Episode 249: Big Ideas | Belief
Latter-day Saints consider ours to be a non-credal religion, yet nearly all our Articles of Faith begin with the phrase, “We believe....” We’re asked questions about our specific beliefs in official interviews where our temple worthiness is dependent on the answers. But what happens when one’s beliefs shift over the course of time? How much does subscribing to a specific set of theological convictions matter when it comes to individual members’ lives and relationships? In Episode 249, Cynthia and Susan kick off a season of conversations about big ideas by discussing one of the biggest: Belief.
Notes & Quotes:
Belief, Believe, Church website
Testimony, Church website
Temple Recommend Evolution, by Hawkgrrrl, Wheat and Tares, 5/22/2019
Be Not Afraid, Only Believe, by Dieter F. Uchtdorf, 10/2015
Choose to Believe, by L. Whitney Clayton, 4/2015
The Spiritual Practice of Speaking Up, Faith Matters podcast, 10/19/2025
What I Wanna Know, Ryan Kohls with Barbara Brown Taylor, 5/4/2023
Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, by Richard Rohr
At the Feet of the Mystery, by Mirabai Starr, 12/23/2025
Future Mormon: Essays in Mormon Theology, by Adam S. Miller
Love Matters More: How Fighting to Be Right Keeps Us from Loving Like Jesus, by Jared Byas
The Shock of Faith: It’s Nothing Like I Thought It Would Be, by David Brooks, The New York Times, 12/19/2024
Beyond Belief: What if Jesus Wrote His Own Creed?, by Russ Hinckley
Belief in God Among Latter-day Saints, Religious Landscape Study, Pew Research Center
“When we choose to believe, exercise faith unto repentance, and follow our Savior, Jesus Christ, we open our spiritual eyes to splendors we can scarcely imagine. Thus our belief and faith will grow stronger, and we will see even more.” —Dieter F. Uchtdorf
“Belief and testimony and faith are not passive principles. They do not just happen to us. Belief is something we choose—we hope for it, we work for it, and we sacrifice for it. We will not accidentally come to believe in the Savior and His gospel any more than we will accidentally pray or pay tithing.” —L. Whitney Clayton
“When we say faith promoting I think we often mean belief promoting.” —Tim Chaves
“Growth is not additive. It often requires subtraction. Something learned must be unlearned. Something practiced must be laid down. The false figure does not disappear quietly. She resists because she once kept us safe. But safety is not the same as life.” —Barbara Brown Taylor
"Transformation is often more about unlearning than learning." —Richard Rohr
“For as long as I can remember I’ve been madly in love with a God I do not actually believe in. Lucky for me, faith is not about belief. My inner atheist can knock itself out constructing exceedingly rational arguments for why religious beliefs are thinly veiled versions of magical thinking, while my heart falls at the feet of the Mystery and finds true refuge there.”—Mirabai Starr
“For some, belief in God comes easily and naturally. Belief isn’t a choice and can’t be unchosen. God, like words or air, just is. But this isn’t enough. Though this common sense belief in God‘s reality can be a blessing, it can also be a hurdle to practicing faith. It can lull us into thinking that the hard work of being faithful is done when, in fact, we haven’t even started.” —Adam S. Miller
“What does it matter to the world and to the people around me if I check off ‘belief in Jesus’ resurrection’ as a fact but it doesn’t inform how I live my life? When someone asks me, ‘What do you believe?’ I’m more likely to answer what I wish I believed than what I actually believe. If you’re just going by what’s in your head, what’s the difference between what you actually believe and what you wish you believed? Almost none.” —Jared Byas
“Whether God is or isn’t obvious to us, the work is the same. Faith is a willingness to lose our souls in faithfully caring for the work that’s been given to us.”.....“Common sense theist, common sense atheist, common sense (or anguished!) agnostic— the work is the same. Each must practice faith.” —Adam S. Miller
“The most surprising thing I’ve learned since then is that ‘faith’ is the wrong word for faith as I experience it. The word ‘faith’ implies possession of something, whereas I experience faith as a yearning for something beautiful that I can sense but not fully grasp. For me faith is more about longing and thirsting than knowing and possessing.” —David Brooks
“I went out of the answer business and into the question business.” —Barbara Brown Taylor
“Every time someone asked him for a definitive answer, [Jesus would] say, ‘But you know the answer to that.’ Or he’d say, ‘Let me tell you a story.’ Or he’d say, ‘What do you think?’ It must be a second or third generation thing that we’re supposed to be certain about someone who upset people’s certainties so much.” —Barbara Brown Taylor
“I have heard my entire life that Christianity is about love, but what I saw—through our programs, services, and interactions—is that Christianity is about belief. I’ve come to realize that fear about being wrong in our beliefs has crowded out the clear message of Jesus’ life and death—the unmistakable emphasis in the Bible and in thousands of years of church tradition—love matters more.”—Jared Byas
“Very little of what Jesus said or did is reflected in the creed. The creed came in response to Jesus, not from Jesus.” —Russ Hinckley
“If I made myself put words on it, I would come to the same conclusion as a lot of people who’ve studied Jesus: that in the end, he’s a figure walking into the mist. The minute I have it figured out, it’s done. Who in the world would want to figure out who he was? Was he a failed revolutionary? Was he a divine creature walking around on Earth? In that case, I want to see the DNA. But when I try to go down all my scientific and theological paths, I end up with the mystery of someone whom I’m still wondering about.” —Barbara Brown Taylor
“If I made myself put words on it, I would come to the same conclusion as a lot of people who’ve studied Jesus: that in the end, he’s a figure walking into the mist. The minute I have it figured out, it’s done. Who in the world would want to figure out who he was? Was he a failed revolutionary? Was he a divine creature walking around on Earth? In that case, I want to see the DNA. But when I try to go down all my scientific and theological paths, I end up with the mystery of someone whom I’m still wondering about.” —Barbara Brown Taylor
Really appreciated the Barbara Brown Taylor quote about moving from answers to questions. That shift captures somethign fundamental that institutional religion often misses. I've watched friends get trapped trying to maintain certainty when their lived experince contradicts doctrine. The framing of faith as practice rather than intellectual assent feels way more sustainable longterm.