Mormon Apostle Jeffrey Holland @Harvard: The Q&A the LDS Church Can’t Control | Lying for the Lord!?
Mormon apostle Jeffrey R. Holland spoke in person at Harvard Law School on March 20, 2012, as part of the school’s “Mormonism 101” lecture series, sponsored by the Harvard Law Latter-day Saint Student Association and connected with Harvard Divinity School.
Holland’s prepared remarks were polished, diplomatic, and carefully framed—focused on faith, discipleship, and the role of religious conviction in a secular academic world. That portion of the event was professionally recorded using official Church newsroom cameras and audio equipment, and it has since been heavily promoted and excerpted by the LDS Church as a model of thoughtful engagement with the academy.
But the moment that ultimately defined the event came during the live question-and-answer session.
During the Q&A, students pressed Holland directly—face to face—on LGBTQ issues, BYU policies, Proposition 8, same-sex marriage, Mitt Romney, Harry Reid, and the Church’s political and cultural power. For many listeners, the exchange exposes the deep tension between compassionate rhetoric and exclusionary institutional policies, and highlights how LDS leadership struggles when questioned openly in unscripted, non-church-controlled settings.
You’ll first hear a two-minute summary of Holland’s address produced by the Church’s own newsroom.
The remainder of this Mormon News Roundup video is divided into two sections:
Holland’s 15-minute prepared address (slightly edited, video)
A 30-minute Q&A session that survives only in audio form
⏩ If you’re primarily interested in the Q&A, skip ahead to the 18-minute mark.
The Q&A recording is remarkable. It is one of the very few times a Mormon apostle has ever taken extended, unscripted questions outside a church-controlled environment, without pre-screened questions, and in front of an elite academic audience. In that sense, it lives on in infamy—a rare, unguarded moment where an apostle makes a number of claims whose veracity is, at best, deeply questionable, and which critics have long described as “lying for the Lord.”
Please consider making a donation by joining our Patreon https://www.patreon.com/MormonNewsRoundup
Email: kolob@mormonnewsroundup.org
Website: https://mormonnewsroundup.org/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mormonnewsroundup
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mormon_news_roundup/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dives.lazarus/
X: https://twitter.com/NewsMormon
New episodes every night at 9:30 PM Eastern.
Please like and subscribe and hit the notifications bell. Remember remember, no unhallowed hand can stop this podcast from progressing!
The Mormon News Roundup is NOT affilated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.