In 1981 Jeffrey R. Holland, then president of BYU, presented BYU’s unique mission statement to “assist individuals in their quest for perfection and eternal life.” In explaining part of this mission, the document approved by the Board of Education encouraged BYU faculty to “make their service and scholarship available to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” particularly because so few Church members globally have the opportunity to attend BYU in person due to “limited enrollments.”[1] Related to this university mission, BYU Religious Education has as part of their mission statement to extend their religious teaching and research “to the larger community.”[2] Today technology is helping to enable this aspect of BYU Religious Education’s outreach to the broader Latter-day Saint people. Although because of distance, opportunity, or time, most Saints can’t attend a BYU religion class or faculty presentation on a research subject; thanks to podcasts, now everyone can.

In 2020 BYU Religious Education launched its official podcast, Y Religion. The Y Religion podcast brings to the everyday Saint recent publications from full-time Religious Education faculty on subjects related to the Church in an engaging three-part format. Each episode discusses why the research was done, why the subject matters, and why the professor chooses to be both a disciple and a scholar. Each month two new podcasts episodes are released (on the first and the fifteenth) with links to the publication given in the show notes to help bring some of the diverse publications and venues of Religious Education into one easily accessible, centralized podcasting place for the people.

The podcast’s debut was coincidentally well-timed, as just a few months after it started, the world shut down due to COVID-19 restrictions. As COVID increasingly turned the world on its head, it also effectively turned on the world’s ears. The pandemic shifted how people interacted, worked, consumed media, and were educated. In the process it introduced many more to the world of podcasting. Podcasting has been around since roughly 2004 (the word comes from sending an audio broadcast file to your iPod, hence a podcast[3]) and has had a steady increase of listeners over the past two decades. The last few years, however, have been notable. There was a 20 percent increase in the amount of podcast listening from 2021 to 2022. Average listeners in 2022 listened to almost six episodes and about four hours of podcasts per week. [4] Although a niche genre just two decades ago, as of 2023 there were five million podcasts and over seventy million episodes available to choose from. It’s estimated that in the US there are over a hundred million active podcast listeners now.[5]

The Y Religion podcast has also seen continued increase in growth since its debut with extremely positive reception by its listeners. So far there have been 1.5 thousand reviews of the podcast on Apple Podcasts, with an average of 4.9 out of 5.0 stars. The podcast has been downloaded in the millions, with downloads in 153 countries over the world. Each individual episode roughly fills up the Marriott Center in terms of audio listens. With an estimated seventy-five thousand podcasts in the “Christianity” category,[6] Y Religion has had multiple rankings in the top hundred podcasts in that category in America, peaking at number thirteen during one week of 2022. Based on metrics by Triton Digital (a media consumer company), Y Religion ranks somewhere in the top 5 to 10 percent of overall US podcasts downloaded each month,[7] and in the top 1 percent of Christianity.[8]

While these numbers show a fantastic reception of the podcast, the goal is not to be the top-downloaded or most popular podcast. The goal, back to BYU and Religious Education’s mission, is to bring great research and writing to BYU students and the everyday Saint to assist them in their efforts to come unto Christ in their quest for perfection and eternal life. We seek to enlighten minds and strengthen faith by producing a high-quality, professional, engaging show on a variety of subjects. Admittedly, Y Religion is a bit eclectic in subject matter, reflecting the unique training, expertise, and research of the many members of the religion faculty. For example, episode 76 was on commemorating Holy Week (Eric Huntsman), episode 77 on Cain’s rejected sacrifice (Shon Hopkin), episode 78 on critical text analysis of the Book of Mormon (Nick Frederick), and episode 79 on becoming like God (Daniel Becerra). Each of the episodes mentioned in this small sample covers different subject matters, time periods, books of scripture, and religious applications. This variety is part of the podcast’s strength and identity, opening some listeners up to subjects they otherwise may have never considered or learned. Listeners also get to know the religion faculty better not only by learning from their training and expertise on various subjects, but also by hearing them express their faith in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. The podcast also helps contribute to BYU’s emphasis on student mentoring as BYU students are involved in the production of each episode.

Many comment that listening to Y Religion helps them feel like they are attending a BYU religion class or listening to a religion faculty teach at a conference. One woman wrote a review saying, “I love this podcast. It brings back the feeling of being in the best kind of university lecture. What a treasure to be able to learn about these award-winning research papers while I go about my busy day.” Another man wrote, “This has become my new go-to for faith-based scholarly insight.” And a mother wrote, “I’m a relatively new listener, but I have loved dovetailing these podcasts into my scripture study. I love the wide range of topics and the bright, enthusiastic minds who give me enough education to fuel my curiosity without flooding me with too many facts. . . . As a busy mom of six, I don’t have a lot of options for going to symposiums or educational events. This podcast helps me find the inspiration I need, right when I need it.”

If you already listen and subscribe to the Y Religion podcast, we hope you feel the same way and are blessed by listening to the research publications of BYU religion faculty. If you’re not a subscriber or haven’t listened, well, why not? Go onto your podcast platform of choice (Apple, Spotify, Pandora, Google, or even now on YouTube!), type in “Y Religion podcast,” and start listening! It’s like having a religion class in your own pocket. Or, as one listener wrote in a review of the podcast, “I can’t be at school, but I am still getting an education!”

Notes

[1] Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Mission of Brigham Young University,” November 4, 1981, as cited in Envisioning BYU: Foundations and Dreams, ed. John S. Tanner, vol. 1 (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, 2022), 65–66.

[2] “Religious Education Mission Statement,” in Religious Education Handbook, 2022–23 (n.p.), 1.

[3] Zeeshan Akram Jabeer, “A Brief History of Podcasting,” Medium, September 13, 2021.

[4] Brad Adgate, “2022 Was Another Record Year for Podcasts,” Forbes, January 25, 2023.

[5] Triton Digital, Triton Digital’s 2022 Podcast Report: U.S. Podcast Landscape Year-End Recap, Trends, & Takeaways, January 2023.

[6] See James Cridland, “How Many Podcasts Are There in Each Category?,” podnews, February 9, 2021.

[7] Triton Digital, Triton Digital’s 2022 Podcast Report.

[8] This 1 percent is based on download metrics by Buzzsprout and the reported numbers of Religion and Spirituality/Christianity podcasts and charting Y Religion receives (there are seventy-five thousand podcasts in this category; podcasts ranked in the top two hundred are placed as the top 1 percent).