E208: Religion Is Dangerous. You Should Try It!
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat thinks that believing in the divine and joining a religion is not only a rational thing to do, it’s the best way to interact... Read more.
E207: Joseph Smith: Not Boring.
As a non-Mormon scholar, John G. Turner spent years researching Joseph Smith’s life as he wrote a biography of Smith. He found out that nothing about Joseph... Read more.
E206: How Sunstone Cartoons Saved the LDS Church from Itself.
Is it blasphemous to publish a cartoon about Angel Moroni? How about Jesus? How about God? Sunstone has been exploring the limits of what LDS culture is willing... Read more.
E205: Perfectionism: Mormon Style.
Is your life a sermon? Do you imagine your every action being narrated by a general authority? In this episode, Stephen Carter dives into perfectionism, showing... Read more.
UK Schedule
UK 2025 Schedule October 24-26, 2025 Register and see venue and lodging information here This is an in-person conference in Leicester, England. All times are in... Read more.
E204: The Saddest Book in the World: How Filmmaker David Lynch Revised My View of the Book of Mormon
Jesus, Mormon, and David Lynch walk into Stephen Carter’s head. Together, they manage to revise everything Stephen thought he knew about the Book of Mormon,... Read more.
E203: The Dance of Love: A Lynne Kanavel Whitesides Memorial.
In September 1993, six scholars—called the September Six—were disciplined by the LDS Church. Lynne Kanavel Whitesides was the first. For the next ten years,... Read more.
E202: Three Steps Toward Weathering a Faith Crisis in Your Marriage.
A faith crisis is one of the most destabilizing things that can happen to an LDS marriage. Both partners feel betrayed. Feelings either erupt or are suppressed.... Read more.
E201: A Feminist in Primary?
Vonda Mae has held just about every calling in her ward—for about two weeks. That’s how long it takes her to find a way to instill her feminism into it.... Read more.
E200: J. Golden Kimball: The Man Behind the Myth.
He was the Church’s most unlikely general authority. A coffee habit, an oft-shot-off mouth, and–according to this great-grandnephew–a deep spirituality.... Read more.
E199: How I Made It Through Life Without Missing a Single Guilt Trip.
Being a single, 25-year-old Mormon female is a tough life. But Dorothy Black makes it into a stand-up comedy routine in this episode of the Sunstone Podcast. ... Read more.
E198: Relief Society Baby.
For Heather Sundahl, Relief Society was the “monster child that sucked up my mom.” What was it like to be the daughter of the most powerful woman in... Read more.
UK 25
UK 2025 October 24-26, 2025 View the full UK Schedule Truth Will Prevail Resistance, Protest, and Utopia in the British Isles This year, we're exploring the theme... Read more.
E197: The Indomitable Raftsman of Mormonism.
In 1954, California LDS bishop Devere Baker set out to prove that Lehi could have sailed from the Persian Gulf to Guatemala—by sailing his own raft, which he called... Read more.
E196: You Can Go Home Again. But Do You Want To?
How much can we heal from the wounds our religious community gave us? Stephen Carter explores the “hero cycle” story structure to find out.... Read more.
E195: An Insider’s Look at the Baseball Baptisms in Britain.
The Baseball Baptism era is a controversial one in LDS history. Richard Mavin gives a first-hand account of how it all happened in Britain and how his mission experience... Read more.
E194: The Baseball Baptism Era.
Probably the most controversial period of Mormon missionary history was from about 1960–1962 when more than 100,000 boys were baptized into the LDS Church worldwide—sometimes... Read more.
E193: Should We Toss Testimony Meeting?
LDS testimony meetings are usually tedious affairs. Yet we have them every month. Why? Anthropologist David Knowlton compares testimony meeting with similar rituals... Read more.
E192: Annalee Skarin: Excommunicated then Translated—Yes, Like Enoch.
In 1948, Annalee Skarin had just published a book she said was written by the power of God. She was very soon excommunicated from the LDS Church. But then a few... Read more.
As Honey for Sweetness: Wrestling with the Various Voices of Scripture
Julie M. Smith When, at the Lord’s command, Ezekiel ate a scroll, he proclaimed that it was as sweet as honey (see Ezekiel 3:3). This image of Ezekiel incorporating... Read more.