of Mormon, were openly discussed before a three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

So where do these lawsuits go from here? What are their prospects? And how do they fit into the continued media attention on the church’s wealth and a potentially expansive and expensive class-action case?

On this week’s show, Salt Lake Tribune reporter Tony Semerad, who has reported on these lawsuits from the get-go and brought to light other aspects of the faith’s financial empire, helps us wind through this legal maze.

Next week, Jewish adherents across the globe will begin the annual 10-day examination of their lives and deeds.

It starts with Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) on the evening of Oct. 2 and concludes with Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) on the evening of Oct. 11. It is a time for self-reflection, for commemoration, for celebration and for recommitment. It is a chance to think about forgiveness and to make amends to those they have harmed.

This year’s High Holy Days are especially fraught for the world’s Jewry with so many eyes are on Israel and its ongoing battles against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. There’s also a war in Ukraine and deep divisions in the United States during this election season.

On this week’s show, Rabbi Samuel Spector, leader of Salt Lake City’s Congregation Kol Ami, discusses the importance of these holidays at this particular time.