Will the Real Mormon Church Please Stand Up?
What happens when a religion built around being a “peculiar people” begins looking—and sounding—more like mainstream Christianity? On this episode of Uncaged: She Became Visible, Rene sits down with attorney, researcher, former federal prosecutor, Freemason, and adult convert to the LDS Church Lance Kennedy for a provocative exploration of the changing identity of modern Mormonism. Using an analysis of more than 5,800 General Conference talks and 11 million words, Lance examines what he sees as a dramatic shift beginning around 2018: less emphasis on distinctly Mormon language and theology, greater emphasis on Jesus, grace, Holy Week and traditional Christian imagery, changes to the temple ceremony, the move away from the word “Mormon,” and an increased focus on the living prophet over earlier church history. But the conversation goes much deeper. Rene and Lance explore Joseph Smith’s relationship to Freemasonry and the Western esoteric tradition, including seer stones, Masonic symbolism, prayer circles, Kabbalah, grimoires, The Magus, the Jupiter talisman, and the possible historical origins of rituals and concepts that generations of Latter-day Saints have practiced without necessarily knowing where they came from. For Rene, who spent decades inside the church, the conversation raises a larger question: If the things that once made Mormonism distinctly Mormon are gradually disappearing, what happens to the identity of the faith itself? This isn’t simply a conversation about believing or disbelieving. It’s an invitation to get curious—to ask where our beliefs came from, why particular rituals exist, how they have changed, and what those changes may tell us about where the LDS Church is headed next.