PODCAST · religion
Mormon Land
by The Salt Lake Tribune
Mormon Land explores the contours and complexities of LDS news. It’s hosted by award-winning religion writer Peggy Fletcher Stack and Salt Lake Tribune managing editor David Noyce.
Episodes
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This LDS OB-GYN was ‘100% yes’ on Prop 1 — until her church weighed in | Episode 461
The U.S. Central Area Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued an official statement last month opposing the Idaho Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act, better known as Proposition 1. The memo was brief. Its signers, all men, did not get into the debates swirling…
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Why gambling violates LDS principles and economics | Episode 460
The explosion in gambling — especially through the emergence of online sports betting and so-called prediction markets — has been debated in the courts, Congress and now Latter-day Saint living rooms. The latter comes after President D. Todd Christofferson’s blistering broadside against all types...
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LDS women and the rise of conservative Christian gender ideals | Episode 459
Six years ago, the book “Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation” hit shelves. A 75-year history of evangelical masculinity, The New York Times bestseller laid out the forces that, according to author Kristin Kobes Du Mez, turned President Donald…
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Former judge Thomas Griffith on LDS President Dallin Oaks' D.C. speech | Episode 458
President Dallin H. Oaks, leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gave a landmark address recently in a soaring cathedral at the nation’s capital to a packed audience of Washington politicos and insiders. The former lawyer, law professor and Utah Supreme Court justice schooled...
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McKay Coppins on sports betting for Latter-day Saints | Episode 457
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is opposed to gambling. … [It] is motivated by a desire to get something for nothing. This desire is spiritually destructive. It leads participants away from the Savior’s teachings.” With those words, the faith’s position is clear. No gambling — of...
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LDS service missionaries confront a whole new challenge: immigration | Episode 456
Scott Howell is a well-known figure among Utah Democrats. He served for a decade in the state Senate and was twice the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate. During the past dozen years, though, Howell donned a different mantle: service missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day...
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Sex for older single, divorced and widowed Latter-day Saints | Episode 455
Sexual standards set by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seem clear — no sex before marriage, total fidelity during marriage. Guidelines for sexual activity are set out for young Latter-day Saints in publications like “For the Strength of Youth.” But what about older singles who…
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Shorter lessons. Less foyer time. Will new Sunday schedule lead to a ‘drive-thru’ church? | Episode 454
Starting in September, the Sabbath experience will change for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints around the world. Services each Sunday will feature all of the faith’s traditional classes for adults and youths, rather than every other week. That means an hourlong sacrament...
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The LDS Church’s retention rate may fall even further | Episode 453
The on-again, off-again debate about retention in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is, most definitely, on — again. And in a big way. The latest round began with a report by BYU Studies, which found a number of positive signs of high religiosity among members. But it also noted…
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Exploring the church's case against John Dehlin's "Mormon Stories" | Episode 452
After a failed attempt at a mediation, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sued the influential podcast “Mormon Stories,” known for its criticism of the faith and its leaders. In their complaint, church attorneys alleged trademark infringement. They argued that the show’s use of the...
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'Mormons in Media' crossover: Watching 'The Altar' so you don't have to
On this crossover episode between ‘Mormon Land’ and ‘Mormons in Media, ’ Rebbie and Nicole are joined by Meg Walter, host of the ‘Hive Mind’ podcast. There is a new season of a Provo "dating show" that the three of them watch and discuss. This is truly an act of public service, so you can cringe...
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‘My mom cried and my dad went silent,’ says gay son of famed LDS composer | Episode 451
Jeff McLean grew up as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Heber City. As the son of renowned Latter-day Saint composer and playwright Michael McLean, faith and music were large parts of Jeff’s life. From his earliest memories, Jeff recalls his father’s stardom and the...
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'After Happiness': Surviving today’s challenging economic and polarizing climate | Episode 450
In her new book, “After Happiness: Living with Faith in a Time of Crisis,” Natalie Brown, a Salt Lake Tribune guest columnist, calls on readers to develop a deeper, richer, more resilient faith amid life’s trials and uncertainties.
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His scribe’s diaries provide further evidence of Joseph Smith’s secret polygamy | Episode 449
William Clayton is likely known to most members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the author of the beloved pioneer hymn, “Come, Come, Ye Saints.” To historians, though, Clayton was a key figure in Mormonism’s beginnings, especially during the years in Nauvoo, Illinois. He...
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About Brazil's Latter-day Saints | Episode 448
Brazilian Helvécio Martins was the first Black general authority in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was named a dozen years after the Utah-based faith ended its 126-year priesthood/temple ban in 1978. His son Marcus Martins had just turned 19 and thus, by most accounts, became...
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The search for what Joseph Smith looked like and why it matters | Episode 447
“As a Latter-day Saint artist, Joseph Brickey had painted church founder Joseph Smith dozens of times. So he was naturally skeptical in 2022, when he first saw headlines about a recently discovered daguerreotype that was reported to be the only known photo of Smith. He had studied extensively the...
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Why this past LDS anti-communist zealot is relevant today | Episode 446
There was a time in the 1960s when W. Cleon Skousen, who died in 2006 at 92, was a widely known and controversial conservative figure in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Skousen was a popular speaker, teacher and writer, whose books about scriptures reflected a literal…
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How LDS of all backgrounds can integrate African American spirituals into worship | Episode 445
Earlier this month, general authority Seventy historian Kyle McKay apologized for remarks he made at a regional worship service in Oklahoma. In his controversial comments, McKay, the official historian for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, briefly reenacted a racist rendition of…
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The beliefs and battles of Marion D. Hanks | Episode 444
There was a time in the 1960s and ’70s, when Marion Duff Hanks was better known than almost any other Latter-day Saint leader. The boyish, handsome, charismatic and deeply literate Hanks was tapped in 1953 at age 31 as a general authority in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was...
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Why many evangelicals don't see Latter-day Saints as Christians | Episode 443
For about a decade, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been in a costly rebrand aimed in part at shoring up its bona fides as a Christian denomination. Not everyone is convinced, including, it appears, inside the federal government. Late last week, the U.S. Department of Defense,...
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Poet Carol Lynn Pearson on how she left 'parts' of the church | Episode 442
Carol Lynn Pearson, renowned Latter-day Saint poet, playwright and activist, began keeping a nearly daily diary when she was a senior at Brigham Young High School in 1956. And she never stopped. The first of her four volumes, which is out now, reads like a chronicle of Mormonism’s intellectual...
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The 'crisis' of members leaving the LDS Church | Episode 441
Jeff Strong, a former bishop, mission president and BYU faculty member, finds himself in a similar position to an increasing number of parents in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While he remains a believing, practicing and devout member, he has loved ones (including three of his...
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It’s time for members to call out racism, says Black Latter-day Saint leader | Episode 440
Ronell Hugh says he was recently hiking a trail in Highland, Utah, when a white man in a gray truck leaned out his window and shouted a racist threat. It was a moment both startling and deeply troubling for the president of the Genesis Group, a support organization for Black Latter-day Saints.…
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LDS women who pursued careers when it was seen as a no-no | Episode 439
It’s the late 1960s to mid-1970s. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues a century-old priesthood and temple ban against its Black members. It takes a high-profile public stance against the proposed Equal Rights Amendment. And a persistent patriarchy urges women to abandon...
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What does a ‘sustaining’ vote really mean in the church? | Episode 438
On April 4, millions of Latter-day Saints worldwide raised their hands to show symbolic support for their new prophet-president, Dallin H. Oaks. It was a rare ritual, called a solemn assembly, done primarily at the time of a new leader for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But this...
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Why peace lovers aren’t enough. Jesus called for peacemakers. | Episode 437
Nearly 50 years ago, Latter-day Saint prophet-president Spencer W. Kimball warned boldly and directly about the dangers of war, including the vast resources used in the destruction of America’s enemies. The Yoda-like leader cautioned that members were becoming a “warlike people.” His successors…
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'Mormons in Media' crossover: Processing "Trust Me: The False Prophet" with Mormon Fundamentalism Expert Cristina Rosetti
Netflix's harrowing 4-part docuseries focuses on the crimes of Sam Batemen, but before Sam Bateman there was Warren Jeffs. As outsiders, Nicole and Rebbie can't begin to understand how either of these men were able to do what they did. Cristina helps contextualize what these religious doctrines…
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Are members leaving in droves? No. But ‘deeply concerning’ trends exist amid those record conversions. | Episode 436
There was plenty of good growth news — at least on its books — for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2025: a record number of convert baptisms of more than 385,000; an overall global membership climbing ever closer to 18 million; and at least 44 nations or territories with annual...
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An apostle's plan to prevent 'old men' from running the church | Episode 435
The three most recent presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints died at ages 101, 90 and 97. In fact (not counting founder Joseph Smith) church presidents live to an average age of 87. And the current leader, Dallin Oaks, is 93. Decades ago, liberal apostle Hugh B. Brown, a...
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Does the General Conference format need an overhaul? | Episode 434
At least four aspects of the just-completed General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stood out: • The Easter weekend focus on the death, resurrection and Atonement of Jesus Christ. • A solemn assembly combined with Dallin H. Oaks’ first conference sermon as the 18th...
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With women now able to serve as leaders, how might LDS Sunday schools change? | Episode 433
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently announced that women could now serve in Sunday school presidencies, a position that has traditionally been filled by men. Allowing women to oversee the teaching of scriptures and church doctrine to members was seen by many as a further move...
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‘Mormons in Media’ crossover: Which 'Secret Lives' messes actually tie back to the LDS Church?
It has been the month of breaking news surrounding reality television in Utah. From Season 4 of 'Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' premiering, to Taylor Frankie Paul's 'Bachelorette' season being cancelled, to Jessi from 'Secret Lives' getting divorced to then sending flowers to a friend for kissing...
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The real Harry Reid, the most powerful Latter-day Saint politician in history | Episode 432
Mitt Romney may be the most famous Mormon politician, but the title of highest-ranking elected Latter-day Saint in U.S. history belongs not to a rich Utah Republican with a patrician background and deep ties in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but rather to a self-made Nevada...
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Troy Williams: It’s better to compromise with the church than clash with it | Episode 431
As a young man, Troy Williams wore a missionary name tag for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Great Britain — all the while fighting against the growing realization he was gay. Afterward, he interned with the Utah Eagle Forum and learned the ways of backroom politicking at the...
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How his LDS faith guides this U.S. diplomat | Episode 430
Born in Salt Lake City, John Dinkelman has spent nearly four decades working as a U.S. diplomat in countries as far away as the former Yugoslavia and Turkey, and as close as Nogales, Mexico. He currently serves other diplomats as president of the American Foreign Service Association. As a member…
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Farewell, Temple Square mission — the only one where women do all the preaching | Episode 429
For decades, the Temple Square mission in Salt Lake City has operated unlike any other run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The smallest mission in the world geographically, it is arguably also one of the busiest, acting as an introduction to the Utah-based faith for millions…
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‘Mormon Land’ tribute: Historian Ardis Parshall talks about pioneer adventures and misadventures
Note to readers and listeners • In a tribute to Salt Lake Tribune guest columnist Ardis Parshall, who died earlier this week, we are replaying this “Mormon Land” episode from last July in which the noted research historian discussed one of her favorite topics: Latter-day Saint pioneers. So enjoy...
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Humorist Eli McCann and his husband discuss the laughs and love they find in LDS culture | Episode 428
Faithful Salt Lake Tribune readers know Eli McCann well. He’s the award-winning columnist who has them cracking up about coming out as a coffee drinker one minute and tearing up about the Latter-day Saint youth group in the western Pacific who won his heart the next. Now his monthly humor columns...
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‘Mormons in Media’ crossover: Are LDS communities uniquely vulnerable to people like Ruby Franke & Jodi Hildebrandt?
There is no shortage of documentaries detailing the crimes of Ruby Franke and Hildebrandt. On this ‘Mormons in Media’ crossover, we unpack the Netflix documentary ‘Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story’ and the Hulu docuseries ‘Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke.’ Rebbie and…
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Why Richard Bushman, the dean of LDS historians, would welcome the Second Coming | Episode 427
By all accounts, Richard Bushman could be considered the patriarch of Mormon history. For more than nine decades, he has lived it, studied it, analyzed it, shared it with fellow believers and explained it to nonbelievers. The soft-spoken scholar — with three degrees from Harvard and a drive…
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Latter-day Saints speak from the front lines in Minneapolis | Episode 426
Daily life in and around Minneapolis has taken on a sharper edge since the federal government unleashed a mass deportation campaign in the city. Raids on suspected immigrants have become a common occurrence, observers on the ground report. Gas-mask-wearing protesters take frequently to frozen...
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The history of LDS garments — from long sleeve to sleeveless | Episode 425
For most of its nearly 200-year history, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints considered temple clothing — including what are known as “garments,” worn under everyday attire — too sacred to discuss, even within families or among friends. That has slowly changed. In 2015, the Utah-based...
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Why LDS meetinghouses have basketball courts — the rise and fall of ‘church ball’ | Episode 424
Enter many a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints across the U.S. and you will find a pew-packed chapel next to a ready-made sports court separated only by an accordion-like folding wall. That pairing says a lot not only about how the faith views the intertwining of the...
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'Mormons in Media' crossover: What if your tithing paid for a Housewife's Louis Vuitton?
The new year started and so did the reality television. On this 'Mormon Land' and 'Mormons in Media' crossover, we unpack TLC's new docuseries The Cult of the Real Housewife. This takes a deep dive into Mary Cosby, from The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, and how she runs her Utah church. It...
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Why apostle Dieter Uchtdorf is so popular | Episode 423
With the recent deaths of Russell Nelson and Jeffrey Holland, apostle Dieter Uchtdorf moved two steps closer to the top rung on the leadership ladder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The 85-year-old Uchtdorf is now the acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and...
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The intrigue and insights in selecting new apostles | Episode 422
Picking new apostles is a significant and solemn responsibility for presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After all, any of the men (and, in the patriarchal faith, they must be men) selected for this lifetime assignment could one day rise to the presidency of the global...
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What did Joseph Smith really look like? | Replay
December marks the 220th anniversary of the birth of Mormonism’s founder, Joseph Smith, who was born Dec. 23, 1805, in Sharon, Vermont. In recognition, we are revisiting this “Mormon Land” podcast about one of the most significant developments in the research surrounding this major American...
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The NAACP president is eager to talk with new LDS President Dallin Oaks | Episode 421
In the 1960s, the NAACP was among the loudest critics of the policy by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the time to exclude Black members from its all-male priesthood and its temples. In 2018 — 40 years after the church had eliminated the policy — national leaders of the…
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Scholar Dan McClellan on LDS approval of new Bible translations | Episode 420
Embedded in the oft-cited Articles of Faith, written by church founder Joseph Smith, is this statement: “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly.” To the minds of many, even most, English-speaking members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,...
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Status of LDS women two years after their removal from the stand | Episode 419
For a decade, Latter-day Saint female officers in the San Francisco Bay Area had joined male leaders in sitting on the stand, facing members, during Sunday services. In the wake of the Ordain Women movement of 2013, it was seen as a small, visible step toward equality and inclusion. Two years…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Mormon Land explores the contours and complexities of LDS news. It’s hosted by award-winning religion writer Peggy Fletcher Stack and Salt Lake Tribune managing editor David Noyce.
HOSTED BY
The Salt Lake Tribune
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How many episodes does Mormon Land have?
Mormon Land currently has 100 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Mormon Land about?
Mormon Land explores the contours and complexities of LDS news. It’s hosted by award-winning religion writer Peggy Fletcher Stack and Salt Lake Tribune managing editor David Noyce.
How often does Mormon Land release new episodes?
Mormon Land has 100 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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Mormon Land is created and hosted by The Salt Lake Tribune.
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