1322: The Excommunication of Sam Pinson and his Family in Ammon, Idaho Pt. 2

Mormon Stories Podcast

Dr. John Dehlin

Religion & Spirituality

4.5 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 9 June 2020

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Every once in a while we have an epic, multi-part Mormon Stories Podcast episode about a family who experiences a faith crisis together -- wherein multiple family members (including some of the children) participate in the re-telling of the story.

This is one of those episodes.

Sam and Sara Pinson were living the Mormon dream: raised in the LDS Church, married in the LDS temple, etc. Sam obtained his “dream job” working 5 years for Microsoft, and later left Microsoft to start his own business. The Pinson dream culminated in Sam and Sara moving to Ammon (Idaho Falls), Idaho, wherein Sam was called as a Mormon bishop. Everything seemed perfect - except it wasn’t.

Their teenage daughter, Olivia, was questioning both the church, and her sexuality.
Their son, Sam Jr., was suffering with Scrupulosity (religious OCD)
And both Sam and Sara were beginning to question their Mormon faith while Sam was serving as bishop.

Today’s episode tells the story of how a devout Mormon family in Ammon, Idaho, led by a Mormon Bishop, can end up losing their faith in Mormonism in 2020. It also includes a full recounting of how Sam began to speak openly about his struggles with the church after losing his faith - leading to threats and ultimately a disciplinary council/excommunication. And yes, Sam recorded and is now sharing here the full audio of his excommunication (Part 6).

Sam’s wife Sara, along with two of their brilliant children - Olivia and Sam Jr. - also participate in this super-thoughtful story/discussion.

You will not be disappointed in this episode. HUGE thanks to Sam Sr., Sara, Olivia, and Sam Jr. for their willingness to join us on Mormon Stories Podcast and tell their epic story.

Transcript

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0:00.0	One, two, three.
0:03.0	Come, come, you saints, no toil nor labor fear.
0:28.0	But with joy, when you're way.
0:35.0	So how take us up to the point where the cracks started happening, you know, so the school
0:41.9	up to that point.
0:42.9	So, I need to backtrack just slightly when the prop 8 stuff was going on.
0:51.0	Oh, you were, so I, you were in Washington.
0:56.0	Yes, I was in Washington and I, I don't know if I was on the city council at the time,
1:01.0	but I was very much like politically, I used the word radicalized now.
1:08.0	I didn't think of myself as radicalized at the time, but always very politically conservative.
1:14.0	I felt that politically conservative positions were consistent with gospel teachings.
1:23.0	And adopted a lot of libertarian positions at the time.
1:31.0	And so on the one hand, I don't want the government in people's lives any more than necessary.
1:38.0	And then we have the government telling gay couples that they can't get married.
1:45.0	So there was, there was a little conflict between what I personally felt was correct and what the church is pushing and teaching.
1:56.0	That didn't cause me to think the church isn't true or to doubt anything, but that was a, I don't, I don't, why is the church involved in this?
2:05.0	I think that was part of losing the zeal too, right?
2:08.0	It was, it's not something that I really can get behind.
2:12.0	Like I don't understand. So in 2013, I'm called to be bishop.
2:17.0	And I don't know exactly when it was, probably within the first couple of years of being bishop.
2:25.0	There was a policy change with respect to gays 2015.
2:32.0	And we were having a discussion in word council about it because of course the church was going to take a lot of heat.
	...

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