The Same Playbook: How High-Control Religion, MLMs, and Cults Use Identical Tactics

Mormon Monday: The LDS Church's Real Estate Buying Spree

The LDS Church's investment arm just dropped $240 million on a luxury apartment complex in Florida. We connect that purchase to a deep-dive investigation into the Mormon Church in New Zealand — billions in assets, members in low-income communities paying tithing first, volunteers giving nearly a full-time week in unpaid labor, and an institution that asks for personal sacrifice while keeping its finances private. This is what institutional wealth looks like up close. 🎙️ Postmormon Postmortem — where we lovingly sift through the ashes of our former faith. 🌐 postmormonpostmortem.com 📱 @postmormonpostmortem (TikTok, Instagram) ☕ buymeacoffee.com/postmormonpostmortem 🎙️ patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem

The Mormon Church Disavowed 126 Years of Racist Doctrine. They Called It "Theories."

The LDS Church called the priesthood ban a "direct commandment from the Lord" for 126 years. In 2013, they published an essay. We read both — and the gap between them is the whole story. Jess and Hannah read the primary sources the 2013 Gospel Topics Essay on Race and the Priesthood was written to address — and then read the essay itself. Brigham Young's 1852 speeches. The 1949 First Presidency statement that called the ban "founding doctrine" and declared there was "no injustice whatsoever." Mark E. Peterson's 1954 BYU address laying out the pre-mortal valiance framework. Bruce R. McConkie's Mormon Doctrine, published by Deseret Book and cited in Sunday schools for decades. Then: what the essay says, what word it uses to describe all of the above, and what the 1949 statement's complete absence from the published text tells you about the choices an institution makes when it's trying to close a record without opening accountability. Disavowal is real. It isn't the same as an apology. The church hasn't issued one, and Dallin H. Oaks has explained — in his own words — exactly why it won't. Support the show: buymeacoffee.com/postmormonpostmortem Ad-free listening from $2/month: patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem TikTok & Instagram: @postmormonpostmortem postmormonpostmortem.com New episodes every Sunday at 9 AM — just in time for sacrament meeting. 01:45 Historical Context of Racial Teachings in the Church 02:41 Brigham Young's Controversial Statements 05:03 The Role of Black Figures in Early Church History 06:31 The Evolution of Church Doctrine on Race 07:59 The Impact of Church Teachings on Racial Perceptions 09:52 The 1978 Revelation and Its Implications 12:06 Reflections on Personal Experiences with Church Teachings 14:11 Conclusion and Call to Action 21:06 The Legacy of Exclusion 22:50 Institutional Necessity and Revelation 25:03 The 2013 Essay: A Quiet Reckoning 27:14 Theories and Doctrines: A Historical Perspective 30:27 The Role of Leadership in Doctrine 33:25 The Church's Response to Racial History 36:26 The Complexity of Accountability 41:50 The Absence of Apology 45:20 The Impact of the Ban on Families 48:54 Disavowal vs. Accountability 49:45 Patterns of Institutional Response 01:45 Historical Context of Racial Teachings in the Church 02:41 Brigham Young's Controversial Statements 05:03 The Role of Black Figures in Early Church History 06:31 The Evolution of Church Doctrine on Race 07:59 The Impact of Church Teachings on Racial Perceptions 09:52 The 1978 Revelation and Its Implications 12:06 Reflections on Personal Experiences with Church Teachings 14:11 Conclusion and Call to Action 21:06 The Legacy of Exclusion 22:50 Institutional Necessity and Revelation 25:03 The 2013 Essay: A Quiet Reckoning 27:14 Theories and Doctrines: A Historical Perspective 30:27 The Role of Leadership in Doctrine 33:25 The Church's Response to Racial History 36:26 The Complexity of Accountability 41:50 The Absence of Apology 45:20 The Impact of the Ban on Families 48:54 Disavowal vs. Accountability 49:45 Patterns of Institutional Response

Mormon Baptisms for the Dead: Anne Frank, Hitler, and Holocaust Victims

Baptism for the dead is one of the most distinctive practices in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In this episode, Jess and Hannah talk through LDS proxy baptism, Joseph Smith’s introduction of the practice, the use of famous historical names, Wilford Woodruff’s temple work for American founders, and the repeated controversies involving Holocaust victims, Anne Frank, Adolf Hitler, Daniel Pearl, Stanley Ann Dunham, and Simon Wiesenthal’s parents. The church often frames improper submissions as the work of individual members, but the pattern raises harder questions about consent, religious identity, institutional responsibility, and what it means to perform saving ordinances for people who never chose Mormonism.

The Same Playbook: How High-Control Religion, MLMs, and Cults Use Identical Tactics

High-control religion doesn't stay in the church. The same mechanisms run in MLMs, megachurches, political movements, and families. Here's the vocabulary to see it — wherever it shows up. The final episode of the Mormon Machinery series. Jess applies Robert Lifton's 8 features of thought reform and Stephen Hassan's BITE Model beyond Mormonism and the LDS Church — to Utah's MLM industry (doTERRA, Young Living, USANA), evangelical prosperity gospel, high-control political movements, and family systems where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provided divine sanction for patriarchal control. Includes Marlene Winell's religious trauma syndrome and diagnostic questions for identifying high-control environments from the inside. The critical thinking you built to leave? You earned it. And you still have it. Support the show: buymeacoffee.com/postmormonpostmortem Ad-free listening from $2/month: patreon.com/postmormonpostmortem TikTok & Instagram: @postmormonpostmortem postmormonpostmortem.com New episodes every Sunday at 9 AM — just in time for sacrament meeting.

Mormon Women Were Told to Stay Home. Now the LDS Church Celebrates Working Moms.

The LDS Church recently posted a story celebrating a husband who supports his wife’s career as a pediatric neurologist. What looked like a simple social media post quickly became a very Mormon argument about motherhood, women’s careers, and whether the church has changed its teachings or just softened its public language. In this episode of Mormon Monday, we talk about Jana Riess’s coverage of the post, the Family Proclamation, and older teachings from LDS leaders who framed motherhood and homemaking as women’s divinely assigned role. We also talk about why older women are not misremembering what they were taught, and why celebrating working mothers now requires an honest accounting of what the church used to discourage. Sources mentioned in the episode are linked below. Ezra Taft Benson, 1981. The Honored Place Of Women. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1981/10/the-honored-place-of-woman?lang=eng [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1981/10/the-honored-place-of-woman?lang=eng] Henry B. Eyring, 2018. Women and Gospel Learning In The Church. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/10/women-and-gospel-learning-in-the-home?lang=eng Spencer W. Kimball, 1987. To The Mothers In Zion. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/eternal-marriage-student-manual/womens-divine-roles-and-responsibilities/to-the-mothers-in-zion-institute?lang=eng [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/eternal-marriage-student-manual/womens-divine-roles-and-responsibilities/to-the-mothers-in-zion-institute?lang=eng] Jana Reiss, 2026. LDS Church’s Post About Working Moms Does Indeed Clash With Past Teachings. https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2026/05/11/jana-riess-lds-churchs-post-about/