Founded in 2005, Mormon Stories podcast is the longest running and most popular Mormon-themed podcast. Hosted by Dr. John Dehlin (Clinical/Counseling Psychology), Mormon Stories podcast seeks to understand, explore, challenge, and improve the Mormon experience through stories. Some of the primary objectives of Mormon Stories podcast include:
- Building greater awareness regarding accurate LDS/Mormon church history, doctrine, and theology.
- Identifying opportunities for growth/improvement within the LDS church, and within broader Mormon culture.
- Providing support to Mormons who are transitioning way from orthodox Mormonism, with a particular emphasis on:
- Minimizing the anxiety, depression, and occasional suicidality that can accompany a transition away from religious orthodoxy.
- Reducing the number of unnecessary divorces attributable to faith transitions.
- Creating a community of support for liberal/progressive and post-Mormons.
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My name is Bill Reel. I joined the Church as a teenager and from day one I took the Church very seriously. I strived to be a good member of the Church and wanting to know all there was to know about my new faith, I read every Mormon History or Doctrinal book I could get my hands on. I encountered critical thinking early on and weaved my way through difficult issues in the Church. Then while serving as a Bishop in my early 30’s I hit a major crisis of faith. I woke one day and nothing fit anymore. I almost left the Church and my faith community. Instead, I dove further into the issues, opened myself up to changing my beliefs, assumptions, and expectations….. what I found was a renewed faith. A real Faith. But one based in our ability to grow past binary thinking and develop our own authority and to develop mast Ethno-centricity as our center ground. This woke me up to a beautiful and expansive faith that was once again new and open to reconstruction. I created this podcast to help others like you to find their way to the other side of that fracture. My main piece of advice is to stop forcing the facts to fit your assumptions and instead allow your assumptions to change. Question everything and be willing to adopt new information and paradigms even if it compels you to throw off old paradigms that were deeply comfortable. Many of us were taught a MORMONISM that simply is unrealistic, too simplistic, and too black and white. Open up to all the possibilities and leave room for a new you to come forth.