The central claim of Christianity is that all human beings are "fallen," held captive by sin, or are in some other way in a dire circumstance that can only be overcome through God’s aid, which comes through faith in the infinite love and sacrifice of God’s own son, Jesus Christ. According to the Christian tradition, this is the central truth of the human condition, and it is only through what has been labeled the Atonement of Jesus Christ that there is a way out. Throughout history, many Christians have celebrated their feelings of being rescued from the grasp of sin, selfishness, and aimless searching for purpose via the Atonement, and they claim their transformed lives are living testaments to this saving act of God’s grace. Still, many--both outsiders and Christians themselves--have paused to ask questions such as: Why is this the only way someone can turn from sin or be made worthy of heaven? What kind of God requires the suffering of an innocent being in order to be willing to forgive humans of their shortcomings? If every sin must be punished, is there even such a thing as genuine "forgiveness"? Many people seem to be able to forgive others for their faults and evil acts who don’t believe in or have never even heard of Jesus Christ, so why can’t God? Many Christians have not only asked such questions, but from the very earliest days following Jesus’s death, they have formulated various theories to answer them and also explain the reasons the Atonement "works." In this podcast episode, Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon and panelists Jared Anderson, Brian Johnston, and Tresa Edmunds explore these questions and the historical attempts to answer them and explain the experience of transformation or renewed life through Christ that so many claim, including the panelists themselves. In general, the discussion explores the Atonement from the ideas that first show up in biblical sources and then onto the main Atonement theory categories: ransom, satisfaction, penal substitution, and moral influence. It also gives attention to various angles on the Atonement and Christ’s redeeming work that are emphasized the most in Mormonism, as well as a couple of Atonement models that are unique to it. The panelists then close the discussion with their own views regarding or experiences with the Atonement in their own lives.

The recent execution of Troy Davis brought to the front once more the issue of capital punishment, especially arguments about the very real possibility of executing the wrong person, the unreliability of eye witness accounts, law enforcement pressures for conviction, and the possible brokenness of many of the safeguards that are in place to assure that miscarriages of justice at this ultimate level do not happen. This podcast uses this moment of reflection to discuss Mormon attitudes about the death penalty, and especially what social and theological aspects of Mormonism play into these attitudes. It discusses things such as agency and whether all persons are equally able to freely choose, the dubious doctrine of "blood atonement" that still lingers as a factor in some Mormons’ minds, as well as other LDS concepts and angles. It also discusses the deep spiritual resources some victims’ families are able to access to offer forgiveness to perpetrators. We hope you will join Mormon Matters host, Dan Wotherspoon, and panelists Ken Driggs (an LDS death penalty lawyer who has worked on some 75 capital punishment cases), Heather Olsen Beal, and Tom Grover for personal stories and important insights pertaining to this very sobering subject that deserves everyone’s careful attention.

From 1986 to 1997, the Student Review enjoyed a wonderful run as BYU’s independent student newspaper, which at its peak published weekly and achieved a circulation of 10,000. During its run, SR featured a wonderful cross section of news reporting, essays, and wildly popular humor and satire, with some of its stories resulting in changes to campus policy, as well as impacting life in the wider community and state. As a result of some of its coverage of difficult issues, the publication occasionally rankled school administrators, sometimes even triggering official efforts to shut it down. A team of current BYU students has now resurrected the Student Review, printing and distributing its first issue on September 19th. In this episode, we meet SR’s new editor, Craig Mangum, and also learn about the newspaper’s founding and history from additional panelists, Bill Kelly, SR’s first publisher, and former editors Joanna Brooks and Matt Workman. And through it all we get a chance to hear tales of a delightful slice of BYU life as experienced by some of the school’s best and brightest of the past and present. Warning: This discussion contains stories of a credit card with mythological status, rampant sexual tension, and adventures with security guards and steam tunnels. You don’t want to miss out on any of the fun!

Many people, Latter-day Saints included, struggle with feelings of "not being enough," worthlessness, or that they are unlovable by others, God, and themselves. Those who feel this way are caught up in the throes of toxic shame--a distortion and perversion of natural and healthy feelings of "guilt" over wrong choices or healthy types of shame that help moderate the ways we act in public and in interactions with others. The gospel teaches us of our infinite worth and our Heavenly Parents’ unconditional love for each of us, no matter what mistakes we make. So why do we so easily forget these things or stop believing them? How do our aspirations to be better persons so often end up weighing us down and distorting our view of ourselves, and instead of helping, end up hurting our growth? In this podcast episode, Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon and panelists Jennifer Rooney White, Jennifer Finlayson-Fife, and John Dehlin, discuss feelings of guilt (healthy shame) and toxic shame and attempt to lay bare what causes their confusion in general, and within Mormonism, in particular. They also discuss some of the very positive messages and examples within Mormon scriptures and history for coming to a healthy relationship with ourselves--one that fully recognizes our own inherent divinity and worth while also still fully acknowledging our great capacities for sin and error in ways that will not cause us to pull away from God and our ideals or to fall into destructive patterns. Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife will be in Salt Lake City to lead two seminars. The topic for Friday, September 23rd , is “LDS Women and Sexual Desire.” The topic for Saturday, September 24th, is “Enhancing Sexual Intimacy for LDS Couples.” Click here for more information http://drjenniferfife.blogspot.com/2011/06/presenting-in-slc-september-23rd-and.html

The tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks provide an important moment for all of us to reflect on life’s most precious things and what we hold in our hearts about family, friends, neighbors, our wider communities, strangers, and those with whom we disagree about what’s most important for the world and how to bring it about. This sacred occasion also provides a good incentive for thinking about what it means to be called by Christ as peacemakers. In this podcast, Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon and panelists Charles Randall Paul, Liz Shropshire, and James Faulconer reflect upon today’s world a decade past September 2001, as well as the nature of peace itself and what it means to be "at peace." The discussion then turns to the history of Mormon prophetic discourse as it calls, with varying vigor, church members to be peacemakers, as well as to some of the key scriptural stories and theological notions that inspire the panelists’ own peacebuilding work.

This panel discussion examines the wonderful gifts of Mormonism’s strong emphases and teachings about the divine role of motherhood as well as the external and internal pressures that come with these messages and how they sometimes work against the more basic gospel goal of helping women fully flourish and grow in godlike qualities. In this far-ranging and insight-packed conversation, panelists Chelsea Fife, Chelsea Strayer, and Jennifer Finlayson-Fife all maintain the utmost gratitude for their own role as mothers and for church emphases on its many joys while also examining ways we as Latter-day Saints might change some of our messaging about motherhood, especially taking it from its "institutional" status as a static ideal and making it more real for today’s women. They discuss ways to place motherhood more squarely in the context of women’s intrinsic worth and recognize how this value cannot be so fully tied up in motherhood. The period of intense mothering of children through early adulthood occupies a relatively small portion of a woman’s lifespan, so her sense of worth must be centered in something more. Furthermore, many, many couples struggle with infertility, and many women never marry nor have the opportunity to be a mother. We therefore cannot make "motherhood" the end-all, be-all of a woman’s existence nor the primary way she measures her success, value, or femininity. While honoring all the good and loving messages about motherhood, how might we bring about important changes to the current conversation? You don’t want to miss this episode!

This year marks the one hundredth anniversary of the controversies over the study and teaching of evolution at Brigham Young University that resulted in the resignations or firing of three of Brigham Young University’s prominent faculty members and a significant blow to the university career of another. This Mormon Matters episode tells key elements in the story of those 1911 events, but primarily uses them as a launching pad for a tour or the history of LDS views and approaches to evolution from then to now, as well as more specific reflections on the various tensions between Mormon scriptural and doctrinal commitments and the main thrusts of evolutionary theory. Joining Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon for this episode are philosophy and intellectual history professor James McLachlan, and BYU emeritus and current science professors Duane Jeffery and Steven Peck, all of whom argue that these tensions between Mormonism and evolution are quite minimal, and that Mormonism actually contains many teachings and theological thrusts, including a rich history of viewing scriptural accounts of creation as primarily figurative, that are extremely accommodating to evolution--far more so than those of many other traditions that begin with God creating everything ex nihilo (out of nothing) and being in full control of everything.

The recent tragedy in Oslo as well as the Warren Jeffs trial provide two recent examples of the way various personality traits and/or mental issues coupled with isolation and the refusal to allow ones own ideas to be challenged can lead to horrific acts of violence and depravity that the perpetrators claim to view as righteous. In this podcast, Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon and panelists Joanna Brooks and Natasha Helfer Parker examine various angles into how distorted worldviews like these take hold, the influence of nature and nurture (including religious factors), as well as some of the things we might learn from such extreme visions about how to achieve balance in our own ways of seeing the world and our place within it.

The first week of August 2011 saw the passing of two giants in the Mormon universe: Sister Chieko Okazaki, a former counselor in the Relief Society general presidency and beloved author and speaker, and Elder Marion D. Hanks, a long-time general authority who many looked up to as one of Mormonism’s greatest champions for love, equality, and Christian service. This episode is a celebration and appreciation of their lives through conversation with intimate friends. Mormon Matters host, Dan Wotherspoon, first interviews Sister Aileen Clyde, who served from 1990 to 1997 as a fellow counselor with Sister Okazaki in the Relief Society general presidency under the leadership of President Elaine Jack. He then speaks with Margaret Young and Darius Gray, two of Elder Hanks’ close associates. We very much hope you will enjoy getting to know more about each of these incredible souls--Sister Okazaki and Elder Hanks, as well as the great spirits of those interviewed here.

In this episode, Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon and panelists Brent Beal, Brian Johnston, and Jana Riess explore various aspects of one of Mormonism’s most regular (and sometimes it seems "regulated") rituals: the monthly opportunity for church members to bear testimony. The discussion ranges from the nature of the expectation that those bearing testimony, including children, will focus on particular truth claims, to the peculiar way Mormonism encourages members to extrapolate from experiences of feeling "the spirit" within a gospel context to conclude that all other LDS claims are therefore true (and even that this is the "one and only" true church), to broader considerations about the expectation that spiritual journeying will end in an expected outcome. Panel members also share their own experiences of learning to appreciate fast and testimony meeting as empathetic listeners for others as well to authentically share their own testimonies.