Church Educators Fired for Opposing Mormon Racism | Ep. 1923

Mormon Stories Podcast

Dr. John Dehlin

Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 5.2K Ratings

🗓️ 31 July 2024

⏱️ 160 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the 1950s and 60s, the Mormon church faced internal turmoil as a group of intellectuals known as the "Swearing Elders" challenged orthodox doctrines. This clash between free-thinking scholars and conservative leaders like Joseph Fielding Smith led to attempts at excommunication, spy infiltration, and the firing of liberal educators. Amidst this tension, Church President David O. McKay emerged as an unexpected protector of intellectual freedom. The period also saw the church grappling with civil rights issues and racial policies, as public pressure forced leaders to confront their teachings. This tumultuous era set the stage for decades of struggle between faith, scholarship, and authority in Mormonism.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Mormon Stories Podcast. I'm your host
0:04.2	John Delinn. It is June 11th, 2024 and today is part six of our epic series covering Matthew Harris's book,
0:13.9	Second Class Saints, Black Mormons,
0:15.9	and the Struggle for Racial Equality.
0:17.9	Today's episode, we're gonna be talking
0:19.9	about church educators who expressed dissent or disagreement or maybe even
0:28.6	respectful opposition to the Mormon churches ban on race in the we'll just say 40s to 60s.
0:38.0	We're going to be talking about Sterling McMurrhen, Lowell Bennion, T. Edgar Lyon, and others.
0:46.2	And it's going to be sort of an insider's view
0:49.5	of how the Mormon Church deals with critics and dissenters.
0:54.6	This is part of a hopefully 10 to 20 part series
0:59.8	on this groundbreaking book.
1:02.2	And hopefully soon you'll be able to find it on
1:05.9	Spotify or on Apple Podcasts and also its own dedicated playlist on the Mormon
1:12.0	Podcasts YouTube channel.
1:14.8	We are asking for people who value this program to become a monthly donor just to support
1:20.4	the series.
1:21.4	100% of your donations will go to Matt.
1:24.5	And you can go to donorbox.org slash Matt Harris
1:28.5	to sign up to become a monthly donor.
1:30.3	If just 50 of you will sign up, we'll be able to make sure Matt gets paid what he deserves throughout the series.
1:37.0	So without any further ado, we welcome back Harado Somano.
	...

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