Atheists Talk: Thomas Riskas on "Deconstructing Mormonism"

Stephanie Zvan

If you think you’ve learned all you need to know about Mormonism from South Park episodes and the broadway musical, Book of Mormon, you must join us this Sunday! Atheists Talk will be interviewing author, lecturer, and secular humanist, Thomas Riskas about his book Deconstructing Mormonism: An Analysis and Assessment of the Mormon Faith, which is introduced in the forward by philosopher and professor Kai Nelson.

Thomas Riskas converted to Mormonism as a young man and spent 20 years in the Church. He rose up through the ranks of leadership, acting an Elder, Seventy and High Priest. He was a missionary, a mission leader and mission president for seven years. He had a family and raised his children in the Church. Years later he came to believe that the claims made by Mormonism – and by all religions with similar belief systems – are not only untrue, but an empty nonreality. In Deconstructing Mormonism, Mr. Riskas examines in detail the Mormon concepts of God, the “Plan of Salvation”, and faith in God and Christ, and then breaks down these ideas by illuminating the contradictions in Mormon faith and examining the psychosocial effects of the faith on its believers.

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Listen to AM 950 KTNF this Sunday at 9 a.m. Central to hear Atheists Talk, produced by Minnesota Atheists. Stream live online. Call in to the studio at 952-946-6205, or send an e-mail to [email protected] during the live show. If you miss the live show, listen to the podcast later.

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Atheists Talk: Thomas Riskas on "Deconstructing Mormonism"

About the author

Stephanie Zvan is one of the hosts for the Minnesota Atheists' radio show and podcast, Atheists Talk. She serves on the board of Secular Woman. She speaks on science and skepticism in a number of venues, including science fiction and fantasy conventions. Stephanie has been called a science blogger and a sex blogger, but if it means she has to choose just one thing to be or blog about, she's decided she's never going to grow up. In addition to science and sex and the science of sex, you'll find quite a bit of politics here, some economics, a regular short fiction feature, and the occasional bit of concentrated weird. Oh, and arguments. She sometimes indulges in those as well. But I'm sure everything will be just fine. Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.
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One thought on “Atheists Talk: Thomas Riskas on "Deconstructing Mormonism"”

  1. PixelFish
    1

    BTW, just for clarification’s sake for never-Mormon readers, Riska’s experience encompasses Elder, High Priest and member of the Quorum of the Seventy in ascending order of church rank. (Not Seventy by itself. That’s not a title.) Elder means anybody who “holds” the Melchezidek priesthood, which you can get if you are male and nineteen. A High Priest is fairly common too at a congregational level called “the stake” but less common than an Elder–not something immediately obvious since in most other sects, a high priest is THE high priest or leader. The really impressive title here from an ex-Mormon perspective is being a member of the Quorum of the Seventies. (This is the fairly limited pool from which the 12 Apostles are chosen.) It’s not quite as entrenched as an Apostle would be, but this is a dude who once had a lot of eggs in the church basket.

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