Mormon Stories 1412: When a Mormon Bishop Loses His Faith - Matthew & Elizabeth Shakespear Pt. 1

When a Mormon Bishop Loses His Faith: The Matthew Shakespear Story and What It Reveals About LDS Culture

What happens when someone born into a multi-generational Mormon family, with ancestors dating back to Joseph Smith's era and uncles serving as bishops and stake presidents, walks away from the faith? The answer, as explored in Mormon Stories Podcast episode 1412, reveals uncomfortable truths about how the LDS Church's cultural systems can inadvertently encourage dishonesty even as members strive for righteousness. Matthew and Elizabeth Shakespear's faith journey offers a case study in how institutional pressures, missionary work practices, and epistemological conflicts can quietly undermine belief from within.

The interview, conducted by host John Dehlin in February 2021, captures Shakespear's candid reflections on his journey from a respected bishop in a prominent Mormon family to a faith crisis that forced both intellectual and personal reckoning. His story is neither sensational nor rare, but it is instructive for anyone seeking to understand the mechanisms by which faith commitments fracture in the modern LDS Church.

The Weight of Expectation: Growing Up Shakespeare in Mormon Country

Matthew Shakespear's upbringing in Tropic, Utah, was quintessentially Mormon, and by his own account, genuinely wholesome. His father and uncle both served as bishops. Multiple relatives had served missions. His great-great-grandfather was an early missionary. The Shakespeare name carried weight in the community, and young Matthew internalized that legacy as both privilege and obligation.

According to Mormon Stories Podcast, Shakespear describes his youth as a "charmed upbringing" filled with family prayer, scripture study, and consistent church attendance. Yet even in this idyllic context, he identifies a critical pattern: the pressure to appear righteous often superseded the demand to be honest about internal struggles.