The Wall Street Journal somehow got an interview with two of the leading guys of Mormon Money, the Presiding Bishop, Gerald Causse, and the head of Ensign Peak Advisors, Roger Clarke. We discuss the story with the help of a post in the /r/mormon subreddit (linked below). After that, it’s our next installment of The Case for the Book of Mormon by Tad R. Callister where he decides to go completely offensive because us critics have had the ball in our court for too long! Then we talk about Jeff Bezos pledging $10 billion to climate change.
Links:
https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/comments/f1yu3w/epa_what_we_know_now/
https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/comments/f5gtrg/1billion_fake_church_news_live
https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/comments/f4mfbs/netflix_explained_series_i_just_watched_the/
https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/comments/f4h1xz/if_mormonism_is_going_to_survive_it_will_not_be/
https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/comments/f4cgte/how_much_is_124_billion/
https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/comments/f1vi62/the_mormon_church_amassed_100_billion_it_was_the/
Light of Gazalem
Jeff Bezos commits $10 billion to fight climate change
Show Links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
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Clutch my pearls! Braden and I talk about the Super Bowl halftime show and the expected responses from Mormons scared that the female figure exists who never batted an eye at a topless and tattoo-covered Adam Levine last year. After that Braden tells us about Ramy, a Hulu series about a Muslim-American finding his way in life. Then we talk about Activision utilizing lootboxes for good, for a pleasant change!
Links:
Super Bowl Halftime show:
Media of Great Price:
Ramy: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7649694/
Light of Gazalem:
Show Links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
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2019 in review! We read through the recent Jana Riess article about the most significant Mormon headlines of 2019 and discuss some highlights. Then we make predictions for what we might expect in 2020 and also what we’d REALLY like to see in 2020 regardless of how probable they might be. Then we do our next segment of The Case for the Book of Mormon by Tad R. Callister concerning evidence for a historical Book of Mormon. We wrap up with a happy news story about a church in St. Louis paying off thousands of people’s medical debts (yes, we have those in America). We finish off the episode with a bit of listener mail resulting from our Mormon Money series.
Links:
Jana Riess: Seven top Mormon news stories from 2019
https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/12/31/jana-riess-seven-top/
Opening Arguments Ep 344
https://openargs.com/transcript-of-oa344-did-the-mormon-church-really-hide-100-billion-in-assets-from-the-irs-feat-bryce-blakenagel/
Mormon Land episode 114 w/ D. Michael Quinn
https://www.sltrib.com/podcasts/mormonland/
Show Links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
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Today’s show centers around an interview with an anonymous person sharing her story of the Mormon welfare system. She’s currently undergoing a divorce and found out in court the church has been paying her estranged husband’s car and mortgage payments, over $18,000, for the past year on accounts bearing her name without her knowledge. When our interviewee attempted to find more information about the financial support for divorce and tax reasons, she was stonewalled by local leadership. She ran up the ranks to find more information only to be stonewalled by a senior attorney at Kirton-McConkie the primary law firm for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her story is incredible and reveals a troubling aspect of the church welfare program; there are simply no checks and balances available to members when they suspect abuse or misappropriation of funds related to fast-offering funds from the Mormon Church.
Show Links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
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$100 billion (yes… with a “B”) is a lot of money for the church to be hoarding. Unfortunately, the media coverage has been inaccurate in many regards and has missed some of the larger issues contained in the expose “Letter to an IRS Director” by Lars Neilsen. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has become so wealthy and powerful it seems to simply operate by its own set of rules. The size of Ensign Peak Advisors (EPA) is larger than the media has discussed and the alleged violations regarding its disbursements to City Creek Center and Beneficial Financial Group (totally $2 billion) could threaten its tax-exempt status. Also included in the expose is the whistleblower discussing with EPA director, Roger Clarke, “worst practices” which included “deleting receivables” and opening the way for “dark money” payouts EPA made to unknown entities. The actual portfolio by Nov 2019 is estimated to be closer to $124 billion. We discuss a bit of the media coverage and wrap up with talking about how the church should use that money, could use that money, and how we’d use that money. $124 billion is hard to conceptualize but we try our best. Please share if you learned anything worth sharing.
Check out our all-new merch store!
glassboxpodcast.com/shop
Links:
Religion Unplugged $100 Billion Stockpile article
https://religionunplugged.com/news/2019/12/16/whistleblower-exposes-100-billion-stockpile-by-mormon-church
“Mormons, Inc. “Kingdom Come”” Time
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986794,00.html
Official church response to expose
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/first-presidency-statement-church-finances
Deseret News Op-ed on expose
https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2019/12/17/21026103/the-washington-post-mormon-church-whistleblower-says-billions-thank-goodness
Polynesian Cultural Center
https://www.polynesia.com/packages/
Deseret Trust Company
https://www.deserettrust.com/about-us?lang=eng
Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5918641
Temples
https://www.businessinsider.com/fancy-mormon-temples-2014-8
Reuters 2012 Mormon Money article
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-mormons/insight-mormon-church-made-wealthy-by-donations-idUSBRE87B05W20120812
Bloomberg 2012 “How the Mormons Make Money”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-07-18/how-the-mormons-make-money
Quinn on Church Finances SLTrib
https://www.sltrib.com/religion/local/2017/10/14/historian-digs-into-the-hidden-world-of-mormon-finances-shows-how-church-went-from-losing-money-to-making-money-lots-of-it/
Dowry is not the Lord’s Way Deseret News Article
https://www.deseret.com/2018/4/16/20643748/dowry-is-not-the-lord-s-way-in-kenya-lds-president-nelson-says-tithing-breaks-poverty-cycle#anna-waithira-has-margaret-wanaki-on-her-back-as-she-lines-up-to-attend-a-special-devotional-with-president-russell-m-nelson-of-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-in-nairobi-kenya-on-monday-april-16-2018
List of Temples
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_temples_of_The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints#Dedicated:_2010s
Show Links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
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Wheeew what a doozey! We cover Mormon Money from the 1930s to the 1980s. When this much money gets involved and a church grows to have a significant international presence, money begets politics and politics feed money. Once Franklin S. Richards died another needed to carry the Mormon Money torch; here enters Henry Dinwoodey Moyle, a man with grand ideas and exponential growth intentions. He rolls out new missionary programs, local “baseball baptisms” sports leagues, carbon copy chapels, the new 28-story Church Office Building, and a litany of other aggressive expansion programs. After bankrupting many companies and chewing through untold resources, Moyle died leaving the church $32 million in debt but on a good path toward global expansion. N. Eldon Tanner, with the help of Marion Romney, takes the helm of Mormon Money and rights the sinking ship by filling leadership with more businessmen and lawyers than ever before. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also began to gain a national political foothold with George Romney running for President and subsequently being appointed Nixon’s HUD Secretary. Gordon B. Hinckley is brought in as Tanner’s protege to take the Mormon Money colossus rampaging across the planet. Part 3 will discuss the recent revelations concerning the church’s $100 billion in holdings and Ensign Peak Advisors.
Links (there are a lot of them):
Get Quinn’s latest book in the Mormon Hierarchy series Wealth and Corporate Power
https://www.amazon.com/Mormon-Hierarchy-Wealth-Corporate-Power/dp/1560852356
Henry D. Moyle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_D._Moyle
Mormon Corporate Structure
https://exploringmormonism.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Corporate-structure-image-400.jpg
Church finances (official)
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/church-finances-commercial-businesses?lang=eng
Church Office Building
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Office_Building
Consolidated Freightways
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_Freightways
Marion Romney
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_G._Romney
George Romney
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Romney#Local_church_and_civic_leadership
George Romney and MLK “marching together” fact check
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2007/dec/28/mitt-romney/george-romney-and-mlk-marched-but-not-together/
Tax churches for $71 bn per year
https://bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/how-to-make-71-billion-a-year-tax-the-churches
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
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We finally broach a subject that’s taken the back-burner for far too long. Mormon money is one of the most complicated subjects associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and we decided it requires a multi-part series to understand with some level of depth and context. Join us for part one where we start at the beginning with Joseph Smith, get into Brigham Young and the Mormon exodus to Utah in 1847, and tie together financial strands all the way into the Great Depression. Some topics of discussion: Joseph Smith as an entrepreneur, Brigham Young as a theocrat and tyrant, polygamy and the first manifesto under President Wilford Woodruff, complicated finances with intermingling the prophet’s personal with the church’s corporate assets, Joseph F. Smith and the church in near-bankruptcy he inherited in 1901, Franklin S. Richards and his rehabilitation program, the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (COP), The Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (CPB), and the trajectory upon which the church was set going into the Great Depression.
Links (there are a lot of them):
Get Quinn’s latest book in the Mormon Hierarchy series Wealth and Corporate Power
https://www.amazon.com/Mormon-Hierarchy-Wealth-Corporate-Power/dp/1560852356
Kirtland Safety Society
https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/byu-religious-education-student-symposium-2012/kirtland-safety-society-and-its-effect-faith
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/kirtland-safety-society?lang=eng
Nauvoo Charter
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/topic/nauvoo-charter
Sunstone and Presentation “Joseph Smith, the Entrepreneur”
https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/joseph-smith-the-entrepreneur/
https://www.sunstonemagazine.com
Edmunds Act
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmunds_Act
Wilhelm Von Wymetal 1886 expose
https://archive.org/details/josephsmithproph01wyme/page/276
Late Corp of LDS v. U.S.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/136/1
Ann Eliza Webb Young Wife No. 19
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Eliza_Young
1870 census data
https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/fast_facts/1870_fast_facts.html?
Lorenzo Snow
https://historyofmormonism.com/2008/07/08/lorenzo_snow/
Franklin S. Richards
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_S._Richards
CPB
https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/0122898D:US
COP
https://secure.utah.gov/bes/details.html?entity=553976-0145
COP Structure
https://exploringmormonism.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Corporate-structure-image-400.jpg
Church Finances (official)
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/church-finances-commercial-businesses?lang=eng
“Corporate-sole” “Corporation-sole”
http://hushmoney.org/corporate-sole_facts.htm
AgReserves Inc
https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/0275969D:US
PropertyReserves Inc
https://www.exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,398698,399463
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
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Joe Geisner returns to spend 2 hours on one of the most iconic and influential characters in recent Mormon history, Boyd K. Packer. We discuss his inauguration into the Quorum of Apostles and how he molded and shaped the church from the highest leadership body from that time forward. We cover the internal issues between Packer and the church’s history department, discuss the shroud of secrecy he helped to foster, and then get into the outward expressions he declared from the pulpit which directly influenced members and national politics. We wrap with discussing what kind of a legacy was left behind when Packer died in 2015.
Hugo Olaiz’s Sunstone Presentation
https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/sl10212-sacred-secrecy-in-the-teachings-of-president-boyd-k-packer/
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
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From Evergreen to North Star, gay-conversion therapy runs deep through Mormon tradition. October headlines blazed with the LDS church opposing a ban on conversion therapy for minors which was defended, misrepresented, and misunderstood by much of the media. We deep dive on conversion therapy in Mormonism and discuss some of the names associated with this abusive and anti-science practice. After that Braden talks about a climate change movie and some YouTubers getting together to plant some trees!
Sources for conversion therapy stuff:
Evergreen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_International
North Star https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Star_(organization)
A. Dean Byrd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._Dean_Byrd
NARTH https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_for_Research_%26_Therapy_of_Homosexuality
https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/National_Association_for_Research_%26_Therapy_of_Homosexuality
Joseph Nicolosi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Nicolosi
Evergreen expose https://truthwinsout.org/ministry-evergreen-international/
Gay Rights and Political Correctness: A Brief History https://web.archive.org/web/20051220234201/http://narth.com/docs/schoenewolf2.html
Conversion therapy VICE expose https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/jmvya8/i-joined-a-bunch-of-gay-conversion-groups
NARTH rebrand https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/ex-gay-group-attempts-rebranding-narth-conversion-therapy/
ATCSI (Formerly NARTH) https://www.therapeuticchoice.com/why-the-alliance-supports-safe-ther
September 1999 gay conversion therapy Ensign article https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1999/09/when-a-loved-one-struggles-with-same-sex-attraction?lang=eng
North Star founder comments https://truthwinsout.org/pressrelease/2014/01/38796/
North Star staff https://truthwinsout.org/news/2013/07/36344/
North Star founder defense of conversion therapy https://nypost.com/2013/07/22/a-low-attack-on-same-sex-therapy/
North Star support group criteria https://www.northstarlds.org/join-facebook-mens
North Star President’s Message https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ca12d887fdcb87df5da2b9f/t/5d3e724604588900019087ad/1564373583142/North+Star+President+Message+Winter+2018.pdf
HB 399 https://le.utah.gov/~2019/bills/static/HB0399.html
Psychologist Licensing Act Rule https://rules.utah.gov/publicat/code/r156/r156-61.htm
Mormon church opposes LGBTQ ‘conversion therapy’ ban https://apnews.com/da5c04204c194e11a5836495f36d818d
SL Tribune church opposing conversion therapy ban article https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/10/21/lds-church-says-proposed/
Church’s press release opposing act https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/statement-proposed-rule-sexual-orientation-gender-identity-change
LDS Church defends its objections to proposed gay conversion therapy ban https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rXWY-HPQHA
Media of Great Price:
First Reformed (2017) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6053438
Light of Gazalem:
https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/31/20941626/teamtrees-youtuber-charity-fundraiser-climate-change-trees-musk-dorsey-pewdiepie
I watched it so you don’t have to. We go through every talk given during General Conference of October 2019 from Oaks to Oaks and back to Oaks again, we try to identify what slipped through the cracks of media reporting on this semiannual GC. It’s a long one! Hopefully the length makes up for the month hiatus as Braden moved and I was on a 3-week road trip. Patrons of the show get an extra hour of podcast about the General Women’s session. Please get us to our next Patreon goal to make Braden suffer through the April 2020 Conference with me!!!
https://www.patreon.com/GlassBoxPod
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
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Gaddy is suing the Mormon church for tithing and personal damages. We go through the case and discuss how likely it is to prevail as well as the class-action nature of the suit. Then, after much ado, we finally crack open The Case for the Book of Mormon by Tad R. Callister. We wrap up with some happy news of cannabis convictions being expunged by some smart computer stuffs!
A bunch more reading on Kay Burningham and Gaddy v. LDS
https://www.kayburningham.com/
https://www.federalrulesofcivilprocedure.org/frcp/title-iv-parties/rule-23-class-actions/
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NuthcL9L-MZhnDRKcwp1E49Sx2472Dud
https://mormonfraud.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-gaddy-lawsuit-against-mormonchurch.html
https://www.courthousenews.com/scathing-lawsuit-seeks-punitive-damages-from-mormon-church/
http://religionclause.blogspot.com/2019/08/suit-charges-mormon-church-with.html
http://www.mormonthink.com/personalstories/kayburningham.htm
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/393/440/
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/322/78/
Light of Gazalem
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
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It’s a long episode today! Don’t let the long timestamp scare you away. We invite a guest to tell us his story of joining the church, working for the church, and eventually leaving it. His story reveals a side of Mormonism most of us know is there, but aren’t privy to. Part 2 of the conversation comes after the C segment where Michael tells a bit about his personal story. Braden and I also talk about a new documentary and discuss The Teachings of Don Juan. Then we round out the episode with a climate initiative in India.
Links:
Light of Gazalem: https://www.thestatesman.com/india/climate-emergency-india-offers-financial-and-technical-support-to-developing-nations-1502794652.html
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
Find us on Facebook and Twitter @Glass Box Podcast
We finally wrap up the first Armstrong Lecture! We learn all about hell, the different degrees of the Celestial Kingdom, and Mormon trickle-down heaven! After that we talk about “The Good Place,” a sitcom about heaven and hell. Then we wrap with good news about cow farts!
Show links:
Light of Gazelem:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-15/seaweed-for-cows-could-be-mass-farmed-reduce-methane/11414724
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
Find us on Facebook and Twitter @Glass Box Podcast
Now we’ve had the introduction to how heaven is structured, let’s find out how we actually get to each of the degrees. Part 2 of this Armstrong lecture describes the different degrees and who is deserving of them. Plus, Mormon reincarnation is totally a thing! After that we have Ryan McKnight of the Truth and Transparency Foundation to discuss a recent story broke by the organization.
Truth & Transparency story
https://truthandtransparency.org/news/2019/7/24/court-documents-show-local-mormon-leaders-failed-to-report-the-manufacturing-of-child-pornography-following-confession
Links mentioned by Ryan
@the_ttf
https://truthandtransparency.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEnp6o4S974&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3CUns_MADCRfe-U_HFfbRA087ogQburkwObdss88w4kEcyG7lGpIQGL8g
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
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We’re doing something a little different for this episode! We start with a little background on how Braden and Bryce met and use that as a launch point to discuss the main topic today. We read a lecture… Yeah… I lecture. But don’t worry! It’s a lot more fun than it sounds and we’d really like to get some feedback on it to hear what you think! After that, Braden tells us about The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and then we talk about a couple who planted 2,000,000 trees in 20 years! We round out the show with some listener feedback that is absolutely amazing.
Apostle John replaced in Temple video:
https://wheatandtares.org/2011/01/30/temple-john-where-do-the-fallen-go/
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
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Missions! Braden did his, Bryce left the Mormon church before he could do one. After Braden gives us an overview of his mission experience, we discuss the history of the “Preach My Gospel” program, the impetus behind it, how it came to be, who was involved, and how it was implemented into the field. Hopefully it will be as interesting to listen to as it was to research the topic! After that Braden talks about some media that passes the Bechdel test and we talk about a school in Iowa that’s giving out P.E. credits for service projects.
History of Preach My Gospel
https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/volume-14-number-1-2013/history-preach-my-gospel?fbclid=IwAR0BZUafYGnNOhs-PlVj7tmZRgeCe3hhH-qD9-V1pxqHCWqSdUTKJtQAWVs
Mission cost increase in 2020:
https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900077168/church-announces-mormon-mission-lds-cost-increase.html
Light of Gazalem
https://www.wthr.com/article/iowa-school-giving-students-pe-credits-helping-elderly-people-disabilities-do-yard-work
Jeffrey Suhr’s Children’s Books
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732251703/
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
Find us on Facebook and Twitter @Glass Box Podcast
It's been one year since the Be One Celebration; Mormonism isn’t racist anymore!!! We know the high-level overview of what the Priesthood ban included, now we take a foray into the human element. We talk about the tough paradoxes introduced when institutionalized theological racism comes into conflict with an ever-expanding global religion. An oft-forgotten aspect of Mormon conversion, Patriarchal Blessings, become the litmus test for African ancestry. Patriarchs fight with the First Presidency. The church takes no official position. Chaos and pandemonium rule doctrinal racism throughout the entire 20th century.
Links:
Mormons and Lineage: The Complicated History of Blacks and Patriarchal Blessings by Matt Harris
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1erugEZ1LYvyMwMfFiQD1H_y0bZP16pFBNnjy-8ScP0E/edit?usp=sharing
Black, White, or Brown? Racial Perceptions and the Priesthood Policy in Latin America by Jeremy Talmage and Clinton D. Christensen
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FqDep89418UPnrN2r5wFg0GAJn7Mx_Li6o13bfEBjJc/edit?usp=sharing
Race and the Priesthood (Faithful & Official)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FqDep89418UPnrN2r5wFg0GAJn7Mx_Li6o13bfEBjJc/edit?usp=sharing
Race and the Priesthood (Critical & Skeptical)
http://www.mormonthink.com/essays-race-priesthood.htm
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
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World tour time! Rusty and his apostle friend travel the world and meet Pacific Island dignitaries to bless the masses with their presence. Also, when a religion creates new political operatives as “specialists” and opposes a bill with ‘Equality’ in the name, it’s never a good sign. After that, Braden and I both bring books to the table for our Media of Great Price. We round out the episode with a company that froze CEO wages to pay the bottom-line workers more and Costa Rica progressing on Abortion restrictions.
Links:
Mormon policital ‘specialists’
https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2019/05/14/lds-church-is-assigning/
Rusty world tour
https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/president-nelson-pacific-ministry-2019-samoa
Light of Gazalem
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
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We finally discuss the Temple Endowment Ceremony changes as of January 2019! But not so fast! Before that we get into the Strengthening Church Members Committee (SCMC) and the awkward phone call between Elder Timothy Dyches and Radio Free Mormon. Lesley, Colleen, and Bryce call the number and debrief over on Mormon Happy Hour (links below). Then, Braden and I finally get into how the endowment ceremony was slightly altered with “massive implications” in order to remove some of the overtly sexist theology. We give you a play by play so you don’t have to watch it and go through exactly what the changes mean, along with a little history where applicable. The changes simply don’t go far enough.
Links:
Mormon Happy Hour SCMC
http://angelsonfire.org/mhh73-part-1-call-to-elder-dyches-of-the-strengthening-church-members-committee/
Radio Free Mormon SCMC
https://radiofreemormon.org/2019/05/radio-free-mormon-064-spying-for-the-lord/
Temple Endowment Stuffs
SLC Live secret cam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8sbYtFOnxk&t=814s
Endowment as of Jan. 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VOb0XNjdXE
Adam-God Doctrine
http://www.mormonthink.com/QUOTES/adamgod.htm
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
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Just as the title states, Braden and I go through the Sunday April 2019 General Conference talks. We [I] watched it so you don’t have to! Plus Media of Great Price about Abducted in Plain Sight and a Light of Gazalem about Morgan Freeman single handedly saving the planet! We wrap with a short listener mail segment.
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
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Just as the title states, Braden and I go through the Saturday April 2019 General Conference talks. We [I] watched it so you don’t have to!
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
Find us on Facebook and Twitter @Glass Box Podcast
November 2015 exclusion policy? What November 2015 exclusion policy? Today is an historic day! The Mormon church ceased to be bigoted against LGBTQ+ people! Oh, wait… no. It didn’t. Not included in the show, but maybe this has something to do with the recent anti-hate crime bill that passed in Utah this week.
In November 2015, while Thomas Monson was president of the church, a policy from the Mormon church leaked stating that children in a home with homosexual parents couldn’t be baptized.
A few months later, Russell Nelson stated it was actually “revelation” born by 15 witnesses. This was before he was called as president of the church.
Now the church announced this policy has been reversed.
Additional links:
Video of Church leaders defending the policy 2015-2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSPBxFEttiI
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
Find us on Facebook and Twitter @Glass Box Podcast
What’s the deal with cannabis in Utah? We resurrect this old headline to see if any new developments have occurred. We also invite Andrew Torrez from Opening Arguments Podcast to help us understand the law behind Utah legislature overturning the cannabis bill ballot initiative. Elections have consequences… After that Braden talks about The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and we discuss a new U.N. proposal to help get African countries closer to green energy!
Check out these episodes of OA to hear Andrew’s amazing legal takedown of big headlines!
https://openargs.com/oa13-hillary-clintons-damned-emails/
https://openargs.com/oa2-the-2000-election-neverforget-part-1/
https://openargs.com/oa12-tax-protesters-sovereign-citizens-wackiness/
https://openargs.com/oa21-second-amendment-masterclass-part-1/
https://openargs.com/oa154-stormy-daniels-is-a-legal-genius/
Prop 2 headlines
https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2019/02/08/its-commerce-bill/
https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/12/06/medical-cannabis/
https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2019/02/14/utahs-biggest-health-care/
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/02/19/former-business-leader/
Light of Gazalem
https://mygoodplanet.com/african-billion-funding/
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
Find us on Facebook and Twitter @Glass Box Podcast
Something slipped through the cracks and it smells fishy. We go through some of the quality control mechanisms used in Mormon genealogy research at the ward level. The Church collects and digitizes a lot of information and history, what do they do with it? We tie a few stories together to figure out what the church is planning with a recent $2 million investment into the International African American Museum in South Carolina. After that we bring on Weird Alma to talk about the recent Masonry and Mormonism essay published by the Church. Then we talk about the uptick in EV sales in America and what it might mean.
Headlines:
Temple and Family History Consultants
https://www.lds.org/family-history/temple-family-history-consultant?lang=eng
Family Search blog post
https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/elder-dale-g-renlund-2019-temple-and-family-history-leadership-instruction/
Church donates $2mn to IAAM
https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/church-donation-2-million-international-african-american-museum-center-family-history
Church sells data to Ancestry.com
https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865585877/LDS-FamilySearch--Ancestrycom--1-billion-new-historical-records-online.html?pg=all
Church data collection timeline
https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/3fi88e/exploitation_and_spin_how_the_lds_church_is/
Check out Weird Alma here:
Light of Gazelem
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
Find us on Facebook and Twitter @Glass Box Podcast
Even if it takes Black History Month to spur the conversation, we dive into racism in the Mormon church. We take a brief high-level overview of how non-white people have been treated throughout the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Even though the Priesthood ban was lifted in 1978, racism didn’t go anywhere. From overt examples of prophets advocating slavery, to covert and insidious racism pervading our everyday lives, if we don’t talk about it it’ll never stop being a problem. We wrap with talking about 12 Years a Slave and an initiative in New Orleans to curb homelessness in the wake of hurricane Katrina.
Links:
Racism in Mormon Scripture
http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/racialstatements.htm
Book of Abraham 1:26-7
https://www.lds.org/scriptures/pgp/abr/1?lang=eng
Green Flake
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/flake-green-1828-1903/
Five Time Mormons Changed Their Position on Slavery
https://gregkofford.com/blogs/news/five-times-mormons-changed-their-position-on-slavery
Slavery in Utah
https://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/pioneers_and_cowboys/slaveryinutah.html
Be One celebration
https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/be-one-celebration-optimism-overcoming-prejudice
Healing the Wounds of Racism by Darius Gray
https://www.lds.org/blog/healing-the-wounds-of-racism?lang=eng
MormonNewsRoom fake racism apology
https://www.apnews.com/8453dce99ccf46c2a938a4e65c5addc5
Light of Gazalem
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/02/19/new-orleans-reducing-homeless-hurricane-katrina
Show links:
Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html
Find us on Facebook and Twitter @Glass Box Podcast