Glass Box Podcast

What were the Position Papers and what were they for? We go over a brief overview of the Reorganized Latter Day Saints (RLDS) organizing a committee to deal with some major flaws in policy and doctrine. The committee circulated some ideas to RLDS leadership in the form of Position Papers. They were leaked before the ideas could be fully fleshed out, but that set off a chain of events that led to t...

Happy PRIDE Month! That's the whole bit today, PRIDE media! We brought a few pieces to discuss in order to celebrate all forms of experience and love. Along the way we have a few artists to showcase as well as lists for further exploration into this beautiful world of diverse media.   Show Notes :    LGBTQ+ Reads: https://lgbtqreads.com/     History :  11 LGBTQ+ Women Who Shaped the Course of Hist...

Exclusion of evidence and habeas corpus? Who needs us? It's a Dallin Oaks episode and we go over two law review articles (pub. 1966 & 70) he wrote focusing on the rights of criminals. How we handle evidence consistent with the constitution is a complicated issue and Hoaks has a hot take. Plus, he thinks habeas corpus has gotten a bit out of hand with how many death row convicts it was helping. The...

Books and movies after religion! We've taken a listener-suggested-topic and run with it. Instead of pointing out individual pieces of media that are useful after religion, we talk about how various religions deal with information control. From banned-books lists to devil's music, various Abrahamic religions have varying levels of prohibition against non-religious material. We go through a bunch of...

Our next Hoaks episode! But, before that! We go through a few select scriptures to see what the passages have to say about the modern Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But that's not all! What do the scriptures have to say about the MAGA movement and our modern politics? We conclude that a person cannot be a believing Christian while supporting the Mormon Church or MAGA. The Bible contr...

What do Disney, Ferrari, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have in common? They're rather litigious when people do things they don't like. We go through the history of copyright and trademark to provide background for some notable recent lawsuits involving these companies. That launches us into a discussion about the recent lawsuit filed by the Mormon Church against John Dehlin,...

General Conference for Apr 2026 is here. We watched the whole thing so you don't have to. This is our breakdown and hyperfocus on what slipped through what slipped through the cracks!   Sunday Afternoon: Christofferson Q12 - The end is coming, be outward bigots Chi Hong (Sam) Wong Q70 - Remember, Remember BoM lesson Aaron T. Hall Q70 - Names of Jesus from BoM Susan H. Porter Primary GP - Baby-talk...

General Conference for Apr 2026 is here. We watched the whole thing so you don't have to. This is our breakdown and hyperfocus on what slipped through what slipped through the cracks!   Sunday Morning: Ucthdorf Acting Pres of Q12 - Happy Easter, I guess? Emily Bell Freeman YW GP - Best of days, worst of days Pedro X. Larreal Q70 - Happy easter Edward B Rowe Q70 - I didn't get blown up by a landmin...

General Conference for Apr 2026 is here. We watched the whole thing so you don't have to. This is our breakdown and hyperfocus on what slipped through what slipped through the cracks!   Saturday Afternoon: Gary Stevenson Q12 - Lost luggage Edwardo Ortega Q70 - To new members Wan-Liang Wu Q70 - More diversity through assimilation David J. Wunderli FC YM GP - Youth carry too many rocks Gerald Causse...

General Conference for Apr 2026 is here. We watched the whole thing so you don't have to. This is our breakdown and hyperfocus on what slipped through what slipped through the cracks!   Saturday Morning: Oaks POTLDS Patrick Kearon Q12 - Callings Kristen M. Yee SC RS GP - assignments and ministering David A. Bednar Q12 - endure, you whiny little shits Michael John U. Teh Q70 - diversity through ass...

Bryce attended the Journal of Mormon Polygamy Conference and snagged a few interviews from attendees, organizers, and presenters. It was a fantastic experience! The first issues are printed and ready for purchase at the link below and it's a great conference as well. Come next year! After that we discuss Sense & Sensibilities by Jane Austen to round out the third episode of Women's History Month....

It's Women's History Month!  We first talk about a few women in history who dared to stand out because representation matters. These are women in science, medicine, and even espionage who did amazing things to further scientific advances, to help heal people, etc and they deserve to be recognized. For the media segment, we talk about the 1993 movie Orlando , starring the amazing Tilda Swinton. Fol...

The time has come for a new apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Clark G. Gilbert; time for your podcast hosts to rise to the occasion with another Apostolic Profile episode. He escaped the religious persecution Mormons often suffer growing up in Scottsdale, AZ, to go to BYU. Then off to Harvard for business, to acquire more useful skills for his forthcoming career in the Ch...

It's February and that means it is Black History Month. And since we are in the middle of the 2026 Winter Olympics, we are going to talk about one of THE most famous African-American Olympic athletes of all time, Jesse Owens. We then discuss the movie 42, the story of Jackie Robinson's first year in the white baseball league in 1947. After that, we'll round out the episode with happy news about a...

Ready for more Dallin Oaks stuff? First we talk about a letter Joseph Smith wrote to W.W. Phelps. Then we discuss the law review article  "Ethics, Mortality, and Professional Responsibility", by Dallin Oaks published October 1975 in the BYU Law Review. For the Sword of Laman, we take a look at the first two chapters of Oaks' book Pure In Heart.  We finish it off with some happy news about a judge...

Well, it's time. Let's talk about President Dallin Harris Oaks, the Hoaks man, the Mormon Gollum. First, we cover the biography In the Hands of the Lord: The Life of Dallin H. Oaks by Richard Turley. Then we take a look at Hoaks' book The Carthage Conspiracy, as well as a presentation from 2021 where he actually uttered a prophecy! And after all that, we share some amazing science news. Researcher...

Welcome to 2026! We start out the year talking to an interesting person — Chris Mitsch — a Professor of Computer Science, whose focus has been on AI ethics. We discuss a variety of technologies known as AI, the limitations, costs, potential uses, who stands to benefit, and a litany of related issues. This leads to our MOGP segment, where we watched A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, of course! And we...

As per tradition, we're talking all media to round out the year! Our theme is past, present, future; we're discussing what influenced both of us the most in each category. Thanks for hanging out with us this past year!   Shan : Past: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare  Present:  The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore. A Woman of No Importance:...

Yes, the CIA tortured inmates suspected of terrorism in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Two of the primary men involved with creating this program are Mormon, one was called to be a Bishop after taking $81mn from the government to torture people. We discuss the report, how it came to light, some of the key figures along the way, and the fight over the FOIA release of the report in the courts. Aft...

The new apostle for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has taken his seat at the table. Gerald Caussé spent his life in corporate business before his call to the Presiding Bishopric in 2012. In 2015 he ascended to Presiding Bishop and has been the money manager of the church since then. During his tenure, numerous scandals have hit the church related to finances, including a fine from...

Spring of 1842 was a world-shaping event, the introduction of the endowment ceremony by Joseph Smith to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We've talked about it and a few of the more recent changes to the endowment a few times, but this is the overview. What it was when it was introduced, how it changed under Brigham Young, and many of the changes that have happened since his death,...

At long last Shannon gets to talk about the book she's been planning on since the last Halloween episode — The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. We first discuss the Aesthetic Movement of the 19th century and a tiny bit of the life of Oscar Wilde before we jump into the book itself. Then Bryce gifts you with an abbreviated history of metal music. Get a notepad ready to take notes because he g...

It's that time of year! 195th Semi-annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We see what slipped through the cracks!   David Bednar Q12 – Moral Agency means doing what you were coerced to agree to do   B. Corey Cuvleier Q70 – The correct name   Matthew S. Holland Q70 – Jonah, Adam and Eve, and Biblical literalism   Carlos A Godoy Q70 – He's helping impoverished...

It's that time of year! 195th Semi-annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We see what slipped through the cracks!   Jeffrey R. Holland – Book of Mormon is miraculous and stop being so mean to me about it   James E Evanson Q70 – Go on your mission, even if you have to settle for a service mission   Ulisses Soares Q12 – Temperance and quoting MLK Jr.   Peter M....

It's that time of year! 195th Semi-annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We see what slipped through the cracks!   Ronald Rasband Q12 – Family: A Proclamation to the World is 'doctrine'   Chad Webb FC SS GP – Gospel not a 'list of demands'   Jeremy Jaggi Q70 – Chaplain's altar is Mormon symbol   Kevin Brown Q70 – Moral agency; we are agents   Gerrit Gong Q12...