Valerie is teaming up with Dr. Julie Hanks for a special four-part series designed to help you process the current events shaping conversations within and around the LDS Church and in our wider spiritual world.

Together, they'll explore how to stay emotionally healthy, grounded, and compassionate, while engaging with complex issues of faith, culture, and community.

Register for this series and gain tools to navigate it all with clarity and care.

Learn more and register now at the link in the show notes.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Latter Day Struggles. This is your host, Valerie. I am pleased to have friends with me today. Steve and Ginger Hits, how are both of you today? Fantastic. Thanks for having us

back. We're doing great. It's good to visit with you again.

We are on episode number four of a four-part series.

We are here today to spend one more episode talking about this beautiful book written and edited by Stephen and Ginger called Igniting the Holy Flame, building communities of love from the ashes of negative religious culture. And if you haven't already done so, please go back and start at episode

one of this four-part series. We have been talking about just in some, I want to just summarize

a few little things that we have been sort of digging into in the last three episodes.

And I'm very, very excited about digging into in the last three episodes, and I'm very,

very excited about today. After the tragic passing of their son, Bear, Skyler, correct? And you

called him Bear. Steve felt compelled to write some tender things about what he kind of what he hopes for in terms

of a healthy spiritual community.

And in so doing, he wrote this beautiful book that kind of talks about not only the

importance, like the vital importance of fellowship amongst believers,

but also he had the courage to talk about some of the things that get in the way of our

ability to authentically connect with ourselves, with one another, and with the divine.

And we sort of honed in on in the last three

episodes, we honed in on some of the barriers to authentic fellowship. We spent a lot of time

talking about something called fabricated fellowship. And the other concept that we spent a lot of

time talking about was harmful religiosity.

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