This Week in Latter-days

President Monson is no longer involved in day-to-day Church activities, instead staying abreast of what's needed with help from his inner circle. It's been a long time since we've had a prophet essentially go into forced retirement due to age or health. Not since President Benson has the prophet stopped attending functions.

The net growth rate of the creation of new units (wards, branches) in the United States is slowing down, and the overall growth rate of Church membership in the US continues to decline faster than the growth rate of global membership. What gives?

A bronze statue of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young was recently stolen from a Salt Lake City business park (???) and feared to be sold for scrap. It has since returned, and Utah breathes a sigh of relief.

Is it possible to be too obedient on a mission? Zack Oates thinks so and so do we, but let us explain.

Scholars argue that Old Testament scholarship is dying among Christians, except among Mormons. What's behind that? Is it cultural? Doctrinal? Peculiar people-al?

Also, some new scholarship further explores the claim that Native Americans, particularly Cherokees, actually descended from Middle Eastern people. It's pretty interesting to process.

As Russia makes it nearly impossible for Mormon missionaries to do their jobs, the Church announces the absorption of the Russia Vladivostok Mission by the Russia Novosibirsk Mission, effectively 1 July.

The Church Family History Museum has a new interactive display that is ruffling some feathers for alleged cultural insensitivity.

Other stuff: FaceSmile app brings smiles to LDS portraits; the Paris France Temple is dedicated; Al's EFY student is a famous Filipino pop star; new guidelines to be safe during Church activities; and major love for Tom Everett Scott.

 

Guest hosts Tiffany Hales and Arianne Smith (real-life sisters) run the show. Tiffany is a lawyer and Arianne wrestles children for a living. They believe TWiM is far too male-centric and will now bring a feminine, mom-centric flavor to the proceedings, so buckle up and prepare thyselves!

But Al and Geoff are still here to talk about a few things, such as a place called Europe, Trump's executive order not to enforce the Johnson Amendment, the Church sort of severing ties with Boy Scouts, and no information whatsoever on Al's wedding.

Should we cancel Relief Society on Mother's Day and just let women mingle? Is mingling the answer? What are your Mother's Day gifts at church? Bishops get stressed over this stuff, which we just don't believe, mostly because we are a male-centric show.

What of stake conference best practices? Arianne is anti-seat saving. What about parking at stake conference? What of those monsters who leave before the closing prayer? These are apparently plagues in areas with lots of Mormons, so we encourage you Intermountain folk to move elsewhere and thin out the cultural absurdity.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is releasing a new album with "friends," also known as "the crossover album that will become a best seller." Arianne is really excited about a certain artist, to Tiffany's surprise!

Some Mormon sisters ride Pirates of the Caribbean and see a live Johnny Depp. Deseret News covers it as if the girls spent an intimate evening with Depp. Silly Deseret News.

Lastly, some favorite things, notably a shopping app and an app that lets parents stalk their children. Cool!

We're back in the saddle after a lengthier break and thrilled to be here. Much has happened since we last joined you, both in the Church and in our personal lives, and as we are an open, loving set of hosts, we shall regale you with our personal goings and doings.

Let's talk about "personal arcs" of discipleship. How do we prevent from dipping? How do we get so engaged in the rest of life that we cut off the other good things we've done that have brought us to the place we are? How do we seek balance? How do we experience a spiritual reawakening? How do we endure? We get existential for about a third of this episode.

Also, of course, there was news. We have some thoughts on General Conference, especially the alleged scandal about lower levels of female involvement this time around.

Freedom of worship around the world is on the decline. Particularly for those of us in the United States, do we need more perspective on what "religious freedom" actually entails? We just saw Russia effectively outlaw Jehovah's Witnesses. Religious freedom is legitimately imperiled in many places in the world.

In political news, super amazing guy Jason Chaffetz (UT-3) has announced he will not seek reelection, and now the world is abuzz about who will replace him. One name submitted to the zeitgeist is none other than Elder Holland's son, Matt Holland, who is currently the president of Utah Valley University and seems like a swell guy. But would Mormons be unduly swayed by having an apostle's son run for public office?

Also, will Senator Mitt Romney become a thing? We can only hope and pray, brothers and sisters. We can only hope. And pray.

Our friends at LeadingLDS are hosting a virtual summit on improving your motivation to get engaged in home teaching and other areas. It's great! And if you attend you help TWiM!

Other news: BYU is having a women's conference; the Church donates to the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, Idaho Falls and Paris France temple photos, and other miscellanea, like Al getting hitched.

Show notes:

* Idaho Falls Idaho Temple coming back

* Paris France Temple photos

* Jehovah's Witnesses banned in Russia

* LeadingLDS virtual summit

* Elder Holland's son for congress?

* Senator Mitt Romney?

* Donation to Philly museum

* Freedom of worship on the decline

* BYU women's conference

Elder Dallin H. Oaks mentions climate change, free trade, and the "aggressive" Trump administration in a BYU-Hawaii commencement address. Pretty specific language that we're not accustomed to hearing from the apostle.

Likewise, many Women's March enthusiasts were upset by some remarks from Sister Elaine S. Dalton, the former Young Women General President, who witnessed a glimpse of the march and wished the women there were marching for "virtune." Prominent Bloggernacler Jana Riess also attempts to justify profanity but uses flawed logic to reach her conclusions.

We engage in a joyous discussion on VidAngel's future as a clean content provider, particularly as it goes up against byuTV. Also, do you want to have the fulls rules of Relative Race explained to you? We've got you covered.

Former Utah governor, former ambassador to China, and (by all accounts) lapsed Mormon Jon Huntsman has reportedly been tipped to be the ambassador to Russia. Poor fella.

Only in Rexburg do kids throw live chickens into one's apartment with an attached note reading, "Screw you, Kyler!" Also, only in Rexburg is a girl named "Kyler."

The Mormon Church finally goes after the website MormonLeaks, but not over the obvious stuff. The cease and desist came because MormonLeaks posted an internal presentation document that the Church says is copyrighted material and the unauthorized presentation of which is a violation of the Church's intellectual property. Look, when the Church's trademark non-profit is named "Intellectual Reserve," you don't mess with it, people.

Our own Josie Gleave interviews Mary Campbell, historian who authored a book about 19th century temple photographer and erotica peddler Charles Ellis Johnson. How does one get into erotica while being close to top Church leadership?

Other news: farewell, sports at BYU-Hawaii; the Atlanta Temple vociferously opposes sitting on "Mercedes-Benz Drive;" major renovations will close two temples for two years each; black students at BYU complain about awkwardness; no subpoena for President Monson over Navajo scandals; and can you honor the Sabbath while working on the Sabbath?

We challenged you to record your own episode of TWiM, and you responded. Enjoy a bit of banter from us and the bulk of the episode carried by none other than his eminence Greg W. Anderson. Thanks, Greg!

To discuss: How big should Mormonism's tent be? Are there "allowable boundaries" when it comes to the rules? A recent BYU devotional with Elder Quentin L. Cook causes some controversy because of alleged traditionalist views espoused in his remarks.

Studio C visits Conan and talks about clean comedy and being famous with Conan O'Brien's kids. Greg thinks the Studio C kids will not get the same bump that comedians of yore did from talk show appearance.

Also, cursory Ender's Game references.

Would a repeal of the Johnson Amendment change much for Mormons? Do any of us really think Salt Lake would suddenly start openly supporting candidates? Should the Church be tax exempt?

Comcast is finally going to air the anti-Mormon ad it rejected a few weeks ago. Now you can enjoy sweaty, out-of-focus people on your 4K set. Too bad the ad tops out in 720p.

The Church announces the new BYU Pathway Worldwide program, greatly expanding the availability of diploma programs. Clark G. Gilbert, the now-former president of BYU-Idaho was tapped to run the new program. In his place, Henry B. Eyring has bequeathed the throne unto his son, Henry J. Eyring.

Boy Scouts of America announces a move to allow transgender individuals in its troops. No word yet on whether this will affect the Church's involvement with Scouting.

Harry Reid says no one was harder on him than his fellow Mormons, and there's probably some truth to that. Why do we work so hard to be politically homogenous and tear one another down? Brother Reid is surely not perfect. No one is. Yet we vilify others.

Missionary schedules are changing. You'll never believe it! Now a mission president can adjust his missionaries' routine according to local circumstances. So in shorthand, they can do exactly what mission presidents have already been doing for decades. Forward!

A street in Manti, Utah goes up for sale, drawing parallels with the same situation 18 years ago when the Church bought a stretch of Main Street in Salt Lake City. Drama in Sanpete County!

In other news: BYU-Idaho voyeurism; BYU-Provo potentially losing its ROTC program over Honor Code issues; Rudy got baptized; the new Mutual dating app; new LDS Business College president; and some ongoing Title IX issues at BYU.

Plus, banter. We know you love banter.

We're back after our hiatus, so let's talk about all that stuff pertaining to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing at Donald Trump's inauguration. Great Idea or Greatest Idea?

The so-called "Mormon Leaks" releases some images of General Authority pay stubs, for lack of a better term, and in shocking news, those that want to take issue with it are taking issue with it. Still, there's some stuff worth discussing here.

Our friend James the Mormon causes a stir by posting a picture with his shoulder-revealing girlfriend, and Mormons on the internet do what they do best: vilify him. It's unfortunate, and James had a very classy response. Let's talk modesty!

In other news: Church growth slows substantially in the US, perhaps a harbinger of things to come? An LDS man wants Princess Leia to become a formal Disney Princess, because apparently he hates Princess Leia and wants her to become part of that marketing machine. What other reason could there be?

Lastly, we have some announcements on the future of TWiM!

Come with us to the days of yesteryear, or rather, January 2010, when This Week in Mormons premiered with its very first episode, titled "The Thirty-foot Temple." We were very green then (so green we had to re-record the entire episode because we stank at audio production), though Al was just as offensive and Geoff just as pretentious!

Is this basically the same as a TV show that lazily throws together clips of previous episodes and calls it a new episode? Not quite. Those people actually curated best moments. We're so lazy we're just republishing an entire episode rather than listen through our corpus to find standout moments over the past seven years.

Of note in this episode:

* The then-new Mormon Battalion Visitors Center in San Diego

* Drama with the then-announced Phoenix Arizona Temple

* The link between Christianity and obesity

* The use of tech in the Church

But we hope you enjoy. Happy new year!

Hot off her performance with Rolando Villazon in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas concert, famed mezzo soprano Angela Brower sits down with us to talk about being an opera rock star in Germany while still being LDS, and how she hopes to be an example to girls around the world that you can follow your passions and remain a faithful Latter-day Saint woman.

Christmas season is in full swing! We enjoyed the First Presidency Christmas Devotional on Sunday, with a few caveats. More music, please!

A BYU-Idaho student gets a 0 on her photography assignment reportedly for showing off her sexy and inappropriate shoulders. So where's the line between what is, frankly, immodest art (that is still art) and lewd content?

James the Mormon has dropped the concatenation of his name and in the process, offered up a great Christmas jam that also helped the needy.

Should Santa be present at a ward Christmas party? Hard-hitting stuff, folks.

Did you know there are Mormon gamers, as in an entire society devoted to wholesome gaming? These people are new to us.

In some other news: a very uplifting story of a young man who combatted drug addiction to serve a mission; a Primary leader speaks at a UNICEF panel; the Church's outreach with the Book of Mormon musical is working; a chapel burns down in Idaho; and more!