Patrick Q. Mason

Patrick Q. Mason is an American historian and Mormon scholar who has written on diversity within Latter-day Saint thought. He is the author of The Mormon Menace: Violence and Anti-Mormonism in the Postbellum South and Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Mason is the Howard W. Hunter Chair in Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. He holds a master’s in history and international peace studies and a PhD in history from the University of Notre Dame.

He previously held positions at American University in Cairo and the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He has been interviewed or cited as an expert on Mormonism by the Los Angeles Times, NPR, The Salt Lake Tribune, Religion Dispatches Magazine, and other news outlets. In 2016 he began a joint blog in current issues and debate format with John P. Dehlin, who was excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2015.[1]

In an article published in the Deseret News following a FAIR conference in August 2016, Mason was quoted as saying, “My strong belief is that the most important thing we can do to empathize with and minister compassionately to those who are experiencing doubt and disaffection is make the church a more welcoming place for those who struggle. It is our responsibility in our church callings but also as parents and siblings and friends to create conditions in which people can feel comfortable working through their questions and doubts in the midst of the body of Christ, rather than feeling excluded from it.” He also said, “Without forgetting our past or wilting in the face of opposition, I believe it’s time for Latter-day Saints to move forward with the courage of our convictions. I would suggest that doing so will go a long way in addressing the current predicament of doubt and disaffection that so many of our members are experiencing.”[2]