Katie Langston talks with Jana Reiss, senior columnist at Religion News Service and historian of American religion, about spiritual authority after a faith crisis, why so many people leave high-demand traditions, and what healthy reconstruction can actually look like. Jana also shares findings from her research on Latter-day Saints, including generational shifts, women’s religious practice, and the emotional cost of trying to make sense of change inside a tradition that keeps moving.

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Chapters:

(00:30) Opening on high-demand religion and not trusting yourself
(03:29) Mormonism as an American religious tradition
(05:07) Jana’s research with people who left, stayed, or studied trauma
(06:27) External demands versus internal demands
(08:48) The scaffolding metaphor for faith shifts
(11:55) The Christmas lights analogy and all-or-nothing thinking
(12:51) The church as a moving target
(17:03) Heather’s story and spiritual bypassing
(19:22) Jana on disagreeing publicly while staying active
(22:44) How to start trusting your own conscience again
(24:39) Hilary McBride, spiritual trauma, and first vs. second-order change
(31:59) Why former Latter-day Saints often don’t join another church
(34:16) What to look for in a healthy spiritual community
(37:09) Loneliness, isolation, and the role of religion
(37:53) Holy Week, suffering, and a more realistic Christian message
(41:38) Reconstruction as meaning, hope, and resources
(43:24) Faith after faith as a series of crises, not one big break

Resources:

• Jana Riess's RNS column, Flunking Sainthood.
• Leaving Mormonism: Who Is Exiting The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — and Why, with Benjamin Knoll (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2027)
• Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye, "Mormonism isn't like a string of Christmas lights," Religion News Service, June 18, 2012.
• Hillary L. McBride, Holy Hurt: Understanding Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing (Brazos Press, 2025)
• Jana Riess, "More about Jesus, less about coffee: Seven LDS Church trends, according to data," Religion News Service, July 16, 2026.
• Kara Stevenson, "Why this White, American, LDS Couple was Civilly Married (then Sealed) in Tijuana, Mexico," Exponent II Blog, April 2026:
• Martin E. Marty, A Cry of Absence: Reflections for the Winter of the Heart (Harper & Row, 1983; rev. HarperCollins, 1993)