Glass Box Podcast

Hey it’s Pride Month! We all hear about Prop 8 and how the LDS church paid a boatload of money to make it go their way. We thought the actions the church took in the past which led to these actions needed to be brought to light. We also discuss Patriarch Joseph Fielding Smith who was called to the office while known to be gay, then was fired from the job once the bigots spoke out against him. Then, in our Media section, Shannon brings you a large list of books you should look into written by Mary Renault. And finally, we bring you some excellent news out of New York Show notes:    Links Memories of Being Gay at BYU by Earl Kofoed https://web.archive.org/web/20060617213245/http://www.affirmation.org/memorial/memories_of_being_gay.shtml LGBTQIAP+ history in America https://www.lgbtqhistory.org/lgbt-rights-timeline-in-american-history/ Chronology of Events Patriarch Joseph Fielding Smith’s Homosexuality https://web.archive.org/web/20100122080551/http://www.affirmation.org/memorial/joseph_fielding_smith.shtm

The end is neigh at hand, or so Abrahamic believers have been saying for over 2000 years. Mormonism has its own special brand of the apocalypse and endtimes. This launches us into the next installment of the Millennial Messiah by Bruce R. McConkie. He talks about the endtimes as well, along with the role of the Book of Mormon. The final chapter we cover he leans deep into the white supremacy of Mormon theology. Be prepared, because we weren’t. Then we wrap the show with an op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune from a long-time listener and patron, Dave Winslow, about the problems with violent rhetoric coming from the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   Be sure to tune in to our next live hangout on June 6th at 6 p.m. MST wherein we’ll review Under the Banner of Heaven. Supporters at Patreon gain access to join the conversation on air!   If you’d like to share your experience for the upcoming PRIDE month episode (Ep 99), please do so through social media or a direct email to glassboxpodcast@

We examine the fascinating era of the 1970s feminist Mormon history studies. We focus on the central figure of Claudia Bushman and her push to build a non-existent world within Mormon studies. A group of east-coast women scholars began publishing controversial history in the form of Mormon Sisters and the resulting Exponent II quarterly journal. The official church historian, Leonard J. Arrington, encouraged and assisted where he could, but the General Authorities, especially Ezra Taft Benson, Mark E. Petersen, and Boyd K. Packer, couldn’t handle the prospect of women scholars publishing in academic journals about Mormon women’s issues. The retaliation, blacklisting, and PR fights quickly followed Claudia Bushman, Marueen Ursenbach Beecher, and Laurel Thatcher Ulrich as they worked to advance the burgeoning field. After that we review the movie/book Hidden Figures and discuss the new White House Press Secretary!   Links: Interview w/Claudia Bushman https://rsc.byu.edu/conversations-mormon-historians/claudia-

In this episode, we talk about Mormon priestcraft and show just how much they fit into their own description, all while denying it, of course. (Mormons and their leaders are awfully good at that!) This will lead us directly into part 2 of Bruce R McConkie’s book Millennial Messiah. We have an enjoyable time also discussing Martin Luther and the rise of Protestantism. We will also talk about why we think McCrankie hated Catholicism so much.  Then we’ll close it out with some amazing news about a successful Malaria vaccine. Enjoy!  Show notes:    Main topic: Priestcraft Priestcraft:  https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/gs/priestcraft?lang=eng The Dangers of Priestcraft:    https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teaching-seminary-preservice-readings-religion-370-471-and-475/the-dangers-of-priestcraft?lang=eng  A Popular History of Priestcraft In All Ages and Nations:    https://archive.org/stream/popularhistoryof00howiuoft/popularhistoryof00howiuoft_djvu.txt   MOGP: Millennial Mes

Hey guess what. It’s Gen Con time. AGAIN! It keeps showing up every six months. Go figure. In this episode we talk about what slipped through the cracks of this General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And yes, the timestamp is accurate. It’s a long listen, but hearing us dissect #GenCON is much, much, MUCH better than actually watching the 10 hours for yourself, right? This episode has a general content warning as there are talks involving some damaging concepts including death of a child, suicide, and, of course,  LGBTQ+ issues because those mormon leaders just won't stop being bigots. So fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night!   Show notes:  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GlassBoxPod  Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/glassboxpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/GlassBoxPod  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glassboxpodcast/  Merch store: https://exmomerch.creator-spring.com/ Be sure to use discount code GLASSBOX for a tithing off your order!!!

It’s time to break into our next long-form review of Mormon literature; Bruce R. McConkie’s Millennial Messiah! We get an idea for the purpose and objective of the book as well as McCrankie’s pet issues right off the bat. He speaks of the heresies integral to false prophecy and warns of the various movements and political groups are anti-Christ. But before we crack open the spine of this tome, our main segment is a brief deep-dive into Mormon prophecy. What is it? From where does it come? How reliable are Mormon prophecies and can they be trusted? And the greatest question with which some believers may wrestle, what’s Joseph Smith’s batting average? We round out the show with some happy news about government diversity in Portugal!   Show notes:  Mormon Prophecy: https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/archive/publications/the-truth-about-the-god-makers/ic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prophecies_of_Joseph_Smith https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/journal-march-september-1838/41 https://www

As March is Women’s History Month in the USA, we knew it was time to talk about some amazing and strong women who have had a powerful effect on all of our lives. First we look at a fascinating figure integral to a transitory period of church history, Emmeline B. Wells, who pioneered women’s suffrage in Utah. Then, in MOGP we talk about the documentary RBG.  Following that, we round out the episode talking about the 120 3D printed statues of women scientists in the “#IfThenSheCan – The Exhibit” at the Smithsonian March 5-27. Enjoy!  Show notes:  Emmeline B. Wells Journals:  https://www.churchhistorianspress.org/news/chpress-publishes-emmeline-b-wells-diaries?lang=eng Emmeline B. Wells: “Am I not a Woman and a Sister?” by Carol Cornwall Madsen https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol22/iss2/3/ Emmeline B. Wells Romantic Rebel by Carol Cornwall Madsen https://rsc.byu.edu/supporting-saints-life-stories-nineteenth-century-mormons/emmeline-b-wells Woman’s Exponent archive https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital

One of the most influential leaders of the modern Mormon church, Bruce R. McConkie, made a name for himself with his seminal 1958 work Mormon Doctrine, an encyclopedia of Mormon doctrine and theology. It immediately made waves in the community and the rest of the leadership decided to censor McConkie and the book was pulled from the shelves. With significant edits to address leadership complaints, the book was republished in 1966 and again massively edited and published in 1979 after the priesthood ban was lifted. We explore the life of Bruce McConkie and discuss the impact of Mormon Doctrine and McConkie, as well as the reasons for censure and highlighting necessary edits to tone the book down. Yes, this is the deep-dive on Bruce McConkie and Mormon Doctrine you’ve been waiting for and this episode launches us into our next long-form book review of Millennial Messiah by Bruce McConkie!   Mark your calendars! Our next Live Q&A!! is March 7th!!! 6:00 PM (MST)    Show notes:    The Bruce R. McConkie Story:

Much is said and thought of John C. Bennett from Nauvoo Mormon history, but what do the documents actually say? Today we go through a brief deep dive into this fascinating figure. He became a close friend and then personal greatest enemy of Joseph Smith throughout a complicated sequence of events. Bennett is most renowned for his 1842 expose, The History of the Saints, which he wrote after his abrupt removal from all church, government, and military appointments. We deal with the charge that he was providing abortions and what the implications which follow actually mean. After that we review Reign of Fire, a Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey dragon movie with surprisingly deep interpretations. We wrap with some happy news from the Lego company to help children undergoing medical procedures.   Mark your calendars! Our next Live Q&A!! is March 7th!!! 6:00 PM (MST)  Interview read for patrons: https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/interview-3november-1841/1 Other Bennett Sources: https://w

YES! WE’RE FINALLY DONE!! The Miracle of Forgiveness has been a grind and we’re finally putting this monster of a book to rest. However, we can’t do it alone so we are joined by the incredible expertise of Natasha Helfer. She’s been working in sex and relationship therapy within the Mormon space for two and a half decades and she helps us contrast Spencer W. Kimball’s statements about sex and gender with modern science. Be sure to follow her at the links provided below. We hope you enjoy this celebration along with us before we crack into Bruce McConkie for our next long-form review! Show Notes:  A veritable gagglefuck of links to find Natasha Helfer! MMHA: https://mormonmentalhealthassoc.org/ Symmetry Solutions: https://www.symmetrysols.com/ Home page: https://www.natashahelfer.com/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/amp/tag/natashahelfer Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/natashahelfermft Or Google her to find plenty more projects! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GlassBoxPod  Facebook page: https://www.facebo

The Black 14 was a group of athletes at University of Wyoming in Laramie who stood up to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and BYU. They suffered the wrath of withering public ire, but their story is immortalized as emblematic of the struggle for racial justice and equality in the 1960s and 70s. Join us as we learn their story and discuss Brigham Young University’s fight to keep discriminating when it became illegal to do so. After that we discuss Small Foot, a movie about asking questions and breaking out of the shell in which people are raised. We round out the show with some happy news about gender and sex equality in Israel of all places.   Show Notes:    Resources concerning the Black 14 https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/black-14-race-politics-religion-and-wyoming-football https://www.newspapers.com/image/598921419/?terms=byu%20protest&match=1 https://www.newspapers.com/image/636296214/?terms=byu%20protest&match=1 https://www.newspapers.com/image/536317000/?terms=byu%20pro

Yes, a show about New Year’s Resolutions for 2022! We discuss what resolutions the Mormon church should consider for the new year and some of the hold ups of accomplishing them. We have some resolutions of our own though! Then we get to the penultimate segment of Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball. There’s light at the end of the tunnel and it feels good. Then we round out the show talking about clean flying goals for Denmark!   Show Notes:    Happy News:  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59849898    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GlassBoxPod  Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/glassboxpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/GlassBoxPod  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glassboxpodcast/  Merch store: https://exmomerch.creator-spring.com/ Be sure to use discount code GLASSBOX for a tithing off your order!!!   iTunes reviews: We need more! 

It’s the last episode of the year and since we had a blast doing an all media episode last year, we decided to make it a tradition! We each brought something to the table in each category — books, movies, and music — and we had a great time discussing them.  We hope you enjoy them too. Have a fun holiday season!    Books:  Shannon’s book: Eva, by Peter Dickinson Bryce’s book: Understanding History, by Louis Gottschalk Film:  Shannon’s movie: Spy Game  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266987/?ref_=tt_rvi_tt_i_5  Bryce’s movie: Uncut Gems  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5727208/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt    Music:    Bryce music: The Uneraseable Past by Cattle Decapitation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmYcFP1vTdk   Shannon’s music: The Planets, by Gustav Holst: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OD_HzdZwKk    Metal version of Neptune, The Mystic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUePYhmdLAA   Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GlassBoxPod  Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/glassboxpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/Gl

We take on the next recommendation from the 2019 NPR broadcast Hidden Brain episode. Shannon tells us how our beliefs can be informed by people we trust and how resilient they prove. Then we get into the next segment of Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball telling us about the benefits of forgiving folks who wrong us. Then we wrap with happy news about green power from India!   July 22, 2019 episode: Facts Aren’t Enough: The Psychology of False Beliefs.    https://www.npr.org/2019/07/18/743195213/facts-arent-enough-the-psychology-of-false-beliefs   The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread, by James Weatherall and Cailin O’Connor https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300234015/misinformation-age    The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary (because it is too funny!):  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetable_Lamb_of_Tartary   Happy News: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/india-achieves-target-of-40-power-generation-capacity-from-non-fossil-fuel-sources/articleshow/88057024.cms  

Our main segment features a piece done by NPR on their Hidden Brain podcast a few years ago. We discuss the type of mindset people need in order to be influenced for various purposes. Hope and fear feature in informing the mindset of a receptive brain when facts simply aren’t enough. After that we get into the next segment of The Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball. We read a couple of the most infamous passages from the book including the level of sin assessed on survivors of sexual assault and the implication that those who choose to end their own lives are unforgivable. This is a heavy segment but we lighten it up with some fun and a poetic reading by Shannon from the book. We finish the episode with happy news about black Santas! Be sure to join us next Monday Nov 29th at 6 p.m. MST for our first live hangout!   Main topic: Facts Aren’t Enough: The Psychology of False Beliefs, From the podcast, Hidden Brain: A Conversation About Life’s Unseen Patterns.   https://www.npr.org/2019/07/18/743195213/

Let’s chat about some funny Mormon stories! We start from the earliest days of the church. We hear about missionaries raising the dead, Joseph Smith training a dove to eat grain out of his ear, and then going for a swim while covered in phosphorus oil. After that we talk about funny stories told about Mormons by the genius minds of Matt Stone and Trey Parker in the Mormon South Park episode and The Book of Mormon musical. We wrap with a story about lasers saving agriculture and discussing some listener mail.   Main topic:  http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/OH/miscoh08.htm http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/OH/miscoh03.htm http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/NY/miscNYSi.htm#072044 http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/NY/miscNYSb.htm#060635 http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/NY/wayn1830.htm#062230 http://www.solomonspalding.com/docs/Wil1878a.htm#Moss1   Happy News:   https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2021/11/02/self-driving-farm-robot-uses-lasers-to-kill-100000-weeds-an-hour-saving-land-and

Welcome to today’s show. This episode contains another installment in the dangerous shitshow that is the Miracle of Forgiveness. Because the chapter we discuss is about bishop’s interviews, for our main segment, we interviewed Sam Young to talk about his Protect LDS Children movement — now named Protect Every Child. We also go over some of the answers you, our wonderful listeners, gave us on our survey about bishop’s interviews. Then to cleanse ourselves and you, we finish up with some happy news about cleaning up trash in the Pacific Ocean. And we should point out a content warning for the main segment as well as MoGP.  Show Notes:    Main topic: Sam Young’s Blog: https://invisiblescubit.com/  https://protectldschildren.org/   Happy News:   20,000 Pounds of Trash Removed From Pacific Garbage Patch: ‘Holy mother of god. It worked!’: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/20000-pounds-of-trash-removed-from-pacific-garbage-patch/   WE MET OUR FIRST PATREON GOAL!! Quarterly live Q&A’s are now on the program!  Mo

It’s that time again. Every six months we see what slipped through the cracks of General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We watched it so you don’t have to, and yes, the timestamp is accurate. It’s a long listen, but hearing us dissect #GenCON is way better than actually watching the 10 hours for yourself, right? There’s also a point in the episode with a content warning as one of the talks focused on mental health and suicide, conveying some deeply damaging and problematic concepts.   Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GlassBoxPod  Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/glassboxpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/GlassBoxPod  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glassboxpodcast/  Merch store: https://exmomerch.creator-spring.com/ Be sure to use discount code GLASSBOX for a tithing off your order!!!

We have a fun episode for you this week! We begin with a vicious anti-Mormon story about Henry Caswell (Caswall) and the Greek Psalter incident in Joseph Smith’s Nauvoo church. Hugh Nibley considered this one of the longest-running anti-Mormon stories and spent a good deal of print trying to debunk it (unsuccessfully I might add). Then we talk a Nic Cage movie from 2000, Gone in 60 Seconds because why the hell not. Then we wrap up with some happy news about recent cannabis legislation. Next few episodes are going to be pretty heavy so we wanted to keep things light and fun today. If you’d like to contribute to the next Miracle of Forgiveness segment concerning bishop’s interviews, please consider filling out the survey linked below or send us an email about your experience to glassboxpodcast@gmail.com   Bishop’s Interviews Survey: https://forms.gle/LrhBWKkyX8DeGanh8    Happy news: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/u-s-house-approves-marijuana-banking-reform-as-part-of-defense-spending-bill/   Patreon: https://

Bishop’s Interviews Survey: https://forms.gle/LrhBWKkyX8DeGanh8 The recent updates to the recently openly-published church handbook contain some fascinating details, some of which have stirred controversy and caused Mormons to leave the church! Shannon walks us through a few of the prominent changes and helps put them in context by comparing the 2020 Handbook to the 2006 Bishop’s Handbook. Then it’s off to the next segment of Miracle of Forgiveness. Spence tells us about repenting or perishing, abandoning sin, and awakening to sins we’re committing. He also spends some time justifying the holocaust and genocide of Native Americans after which he commits egregious sins against founding member of the church, Oliver Cowdery. Then we wrap with some happy news about the job market in climate studies and activism! Be sure to chime in for our survey about bishop’s interviews if you’d like to contribute your voice to the next segment of Miracle of Forgiveness.  Show notes:  Bishop’s Interviews Survey: https://forms.g