This panel discussion examines the wonderful gifts of Mormonism’s strong emphases and teachings about the divine role of motherhood as well as the external and internal pressures that come with these messages and how they sometimes work against the more basic gospel goal of helping women fully flourish and grow in godlike qualities. In this far-ranging and insight-packed conversation, panelists Chelsea Fife, Chelsea Strayer, and Jennifer Finlayson-Fife all maintain the utmost gratitude for their own role as mothers and for church emphases on its many joys while also examining ways we as Latter-day Saints might change some of our messaging about motherhood, especially taking it from its "institutional" status as a static ideal and making it more real for today’s women. They discuss ways to place motherhood more squarely in the context of women’s intrinsic worth and recognize how this value cannot be so fully tied up in motherhood. The period of intense mothering of children through early adulthood occupies a relatively small portion of a woman’s lifespan, so her sense of worth must be centered in something more. Furthermore, many, many couples struggle with infertility, and many women never marry nor have the opportunity to be a mother. We therefore cannot make "motherhood" the end-all, be-all of a woman’s existence nor the primary way she measures her success, value, or femininity. While honoring all the good and loving messages about motherhood, how might we bring about important changes to the current conversation? You don’t want to miss this episode!

This year marks the one hundredth anniversary of the controversies over the study and teaching of evolution at Brigham Young University that resulted in the resignations or firing of three of Brigham Young University’s prominent faculty members and a significant blow to the university career of another. This Mormon Matters episode tells key elements in the story of those 1911 events, but primarily uses them as a launching pad for a tour or the history of LDS views and approaches to evolution from then to now, as well as more specific reflections on the various tensions between Mormon scriptural and doctrinal commitments and the main thrusts of evolutionary theory. Joining Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon for this episode are philosophy and intellectual history professor James McLachlan, and BYU emeritus and current science professors Duane Jeffery and Steven Peck, all of whom argue that these tensions between Mormonism and evolution are quite minimal, and that Mormonism actually contains many teachings and theological thrusts, including a rich history of viewing scriptural accounts of creation as primarily figurative, that are extremely accommodating to evolution--far more so than those of many other traditions that begin with God creating everything ex nihilo (out of nothing) and being in full control of everything.

The recent tragedy in Oslo as well as the Warren Jeffs trial provide two recent examples of the way various personality traits and/or mental issues coupled with isolation and the refusal to allow ones own ideas to be challenged can lead to horrific acts of violence and depravity that the perpetrators claim to view as righteous. In this podcast, Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon and panelists Joanna Brooks and Natasha Helfer Parker examine various angles into how distorted worldviews like these take hold, the influence of nature and nurture (including religious factors), as well as some of the things we might learn from such extreme visions about how to achieve balance in our own ways of seeing the world and our place within it.

The first week of August 2011 saw the passing of two giants in the Mormon universe: Sister Chieko Okazaki, a former counselor in the Relief Society general presidency and beloved author and speaker, and Elder Marion D. Hanks, a long-time general authority who many looked up to as one of Mormonism’s greatest champions for love, equality, and Christian service. This episode is a celebration and appreciation of their lives through conversation with intimate friends.

Mormon Matters host, Dan Wotherspoon, first interviews Sister Aileen Clyde, who served from 1990 to 1997 as a fellow counselor with Sister Okazaki in the Relief Society general presidency under the leadership of President Elaine Jack. He then speaks with Margaret Young and Darius Gray, two of Elder Hanks’ close associates. We very much hope you will enjoy getting to know more about each of these incredible souls--Sister Okazaki and Elder Hanks, as well as the great spirits of those interviewed here.

In this episode, Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon and panelists Brent Beal, Brian Johnston, and Jana Riess explore various aspects of one of Mormonism’s most regular (and sometimes it seems "regulated") rituals: the monthly opportunity for church members to bear testimony. The discussion ranges from the nature of the expectation that those bearing testimony, including children, will focus on particular truth claims, to the peculiar way Mormonism encourages members to extrapolate from experiences of feeling "the spirit" within a gospel context to conclude that all other LDS claims are therefore true (and even that this is the "one and only" true church), to broader considerations about the expectation that spiritual journeying will end in an expected outcome. Panel members also share their own experiences of learning to appreciate fast and testimony meeting as empathetic listeners for others as well to authentically share their own testimonies.