Attorney Justin Sweeney talks about how the Mormon church itself sets people up for a faith crisis

When the Church Itself Creates the Crisis: How Selective History Shapes Mormon Faith Journeys

Thousands of members leave the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints each year. The reasons are complex, but according to attorney Justin Sweeney, speaking on the Mormon Stories Podcast, one of the most significant factors is not external criticism or "anti-Mormon" material, but rather the gap between what members are taught and what the historical record actually shows. This raises a crucial question: Is a faith crisis the result of encountering lies, or the result of discovering truth?

The distinction matters. Conventional wisdom in some LDS circles suggests that members who experience doubt have simply been exposed to unreliable sources designed to undermine belief. But Sweeney's argument reframes the problem entirely: the crisis originates not with critics of the Church, but with the Church's own presentation of its history.

The Historical Presentation Problem

The LDS Church maintains a complex relationship with its own past. Certain historical events, polygamy's scope and practice, the role of money in early revelations, incomplete accounts of foundational events, have traditionally been downplayed, omitted, or presented in carefully curated ways in official curricula and member-facing publications.

For decades, official Church materials presented a relatively streamlined narrative. Members in Sunday School, seminary, and general conferences heard particular versions of history. Details that complicated or contradicted these narratives were either absent or confined to scholarly sources unavailable to most believers.