Article 13 - A Church Where We Belong

Before we jump in, we wanted to acknowledge that so many in our community and across the world have been stunned and horrified by the murder of Charlie Kirk at UVU. It feels to us like a particularly difficult moment in this country, and we find ourselves grasping both for hope, and for the message to share in a moment like this.It’s in that spirit that we wanted to share this week’s episode — a conversation about belonging from the Faith Matters podcast Article 13.At their best, faith and faith communities bring us together across differences and remind us of something essential: that we are inherently and irrevocably connected. When we call each other “brother” and “sister,” we’re naming something deeply true. And choosing to stay in community — even when it’s hard — might be exactly what the world needs right now. This episode explores what it means to belong—it invites us to think about belonging not just as something to find, but something we can offer and build in our spiritual communities.We appreciated the insight we saw shared by Senator Chris Murphy this week: that when other forms of identity become weaker, something—like political identity—will step in to fill the void. This episode asks the question: what might society look like if we strive to intentionally create identity not just as members of religious communities, but as inherently dignified, divine beings who are all connected—in other words: as children of God? If there’s any truth that might help us find some hope for the future, it seems like we’ll find it in that direction.As always, we really appreciate you listening, and for helping us find our own belonging, especially in hard moments.*Find more peacemaking resources on our website: faithmatters.orgLearn more about Restore: faithmatters.org/restore

This week, we’re re-sharing what we thought was an “instant classic” from last year’s Restore Gathering; a deeply personal and thought-provoking message about family, faith, and the complexity of life from Joseph Grenny, author of Crucial Conversations and co-founder of The Other Side Academy.Drawing from his own experience with his own “messy” family, Joseph speaks openly about moments of despair, like the heartache of watching loved ones—including his own children—struggle with addiction, estrangement, and other crises.But at the heart of his message is a radical idea: that the phrase "All is well" can be true even in the face of chaos and imperfection. He challenges the traditional "brochure" image of family success, reminding us that not even the families in our sacred texts had it all together. Through powerful stories of redemption, both from his own family and the lives transformed at The Other Side Academy, Joseph encourages us to rethink what it means to succeed as families, and to embrace waiting as part of God’s divine work.We think Joseph’s words will resonate deeply with anyone who has felt the pain of seeing a loved one struggle, and we hope it offers both comfort and inspiration. I also want to mention that Joseph’s full presentation is available on our YouTube channel. We highly recommend watching it there—his visuals are fantastic, and it’s a completely different experience seeing him bring it all to life in person.Joseph will be speaking at Restore again this year, along with a fantastic line up of speakers, musicians, and performers. We would love to have you join us! Visit faithmatters.org/restore to see the agenda and get your tickets.

You’ve probably heard the old joke—we caught it again recently on Ezra Klein’s show. A conspiracy theorist dies and goes to heaven. At the pearly gates, God tells him he can ask one question—anything at all. The conspiracy theorist says, “Who really killed JFK?” God replies, “Lee Harvey Oswald and he acted alone.” The conspiracy theorist pauses, nods, and says, “Wow. This goes higher than I thought.”The joke captures just how impenetrable conspiracy thinking can be. That’s part of what we’re exploring today with our guest, Sharon McMahon. Sharon is a former high school government teacher turned trusted national educator, bestselling author, and host of the Sharon Says So podcast, known for bringing truth, clarity, and calm to some of the most divisive issues in American public life.Today, Sharon helps us unpack why conspiracy theories can be so compelling, how they spread, and the very human needs behind them—like safety, belonging, and making sense of uncertainty. She also shares deeply practical and compassionate guidance for staying in relationship with someone who’s caught in that mindset, while still honoring your own values and boundaries.In 2020, the Church offered timely guidance in its General Handbook, warning against misinformation that promotes anger, contention, and fear—and encouraging members to be skeptical of conspiracy theories. So we talked with Sharon about the role faith communities can play in building resilience against misinformation—not by controlling ideas, but by fostering connection, curiosity, and critical thinking.Sharon’s clarity, courage, and humor made this one of our favorite conversations and we’re also so excited she’ll be speaking at Restore this year—we hope you’ll join us to see her live.Learn more about Restore at faithmatters.org/restoreGet Sharon's book from Bookshop.orgGet Sharon's book from AmazonCome to our event at The Compass on 9/13

We’re excited today to talk about the temple. It’s a topic we love—one that sits at the heart of our faith—but because of its sacred nature, it can sometimes be difficult to explore openly.Our guest today is historian Jonathan Stapley, who has spent the past two decades studying the temple and its role in Latter-day Saint life. His new book, Holiness to the Lord, is coming out this fall, and it incorporates a remarkable collection of never-before-seen archival records.The book explores the temple’s earliest origins and the ways Joseph Smith drew on the book of Revelation and biblical archetypes to transform ordinary people into priests and priestesses through covenant, community, and ritual. Jonathan also documents the generational shifts in temple practice over time and the sacred work the temple has been doing in the lives of Latter-day Saints from the beginning to today.We’re especially grateful that Jonathan was willing to engage some of the harder questions—things that don’t always fit neatly in a Sunday School setting, but that many of us carry quietly. He speaks candidly about temple recommends, garments, and evolving expectations around worthiness. We got to ask him about the temple’s connection to Masonic rituals (how similar are they, really?) and about how we sit with the very real pain that can come with conditional temple participation—especially when its means leaving family members behind for temple sealings.Jonathan brings both deep scholarship and lived faith to this conversation. He helps us see the temple as a living, evolving expression of our faith—one that reflects a divine invitation to connection, transformation, and covenant belonging, and that draws us into Joseph’s bold, sacred project: to bring heaven to earth.Preorder the book from Bookshop.orgPreorder the book from AmazonJoin us for an event discussing the relationship between ancient and modern temples at The Compass Gallery on Sept 21.Read what we've published about temples in our magazine, Wayfare. 

We’re so happy to welcome back Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife—someone whose voice and work have shaped our thinking in really lasting ways.Today we’re talking with Jennifer about her brand-new book, published by Faith Matters: That We Might Have Joy: Desire, Divinity, and Intimate Love. The book offers an honest look at how sexual intimacy can reveal the truth of a relationship—and how, for those willing to confront that truth, it can serve as the starting point for deep joy, spiritual transcendence, and communion with another soul.It reframes sexual intimacy not as something separate from our faith, but as an integral part of it—a way of knowing ourselves and another person, and of developing fully into our divine potential.In this conversation we explore what intimacy requires, and how it’s not about just saying the right things, playing the right role, or “becoming selfless”—it’s about showing up fully, even when it’s uncomfortable. Jennifer makes the powerful case that true intimacy can’t be faked, and that our bodies and our partners always know when we’re hiding.We talk about the traps so many couples fall into—cycles of accommodation, avoidance, pressure, or silence—and how our hunger for validation often gets in the way of real connection. And, maybe most importantly, Jennifer helps us see that the tension in our relationships isn’t a sign that something’s broken.We loved this conversation and are excited to share it with you. Jennifer’s book will be released September 30, but you’ll be able to purchase advanced copies of the book at Restore in just a few weeks.Preorder the paperbackPreorder the ebookJoin us at Restore

Nearly 200 years ago, Joseph Smith gave us a holistic code of health called the Word of Wisdom. But over the next century, we largely reduced that revelation to a list of don’ts—one that came to define us as a church and serve as a kind of status marker within the Church. As we look ahead to the next hundred years, we’re asking: is it time to rethink how we see this revelation? Today, we face an overwhelming number of choices about what we put into our bodies—some deeply harmful, others profoundly nourishing—and we now understand far more about health, nutrition, and the body itself. Are there principles in section 89 that transcend the context in which it was given? What did we miss when we transformed it from a principle with promise to a set list of prohibitions that defined worthiness? Is our current approach a stumbling block as we take the gospel to people in other cultures? And what about that curious issue of hot drinks? That’s the conversation we’re having today with Bill Turnbull, one of the founders of Faith Matters, and Ali Essig, a nutritionist and founder of PlantWhys. Ali’s journey with the Word of Wisdom began after her husband suffered a stroke at age 37—a moment that launched her into a deep study of Section 89 and a reimagining of what it really means to nourish the body. We’ll also be studying this section in Come Follow Me in just a couple of weeks, and so we hope this conversation adds some depth and energy into your personal study and that you see not a list of rules, but a radical invitation into a path of wisdom and wholeness. In an era in which technology and media seem determined to disconnect us from embodied experience and presence, maybe it’s time to take a fresh look at a 200 year old revelation that challenges us to do exactly the opposite.*The Word of Wisdom in Its First DecadeThe Word of Wisdom: From Principle to RequirementAssociation Between Dietary Fiber and Lower Risk of All-Cause Mortality: A Meta-Analysis of Cohort StudiesHigher-fiber diet linked to lower risk of death

Today, we’re so excited to share a powerful session from last year’s Restore gathering, given by Astrid Tuminez, president of Utah Valley University.Astrid’s story is truly extraordinary. She was born in a small village in the Philippines and raised in the slums of Iloilo City. Her journey has taken her from Catholic convent schools to Harvard and Wall Street to leading a major public university—and throughout, she’s wrestled with what it means to belong and to find joy.Drawing from the Book of Mormon, Buddhist meditation, and the lives of the people who have shaped her, Astrid invites us into the practices that help her live with joy, even in the midst of complexity and change.We also want to acknowledge that this session was recorded just a few months before Astrid’s beloved husband of 37 years, Jeff Tolk, passed away unexpectedly. Jeff was someone we admired deeply. He had a brilliant mind and a tender heart and we’re holding Astrid and her family in our hearts during this season of unimaginable grief.Listening to this message now, with the weight of that loss, we have even more reverence and gratitude for the wisdom and light Astrid shared with all of us on the Restore stage. We think it’s one you’ll want to revisit again and again.Restore 2025 will be September 25-27 at UVU in Orem, Utah -- you can get tickets to join us at faithmatters.org/restore 

Today we’re so happy to share a conversation with our friend Brian McLaren about his brand-new novel, The Last Voyage. The book is set in the future, as Earth nears collapse and a final crew is sent to Mars in a last-ditch effort to begin again.It’s a compelling story on its own, but it also opens up space for deeper questions—about what happens when we try to leave everything behind, only to discover we’ve brought all our baggage with us. So in this conversation, we got to explore some of those ideas with Brian. We talked about conflict in close relationships, and what it looks like to stay connected even when worldviews differ in really important ways. He shared why curiosity can be such a powerful act of love in these situations especially when we’re tempted to protect ourselves through certainty.We also talked about the dark night of the soul, and the way it can become a womb for something new—a space where real transformation begins, both personally and even within our faith communities.Brian speaks candidly about the role of religion—not as a static institution, but as something alive, always holding the tension between honoring the past and nourishing our future. This conversation felt like a companion for the messy middle—a reminder that even when the path isn’t clear, growth is still possible, and it’s holy work.We’re so grateful to Brian for this time, and we’re really excited to share it with you. 

Today we’re sharing another fun session from last year’s Restore gathering—one of the most unforgettable moments from the whole weekend—featuring Mauli Bonner.Mauli has spent the past two decades in the entertainment industry, developing and writing for Grammy-winning artists and directing music for film and TV, and he also co-founded the nonprofit Lift Up Voices to empower young voices through creativity and community.In this session, Mauli shares a wild, personal story that starts with a quiet spiritual prompting and ends with an act of radical trust that left the entire room stunned. He offers a moving look at what it really means to live a faith-filled life—one that’s non-transactional, that doesn't guarantee we’ll see the fruit of our actions, but that still says yes to being God’s hands.We hope this session helps you catch a glimpse of the kind of spirit and depth you’ll experience at Restore this year, happening September 25–27 in Orem, Utah. Learn more and get your tickets at faithmatters.org! 

Today, we’re really grateful to share a conversation with historian John Turner about the brand new biography he’s just published: Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet.John is a professor of Religious Studies and History at George Mason University. While  not a member of the the Latter-day Saint faith, he has had a particular fascination with the early history of Mormonism, and wrote an earlier biography of Brigham Young. Some of the interpretations and conclusions John draws in his book may differ from our own, but we found this new biography on Joseph to be meticulously researched and engagingly written.In this book, John doesn’t aim to settle all debates between Joseph Smith’s supporters and his detractors, but with more primary sources available than ever before, he hoped to provide a fuller picture of a figure who continues to shape who we are today. John says that while the question of “Whether God actually spoke to [Joseph] Smith is a matter of faith… there is no question about his prophetic self-conception.”We assume most listeners are familiar with the general contours of Joseph’s life, so in this conversation we talked with John about some topics we felt needed more exploration: his family’s early hardships and how they might have shaped his resilience as a spiritual leader; what the historical record tells us about the gold plates and Joseph’s visions; and whether Joseph truly instigated and lived plural marriage.What struck us most was John’s portrayal of Joseph’s constant evolution—his willingness to revise, to explore, and to ask better questions. It made us wonder if Joseph’s boldness and openness to change could serve as inspiration to us in today’s church.We know that talking openly about Joseph—his humanity, his complexity, even his mistakes—can be challenging. But we hope this episode helps create more space for recognizing the humanity of our leaders, both past and present.