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. hace 1 día

    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.

  2. hace 5 días

    Mormons on the Titanic: The True Story of Irene Corbett and Six Missionaries

    What do you know about Mormons on the Titanic? Irene Corbett was a Mormon woman from Utah who traveled to London for advanced midwifery training, despite opposition from her husband and counsel from Church president Joseph F. Smith to stay home with her family. In April 1912, she boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a second-class passenger. She died when the ship sank, leaving three young children behind. Nearly a century later, Apostle Quentin L. Cook used Irene’s story in General Conference, saying it was believed she gave up her chance at a lifeboat to care for injured passengers. The source for that claim turns out to be a family story told by a grandson who was born long after her death, with no surviving witness placing Irene there. Then there are the six Mormon missionaries who supposedly escaped the Titanic after a providential change of plans. Contemporary records tell a rather different story: the missionaries sailed from Liverpool on the Mauretania, and the surviving evidence gives little reason to believe they were ever booked on the Titanic at all. This week on What Do You Know Wednesday, Hannah tells Jess how two Mormon stories became attached to the most famous shipwreck in history—and what happens when family lore, faith-promoting storytelling, and historical fact begin to blur together. Bennett, R. E., & Jensen, J. L. (2007). “Nearer, My God, to Thee”: The sinking of the Titanic. In C. Doxey, R. C. Freeman, R. N. Holzapfel, & D. A. Wright (Eds.), Regional studies in Latter-day Saint Church history: The British Isles (pp. 109–127). Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University.https://rsc.byu.edu/regional-studies-latter-day-saint-church-history-british-isles/nearer-my-god-thee-sinking-titanic  Cook, Q. L. (2011, October). The songs they could not sing. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2011/10/the-songs-they-could-not-sing  From the mission field. (1912, April 18). Millennial Star, 74, 254. The Church of Jesus Christ Sonne, C. B. (1988). A man named Alma: The world of Alma Sonne. Horizon Publishers. history.churchofjesuschrist.org The sinking of the world’s greatest liner. (1912, April 18). Millennial Star, 74, 250. The Church of Jesus Christ Contemporary Utah newspaper coverage used throughout the episode. Full sources for every episode are available in our Receipts Archive on Patreon.

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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.

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