Welcome to the MormonNewsRoundup where Dives ruminates on the great and spacious Beehive!

Join Dr. Julie Hanks and Valerie Hamaker, two feminist therapists, as they dive into the latest changes in the LDS Church:

Updates to garments

Shifts in female missionary ages

New rules for women entering the temple

They also discuss the future of the church and how patriarchy impacts both men and women, exploring what these changes mean for members and ex-members alike.

🎥 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell to stay updated with thoughtful discussions on Mormonism, feminism, and reform.

#MormonNews #FeministMormon #LDSChanges #JulieHanks #ValerieHamaker #ExMormon

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The Mormon News Roundup is NOT affilated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

What happens when ex-Mormonism starts looking a little too much like the patriarchy it claims to have escaped?

In this explosive conversation, Joe Rawlins of The Hellfire Agency and Rene Steelman of She Became Visible sit down to deconstruct ex-Mormon patriarchy—and nothing is off limits.

🔥 Shots are fired at some of the most recognizable names in the ex-Mormon space, including Bill Reel, Radio Free Mormon, John Dehlin, and others.

🔥 Power dynamics, visibility, gatekeeping, and gender imbalance are put under the microscope.

🔥 Tough questions are asked: Is Thrive sexist? Who gets amplified—and who gets sidelined?

🔥 They name names, challenge sacred cows, and refuse to play nice.

This isn’t a pile-on. It’s a hard conversation about accountability, influence, and whether ex-Mormon communities are truly dismantling patriarchy—or quietly rebuilding it.

If you care about transparency, equity, and honest critique within post-Mormon spaces, this episode is required viewing.

👇 Jump into the comments—but bring receipts.

Original Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds19tegYFFU&t=703s

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The Mormon News Roundup is NOT affilated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Many people have heard of Kate Kelly—the Mormon feminist who challenged church power—but few know her full story.

In this episode of Mormon News Roundup, we trace her journey in chronological order: from a faithful member of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the founder of Ordain Women, and ultimately to a nationally recognized advocate for gender equality and the Equal Rights Amendment.

This video covers:

The founding of Ordain Women and the 2013 General Conference protest

The theological and ethical arguments for women’s ordination

The events leading up to her 2014 excommunication

National media coverage and public reaction

Life after the LDS Church, including activism in feminism and reproductive rights

Her evolution into a broader political and cultural voice

Through interviews, speeches, and key moments, you’ll see how Kate Kelly’s story reflects the power—and cost—of challenging institutional authority from within.

🎥 Featured clips:

Ordain Women protest (2013)

Mormon Stories early dialogue

Pre- and post-excommunication interviews

NPR, CBS, and long-form reflections

Later activism and ERA advocacy

👉 Watch the related shorts:

Kate Kelly overview: https://youtube.com/shorts/6wJlt7x1z1A?feature=share

Why Ordain Women mattered: https://youtube.com/shorts/ZF3ngJZ3268?feature=share

📌 This is the complete story—from belief to dissent to national influence.

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The Mormon News Roundup is NOT affilated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Hey everyone, I’m Dives, and welcome back to The Mormon News Roundup.

Today, we’re breaking down a fascinating deep-dive from historian Dan Vogel on one of the most iconic claims in Mormonism: the Book of Mormon gold plates.

His original video runs over an hour—but in this episode, I cut through the noise and give you the most important insights in a clear, digestible format.

🎥 Watch Dan Vogel’s Original Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEwzcMEzOaU&t=1s

👇 What This Video Covers

👉 If Joseph Smith fabricated the plates… how would he have actually done it using 1820s technology?

In this breakdown, we explore:

The real-world difficulty of creating metal plates in the 1820s

Why most witnesses never saw the plates uncovered

How materials like tin, copper, or shingles could match descriptions

The strange “greenish” appearance reported by early witnesses

A modern tin plate replica experiment matching reported weight

Why the plates may only have needed to look convincing through a cloth or inside a box

And what Joseph Smith’s neighbors didn’t say that might matter

🧠 Key Takeaway

Dan Vogel argues something nuanced:

Fully gold, engraved plates? Highly implausible

A partially concealed, convincingly weighted object? Much more plausible

This aligns with historical accounts suggesting the plates were often covered, boxed, or only partially seen, which lowers the bar for what needed to be physically created.

💬 Join the Discussion

Do you think the plates were:

Genuine ancient artifacts?

A physical prop?

Something more complicated?

Drop your thoughts in the comments 👇

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The Mormon News Roundup is NOT affilated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Leaving the Mormon Church isn’t just about stopping attendance—it’s about undoing a lifetime of conditioning, shame, fear, and identity control.In this episode, Jimmy Snow (Mr Atheist) shares his full Mormon timeline: growing up deeply embedded in LDS leadership culture, early childhood indoctrination, purity shame, priesthood pressure, sexual guilt, Proposition 8, and the slow, painful realization that the church’s truth claims simply don’t hold up to reality.Jimmy walks through:Why “leaving the church” isn’t the same as escaping MormonismChildhood indoctrination and the illusion of choice at baptismSexual shame, guilt cycles, and priesthood hypocrisyThe moment belief finally collapsedHiding atheism, family fallout, and identity crisisWhy life after Mormonism—despite hardship—became happier and healthierThis is not an attack—it’s an honest account of deprogramming, rebuilding values, and learning how to live without fear of eternal punishment.If you’re questioning, transitioning out, or trying to understand why leaving Mormonism is so hard, this story may sound uncomfortably familiar.🧠 Skepticism over shame❤️ Community over control🕊️ Freedom over fearSubscribe for more ex-Mormon stories, atheist content, and critical thinking.Leave a comment—especially if you’re on your own exit journey.Original Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rRjW6VXk5kPlease consider making a donation by joining our Patreon https://www.patreon.com/MormonNewsRoundup Email: [email protected] Website: https://mormonnewsroundup.org/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mormonnewsroundup Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mormon_news_roundup/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093511869924 X: https://twitter.com/NewsMormon New episodes LIVE every Sunday and Monday nights at 9:30PM ESTPlease like and subscribe and hit the notifications bell. Remember remember, no unhallowed hand can stop this podcast from progressing!The Mormon News Roundup is NOT affilated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In 2019, the LDS Church released a new video on the Word of Wisdom, also known as the Lord’s Law of Health. With over 200,000 views, the video attempts to explain why Latter-day Saints abstain from alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, and drugs—but it glosses over the messy historical reality.

From its origins in 1833, the Word of Wisdom was shaped by the temperance movement, early 19th-century cultural habits, and practical concerns—like Emma Smith confronting Joseph Smith about tobacco in the School of the Prophets. Yet early church members, including Joseph Smith himself, continued to drink alcohol and smoke for decades.

This Mormon News Roundup episode highlights how the 2019 video uses simplified imagery and cartoony narration to:

Portray early leaders as polished and scholarly

Portray outsiders as bumbling or immoral

Avoid explaining that the Word of Wisdom was not a commandment until the 1920s

Skip over real historical issues, like cholera outbreaks, boiling water, and inconsistencies in “hot drinks” definitions

We break down the historical context, the real social influences behind the Word of Wisdom, and why the Church continues to present a sanitized version of history—even in 2019.

📌 Watch as we expose the gap between official LDS presentation and the historical record.

Based on: https://www.ldsdiscussions.com/wow

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The Mormon News Roundup is NOT affilated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In April 2020, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a “Now You Know” video explaining the gold plates—the foundation of the Book of Mormon. But how complete is that explanation?

In this video, we walk through the Church’s presentation line by line, comparing it with historical sources, primary documents, and modern scholarship. What emerges is a pattern: simplified storytelling, selective framing, and major unanswered questions.

We examine:

The evolving accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision

The timeline inconsistencies surrounding Moroni’s visit

The physical plausibility of the gold plates (weight, size, transport)

The seer stone in a hat vs traditional translation narrative

The “caractors” document vs stylized “reformed Egyptian”

The role (or lack thereof) of the plates during translation

Contradictions and complexities in the witness testimonies

The absence of archaeological support for large metal records

Anachronisms within the Book of Mormon itself

If the gold plates were meant to serve as tangible evidence, why were they rarely used in the translation process—and why were they never made broadly available for examination?

This video doesn’t just critique—it compares claims to evidence, and narrative to historical record.

📚 Sources referenced include historical documents, early accounts, and the work of historians such as Dan Vogel.

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The Mormon News Roundup is NOT affilated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Julia from Analyzing Mormonism is one of my favorite content creators—and for good reason. As a master’s student in history, she brings a level of depth, sourcing, and credibility that’s rare, especially in short-form content. Whether she’s covering current LDS Church news or diving into church history, her work is consistently thoughtful and high quality.

In this Throwback Thursday highlight, we revisit Episode 107, where Julia joins the Mormon News Roundup and delivers sharp insight—including a breakdown of how the LDS Church has used lawsuits, even impacting creators like us.

👉 Check out the Instagram clip referenced here:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSn31psEouH/?igsh=ZnkwcXh6ZmgzZnF3

Julia was also one of the few people who reached out to me with genuine empathy after I first spoke publicly about being sued by the Church—and that meant a lot then, and still does today.

Behind the scenes, she’s also contributed to Mormon Stories, helping produce short-form content that reaches thousands.

🎬 Watch the FULL Episode 107 here:

https://youtu.be/JxKXs6uDGyk

This highlight reel condenses the best moments into about 25 minutes—perfect if you want the key insights without missing the impact.

And remember—nothing can stop the Mormon News Roundup from moving forward.

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The Mormon News Roundup is NOT affilated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Today on The Mormon News Roundup, I’m doing something different.

Instead of reacting to breaking news or the latest institutional scandal, I walk through the current temple recommend interview questions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—and I answer them honestly, exactly as they are asked today.

If you don’t answer these questions “correctly,” you don’t enter the temple.

No temple, no ordinances.

No ordinances, no highest degree of heaven.

These questions are framed as measures of worthiness, spirituality, and moral fitness—but embedded in them are deep assumptions about authority, obedience, guilt, sexuality, money, epistemology, and even thought itself.

I spent decades answering these questions the “right” way. My livelihood once depended on it.

Today, I answer them truthfully.

This episode is not about mockery or personal grievance. It’s about examining whether these questions are coherent, ethical, evidence-based, or psychologically healthy. If truth matters, these questions deserve scrutiny—not automatic assent.

We go through all 18 temple recommend questions, covering topics like:

Faith vs. evidence

Testimony and emotional epistemology

Prophetic authority

Sexual shame and thought crime

Tithing and institutional deception

Honesty, obedience, and worthiness

You don’t need a recommend to be ethical.

You don’t need priesthood keys to be decent.

You don’t need secret rituals to be worthy.

If you find this episode helpful, uncomfortable, or clarifying—good.

That’s what honest inquiry does.

☕ Yes, I drink coffee.

📺 Like, subscribe, and follow for more Mormon News Roundup.

✨ Always think celestial.

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The Mormon News Roundup is NOT affilated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Hey guys! Dives here, and it’s Throwback Thursday.

Today I’m bringing you highlights from one of my favorite episodes of the Mormon News Roundup—Episode 116, featuring Landon Brophy, cohost of the Mormonish podcast.

If you’re not already familiar with Landon, you’re in for a great discussion. As an ex-Mormon and outspoken critic of the LDS Church, he brings a thoughtful but candid perspective to some of the most controversial topics in Mormonism today.

In this highlight reel, we dive into:

Church tithing lawsuits

Temple garments

LDS culture and inbreeding discussions

Ward Radio reactions

And plenty more

The original episode runs about an hour, but I’ve trimmed it down to ~25 minutes of the most engaging, can’t-miss moments—so you can jump straight into the good stuff.

👉 Watch the full original episode here:

https://youtu.be/IxM44qvGyXY

So grab a snack, settle in, and enjoy this curated highlight reel from Episode 116.

And as always—remember, remember: no unhallowed hand can stop the Mormon News Roundup from progressing.

#MormonNewsRoundup #ExMormon #LDS #ThrowbackThursday #Mormonish

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The Mormon News Roundup is NOT affilated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.