In Episode 8 of this series, Patrick presents the second set of textual clues that point to the Book of Mormon’s author. First he reviews evidence for an ur-text or underlying text of the Book of Mormon. This section includes discussion of many themes and stories from the Bible that are reworked in a sophisticated way in the Book of Mormon. A prime example is the reworking of the narrative on Melchizedek in Hebrews 7 in Alma 13 of the Book of Mormon. The specific reworking points to an author with a deep knowledge of the Bible, one with a careful eye, one with an eye to the future development of the ideas of the higher priesthood and tithing in the future church, and an author who thought they were authorized to correct the Bible’s mistakes! Next follows an interesting introduction to the Jacobins and the anti-Jacobin sentiments in the Book of Mormon that go beyond anti-Masonry. The author had an appreciation for this larger narrative in the early 1800 culture. A few additional examples that point to an ur-text are discussed, including Numerology in the text. Next we cover a thorough explanation of the framework William Davis discusses in Visions in a Seer Stone. Patrick recaps how one-to-two hour sermons could be delivered by preachers using only a small paper with “heads” or what we would think of bullet points. The use of heads, skeletal outlines, and mnemonic cues are all present in the Book of Mormon. The author of the Book of Mormon makes very skilled use of all these techniques. The big question is whether Joseph’s sermons and writings illustrate the same skilled application? The answer is that they do not and that Davis’ entire work points away from Joseph and directly to Sidney Rigdon—a seasoned restorationist preacher as the more likely author. The “one weird trick” to understanding the likely author of the Book of Mormon? The author had a deep well of knowledge, sacred and scientific, to draw upon. There’s no shortcut to producing a complex work like the Book of Mormon. Join us for a thoughtful look at the evidence behind one big question: who authored the Book of Mormon? Thank you so much for watching Mormonish Podcast! **How to DONATE to Mormonish Podcast: If you would like to help financially support our podcast, you can DONATE to support Mormonish Podcast here: Mormonish Podcast is a 501(c) (3) https://donorbox.org/mormonish-podcast WE HAVE MERCH! **** If you’d like to purchase Mormonish Merch, you can visit our Merch store here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/mormonishmerch We appreciate our Mormonish viewers and listeners so much! Don't forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to Mormonish Podcast! Contact Mormonish Podcast: [email protected] #mormonish #lds #mormon #exmormon #postmormon #religion #news, #ldschurch #comeuntochrist #churchofjesuschrist #churchofjesuschristoflatterdaysaints #byu #byui #josephsmith #comefollowme #polygamy #bookofmormon #becauseofhim #hearhim #ldstemple FAIR USE DISCLAIMER All Media in this video (including the thumbnail) is used for the purpose of review and critique. The images in the thumbnail are used as the primary means of visually identifying the subject matter of the video

What happens after you leave Mormonism? In this episode of Mormonish Podcast, we sit down with Madison Daniels, author of Letters to a Young Ex-Mormon: A Field Guide for Moving On, for a thoughtful conversation about navigating life after a faith transition. Madison shares some of his own personal history, what his journey out of Mormonism looked like, and what ultimately inspired him to write this book. We also talk about what he hopes the book can offer people who find themselves rebuilding their lives outside of the LDS Church. Letters to a Young Ex-Mormon isn’t a book about why someone should leave Mormonism. Instead, it focuses on what comes next—reconstructing identity, finding meaning and purpose, navigating changing relationships, processing grief and uncertainty, and deciding what parts of your former religious tradition may still be worth carrying forward. (Apple Podcasts) Madison explains the unique “letters” format of the book and why he wanted to create something that could serve as a practical and compassionate field guide for people moving through religious deconstruction and into the next chapter of their lives. Join us for a fascinating discussion about leaving, rebuilding, and learning how to move forward

What are the real LDS temple attendance numbers—and how close to capacity are temples actually operating? In this episode, we’re joined by Clint Kimball and Ron Yogason to explore groundbreaking new temple-attendance data from FullerConsideration.com. The website—already home to the Temple Name Oracle, Patriarchal Blessing Revelator, and LDS Unit Closure Tracker—is now estimating temple activity, including how many living and proxy endowments are performed each day and how closely individual temples are operating to capacity. The LDS Church stopped publicly reporting temple attendance figures in 1985, making this information difficult to obtain. What can these new estimates tell us about temple usage, Church growth, geographic trends, and the gap between available temple capacity and actual attendance? There’s a lot to uncover when we finally crunch the numbers. Check out the site here: https://fullerconsideration.com/ Better Information: A collection of original source documents on church history. No commentary. No analysis. The Temple Name Oracle: The popular database that unlocked the rotation system behind how New Names are given out in temples. The Patriarchal Blessing Revelator: An archive that helps us understand whether patriarchal blessings tell us more about the recipient or the patriarch. Unit Tracker: A live list of where wards, branches, stakes, and districts are being opened and closed around the world. The Deseret Demographer: A large data-driven analysis that shows how many of the church's reported membership actually consider themselves members, and how many are showing up to church. Past episode with Fuller Consideration: https://youtu.be/8I8hWkcc6iU

In this episode of Mormonish Podcast, we take a closer look at the dramatic changes unfolding at Temple Square and ask: Are we watching the leaked “Jesus Land” plans come to life? The Church’s newly announced Temple Square experiences place an unmistakable emphasis on Jesus Christ, while redesigned spaces and exhibits are intended to make Temple Square easier for visitors to navigate and to better explain what happens inside Latter-day Saint temples. Church leaders themselves have described Jesus Christ as the central focus of the new visitor experience. We’re joined by Ron Yorgason and Unoriginal Jim to revisit the previously leaked Temple Square master plans and compare their vision with what is actually happening today. How closely do the new exhibits, visitor experiences, and Christ-centered messaging follow that earlier blueprint? And what might these changes tell us about the direction the Church wants Temple Square—and its public identity—to take? The similarities are fascinating, and there’s a lot to unpack!

What does a Utah craft beer have to do with the LDS Church’s lawsuit against Mormon Stories? More than you might think. In this episode, we revisit a previous Mormonish Podcast story about Bewilder Brewing and its Deseret IPA. The brewery was challenged by the LDS church over its use of the name “Deseret,” with trademark concerns ultimately leading to the beer being discontinued. Now, with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints suing Mormon Stories Podcast and John Dehlin, we’re taking another look at the Deseret IPA dispute through a new lens. The Church says its Mormon Stories lawsuit is about preventing consumer or brand confusion—arguing that elements of Mormon Stories’ branding could lead people to believe the podcast is associated with or endorsed by the Church. Sound familiar? Revisiting what happened to Deseret IPA asks the bigger question: How plausible is “brand confusion” in either case? Could consumers really mistake a craft IPA for a Church product—or Mormon Stories for an official Church podcast? And what do these cases tell us about how aggressively the Church protects its intellectual property and brand? Join us as we revisit Deseret IPA and leave you to consider the striking parallels with the battle now unfolding over Mormon Stories.

A recent Church News article highlighted 25 years of LDS Church membership growth across the United States—but what do those numbers really tell us? In this episode, we’re joined by Ron Yorgason to dig beneath the headline percentages and take a closer look at the statistics. Which states are actually growing, what factors are driving those numbers, and does reported membership growth necessarily mean more active Latter-day Saints? We break down the data to uncover the real story behind 25 years of LDS growth.

In Episode 7 of this series, Patrick begins by responding to recent listener feedback. He documents the many ways that post Mormons believe in conspiracy theories! Or better stated—collaborations or “constructed experiences” in early Mormon history. Patrick then responds to claims that stylometry is “junk science”. He compares this claim to early claims that DNA population studies and the Book of Mormon peoples were labeled in the same way. He demonstrates many cases of unknown authorship of a text being solved by stylometry. Further, he demonstrates how stylometry, well done, meets the high bar of being admitted as evidence in court cases. He walks through several examples of cases where stylometry was allowed as expert or scientific testimony. Patrick then announces that Rebecca discovered a 9th wordprint study! One that was just published in the past few weeks. Unfortunately, the study did not test the narrative and sermon text separately—a key to testing the multiple authors theories. More to come as we attempt to contact the author of the study for more information. The rest of this episode focuses on setting the stage for evaluating textual clues in the Book of Mormon. Which clues go beyond demonstrating 19th century authorship and tie uniquely to Joseph or Rigdon? Off the bat, there are a couple of very interesting cases: the 7-point Mormon project of the Book of Mormon, and Joseph’s role being limited to only dictation of the text and deferral to a “spokesman” for everything else. The remaining discussion evaluates further, the level of complexity in the Book of Mormon, so listeners can best evaluate the skill and amount of time the author would have needed to produce the text. Join us for a thoughtful look at the evidence behind one big question: who authored the Book of Mormon? Thank you so much for watching Mormonish Podcast! **How to DONATE to Mormonish Podcast: If you would like to help financially support our podcast, you can DONATE to support Mormonish Podcast here: Mormonish Podcast is a 501(c) (3) https://donorbox.org/mormonish-podcast WE HAVE MERCH! **** If you’d like to purchase Mormonish Merch, you can visit our Merch store here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/mormonishmerch We appreciate our Mormonish viewers and listeners so much! Don't forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to Mormonish Podcast! Contact Mormonish Podcast: [email protected] #mormonish #lds #mormon #exmormon #postmormon #religion #news, #ldschurch #comeuntochrist #churchofjesuschrist #churchofjesuschristoflatterdaysaints #byu #byui #josephsmith #comefollowme #polygamy #bookofmormon #becauseofhim #hearhim #ldstemple FAIR USE DISCLAIMER All Media in this video (including the thumbnail) is used for the purpose of review and critique. The images in the thumbnail are used as the primary means of visually identifying the subject matter of the video

In this episode, we sit down with John and Rachelle Moyer, the creative team behind the new project Ex Mormon: The Musical, for a fascinating conversation about faith, humor, music, and the complicated journey of religious deconstruction. John and Rachelle share their backgrounds and personal faith journeys, what inspired them to create a musical soundtrack about the ex-Mormon experience, and why humor can be such a powerful tool for processing experiences that are anything but funny. We also dive into the songs themselves, exploring the stories and meaning behind the music and how the soundtrack captures different aspects of questioning, leaving, rebuilding, and finding your way forward. Ex Mormon: The Musical is hilarious but its more than that! Links: JosephSmith.com ExMormonSoundtrack.com RachelleMoyer.com (Rachelle's official site of what she does) TikTok @johnnykolob Instagram @RachelleMoyerCCH @johnmoyer Larger Streaming Sites for Music: Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/ex-mormon-the-musical-original-musical-soundtrack/6794734251 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4OxkzS1jbuwicBjZkGw2TS YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nWrGA7_b-8EVA0UrfG4lBbo8z6Z_-tj_k Thank you so much for watching Mormonish Podcast! **How to DONATE to Mormonish Podcast: If you would like to help financially support our podcast, you can DONATE to support Mormonish Podcast here: Mormonish Podcast is a 501(c) (3) https://donorbox.org/mormonish-podcast WE HAVE MERCH! **** If you’d like to purchase Mormonish Merch, you can visit our Merch store here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/mormonishmerch We appreciate our Mormonish viewers and listeners so much! Don't forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to Mormonish Podcast! Contact Mormonish Podcast: [email protected] #mormonish #lds #mormon #exmormon #postmormon #religion #news, #ldschurch #comeuntochrist #churchofjesuschrist #churchofjesuschristoflatterdaysaints #byu #byui #josephsmith #comefollowme #polygamy #bookofmormon #becauseofhim #hearhim #ldstemple FAIR USE DISCLAIMER All Media in this video (including the thumbnail) is used for the purpose of review and critique. The images in the thumbnail are used as the primary means of visually identifying the subject matter of the video

In Episode 6 of this series, Patrick begins by responding to recent listener feedback. He addresses the often-committed logical fallacy of thinking that the lack of “better” evidence for an early connection between Joseph and Sidney Rigdon is proof they didn’t meet at all. Patrick then reports recent findings that demonstrate the church is still refusing to make public the records that document 3 key points in Rigdon’s life, where he would have been motivated to “spill the beans” on the church! Could it have been related to polygamy? That seems unlikely now—at a time when the church has admitted that Joseph had 34 wives. Could it have been related to Sidney’s role in Book of Mormon authorship? Patrick then explains how the fear that wordprint studies can be manipulated does not justify ignoring them. Many guardrails in place surrounding scientific processes ensure that studies can be reviewed by critics to hold authors accountable. Watch as Patrick demonstrates that all of the LDS-authored studies report findings that are counter to their motivations! What better sign could there be that the LDS authored studies are not being manipulated to obtain their desired findings? The rest of this episode focuses on the last two wordprint studies, including the only study to compare the wordprint of Sidney Rigdon to the Book of Mormon text. Is Sidney flagged as an author? Finally, there is presentation of the chart reviewing the findings of all 8 wordprint studies showing surprisingly consistent findings. Join us for a thoughtful look at the evidence behind one big question: who authored the Book of Mormon?

Mormonish Podcast hits Las Vegas with Dr. Randall Bell for a weekend of magic, illusion, mentalism, and misdirection. But this wasn’t just for entertainment—we wanted to see these techniques in action and explore how performers capture attention, influence an audience, create a sense of wonder, and convince people they’ve witnessed something impossible. Then we turn the lens on early Mormonism. From seer stones and treasure seeking to supernatural claims and charismatic storytelling, we explore whether Joseph Smith may have employed some of the same principles of misdirection, suggestion, audience management, and psychological influence that magicians have used for centuries. Join us for a fascinating—and very Mormonish—trip to Vegas as we ask: When does a convincing performance become a miracle in the eyes of the beholder?