As the first interview for the new Mormon Transitions project, I am incredibly pleased to interview my dear wife of 23 years, Margaret (Margi) Weber Dehlin. In this three-part interview, I ask Margi a series of 46 questions focusing on thee parts:
- Part 1: Margi’s life as a believing Mormon. This includes questions about how her family joined the LDS church in Washington D.C. during the 1970s, reflections on her own “conversion” to the church, Margi’s favorite parts about being a believing, active Mormon, and the most challenging parts as well.
- Part 2: Margi’s faith crisis and transition away from Mormon orthodoxy, including our time trying to remain LDS as semi-believers, and her experiences and reflections on my excommunication. Topics include the impetus for Margi’s faith transition, how she/we “came out” to our children parents, extended family, etc. as unorthodox Mormons, and what the most difficult and rewarding parts of the transition were.
- Part 3: Margi’s life and perspective now, as a post-Mormon, including reflections on her current beliefs and non-beliefs, her approach to nurturing a healthy/happy family without religion, how she approaches raising children without the church, and why she feels as though she and our family are happier and healthier than ever before after leaving the church.
The plan for Mormon Transitions podcast is as follows:
- We plan to conduct somewhere between 20 and 30 of these interviews, and to share them at http://mormontransitions.org. We also plan to “chop” these interviews up by question, so that people can peruse the interview by topic (e.g., raising children after a faith crisis, how to “come out” to family and friends, secular spirituality, dealing with death).
- We plan to host a weekly call-in show where people can call with their questions/concerns and receive feedback from a mental health professional and/or expert.
- We plan to compile all the advice and perspective over 2017 into a book entitled something to the effect of, “Navigating a Mormon Transition.”
- We plan to continue hosting Mormon Transition Events across the U.S. See our Mormon Transitions event calendar for events as they are scheduled.
If you support Mormon Stories, Mormon Transitions, Mormon Matters, A Thoughtful Faith, or any of the Open Stories Foundation projects, please consider a donation today. You can donate via any of the “donate” buttons on any of the pages.
Part 1 Audio:
Part 2 Audio:
Part 3 Audio:
Part 1 Video:
Part 2 Video:
Part 3 Video: