Mormon Land

Passion. Intimacy. Eroticism. Arousal. Sex.

These terms are as much a part of God’s plan in the theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as agency, repentance and baptism. Yet they are rarely discussed or even mentioned — save for in hushed, almost apologetic, tones — among members.

Such hesitancy is not found in Latter-day Saint therapist Jennifer Finlayson-Fife’s new book, “That We Might Have Joy: Desire, Divinity & Intimate Love.” In it, she writes, for instance, that “the best sex is never hard work. Good sex is easy” and “the turn-on for most women is being the turn-on” and, finally, “our bodies and sensual natures are not obstacles to holiness, but essential components of it.”

By setting aside cultural taboos, Finlayson-Fife shows that the bedroom is a bedrock not just in marriage but also in Mormonism.

On this week’s podcast, she sheds light on how “soulful sex” can bring couples closer to each other and closer to God.

In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issuing two news releases condemning violence and calling for greater kindness and love, we are reprising this 2023 “Mormon Land” podcast.

Recorded a few days after church President Russell M. Nelson delivered his widely praised General Conference address on peacemaking, it is as timely now — if not more so — than when it originally aired.

Latter-day Saint scholars Patrick Mason and David Pulsipher, authors of “Proclaim Peace: The Restoration’s Answer to an Age of Conflict,” explain how “peace is possible” and explore how the Mormon message — along with writings from other faiths and other thinkers — can bring help, healing and harmony to the world, nations, communities, homes and individual hearts.

They also discuss Nelson’s speech, those of other church leaders, and how true Christian discipleship can end political polarization and cultural conflicts, and convey peace to one soul and all souls.

When Russell M. Nelson, already the oldest-ever president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, turned 100 last year, the Utah-based faith celebrated him with a televised birthday party.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox declared Sept. 9, 2024, as Russell M. Nelson Day. Throngs of young single adults signed a giant birthday card. And members everywhere reflected on the centenarian’s accomplishments and leadership.

By comparison, his 101st birthday on Tuesday was a quieter affair as Nelson gathered with close family and friends. Still, just before the calendar marked the day, Nelson published a major essay in Time magazine, extolling the importance of peacemaking in a divided world.

On this week’s show, Latter-day Saint historian Kathleen Flake, emeritus Bushman professor of Mormon studies at the University of Virginia, discusses his life, leadership and legacy.

A new nine-part video series about Mormonism, titled “An Inconvenient Faith,” was recently uploaded to YouTube.

It tackles the thorniest issues — LGBTQ relations, feminism, church history, race, polygamy, Book of Mormon historicity and divine revelation — currently faced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The ultimate approach seems to be to defend the church and help explain how members can wrestle honestly with these topics rather than deny their existence.

The effort was funded, directed and produced by Latter-day Saint businessman Robert Reynolds, with Jim Bennett, as co-producer.

On this week’s show, Bennett, the son of the late Utah Sen. Bob Bennett and a Latter-day Saint blogger and writer, discusses the project.

Is the following playing out more and more among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

• The bishop asks Brother So-and-So to give a talk next week on being kind to strangers.

“No problem,” the member thinks. “I’ll just make a couple of queries in ChatGPT and, voila, instant sacrament sermon.”

• Or the Sunday school president calls on Sister Such-and-Such to pinch-hit in Gospel Doctrine.

“Sure,” the fill-in teacher replies. “I can do that.” Artificial intelligence, again, to the rescue.

Is A.I., then, a godsend or a devilish crutch?

The church, which has developed A.I. guidelines, points out that it uses this rapidly advancing technological tool in its global work.

But apostle Gerrit Gong matter-of-factly warned recently that A.I. can remove heavenly inspiration and should not be used to prepare talks, lessons, prayers or blessings.

On this week’s show, popular By Common Consent blogger Taylor Kerby discusses artificial intelligence — and the implications of the wise or not-so-wise use of it in the church.

The mission statement of Brigham Young University, the flagship school of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, says nothing about pursuing spots in the College Football Playoff or the Final Four.

It does say that BYU graduates “should be capable of competing with the best in their fields.”

So, in this era of “name, image and likeness,” with athletic budgets soaring into the mega-millions, does that mean the Cougars are correct to play this spending game in order to compete with the best on the field, in the gym, on the court and on the diamond?

Some boosters “rise and shout” an emphatic yes. Others worry that the school risks putting, in essence, football before faith, and veering from its principal purpose: following in the footsteps of Jesus.

On this week’s show, Salt Lake Tribune reporter Kevin Reynolds, who covers BYU athletics and wrote a cover story recently on the topic, discusses this balancing act.

For many early Utah pioneers, James Brown Jr. was a hero of sorts. He led a Mormon Battalion company into the Salt Lake Valley just days after Brigham Young. He and his family settled Ogden, which became known for a time as Brownsville, and he served as a Latter-day Saint bishop.

As a prominent leader, he married 13 women — all sealed to him in temple rites — and fathered 28 children.

What most church members didn’t know was that James Jr. had Black grandparents — and that carries significance, given that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had a policy barring Black members from holding the priesthood or entering temples from 1852 to 1978.

On this week’s show, Brigham Young University history professor Jenny Hale Pulsipher, a descendant of Brown, discovered his racial ancestry, and W. Paul Reeve, who is head of Mormon studies at the University of Utah and has done the most scholarly research on African Americans in the church, discuss this finding and how it helps modern believers understand the messiness of the past and the “impossibility of policing racial boundaries” through profiling.

Gordon B. Hinckley, then president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, stepped up to the microphone in General Conference in the fall of 2000 and solemnly denounced tattoos as “graffiti on the temple of the body.”

The following year, the faith’s “For the Strength of Youth” pamphlet pointedly counseled young people not to “disfigure” themselves with tattoos.

With those words, body art — no matter how innocent, innocuous or ingrained in one’s cultural heritage — joined a list of forbidden fruits for faithful Latter-day Saints.

A quarter century later, though, that prophetic prohibition has been silenced, or at least softened, and the explicit condemnation of tattoos removed from the latest youth guidelines.

Is the tattoo taboo, unlike that indelible ink, fading in mainstream Mormonism? Is such artwork no longer a mark of rebellion but rather, with the emerging embrace of Latter-day Saint symbols in some tattoos, now a symbol of that very faith?

On this week’s show, Ethan Gregory Dodge, co-founder of the former MormonLeaks website, a devotee of body art, editor of Tattootime magazine and an occasional Salt Lake Tribune contributor, explore this evolution, if not revolution. He also discussed the topic at a recent Sunstone Symposium.

On the fourth crossover episode between ‘Mormon Land’ and ‘Mormons in Media, ’ Rebbie and Nicole dissect the latest dating show to come out of Provo — The Altar. Rebbie fills Nicole in on the history of the show and Nicole can't seem to figure out why these 21-year-olds are so worried about marriage. Turns out, it's a lot deeper than she thinks. Plus, what IS a "basic Utah girl?" Let's discuss.