Postmormon Postmortem

Hannah and Jess

Mormonism gave you a complete universe, with charts, diagrams, and a plan for everything. Leaving can dismantle all of it at once. Postmormon Postmortem is hosted by Hannah and Jess, two women who left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and wanted more honest conversations about what comes after. We cover Mormon history, doctrine, culture, true crime, institutional harm, religious trauma, and the messy work of rebuilding a life outside the church. Whether you're freshly out, years removed, or trying to understand someone you love, you're in the right place.

  1. −4 h

    Mormon Roadshows: The Weird History of Mormon Musical Theater

    Ward roadshows were once a major part of Mormon social life. Starting in Utah in the 1920s, wards wrote and performed short original musicals, competed against each other, and in the original version literally took the shows from chapel to chapel. In this What Do You Know? Wednesday, we look at where roadshows came from, how they became part of the MIA program, and why Mormons developed such a strong relationship with theatre and musical performance in the first place. We’re drawing on the ideas of musicologist Jake Johnson’s work on Mormonism and musical theatre, including his argument that performance became a way for Mormons to express religious identity, build community, and create a Mormon alternative to outside entertainment.

  2. −2 d

    Women Can Lead Sunday School Now - So Why Is the Church Losing Young Women Faster Than Ever?

    In March 2026, the Mormon Church announced that women could now serve as Ward Sunday School presidents. A month later, buried in a routine statistical report, U.S. membership dropped for the first time in the church's history — and the group leaving fastest was young women. Jess and Hannah walk through both stories month by month, in the order they actually happened, to see how they collide. They cover the "trial balloon" read from religion writer Jana Riess, the awkward question nobody wanted to ask about why presidencies still can't be mixed-gender, the actual membership numbers (and why a net loss of 186 people matters more than it sounds like it should), and the July profile of a woman thriving in her new calling — printed just as the harder story about why women are leaving quietly disappeared from the coverage. Two things can be true at once: a woman running Sunday School in one ward doesn't cancel out what the data says about her daughter's generation. It doesn't explain it either. If this one gets you thinking, we'd love a rating and a review — it's the easiest way to help other people find the show. Other ways to support the show: buymeacoffee.com/postmormonpostmortem Ad-free listening from $2/month: patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem TikTok & Instagram: @postmormonpostmortem postmormonpostmortem.com

  3. −3 d

    What Growing Up Mormon Taught Us About Love, Fear & Worth

    Hannah springs something new on Jess this week: a psychology framework called Schema Therapy, and 18 patterns psychologist Jeffrey Young calls "early maladaptive schemas." Jess hasn't read any of it going in — Hannah teaches her the theory live, then they go through all 18 schemas together, asking the same question each time: did being raised Mormon teach us this, or reinforce it? What follows is less a lecture and more two people realizing, out loud, how much of their childhoods they're still carrying. They talk about parents who were consistent only in their anger, or wildly inconsistent in everything; siblings raised feral because Mom was overwhelmed and Dad was checked out; the particular terror of "the last days" and food storage drills; the conditional promise of an "eternal family"; and the quiet, permanent work of learning not to trust your own judgment. It's personal, it's a little raw, and it might explain more about your own upbringing — Mormon or not — than you expect. Ad-free listening from $2/month: patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem TikTok & Instagram: @postmormonpostmortem postmormonpostmortem.com New episodes every Sunday at 9 AM — just in time for sacrament meeting.

  4. −3 d

    Elizabeth Smart Part 2: Brian David Mitchell & Wanda Barzee: The Making of Immanuel & Hephzibah

    In part 2 of Elizabeth Smart, we offer a prequel, going back through the lives of Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee before June 2002: their childhoods, marriages, Mormon lives, family relationships, and the religious system they built before they kidnapped fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart. We trace Mitchell’s history of violence, sexual abuse allegations and controlling behavior; his return to Mormonism; his years as a high priest, stake high councilor, bishopric counselor, and Salt Lake Temple worker; and his move into Ezra Taft Benson, conspiracy politics, alternative health, the one mighty and strong, the Davidic servant, and celestial plural marriage. We look at Wanda Barzee’s Mormon upbringing, family history, mental-health problems, music and temple work, and her role in preserving Mitchell’s revelations and helping build the religious world in which Brian became Immanuel David Isaiah and Wanda became Hephzibah. The episode follows their years of wandering, the Seven Diamonds Plus One society, their attempts to recruit plural wives, The Book of Immanuel David Isaiah, their excommunication in June 2002, and the Mormon Church’s response after their arrest. Sources (not exhaustive) United States v. Brian David Mitchell, Case No. 2:08-cr-00125-DAK, U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. Memorandum Decision & Order Determining Competency, 2010. State v. Barzee, 2007 UT 95, Utah Supreme Court. Full Transcript of ‘The Book of Immanuel David Isaiah.’ Deseret News, March 15, 2003. Wanda Barzee Says She ‘Learned to Be Submissive and Obedient.’ Deseret News, November 18, 2010. Transcript: Wanda Barzee Testifies in the Elizabeth Smart Kidnap Trial. The Salt Lake Tribune, November 18, 2010. Complex Picture of Pair Emerges. Deseret News, March 14, 2003. Erroneous Reporting of Elizabeth Smart Case. Mormon Church Newsroom, March 24, 2003. A full source list for every episode is available in the receipts archive on Patreon.

  5. 9 sep.

    How a Mormon Senator Got 200 Missionary Visas With One Call

    In 2009, a former U.S. senator told the Mormon Church's Quorum of the Twelve how he got 200 missionary visas approved with one phone call to a foreign ambassador. No one ever asked if it was legal. Jess and Hannah trace what happened after that 2009 briefing: Gordon Smith's Senate staff called "church broke," the R-1 and EB-4 visa backlogs that leave ordinary missionaries waiting up to five years, and Sister Fanny Clain — a missionary injured in the 2016 Brussels airport bombing while stuck waiting on the exact visa Smith's phone call skipped entirely. In 2016, Mormon Leaks published video of the briefing. In 2017, two advocacy groups filed a formal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act complaint with the DOJ and State Department over Smith's dealings with then-Ambassador Ronen Sen. No investigation has ever been publicly reported. This only makes sense if you grew up Mormon — access has always had a shape, and nobody with the standing to say so out loud ever did. Support the show: buymeacoffee.com/postmormonpostmortemAd-free listening from $2/month: patreon.com/postmormonpostmortemTikTok & Instagram: @postmormonpostmortempostmormonpostmortem.com

  6. 7 sep.

    What the Mormon Temple Recommend Questions Don't Ask

    Sixteen questions stand between a Mormon and a wallet-sized card that gets them through the temple doors — but not one of them asks how you treat other people. Jess and Hannah break down every question in the 2026 Mormon temple recommend interview, tracing its history back to 1922 and the 1976 addition of the honesty question (added only after Utah was branded "the fraud capital of the nation"). Then: The Salt Lake Tribune asked 400+ readers what question they'd add — and the answers converged on one glaring gap the church still hasn't addressed. Plus a candid conversation on "worthy" vs. "worthless," Mormon-affinity fraud, and why perfectionism might be the real cost of a compliance-based faith. Support the show: buymeacoffee.com/postmormonpostmortem Ad-free listening from $2/month: patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem TikTok & Instagram: @postmormonpostmortem postmormonpostmortem.com

  7. 6 sep.

    How Mormon Apologists Dismiss Research About Why People Leave

    What happens when research produces findings Mormon apologists don’t want to hear? In 2011, Church Historian Marlin Jensen admitted that Mormonism was going through a period of massive apostasy, unlike anything since Kirtland. More than a decade later, faithful Mormon researcher Jeff Strong gathered thousands of responses about why people left the church—and found that the real reasons were church history, social issues, church experience, and distrust of the institution rather than the familiar explanations about laziness, sin, or wanting an easier life. Then came the apologetic response. We look at how some faithful Mormon writers responded to Strong’s research, why self-report suddenly becomes suspect when former members explain why they left, and how the same pattern appears in debates over the Gospel Topics Essays, Mormon retention data, internal reformers, and institutional boundary enforcement. At the center of it all is a simple question: what evidence would actually be enough for faithful Mormons to accept that the church culture itself is part of the reason people leave? Timestamps 00:00 The Church’s Crisis of Faith and Membership 01:38 Research Insights on Disaffiliation 03:55 Institutional Responses to Data 06:31 Case Studies of Disaffiliation 08:43 The Role of Self-Report in Faith 09:50 The Parable of the Sower Revisited 12:42 The Challenge of Accepting Data 14:53 Thoughts on Faith and Doubt Sources Strong, J. (2026). Torn: Why people we love are leaving the Church and what we can learn from them. Coolstream Publishing. https://www.tornbyjeffstrong.com/ Lakip, C. (2026, June 17). Misrepresented members: A reaction to Jeff Strong’s book “Torn.” Meridian Magazine. https://latterdaysaintmag.com/misrepresented-members-a-reaction-to-jeff-strongs-booktorn/ Cunningham, C. D. (2026, June 11). The borrowed wisdom of ‘Torn.’ Public Square Magazine.  https://publicsquaremag.org/media-education/reading/the-borrowed-wisdom-of-torn/ Ellsworth, D. T. (2026, June 3). Beyond “church culture”: A response to Jeff Strong’s Torn. Interpreter Foundation. https://interpreterfoundation.org/beyond-church-culture-a-response-to-jeff-strongs-torn/ Sources for every episode are available in the Receipts Archive on Patreon.

  8. 6 sep.

    Why Are Mormons Leaving the Church? What the Data Actually Reveals

    Why are Mormons leaving the church, and what does Jeff Strong’s research reveal about the culture they’re leaving behind? In Torn, faithful Mormon researcher Jeff Strong examines why current and former members disengage from the church. His research identifies church history and truth claims as the largest reason people give for leaving, followed by social issues, church experience, and pressures associated with Mormon life. We look at Strong’s findings on trust, fear, obedience, belonging, control, Mormon parenting, leadership culture, and what former members say would have to change before they would consider returning.

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Om

Mormonism gave you a complete universe, with charts, diagrams, and a plan for everything. Leaving can dismantle all of it at once. Postmormon Postmortem is hosted by Hannah and Jess, two women who left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and wanted more honest conversations about what comes after. We cover Mormon history, doctrine, culture, true crime, institutional harm, religious trauma, and the messy work of rebuilding a life outside the church. Whether you're freshly out, years removed, or trying to understand someone you love, you're in the right place.

Information

  • Skapad av
    Hannah and Jess
  • Aktiva år
    2026
  • Avsnitt
    96
  • Åldersgräns
    Vuxet innehåll
  • Copyright
    © Hannah and Jess
  • Programmets webbplats
    Postmormon Postmortem