Glass Box Podcast

Update on COVID-19 time! The Mormon church is taking steps to reopen wards around the globe while there’s no evidence that we’ve effectively flattened the curve. They’re also investing some resources into making PPE for medical workers in the form of masks and surgical gowns made from sacred-underwear cotton. Plenty to discuss. Then, Braden tells us about After Life starring Ricky Gervais. We wrap with some happy news about a vodka company based in Utah making hand sanitizer to combat the ‘Rona. Plus listener mail and an iTunes review!   Angel's Trumpet: https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2020/05/20/lds-church-sells-exxon/   https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2020/05/19/lds-church-unveils-plan/   https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/global-sacred-clothing-production-facilities-temporarily-produce-masks-gowns   https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/safe-return-church-meetings-activities   Media of Great Price:After Life   Happy News: Interesting contrast to the church. Church worries about

We do something a little different this week. This show starts out with an interview of two elders in the mission field who no longer believe in Mormonism, yet are stuck on their mission during COVID lockdown. How do Elders A and B cope with being on a sales force for a product they know isn’t real? They offer a window into the day-to-day life of missionaries stuck in the world of lockdowns while trying to be good people in spite of being missionaries. After that we dive into part 4 of Tad R. Callister’s Case for the Book of Mormon: how to gain a personal testimony of the Book of Mormon. Can we be done with this book yet?! Then we get to some happy news about Germany banning gay conversion therapy for minors at the nationwide level.   Follow Broken Missionary here:https://twitter.com/BrokenMissionay   Happy news https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52585162 Show Links:Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html Find us on Facebook and Twitter @Glass Box Podcast

We take a break from headlines and current events to dabble into the lighter side of Mormonism. Braden and I square off in a trivia challenge drinking game. Braden brings the culture, I bring the history and we see who comes out on top. But, it turns out, when you play a drinking game everybody wins! Join us for a light-hearted hangout along with a Media of Great Price about Pineapple Express and a happy news segment about countries transitioning off coal power.   Media of Great Price https://www.pv-magazine.com/2020/04/22/sweden-exits-coal-two-years-early/   Show Links:Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html Find us on Facebook and Twitter @Glass Box Podcast  

We hit our goal on patreon.com/glassboxpod! Braden had to watch General Conference for the first time in our podcast history. It, indeed, is a historic conference! We go through talk by talk to see what slipped through the cracks of all 5 sessions of the April 2020 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Strap in, it’s a long one. Did Rusty make this as historic of an event as the hype made it? Just like the other episodes about #GenConf, we get a little extra NSFW on this broadcast; listener beware.   Jana Riess’ article about General Conferencehttps://www.sltrib.com/religion/2020/04/07/jana-riess-when-big/   Show Links:Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html Find us on Facebook and Twitter @Glass Box Podcast

How is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints handling the Coronavirus epidemic? We explore current events and the coming end of the world. Then we get into our next installment of The Case for the Book of Mormon by Tad R. Callister… ugh. Finally, we wrap up with some happy news about how celebrities, artists, and regular folk are helping each other through the epidemic.   Being sent home https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/03/30/city-creek-mall-merchants/ https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2020/04/02/this-week-mormon-land/ https://www.insider.com/mormons-gathered-salt-lakes-airport-greet-missionaries-with-hugs-2020-3 https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/service-options-missionaries-march-31-2020 https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/april-2020-edition-of-the-world-report https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/covid-19-mtc-adjustment https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/covid-19-impact-missionary-service   Samuel L. Jackson reads “Stay the F*** At Home”: http

Yes, we’re jumping into the outrage ball-pit of COVID-19, Coronavirus. We do our typical overview of the issue and piece together a chronology from multiple reputable sources. This is a worldwide topic and therefore dives into politics, which we don’t often do. If you want a break from all the hype or don’t want to hear about politics, this may not be the episode for you. If you want to be informed on what a viral outbreak looks like and attempt to gain some perspective, this episode may be worth a listen. Of course, because this is a show about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we tie the issue into Mormonism at the end. Stay safe, everybody. Please follow the guidelines of experts to remain distanced and hygenic. This episode has a bit more NSFW language than usual.   Links: https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/news/coronavirus-a-timeline-of-how-the-deadly-outbreak-evolved/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/pedrodacosta/2020/03/07/trumps-lies-about-the-coronavirus-raise-the-risk-of-a-recessi

Boy Scouts of America is filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy because of child sex abuse? We thank thee, O God, for our Profit, Russel M. Nelson for getting the Mormon church out of Scouts before all those lawsuits crippled BSA! While this isn’t a story directly about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, these issues long predate the divorce of these two institutions. Braden and I explore the common threads and what this bankruptcy means. Then Braden tells us about some kids at a Catholic school who walked out when their gay teachers were fired for being gay!   Links: https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/02/18/boy-scouts-of-america-files-for-bankruptcy-over-sex-abuse-claims/#353a52cd2e58 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-wave-of-sexual-abuse-lawsuits-could-cost-catholic-church-over-4-billion-2019-12-02 https://www.npr.org/2020/02/18/806721827/boy-scouts-of-america-files-for-bankruptcy-as-it-faces-hundreds-of-sex-abuse-cla https://theoutline.com/post/8687/boy-scouts-bankruptcy-filing-sex

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

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: https://youtu.be/pILCn6VO_RU Media of Great Price: Ramy: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7649694/ Light of Gazalem: https://blog.activision.com/activision/2020-02/Together-the-Call-of-Duty-community-raises-over-one-point-six-million-dollars-for-Australian-Bushfire-Relief   Show Links: Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html Find us on Facebook and Twitter @Glass Box Podcast

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 2019https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/12/31/jana-riess-seven-top/ Light of Gazalemhttps://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/st-louis-churches-buy-up-million-in-medical-then-give/article_cb5202e1-19ae-5cdb-aa4a-4359d17b5db2.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_St._Louis_Post-Dispatch&fbcl

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 Find us on Facebook and Twitter @G

$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

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 fo

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

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 Presentationhttps://www.sunstonemagazine.com/sl10212-sacred-secrecy-in-the-teachings-of-president-boyd-k-packer/ Show links:Website http://www.glassboxpodcast.com/index.html Find us on Facebook and Twitter @Glass Box Podcast

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_NicolosiEvergreen expose https://truthwin

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 Find us on Facebook and Twitter @Glass Box Podcast

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://www.mormondialogue.org/topic/72112-rico-act-proposed-class-action-against-the-church-it-is-filed/page/7/ http://religionclause.blogspot.com/2019/08/suit-charges-mormon-church-with.html http://www.mormonthi

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