Radio Free Mormon

RFM and Bill Reel host an august panel of Sunstone Symposium presenters and attendees, as they tell us fun and fascinating stories about what goes on behind the scenes of Sunstone! Join us! Mormon Studies were never so much fun!

Kolby Reddish and RFM used their combined legal education, experience and acumen to break down and analyze the recent Arizona Supreme Court Case dismissing the lawsuit against the LDS Church for covering up child abuse in its ranks. If you’re wondering what the hell happened in Arizona, this discussion by two “Mormon Legal Eagles” should…  Read More » Mormon Churc...

What if one of the most important events in early Mormon history never actually accomplished what it set out to do? In 1834, Joseph Smith organized nearly 200 armed men and led them almost 900 miles across the American frontier with one stated objective: redeem Zion and restore the Saints to their lands in Jackson…  Read More » Zion’s Camp: Turning Failure Into Faith

What did the Nauvoo Temple endowment look like in its earliest form? In this episode of Mormonism Live, Bill Reel and Radio Free Mormon examine one of the earliest published firsthand accounts of the Nauvoo Temple ceremony: Catherine Lewis’s 1848 narrative. Written only a few years after the events it describes, Lewis’s account provides a…  Read More » Mormon Endowment&...

President Dallin Hoaks has gone on record giving us every reason we need to not trust what he says. In this episode, Radio Free Mormon brings the receipts, showing that the current president of the LDS Church is the kind of guy who will try to get you to believe something, even when he knows…  Read More » Dallin Oaks Exposed: RFM: 468

The LDS Church claims huge growth in membership numbers in Africa. But is this claim true? Or is it manufactured like the baptism numbers claimed for Central and South America back in the 1970s? During Mormonism Live last night, an African named Riya Ngambi called in and spilled the beans on the whole operation, showing…  Read More » Mormon Africa Baptism Fraud: RFM: 467

RFM and Bill Reel are joined by a special panel of Black Mormons and ex-Mormons in this important episode. What is it like experiencing Mormonism through the lens of race? Especially when that race paints you as a second class citizen? Are discriminatory practices and beliefs about Black people a thing of the past in…  Read More » Black Mormons Speak Out!

Jacob Hansen has been slowly but surely losing his mind over the last several years. Okay. Not so slowly. But still. The past week has brought not one, but two, videos from Jacob that seem bent on proving he is now officially non compos mentis. Take a look at these new videos from Jacob and…  Read More » Mormon Apologist Loses Mind: RFM: 466

Radio Free Mormon details the circumstances leading up to the guilty plea last Thursday in federal court by Wade Christofferson to CSA charges. What did D. Todd Christofferson know, and when did he know it? And based on the little information the Church has disclosed, D. Todd definitely knew about the danger his brother posed…  Read More » Elder D. Todd Christofferson Needs To Step...

RFM was a Mormon apologist 40-years ago, and as part of that ended up writing a paper on Lehi’s Dream that was published in The Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. It is an important paper that continues to be cited by Mormon apologists in various publications and formats, even as recently as March of…  Read More » They’re Still Using My Research: RFM: 465

We have shown in a prior podcast that the Book of Mormon answers all the important religious disputes of Joseph Smith’s day. In this episode we demonstrate that the Book of Mormon uses the language and expressions of other early 19th Century authors to do so! Using only publications from prior to 1830! The results…  Read More » Obviously a 19th Century Production!

Dr. Randall Bell and RFM head east for a crazy two days of jamming as many church history sites in as we possibly can handle! We took photos and video to document our misadventures and share it all here with you! Well, almost all. Part is still a secret of Dr. Bell’s that he will…  Read More » RFM Does Church History Sites: RFM: 465

For decades, the historical consensus has been that Joseph Smith introduced and practiced plural marriage in Nauvoo. But a small group of researchers has argued for a very different conclusion: that Joseph Smith was not the founder of Mormon polygamy and that the historical evidence has been misunderstood. In this episode of Mormonism Live, we…  Read More » Joseph Smith’s Pol...

Tonight on Mormonism Live, Bill Reel and Radio Free Mormon take a deep dive into one of the most talked-about Mormon history stories in recent memory: the recent leaking of the William Clayton journals. For years, the full Clayton journals have been a source of speculation, controversy, and anticipation. William Clayton was not a peripheral…  Read More » The William Clayton Journal...

RFM is joined by Dr. Don Cohen who outlines his fascinating journey from the Jewish faith in which he was born, to his conversion to Mormonism, and from there to where he has landed today. Throughout, Don’s allegiance to evidence and research has been his guiding star. Join us as Dr. Cohen explains his spiritual…  Read More » From Jewish to Mormon and Beyond! RFM: 463

Does the Book of Mormon fit better in the ancient world or in early nineteenth century America when it was created? Defenders of the book point to a handful of twisted and strained comparisons to the ancient world to make their case. Bill and RFM, on the other hand, demonstrate conclusively that the Book of…  Read More » When Was the Book of Mormon Created?

RFM is joined by former Mormon Ted Novak, who shares his story of faith and ultimately, of faith deconstruction. Ted thought he studied his religion while he was a member, but he realized along the way what he was really studying was the “Mormon-Approved” version. Once Ted opened himself up to studying non-Mormon-Approved sources, he…  Read More » Leaving Mormonism: RFM...

BREAKING NEWS! Elder Kyle McKay, Church Historian for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, apologized in writing for racially insensitive comments he made at a stake conference in Oklahoma last Sunday!

What if the most revealing thing about Mormon apologetics isn’t the evidence being presented… but the behavioral patterns behind the arguments? Tonight on Mormonism Live, Bill Reel and Radio Free Mormon sit down with Dawn McCarty who works in Forensic Criminology behavioral analysis. Can forensic criminology profile Mormon apologetics? Drawing from several of her recent…  Read Mor...

Famous Youtuber “Reckless Ben” just got served with a restraining order forbidding him from podcasting anymore about the “Bricks & Minifigs” Case and requiring him to take down any podcasts he has already published dealing with the case. Reckless Ben can’t talk about the Restraining Order. But RFM can!

The Mormon Church keeps telling us it is growing. And not only is it growing, they say it is growing faster than it has ever grown in history! And yet faithful Mormon researcher Jeff Strong says the LDS Church has lost 40 % of its active membership in the last twenty-five years. How will the…  Read More » LDS Church Membership Tanks!

Ever wonder what happens when you take all the earliest accounts of the Angel Moroni appearing to Joseph Smith and compare them? The answers can be problematic but always fascinating. RFM is joined by an all-star panel of Bill Reel, Randy Bell and everyone’s favorite Rando, Kolby Reddish, to hash through the sources. The result…  Read More » Don’t You Forget About Moron...

Tonight on Mormonism Live we tackle one of the most controversial and uncomfortable documents in LDS history: Joseph Smith’s 1832 First Vision account. Not the polished 1838 version members know from the Pearl of Great Price. Not the story that has been repeated in manuals and General Conference over a hundred years. We’re going back…  Read More » Joseph Smith’s 1832 First Vi...

Bill Reel and RFM are joined this week by Meggan Hayes, host of the “Generally Unquotable” podcast, which features a news report on things Mormon every weekday morning! How does Meggan do it? Where does she get her stories? What are the biggest stories she has covered? These are just some of the things we’ll…  Read More » Podcaster Meggan Hayes (Generally Unquotab...

I had a faith crisis in my mid-twenties. A big faith crisis. It involved a salamander and it involved a letter. It made me question everything I thought I knew about Joseph Smith, the book he produced, and the religion he founded. The LDS religion. MY religion! And in that time of despair, I clung…  Read More » They Didn’t Tell Me This!!! RFM: 458