Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel

RFM and Bill Reel do a deep dive into the recent worldwide devotional given by Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our intrepid duo dig deep to find out the real meaning behind this devotional. You won’t find their insights anywhere…  Read More » LDS Apostle Under the Microscope! The post LDS Apostle U...

What happens when asking honest questions about your faith feels like risking your eternal salvation? In this episode of Mormon Discussion, Bill Reel sits down with Lindsey Johansen, author of the book “Risking Heaven”, to explore her journey from devout Mormon belief to religious deconstruction, self-discovery, and rebuilding a meaningful life beyond religious certainty. Lindsey&#8217...

How did a man with a known history of child sexual abuse continue to hold positions within the LDS Church and maintain access to children? Who knew about his history, when did they know, and why weren’t more people warned? In this episode of Mormon Discussion, Bill Reel sits down with Robert Herguth, veteran investigative…  Read More » The Wade Christofferson Scandal: What Di...

Is Mormonism growing, shrinking, or somewhere in between? And what do the actual numbers tell us about people joining, leaving, and remaining in the LDS Church? In this episode of Mormon Discussion Podcast, Bill Reel sits down with Alex Bass, researcher behind Mormon Metrics and Bass Empirical, to take a closer look at the data…  Read More » LDS Church: Growing or Shrinking? What t...

In 1838, Joseph Smith answered 20 questions about his beliefs and the new church in the Elders’ Journal. The questions touched on everything from the gold plates and polygamy to prophecy, salvation, slavery, and whether everyone outside the Church would be damned. In this episode, we examine Smith’s answers alongside the historical context—and the interesting…  Read More » The post...

Samuel Brunson: Between the Temple & the Tax Collector What happens when religious freedom, tax law, and the financial practices of the LDS Church collide? In this episode of Mormon Discussion, Bill Reel sits down with Samuel Brunson, a professor of law at Loyola University Chicago and author of Between the Temple and the Tax…  Read More » Samuel Brunson: Between the Temple and...

RFM and Bill Reel are joined this week by Meggan Hayes from “Generally Unquotable” to break down several of the talks from this past FAIRMormon Apologetics conference. Many budding apologists came to hear some of the worst talks on defending Mormonism ever given! Apologetics wasn’t that great in the 1980s. But in the past forty-years,…  Read More » Mormon Apologis...

LDS Church Burying Zelph Under Data Center? | Mormon Newscast | October 19, 2026 Is the LDS Church preparing to build a massive data center over a significant piece of Mormon history? Tonight on The Mormon Newscast, we’re looking at the proposed development at Arthur Plantation in Missouri, a site connected to Zion’s Camp and…  Read More » LDS Church Burying Z...

Are Mormons Raising Their Kids Wrong? | Audra Phelps on Mormon & Post-Mormon Parenting What happens when you leave Mormonism and realize you must rethink not only what you believe, but how you raise your children? In this episode of Mormon Discussion, Bill Reel sits down with Audra Phelps for an honest conversation about Mormon…  Read More » Audra Phelps: Mormon (And Post-...

Bill Reel and RFM take a look at the recent FAIRMormon apologetic conference that took place last August. The amazing thing is that Mormon apologetics isn’t getting better with age. If anything, Mormon apologetics is getting worse. And that’s saying something! It’s like they’re not just trying to fool nonbelievers, anymore. They’re trying to fool…  Read Mor...

What happened to the apostles who helped build early Mormonism—and then walked away? When the original Quorum of the Twelve was organized in 1835, these men were not fringe figures. They preached the gospel, served missions, worked directly with Joseph Smith, participated in the movement’s spiritual experiences, and occupied some of its highest positions of…  Read More » The Lost A...

Tonight on Mormonism LIVE, Bill Reel and Radio Free Mormon are joined by special guest John Dehlin for an exhaustive examination of the LDS Church’s lawsuit against Mormon Stories. Instead of arguing about the case in the abstract, we take 30 specific claims made by the Church and its attorneys and put them side-by-side with…  Read More » John Dehlin Joins Mormonism Live!: LDS Chur...

On this episode of Mormonism Live, we sit down with Rachelle and John Moyer, the creators behind “Ex-Mormon: The Musical,” to talk about how the project came together, what inspired the songs, and why music can be such a powerful way to process faith, identity, loss, humor, and life after Mormonism. We’ll dig into the…  Read More » Ex-Mormon The Musical The post Ex-Mormon The Music...

Elder Bruce R. McConkie gave one of his most famous talks in history in 1980 named “The Seven Deadly Heresies.” RFM and Bill Reel break down this talk, exposing not only what Elder McConkie says, but why he says it; together with the things Elder McConkie doesn’t say at all! This one you won’t want…  Read More » Heresy Hunters On Planet Provo! The post Heres...

Tonight on Mormonism Live, we examine a recurring pattern in Joseph Smith’s prophetic career: when he encountered something mysterious, incomplete, inaccessible, or simply unknown, he rarely seemed content to say, “I don’t know.” Instead, he supplied an answer—and often an extraordinarily detailed one. A skeleton becomes Zelph, complete with a name, identity, history, and ancient…  Read...

What happens when a religious system spends a lifetime teaching you to trust authority, obey, forgive, sacrifice, endure, distrust your own doubts, and fear the consequences of leaving? In this episode of Mormon Discussion, Teresa Hobbs leads Bill Reel and special guest Wendi Wilcock Jensen through a difficult question: Can LDS teachings and institutional structures…  Read More » T...

RFM and Bill Reel are joined by Dr. Thomas Murphy to discuss what the presence of Native American myths, individuals, and stories in the Book of Mormon means. Are these evidence the Book of Mormon is true? Or do they give us an insight into some of the creative grist Joseph was using to compile…  Read More » Native American Legends in BOM! The post Native American Legends in BOM! a...

In June 1834, while marching with Zion’s Camp through Illinois, Joseph Smith and his followers came across an ancient Native American burial mound. Members of the group dug into the mound and uncovered a human skeleton—with what appeared to be an arrowhead among its ribs. According to multiple members of Zion’s Camp, Joseph Smith then…  Read More » Mormonism’s Zelph – T...

Why do intelligent, sincere women remain loyal to systems that often ask them to suppress their own intuition? In this episode, Bill Reel is joined by three thoughtful women- Jana Spangler, Julie De Azevedo, and Teresa Hobbs; for an in-depth conversation about the psychology of high-demand religion—not to criticize individuals, but to better understand the…  Read More » How Mormoni...

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! The post Find Out What REALLY Happened At Sunstone 2026! appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel .

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 The post...

Jodi Hildebrandt is not just the story of one deeply harmful therapist. She is a warning sign about what can happen when mental health care stops being guided by professional ethics, evidence-based treatment, and client well-being—and instead becomes filtered through rigid Mormon beliefs about sin, obedience, sexuality, shame, and worthiness. In this episode, Bill Reel…  Read More &#187...

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&...

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! The post Black Mormons Spe...

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! The post Ob...