[irrelig]Wherein we engage active LDS member former LDS, current atheist Palmer in a debate about the Mormon “plan of salvation,” the church’s involvement in Proposition 8, and the “translation” of the Book of Abraham. Palmer wanted to come on the show to make up for Sean’s poor performance, which I believe is still a blight on the LDS Church.

For my part, I sound pretty tired. I don’t think I woke up until about halfway through the debate.

[irrelig]Walk through the LDS Temple without going to the trouble of getting baptized, attending church, and paying tithing to an organization that regularly discriminates against minority members of society. Want to know the secret handshake and fraternal passwords that get you into Mormon heaven?

Guests Chris and Mike give us their own personal experiences and walk us through it, step by bizarre step. Listen here.

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[irrelig]And here we go … the talk with Leighton’s brother Sean ran a marathon 3+ hours, from which we have distilled the resulting two episodes. A quick summary: Sean repeatedly castigates us for not showing proper respect to ludicrous and patently untrue beliefs while simultaneously approving of his Church’s attempt to deprive homosexuals of basic human rights. He refuses to answer important, pertinent questions regarding his faith, blithely ignores reality, and even Godwins us at the end of the first episode. What I found most impressive is that he remained cheerfully impregnable to reason and logic all the way to the end.

Since we’ve missed a few weeks in the past, we figure it’s only fair to release both episodes at once. Have at them.

[irrelig]Episode #51 is where we talk about the LDS church’s penchant for fortune-telling, in the form of a “patriarchal blessing” typically given at age 14. This blessing lays out the future life of the recipient. Unsurprisingly, it usually says the teenager will grow up to be a good Mormon.

Well, we dug up Leighton’s patriarchal blessing and we assess its accuracy, as well as compare and contrast to a few other patriarchal blessings we found floating around on the internet. And here it is.

[ann]The 32nd episode of ANN is here. In it we discuss the (very) recent passage of pro-gay rights legislation right here at Mormon Central — Salt Lake City, Utah — in the context of their recent and very public support of Prop 8 and their less recent caving in to public pressure on polygamy in exchange for their continued right to exist and Utah statehood. We also talk about a bunch of petulant old farts who think it’s their right to violate the First Amendment to our Constitution.

[chuck]This week I was featured on Karl Mamer’s Conspiracy Skeptic Podcast. We talk for about an hour on Irreligiosophy, Leighton, Mormons, and the Mark Hofmann bombings. I had a great time, Karl is an amazing host.

Download it here if you’d like to give it a listen, or better yet, head over to his site and subscribe to his podcast. As for Irreligiosophy, we’ll be talking about the Hofmann bombings in great detail on an upcoming podcast.