Mormon.ish

While the Church reported over 17.5 million members by the end of 2024, researchers and analysts—often relying on congregation counts, surveys, and academic analysis—frequently estimate the number of active, attending members to be significantly lower, sometimes suggesting it is closer to 4–5 million worldwide. This gap exists because the official figures include anyone with a baptismal record who has not formally resigned, meaning inactive members, or "jack-mormons," are counted until they turn 110 years old. Observers seeking the true, engaged population often ignore the total membership number entirely, focusing instead on the slower-growing, more telling metrics of ward and stake counts to gauge the actual growth or decline of the religion. Let's unpack the data with Mormonish and Master Peace! You will be amazed! 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 You can get your own quote to attend our Post-Mormon Celebration Cruise by visiting - https://kheskethtravel.com/post-mormon-celebration-cruise And you can get more info on the cruise by visiting - https://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/post-mormon-celebration-cruise/ 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.

Students at Morehouse College recently raised concerns over a newly unveiled painting of Joseph Smith to be displayed in the Martin Luther King International Chapel gallery on campus. The artwork, intended as part of an interfaith partnership highlighting individuals who champion racial equality, quickly became the center of a student-led pushback and dialogue about representation, historical memory, and institutional values. Some students questioned why Smith—founder The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—was selected for prominent display at a historically Black college, particularly given the LDS Church’s racist past, restrictions on Black members holding the priesthood prior to 1978, and Smith's own views and writings. For most students, the issue was not merely about a single painting, but about the broader symbolism of honoring religious figures whose institutions and they themselves have complicated histories regarding race. Mormonish Podcast is joined by Alonzo Brinson, 40th President of the Martin Luther King International Chapel Assistants Program to discuss the developing situation at Morehouse College.

At a recent painting unveiling at Morehouse College, a provocative phrase caught everyone’s attention when the dean of the college stated that Joseph Smith was “Lincoln before Lincoln.”

What did that mean? Was it poetic praise, historical argument, or symbolic comparison? And the even bigger question, did Joseph Smith actually ever express or exhibit anti-slavery views?

In this episode, Rebecca Bibliotheca is joined by Master Peace, Ron Yorgason as we explore the life and legacy of Joseph Smith, searching for the history behind the headline.

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You can get your own quote to attend our Post-Mormon Celebration Cruise by visiting - https://kheskethtravel.com/post-mormon-celebration-cruise

And you can get more info on the cruise by visiting - https://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/post-mormon-celebration-cruise/

We appreciate our Mormonish viewers and listeners so much!

Don't forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to Mormonish Podcast!

Contact Mormonish Podcast: [email protected]

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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.

Mormonish Podcast's Landon and Rebecca report back on their recent trip to Missouri. Hitting many of the LDS church history sites like Independence, Far West, Liberty Jail, The Garden of Eden, etc was a revelatory experience that we can't wait to share with all of you! We are calling this new subseries, "Where Will You Go?"

So excited to celebrate our 300th episode of Mormonish Podcast! Thank you everyone for your amazing support through all the episodes!

In a previous Mormonish episode with Ganesh, he mentioned that there are compelling reasons to believe that Joseph and Emma conceived their first child that night at the Hill Cumorah when Joseph was retrieving the golden plates. We didn't explore this topic fully on that episode, but wanted to revisit it to give Ganesh a chance to share more information about this provocative idea.

You won't want to miss this episode!

Are lines between church and state blurring even further in today's social, cultural, and political climate? Mormonish Podcast is joined by Dan Hardy, Co President of the Freedom From Religion Foundation and Douglas Hendricks, President of the SLC Chapter of the FFRF, to discuss the topic of church v. state and all the nuance in between. According to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the history of Western civilization shows us that most social and moral progress has been brought about by persons free from religion. In modern times the first to speak out for prison reform, for humane treatment of the mentally ill, for abolition of capital punishment, for women’s right to vote, for death with dignity for the terminally ill, and for the right to choose contraception, sterilization and abortion have been freethinkers, just as they were the first to call for an end to slavery. The Foundation works as an umbrella for those who are free from religion and are committed to the cherished principle of separation of state and church. You won't want to miss this important discussion. - Information about the two meetings featuring FFRF Co-President Dan Barker on Jan 24 and 25 can be found here... ffrfslc.org/dan-barker-in-salt-lake - FFRFSLC's "Dirty Dozen" list (of issues where religious extremism is hurting people in Utah) can be found here... ffrfslc.org/call-to-action - Letters that FFRF lawyers have sent to church/state violators in Utah can be found here...:ffrfslc.org/ffrf-actions-in-utah 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 You can get your own quote to attend our Post-Mormon Celebration Cruise by visiting - https://kheskethtravel.com/post-mormon-celebration-cruise And you can get more info on the cruise by visiting - https://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/post-mormon-celebration-cruise/ 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 is joined by Rebecca Williamson, director of tourism in Nauvoo Illinois, to discuss the history OTHER than Mormon history that makes Nauvoo what it is today.

Nauvoo’s history is a rich tapestry that existed long before the Mormons arrived and continued long after. Join us as we walk through the landmarks, stories, and legacies that shaped Nauvoo into the historic destination it is today. And hear the rest of the story!

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

Isaac Hale, Emma Smith’s father, was one of the very first people to observe Joseph Smith during the early Book of Mormon translation period. While Joseph and Emma lived in Hale’s home in Harmony, Pennsylvania, Hale saw Joseph working long before any official witnesses were called. This gave him a rare inside view of the process while it was still private and unconfirmed. Hale later said Joseph was not reading from plates in a normal way but dictating with a stone placed in a hat, often without the plates present. To Hale, this looked suspicious, and he concluded Joseph was using folk-magic practices rather than translating ancient records. Because Hale saw this before the Three and Eight Witnesses gave their formal testimonies, he believed he had already seen the truth of what Joseph was doing. His account has remained important because it comes from someone who was there at the very beginning, watching the story unfold before it became public. So why doesn't it get more attention? Ganesh Cherian joins Mormonish to dive into the important and controversial witness account of Isaac Hale.

Now that the KJV version of the bible is not the only version sanctioned by the LDS church, this opens the door to dropping the Shakespearean language of the Book of Mormon too. Many of us wonder if we will see a new version of The Book of Mormon soon.

Other versions of The Book of Mormon already exist and on this episode of Mormonish Podcast, Rebecca and Landon are joined by the guy behind a unique interpretation of the Book of Mormon that's making everyone spit out their coffee.

Working from a suggestion from a Reddit post by Lucifers_Lantern, John-Michael Holahan reimagined the Book of Mormon by replacing "And it came to pass" with "I sh** you not!" I dare you to read these passages and not laugh out loud!

John-Michael tells us more about how the idea originated and his process to create this very creative modernized version of the Book of Mormon.

Also a shout out to Lucifers_Lantern on Reddit for making the suggestion!

This episode originally aired in March 2024.

Thank you so much for watching and supporting 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

Do Mormons have special revealed knowledge about the actual date Jesus was actually born? We just celebrated Christmas, but like the rest of Christianity, do members of the LDS church really think December 25th is Jesus’s birthday? On this episode of Mormonish Podcast, Rebecca and Landon are joined by the wonderful Charles Harrell to discuss his new research into the history of the LDS belief that Jesus was born on April 6th, not December 25th. To most of us growing up, the idea of the April 6th birthday was a fact that Mormons knew and the rest of the world didn't. We had special knowledge. But where did this special knowledge come from? And why don't we hear this date mentioned at all anymore? Charley shows us the origins of the April 6th claim and how it became gospel truth only to slowly slip out of use in recent decades. This is a microcosm for many teachings that were gospel truth in a different era and have now disappeared. This episode was originally aired in April 2025. Thank you so much for watching and supporting 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.