He was housesitting. by Peggy Fletcher Stack. The Bible and the Book of Mormon, which depict flawed, human prophets, are, Quinn said, an absolute refutation of the kind of history Packer advocated. Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. Quinn went to Californiahe had another fellowship at the Huntington Librarystaying this time with his mother. Maxine Hanks was held in the same stake center one week before, though she did not attend it. Right next to Pauls was Lavinas description of her beliefs in Jesus Christ, Mormon founder Joseph Smith, the scriptural text he produced, The Book of Mormon, and the role of prophets. He later got married in the temple, while I sat outside with friends. Quinn had spent three years in the military in the late 60s, working in counterintelligence. Today, its Nelson, with a new counselor, Oaks, instead of Dieter F. Uchtdorf. The most threatening thing about Ordain Women to people in the church is that it is coming from faithful, devout, courageous, wonderful women and that's more threatening than anything could be. Kate Kelly, founder of the Ordain Women movement, was excommunicated in 2014 for her views on gender inequality in the Mormon Church . Elder Packer, he told Quinn, will never get over this.. Hanks was excommunicated in 1993, one of the "September Six," Mormon writers and scholars who were disciplined by their local LDS officials in the same month. "She might be a model for others who have been missing their Mormon community.". On Sept. 30 he called Hanks to ask what the court had decided. I wrote an article for "Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought" that summarized 133 cases of LDS ecclesiastical abuse, and my pleas to do better to care for the Mormon faithful. That's a good question. A second bomb that first day killed Kathy Sheets, the wife of one of Christensens former business partners. This was hard on Paul [who works at Brigham Young University]. If there is unfinished business, its the First Presidencys, not mine.. The cabin has no phone access, so I had months [after her initial conversation with the stake president] to think about it. Once the kids were interested, the missionaries were supposed to contact their parents, with the aim of converting whole families. But 90 percent of the ward has changed since my court. Quinns polygamy essay, meanwhile, produced more trouble for him with LDS leaders. All rights reserved. When he went into his office, the bishop, a man named Tom Andersen, said hed read this article in the L.A. Times, Quinn told me. He acknowledged to me that, of course, it is possible to find outlets for service outside of Mormonism. The Version table provides details related to the release that this issue/RFE will be addressed. This other Quinn was not home when the call came, and a baby-sitter answered the phone. I might have lost my soul, but at least I still have my mind. I had received a blessing from a former stake president, assuring me that when the time was right, it would come very easily, so I could be at peace. But it was a forgery. [5] She then received a fellowship to work in the Church History Division of the LDS Church (then run by Leonard J. By Peggy Fletcher Stack | Sep. 5, 2019, 1:20 p.m. | Updated: 11:59 p.m. . The seventh son of Taylors third wife, Samuel sympathetically portrays his notorious father, who continued to marry multiple wives well after the LDS church officially renounced polygamy in 1890. He hopes that eventually hell manage to sell the condo and will get enough money for it that he could move back to New Orleans and live there for the last couple decades, God willing, of his life. Article type . Her sincere belief in Jesus and determination to follow him no matter the adversity faced within or without the church should be commended, and this good and faithful servant should be rewarded, he wrote. Years ago, Don Bradley, a longtime scholar of Mormon history, asked to have his name removed from LDS membership rolls when participation became uncomfortable. They cited a 19th-century revelation to Joseph Smith, in which he spoke of the saints gathering up a knowledge of all the facts, and sufferings and abuses put upon them, and said that perhaps a committee can be appointed to find out these things, and to take statements and affidavits; and also to gather up the libelous publications that are afloat. The First Presidency did not mention that when Smith received this revelation he was in prison in Missouri, where a Mormon extermination order had been decreed by the governor not long before. That's like solving obesity by turning MacDonald's into a gym. Look at Steve Benson, I suspect that there was no way they were going to ex him so he exed himself. In Mormon history circles, this period is often called the Camelot years., After those 18 months, Quinn left for Yale to do a Ph.D. and finished it in just three years. I imagine she walks a careful, thin line to avoid being exed. (They draw numbers to pick sides.) McLean invited her, she said, to describe her faith in a letter, which includes her conviction that God cherishes everyone. Since then, only one Avraham Gileadi, an Old Testament scholar who has spent his life researching and . In the spring, he had published LDS Authority and New Plural Marriages, 18901904, the culmination of his interest in post-1890 polygamy, first prompted a quarter-century before by Family Kingdom. Peggy Fletcher Stack was born and raised in New Jersey; studied at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California; traveled through Africa for two years with her news-photographer husband; and worked at Books and Religion in Manhattan before settling down as a religion writer at The Salt Lake Tribune. ", Kelly goes on KUER's Radio West "A lot of people are asking me why I came forward [with the news of my disciplinary hearing]. And it was not popular with those of the brethren that Quinn had already angered with his talk on Mormon history four years before. Peggy Fletcher Stack writes for the Salt Lake Tribune. They are called to them by the men at the very top of the hierarchy. Quinn studied English literature in collegehe attended BYUbut during his three-year stint in the military he decided to become a historian, and make what had become a consuming pastime into his profession. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax The four-day symposium, which begins Wednesday evening, also will include dozens of sessions about Mormonism and politics, about how members grapple with contemporary issues such as gay rights and feminism, building online LDS communities, Mormon Latino views of the church's immigration stance and how the Utah-based faith has developed its "brand" in the past several decades. Then she was accused of apostasy for editing an anthology, Women and Authority: Re-Emerging Mormon Feminism, which included a discussion of the all-male LDS priesthood and women's relationship to it. [3] She is a great-granddaughter of Heber J. Not long before Hofmann sold that forged document, he approached Quinn in the church archives, and asked about the succession crisis and the article. When they did, Quinn, an only child, would go to his room, put on a classical record, and turn the volume up. A former BYU professor named David Wright was excommunicated in 1994 after publishing a paper arguing that the Book of Mormon was not an ancient text. Running almost 100 pages and including nearly 400 footnotes, the essay was the fruit of decades of thought and research. It is always harder on the loved one who has to stand by and see someone they love being hurt. Since then, only one Avraham Gileadi, an Old Testament scholar who has spent his life researching and writing about the biblical oracle Isaiah's prophecies about our time has been rebaptized into the faith. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. At least, that's how Hall sees it. While serving it in England, he was tasked with cleaning up the results of the Baseball Baptism Program, in which missionaries used sports to attract young converts. In 1981, he gave an address to church educators called The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect, which was organized around four cautions. The second of them is this: There is a temptation for the writer or teacher of church history to want to tell everything, whether it is worthy or faith-promoting or not. It had been a difficult year. Down in Provo, Avraham Gileadi met more quietly with his local leaders. Denver Snuffer . It is also worth noting that the church president in 1993 was an ailing Ezra Taft Benson. KRE/AMB END STACK For her part, Anderson always has felt a great sense of peace that I made a moral decision, an ethical decision, a decision of integrity and conscience, she wrote. After Paul Toscano was excommunicated, Steve Benson, grandson of the then Mormon prophet, met privately with the apostles Dallin H. Oaks and Neal A. Maxwell, and asked them aboutamong many other thingsthe rumor that Packer had something to do with it. If Peggy wanted to do some groundbreaking . He got up in front of the congregation and declared his belief in the Mormon gospel, in Joseph Smiths status as a prophet of God, and in the Book of Mormon as divine scripture. Excommunication is a complicated and multi-layered process for sexual minorities in the church who choose to marry in a way that the church considers a "same sex" marriage. By Peggy Fletcher Stack January 16, 2015 SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) John Dehlin, known to support same-sex marriage and the Ordain Women movement, said he expects "either disfellowshipment (i.e . One of Ordain Womens founders, Kate Kelly, was excommunicated in June 2014. They can't ex someone with that king of lineage. In May 1993, apostle Boyd K. Packer said the church's three greatest threats came from feminists, gays and intellectuals. http://www.sunstonemagazine.com/symposium. Half of these men speak for the accused, and half for the church. My strong hunch is that she is a cultural Mormon who no longer believes, pays tithing or observes the WoW, and that she's loosey-goosey with her attendance. Sometimes Stack refers to Salt Lake City . I asked Quinn this past summer if he thought the provocations he penned as a historian might have been fueled on some level by his own inner conflict with Mormon teachingsif perhaps, unconsciously, he wanted to force a showdown with church authorities. "Mormonism was limiting to me, so I needed to test the limits to see who I and the church really might be. I attended the Sunstone Symposium this past summer, held on the University of Utah campus, and many people I spoke to there said that as Packers influence has waned, a more tolerant approach to dissent is taking hold. Did the Utah Legislature do enough to save the Great Salt Lake? But the cause didn't really matter because it was pretty clear that Elder [Boyd K.] Packer [of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles] was trying to send a message by targeting certain people, such as historians and feminists. Her testimony was that of a believer, Madrigal later told her. Supposedly Nelson, like Benson, was a supporter of the John Birch Society, a radically right-wing, conspiracy-mongering, anti-Communist group. Since I'm there every Sunday, I don't fit their model of an excommunicated member. Quinns parents were divorced when he was 4, and he was raised largely by his mothers parents, who frequently fought. I felt they were not going to drive me away. Whats more, all Mormons are supposed to have a calling in the church, which makes for a wonderfully participatory religion but also discourages casual membership. While preparing for the retired Brigham Young University artists memorial service, Bishop Mahonri Madrigal read Pauls written testimony, or statements of faith, that the ward had compiled in 2000. Peggy Fletcher Stack, The Salt Lake Tribune, 24 Nov. 2022 To that end, the power that Ms. Cheney and Mr. Kinzinger bring is their personal stories of defiance and excommunication. Press J to jump to the feed. The nature of religion reporting in Utah is changing. He had also just published an article titled The Mormon Succession Crisis of 1844, which detailed the confusion about who should succeed Joseph Smith after his assassination. Hofmann eventually became, in the words of one expert, the most skilled forger this country has ever seen. For LDS leaders nervous about church history, he was a nightmare personified: a lying, murderous man hell-bent on embarrassing the religion while glorifying and enriching himself. Peggy Fletcher-Stack. Most people don't know I've been excommunicated. ``It was like `We're here to support you, Brother Gileadi,' '' he said of the atmosphere at the . She is in the right family. Woodwards piece, headlined Apostles vs. Historians, called Quinns talk a stirring defense of intellectual integrity that had put Benson and Packer on the defensive. It was illustrated with a large photograph of Quinn up top, and a considerably smaller one of Packer. . My own name remains on the rolls of the church, and I plan to leave it there, though I stopped believing in the Mormon gospel 15 years ago. Mystery! [4] During her time there, she has met and interviewed the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Gordon B. Hinckley, among others. Truth is, she has never stopped attending her Mormon ward. 1897 - First Presidency member George Q. Cannon used the media attention on the 1895 conviction and two-year imprisonment of famed Irish poet Oscar Wilde as an opportunity to pu Packers involvement mattered because the Twelve Apostles are considered by devout Mormons to be prophets, seers, and revelators. If they directed the councils, then the excommunications were, essentially, a message from the churchs highest spiritual authorities about what Mormons were allowed to do andpublicly, at leastto say. The bombings and subsequent murder trial cast a pall over the practice of Mormon history. The LDS archives became more open to scholars than ever before, and Arrington oversaw research and writing by fellow academics and graduate studentsincluding Quinn, then 28, whom he hired as an assistant. She talks very vaguely when it comes to personal, specific spiritual beliefs and whether they align with doctrine, but she doesn't hesitate to call the church out on its shit at all. . Most people don't know I've been excommunicated. Quinn, who later assisted the police in their investigation, did not go home for several days. . One Sunday in February of 1993, Michael Quinn was home sick with a fever when his doorbell rang. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. [5] They moved to Utah in 1991 when she was hired to be the religion writer for The Salt Lake Tribune, where much of her reporting has focused on the LDS Church. This made some church leaders uneasy. Fixed: Release in which this issue/RFE has been fixed.The release containing this fix may be available for download as an Early Access Release or a General Availability Release. In it, Harris, who paid for the first printing of the Book of Mormon, tells a story of that books origins strikingly different from Smiths later, official account. Hanks had already held one church court in Quinns absence, in July, at which Quinn was disfellowshipped. Today my story was picked up by the Salt Lake Tribune in Peggy Fletcher Stack's thoughtful article about excommunication. She's been covering religion for the paper since 1991 taking on a variety of topics, but mostly the LDS Church. Those 15 men oversee the multiple Quorums of the Seventy, who in turn direct the stake presidents and bishops who minister to congregations on a part-time, voluntary basis. I don't think I could have done that graciously. A forum for ex-mormons and others who have been affected by mormonism to get support and share news, commentary, and comedy about the Mormon church. Wilkinson was reprimanded, though, and in 1970 he was replaced by Dallin H. Oaks, a law professor at the University of Chicago who had clerked for Chief Justice Earl Warren at the U.S. Supreme Court. He revised the story occasionally over the next decade, submitting it unsuccessfully to the Paris Review and the Atlantic. "All they asked me about was my relationship to Jesus Christ.". Two of the so-called "September Six" have found their way back into the LDS fold while Anderson though never rebaptized in some ways has never left. Mormon author Grant H. Palmer has been summoned to an LDS Church disciplinary hearing on Sunday, facing possible excommunication for apostasy. In 1999, she joined the Interfaith Roundtable for the 2002 Winter Olympics, where she enjoyed the association of representatives from various faiths and led the annual Interfaith Week. When something like [my excommunication] blows up, the first casualty is trust and that never comes back. See Photos. The [women's] Relief Society president found a way to involve me as a "permanent substitute" for Relief Society pianist. I was removed from that situation. Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example, published in 1996, argues that same-sex intimacy was much more accepted by early Mormonsincluding Joseph Smiththan it is today. It struck him as an old missionarys trick. By Peggy Fletcher Stack June 23, 2015 Many Mormon feminists experienced Kate Kelly's excommunication as a harsh slap felt around the world. Photo by George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images. (He also, as it happens, officiated at the wedding of my parents.) The institutional churchs position toward its intellectual community has shifted slowly and subtly but in real ways in the past 30 years; it is possible that there is a worry that allowing for her rebaptism would unearth battles the present First Presidency would like to let lie buried and spur a public relitigation of the issue., Secondly, the controversies surrounding Anderson had a great deal to do with feminism in the church and with ecclesiastical dissent, he said. Going to the temple, but I feel that it's more important to have the temple in me than for me to be in the temple. The Strengthening Church Members Committee almost certainly passed along notes about Quinn to his new stake president, Paul Hanks, in early 1993. By then, Quinn had more or less moved on. Hanks told him he had been excommunicated, and said that the court lasted six hours. In what dissidents have described as a purge, church leaders took severe disciplinary action in September against six Mormon scholars and feminists, the New York Times reported on Oct. 2, 1993. The term "September Six" was coined by The Salt Lake Tribune and was used in the media and subsequent discussion. She said she was really angry at the church, not at me. How have the members of your ward treated you? It was not the last time he helped to excommunicate people, though. Peggy Fletcher Stack. . Peggy Fletcher Stack. In many respects, Andersons affirmations mirror those of other members. He was the first academic to occupy the post, previously held only by high-ranking LDS leaders, and his appointment signaled a broader effort to reorganize the historians office along professional lines. I had my answers.". We had a family devotional every night with prayer, singing and scripture reading. [14] Along with five other reporters, she won a Pulitzer Prize in 2017 in the Local Reporting category for a series of stories about sexual assault victims at BYU. He turned 65 two years later, making him eligible for Social Security and Medicare. The stake president, who oversees a number of congregations, remained optimistic, she said, zeroing in on the words, at this time., But the writer replied, Theres hope, and then theres experience., Besides, she said, it was a form letter.. After organizing a massive campaign to pass Proposition 8 and make gay marriage illegal in California, for instance, the church suffered a massive backlash and has since appeared more tolerant toward gay rights activism. Many of the shifts in the church administration's position toward intellectuals recently has had to do with history and intellectual openness, while the issues driving Lavinas excommunication are still very much alive and unresolved today., It is possible, Bowman posits, there was fear that allowing for her rebaptism would send a signal on those issues that the First Presidency did not wish to send.. Quinn read Hanks letter that night and wrote a detailed response. The intellectual climate had improved under Oaks, people said. It did not happen overnight, but many LDS leaders seemed to regret the furor and the hurt that surrounded those excommunications. (Peggy Fletcher Stack writes for The Salt Lake Tribune.) She won the Cornell Award for Excellence in Religion ReportingMid-sized Newspapers from the Religious News Association in 2004, 2012, 2017, 2018, and 2022. "But when I got to the point of priestly ordination, I pulled back. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. Oaks said Packer had met with Toscanos stake president, and acknowledged that this was a mistake. 2012. Hed read the essay about women and the priesthood, and he asked Quinn to speak on the subject at an upcoming fireside, an informal evening meeting often held at Mormon meetinghouses. Lavina Fielding Anderson may have been excommunicated from the LDS Church for apostasy more than 20 years ago, but don't think for a minute that this Utah writer is now an outsider to her faith. There was no process for voluntary withdrawal from the Mormon Church in the 1960s, so each of these kids had to be excommunicatedtechnically, for apostasy. Peggy fletcher stack excommunicated Denver Snufferpersonalbordenver Carlos Snuffer Jr.Religion (Mormon Independent) Restoration Andsupra-Denominational Christian [1] Nationality Americanhome Townmountain House, Idahochildrensisx Daughters and Two Children [2] Alma Materdaniel Webster Junior Collegemcmurry UniversityBrigham Young University (JD, 1980) Later that evening, having dinner alone, he felt a new sense of relief about what had happened so far and what he believed was about to happen. Peggy Fletcher was raised in New Jersey, daughter of physicist Robert Chipman Fletcher and Rosemary Bennett, one of five girls and three boys. Lavina Fielding Anderson, who was excommunicated in 1993 as part of the so-called September Six, has had her request for .
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