Editor's note: Due to an error in postproduction, we've replaced a previous version of this episode.

Late in 1843, top leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent letters to the five leading candidates for the U.S. presidency, asking each what he would do, if elected, to address the persecution the faith had suffered and to protect it from future repression.

Unsatisfied with the responses, they turned to a new candidate: their own prophet, Joseph Smith.

Thus began the church founder’s quixotic quest for the highest political office in the land that ended with his assassination five months later.

While Smith’s short-lived, long-shot bid for the White House focused on securing the constitutional rights of religious minorities, he campaigned on a host of other issues as well, including the abolition of slavery, the expansion of the nation’s borders, the reestablishment a national bank and the elimination of prisons.

Spencer McBride, associate managing historian of the Joseph Smith Papers project, explores that 1844 campaign, including the tug of war between federal power and states’ rights, on this week’s show and in his new book, “Joseph Smith for President: The Prophet, the Assassins, and the Fight for American Religious Freedom.”

Why Joseph Smith ran for president and how his platform still resonates today | Episode 185

Claudia Bushman was 40 years old, a mother of six and working on an advanced history degree when she, essentially, was volunteered to become the first editor-in-chief of Exponent II, an independent feminist magazine for Latter-day Saint women. That was 1974.

Rachel Rueckert, a 30-something novelist, career woman and the magazine’s current top editor, wasn’t even born then. Despite the age difference, the two share an important passion: giving voice to women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

As the magazine celebrates its 50th anniversary, Bushman and Rueckert discuss their feelings about the magazine, the personal stories it has shared, how it has changed over the decades, what it has accomplished, and why they believe it remains relevant — and crucial — today and will stay that way well the future.

After 50 years, feminist voice still rings out in the pages of Exponent II | Episode 437

For many Latter-day Saints, church is a place of solace, service and spirituality.

Some folks, though, find their participation in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be painful, a source of inner conflict.

These days some members, especially younger ones, feel betrayed to discover that the faith’s history is not as pure as the simplistic narrative they were taught as children. Or they wonder about men called to be prophetic who have said hurtful things about people of color or LGBTQ believers. They challenge the church’s vast wealth and what they see as its ethical failings. They have a hard time seeing any value in organized religion, which leads some to question the existence of God, who seems absent rather than consistently present in their lives.

Tyler Johnson, an oncologist at Stanford who has served as a bishop in a young single adult congregation, has heard and wrestled with all of these issues.

On this week’s show, Johnson, author of “When Church Is Hard,” offers a road map to developing a more nuanced, understanding, empathetic approach to the questions of today.

Church can be painful for some Latter-day Saints. So what’s the answer? | Episode 438

Last August, nearly 20,000 Latter-day Saint young single adults came together to sing, dance, play, pray, run and worship over three weekends. By all accounts, it was a smashing success.

They’re back again this weekend for a three-day festival to celebrate their membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to strengthen their faith, and to feel a sense of belonging.

And, they say, to try to break a mark recognized by the Guinness World Records for “the most contributions to a birthday card” — for President Russell M. Nelson, who turns 100 in September.

Earlier this month, the Utah-based faith raised the age limit for “young single adults” from 30 to 35, while the term “single adults” now describes unmarried members ages 36 and older.

Here to talk about the coming event and the changing demographics is Sara Sumsion, a young single adult who is working on a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy at Northwestern University, and Richard Ostler, who has served as a bishop over a YSA ward, or congregation.

Big change for church’s young single adults could bring big benefits | Episode 349

Religion, in general, has prompted believers to have a more positive view of their bodies, and Mormonism specifically teaches that Heavenly Parents are embodied, that humans are created in their divine image, and that the body is a temple.

Why, then, do some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints struggle with their body image? Why do many turn to cosmetic surgery to “improve” their bodies?

Two researchers from Brigham Young University have just completed what they say is the largest study ever done of how Latter-day Saint doctrine and culture may affect body image.

On this week’s show, study co-author Lauren Barnes, a licensed therapist and professor in BYU’s School of Family Life, discuss the findings — and suggestions for improving body image.

Latter-day Saints and body image | Episode 350

A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wants to invite her daughter’s friend to join them for their congregation’s annual Halloween trunk-or-treat. But it’s being held in the parking lot of the church, and she worries the parents will think the invitation carries ulterior motives.

Across the street, a couple plan a neighborhood dinner party. They want to throw the invite open to everyone, but there will be alcohol, and they fear offending their teetotaling Latter-day Saint neighbors. In the end, they opt to play it safe and invite only a few (non-Latter-day Saint) couples.

The Salt Lake Tribune heard stories like this and more when, nearly a quarter century ago, it undertook no small task: an in-depth exploration of Utah’s religious divide. And we heard them again when, this year, we solicited feedback from readers about how the dynamic shapes their neighborhoods.

On this week’s show, Latter-day Saint LaShawn Williams, a licensed clinical social worker with a doctorate in education, and Bob Goldberg, a U.S. historian, member of Utah’s Jewish community and former director of the Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah, discuss this “unspoken divide.”

Utah’s LDS sometimes discriminate — and are sometimes discriminated against | Episode 351

The occasional updates to the online General Handbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are often routine, addressing relatively mundane policies, practices and procedures within the global faith of 17.2 million members.

Not so this week.

The new guidelines spelled out for local lay leaders and their approach to transgender individuals have created a firestorm among LGBTQ members and their allies not seen, perhaps, since the hotly disputed — and now-discarded — exclusion policy of November 2015 against same-sex couples.

The new rules state, for instance, that members who have transitioned in any way — whether surgically, medically or socially — cannot receive a temple recommend, work with children, serve as teachers in their congregations or fill any gender-specific assignments, such as president of the women’s Relief Society.

They cannot stay at most youth camps overnight. And they are urged to use single-occupancy restrooms at church meetinghouses or station a “trusted person” outside to keep others from entering when they use a restroom that aligns with their personal gender identity.

Discussing these new policies and their potential impact on members are religion scholar Taylor Petrey, editor-in-chief of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought and author of “Tabernacles of Clay: Sexuality and Gender in Modern Mormonism,” and Michael Soto, a transgender and queer man who grew up in the church and now serves as president of Equality Arizona.

How new church policies make trans members invisible and could push them to leave | Episode 352

In 2017, a Utah family began discussing some of the challenging questions facing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From those modest beginnings, a multidimensional platform emerged called Faith Matters, which defines itself as a “space in which an expansive, radiant approach to the restored gospel can be considered.”

The effort now includes a popular podcast, book publishing, online courses, and, coming next week, its third in-person “Restore” conference. The giant gathering at the Mountain West Expo Center in Sandy has attracted more than 3,000 paid registrants and will feature speakers, poets, musicians and artists — including Astrid Tuminez, Jennifer Finlayson-Fife, Jennifer Walker Thomas, Terryl and Fiona Givens, Mauli Bonner, Neylan McBaine, Allison Dayton and Eboo Patel. It is, organizers say, meant to “inspire, enlighten and nourish faith.”

On this week’s show, Zachary Davis, executive director of Faith Matters, editor of its Wayfare magazine and co-director of the conference, discusses this organization, the upcoming conference and how they appeal to, help and inspire a range of Latter-day Saints.

A conference to help questioning Latter-day Saints stay in the church | Episode 353

Like Salt Lake City’s mayor, he oversees a major Western municipality founded by 19th-century Mormon pioneers. Like Salt Lake City’s mayor, the heart of his diverse, dynamic and growing city features a historic temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint bounded by a sparkling mixed-use development built by the Utah-based faith. And like Salt Lake City’s mayor, he supports Kamala Harris for president.

But unlike Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, Mesa Mayor John Giles is a Republican and a Latter-day Saint — and that’s why his support of the Democratic ticket is grabbing national headlines.

A graduate of Brigham Young University, Giles is a lawyer serving his 10th and final year leading Arizona’s third-largest city. He also has run dozens of marathons, but it’s his stance in 2024′s presidential race — in a swing state that could determine who wins the White House — that catapulted this moderate Mormon mayor into a prime-time speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention.

On this week’s show, Giles discusses his decision to buck Donald Trump and instead back Harris, along with his desire to see the reemergence of a more-centrist Republican Party and a less-polarized political climate.

Why this Republican LDS mayor hopes Trump’s GOP ‘fails miserably’ | Episode 354

In 2014, Neylan McBaine wrote a groundbreaking book, “Women at Church: Magnifying LDS Women’s Local Impact.” Even given the patriarchal structure of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, McBaine argued that there was much more the global faith could do to see, hear and include women.

“At that time, there were many who felt discussing these facts was unfaithful or dangerous,” McBaine told an audience of 4,000 at last week’s Restore conference. “We swim so entirely in the waters of patriarchy that many of us do not see the extent to which our organizational structure, the language we use, our understanding of God, our quoting of spiritual authorities, our visual representations in our meetings, and the stories of our scriptures center the experiences and viewpoints of men.”

Now McBaine hopes Latter-day Saints will call out “patriarchy” and acknowledge how different its goals and rules are from other systems that exist in the U.S.

On this week’s show, she discuss where women in the church are now and how it has — or has not — changed in the decade since she published her book.

Can Latter-day Saint women find a place in the patriarchy? | Episode 355

Latter-day Saint Jenna Carson, who became the first member ever to serve as a chaplain in the federal prison system, was a student at Harvard Divinity School when, she said, God called her to become a military chaplain.

That was 2015. And although Carson did not yet know it, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did not at that time grant women the all-important endorsement required by the Defense Department. Female Latter-day Saints could obtain endorsements to serve as chaplains in hospitals, education, hospice care and prisons — but not, it turned out, the military.

Nevertheless, the feeling persisted. And so did she. Setbacks followed, but, in 2021, she won Salt Lake City’s go-ahead.

The next year, she was on her way to boot camp. Two years into being an Air Force chaplain, Carson has more than a little to say about what it’s like to be a female spiritual authority operating if not within the LDS Church, then with its approval.

On base, she leads the congregation. In her LDS ward, she sits in the pews. | Episode 356

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.

Why Joseph Smith ran for president and how his platform still resonates today | Episode 185

Mormon Land

Related tracks