At Last She Said It

Do Latter-day Saints believe our own stuff about faith? How does it differ from all the other words we sometimes get it tangled up with? What role is it meant to play in our lives and discipleship? Where and how might it intersect with love? In Episode 271, Susan and Cynthia are back for ALSSI Season 12 with a conversation exploring one of the biggest ideas in Christianity: Faith.

What do women do with Christianity? While some experiences may be specific to Latter-day Saints, when we talk to women in other churches we find a surprisingly big overlap: our sisters from other denominations describe so many common themes and similar challenges in their institutional religious experiences and personal spiritual lives. In Episode 270, Cynthia and Susan welcome Dr. Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Dean of Core Faculty at the Center for Action and Contemplation, for a conversation about women and Christianity. Don't let the "bonus" in the title fool you—this one's a don't miss!

One of the hallmarks of a Big Idea is that there's always more to say about it! In bonus Episode 269, Cynthia and Susan have conversations with 3 women from the ALSSI community—Lisa, Brooke, and Michelle—exploring a few ideas they had in response to Season 11 topics.

One of the hallmarks of a big idea is that it's connected to so many others. In Episode 268, Susan and Cynthia revisit the Big Idea episodes that formed the theme of ALSSI Season 11. After discussing these topics, If there's one thing we're sure of it's that we only scratched the surface.

In Episode 267, Susan and Cynthia ask Jen, Jessie, and Anne, What Do You Say? It's the fifth installment of ALSSI's series of episodes involving questions, answers, and the wide-ranging conversations they inspire among Latter-day Saint women.

What would a generative day—one that might throw off energy into the rest of your life—look like? In Episode 266, Susan and Cynthia take on the concept of Sabbath. It's a conversation about abundance, rhythm, letting go, and what it means to rest. Also about not needing to earn or prove anything, liberation, eradicating oppression, and some of the ways Latter-day Saints may think too narrowly when approaching this expansive idea.

Vocation at its deepest level is "something I can't not do, for reasons I'm unable to explain to anyone else and don't fully understand myself, but are nonetheless compelling." This description from Parker Palmer frames the journey of chaplain Jenny Richards. She says, "If there is an openness to life, then I think vocation is where we meet our desires and our love of God. They meet, and if I think it's something I can't not do, that's very compelling. And it's terrifying." In Episode 265, Jenny joins Cynthia and Susan for a conversation about the remarkable path she's walking, and how she came to be on it.

What do you think of when you hear the word 'myth?' You might use it to describe the opposite of what is real or factual, maybe a widely held but false belief. However, sacred narratives are also called myths—traditional or symbolic stories explaining the origin of the world, natural phenomena, or cultural customs. Most societies have their own creation myths, for instance. Sound familiar...maybe even like scripture? Yet it would be a profound shift for many Latter-day Saints to consider approaching our scriptures through a mythic lens. In Episode 264, Cynthia and Susan discuss some benefits of changing the way we think about scripture and how it can function to teach spiritual truths and deepen understanding of our human experience.

In Episode 263, Cynthia and Susan ask Stephenie, Blakelee, and Tedi, What Do You Say? It's the fourth installment of ALSSI's conversations-about-everything with wise women. Three randomly selected questions about their memories, insights, and beliefs, are answered through stories of their personal lives and experiences as Latter-day Saints.

We all know change can be hard, but what about changing our own thinking? Can the discomfort associated with conflicting ideas keep us from fully engaging with them, or prevent us from objectively weighing data? Why does 'putting it on the shelf' sometimes feel like our only option? The human tendency to seek validation for existing beliefs is called Confirmation Bias. Religions and politics both depend on it; by naturally pursuing evidence that supports our current position, people maintain the conviction that "My team is the best." In Episode 262, Cynthia and Susan discuss confirmation bias, and some of the ways it may function among church members. As Brian McLaren explains, "People only change their minds when the pain of not changing surpasses the pain of changing."

Some things in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seem to be changing more regularly than they have in the past. Many members have lived through decades where it felt like almost nothing changed in our meetings, curriculum, and official messaging, so this evolution comes with a diversity of feelings. How might Church leadership help members move forward more easily? Could adjusting the way these inevitable shifts are introduced increase clarity, unity, hope, and even anticipation for what the future may bring? Episode 261 addresses this and other topics—including listener voicemails—in a conversation about a little of everything.

"The spiritualities of all great world religions teach us letting go, or how to step aside," writes Richard Rohr. Letting go is an intentional process. We may let go of our emotional attachments, limiting beliefs, or past events. We may give up control, the need to be successful, or the need to be right. It's an ongoing process of surrendering to what is, and adjusting accordingly. In Episode 260, Susan and Cynthia take on this big idea, a central theme in spiritual practice.

In Episode 259, Susan and Cynthia ask Mer, Zinah, and Carol, What Do You Say? It's the third installment of ALSSI's wide-ranging conversations with wise Latter-day Saint women. Each guest answers randomly selected questions about their memories, insights, and beliefs through stories of their personal lives and experiences.

ALSSI doesn't usually focus on church announcements or events, but our conversations about Big Ideas do exist within the current context of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In Episode 258, Susan and Cynthia take a beat to discuss a few recent headlines and explore some questions raised by these changes.

Is there a richer text for Christians than the Beatitudes? Yet we don't all think or teach about them the same way. Many Latter-day Saints talk and teach about them as a list of saint-like attributes to which we should aspire, traits that will bring us closer to God and eventual exaltation. But Nadia Bolz-Weber suggests, "What if the Beatitudes aren't about a list of conditions we should try to meet to be blessed? What if they are not virtues we should aspire to? What if Jesus saying 'blessed are the meek' is not instructive but performative—that the pronouncement of blessing is actually what confers the blessing itself?'" In Episode 257, Cynthia and Susan 'dance with the scriptures' in an attempt to discover new ways of seeing and engaging with these familiar verses.

Shadow Work is a phrase that gets a lot of airplay, but it can be hard to get your head around exactly what it means or how it can apply in your life. The "shadow" consists of unconscious, repressed, or hidden parts of our personality. So what might it mean to uncover, understand, and integrate our shadow self? How might this work affect our responses and relationships? "The human soul wants belonging, but the ego really doesn't know how to give it to us. It just...helps us fit in. It helps us show up and be acceptable—and it thinks that hiding the shadow is the thing that's going to do it," explains Jana Spangler. In Episode 256, Susan and Cynthia are joined by Jana for a conversation about the potential benefits of bringing the shadow to light through this specific inner work.

In Episode 255, Cynthia and Susan ask Aubrey Chaves, Debbie Squires-Coleman, and Darice Auston, "What Do You Say?" It's 3 wide-ranging conversations with wise Latter-day Saint women answering questions about their memories, insights, and beliefs through stories of their own lives and experiences.

Does piety serve anything besides the ego? Is our piety an asset or a liability? And what are we—individually and collectively—getting from it? In Episode 254, Susan and Cynthia consider these questions and more in a conversation examining the piety that is a cultural hallmark of our church. For Latter-day Saints and other Christians, is a focus on outward appearances or superficial "churchiness" sometimes a stand-in for real inner transformation?

When Latter-day Saints hear the phrase "Purity Culture," they may associate it more with evangelical churches than with our own. LDS talks and lessons focus on words like virtue, modesty, morality, and chastity to describe our ideals. But regardless of the specific words used, the messages are the same. Therapist C.A. Larson points out, "Purity culture is a moral control system that ties worth to sexual behavior, especially for women. [...] Purity culture in the LDS Church is institutional, enforced through interviews, modesty rules, and silence around consent." In Episode 253, Cynthia and Susan welcome C.A. back to ALSSI for a discussion about Purity Culture: what it is, its psychological and emotional impacts, and its systemic connection to sexual abuse. It's a conversation that makes space for grief and anger, and identifies healing paths. C.A. explains, "Healing is not about becoming more sexual or less sexual. It is about embracing our agency...relearning consent, trusting bodily signals, separating worth from obedience, reclaiming choice, going slowly and allowing ambivalence. You don't owe your body to doctrine, and you don't owe your healing to anyone else's timeline."CW: sexual abuse

Many Latter-day Saint women feel some constraint when it comes to using our voices at church, but it can even be hard to express what we think, feel, and believe in our own homes or personal relationships. Writing down thoughts that don't fit neatly in the box and hitting publish can bring consequences, but once a woman begins to speak, she's likely to find the repercussions she feared were much bigger than the ones she'll actually face. In Episode 252, Susan and Cynthia are joined by writer and independent scholar Katie Ludlow Rich for a conversation about her personal journey to reclaim her voice. It's a story about one woman speaking up, framed within a larger exploration of Mormon women's collective voices as reflected in 50 Years of Exponent II.