Waking Up from the Mormon Dream - Linda Barney w/ Margi Dehlin - Ep. 1627

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints markets itself as the ultimate solution to family fragmentation. Yet for Linda Barney, a fourth-generation Mormon who grew up in the small Utah town of Blanding, the doctrine of eternal families functioned less as a promise and more as a threat. Her story, shared on Mormon Stories Podcast Episode 1627 with host Margi Dehlin, exposes the psychological cost of a system that binds love to compliance.

Background: Safety in Structure

Barney’s childhood contained the raw materials that Mormonism typically claims to fix. Her father, a former bull rider and rodeo participant, struggled with alcohol. Home felt unstable, and his high-risk behavior fed Barney’s anxiety. Church, by contrast, offered structure. Her grandmother Delma, a prolific local writer and historian, took Barney to services in Willard Basin, providing the safety her father’s lifestyle could not.

This dynamic created a perfect recruitment environment. A child experiencing parental instability often gravitates toward institutional promises of order. For Barney, the church’s checklists and achievement charts provided relief from anxiety. She memorized scriptures for seminary competitions and followed the prescribed path with precision. The system worked exactly as designed, channeling familial trauma into religious devotion.

Key Claims: The Temple Basement and the Lie of Inclusion

The cracks appeared when Barney achieved the ultimate Mormon milestone: temple marriage. Standing in the sealing room, she wept uncontrollably. Only later did she recognize the source of her grief. Her parents, deemed unworthy due to inactivity and failure to pay tithes, sat outside the walls of the Manti Temple while inside, church authorities lectured her on eternal family unity.