Hi there, my Why Religion Podcast listeners, Professor Anthony Sweat here. Welcome to another great episode of Why Religion. I want to kick off this episode by asking you a question.

Have you ever been at a gathering or in a group and not felt like you really belonged? Like you've been surrounded by a bunch of people and yet you still felt entirely alone?

Although others may look at us and perceive us as belonging to the groups we're in, it becomes easy for many of us to think, I'm not really like any of these people. None of them relate to me, I don't really belong here.

It's an interesting feeling and it may be more common than you think.

A 2018 study of 20,000 Americans by the healthcare insurer Signe reported that quote,

46% of Americans report feeling lonely sometimes or always, and 47% of Americans report feeling left out sometimes or always.

27% of Americans rarely or never feel like there are people around who understand them end of quote.

It's even worse with the younger generation, generation zers and millennials who report higher feelings of loneliness and isolation on the loneliness scale than older generations.

This phenomenon happens in the church also, surrounded by a congregation of fellow believers, we can yet feel isolated because we don't think we fit some sort of caricature of a normal Mormon.

As a religious educator, I've noticed this phenomenon seemingly increasing as people seek for identity and self-affirmation in their very life experiences and perspectives.

LLM Russell Ballard of the Cormor of the Twelve Apostles recently touched on this theme in general conference, discussing the broader church this way.

The Cormor of the Twelve Apostles have counseled together in a spirit of prayer and with yearning to understand how to help all who feel alone or feel they don't belong.

Is there a way to avoid this human tendency by that can separate us one from another?

The gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to unite us. We are ultimately more alike than we are different.

While you likely relate to some of these observations, you may be wondering right now, just what on earth does this have to do with Gadi Antens political rebellion in the Book of Mormon?

Well, it may have more to do with it than you think.

Professor Dan Bellnap from B.O.U. Department of Ancient Scripture has recently published an insightful article on the politics of Gadi Antens' descent and what may be at its root.

And I really do think it often comes back to identity.

Like I said, back in Healum and Six, we're introduced to the fact that there are disaffected groups that don't feel that the larger culture is reflective of them.

I'm always struck by, I want to say, it's Healum and Eight, Nine, in which you find that the Gadi Anten robbers, whatever argument they're presenting, it's persuasive enough that it persuades even the righteous.

Is the makeup of the Gadi Anten robbers, people that feel they simply don't belong?

On today's episode, get ready to trace the root of Gadi Antens' descent and why it may have more application today than some might think this is why religion.

...