June 11 brought news that Kate Kelly, founder of Ordain Women, and John Dehlin, prominent public LDS voice through Mormon Stories and other podcasts and venues, have been called to face church disciplinary councils for “apostasy,” as evidenced through their activism and public expressions of concern regarding various issues facing today’s Mormonism. Alan Rock Waterman has also apparently been notified of pending action, though he has not yet been contacted directly by his stake president.
Seeking good perspectives even as the news is still breaking, this episode features Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon‘s interview with Jana Riess, a wonderful author and blogger and national voice on Mormonism.
Link:
Jana Riess, “Are We Looking at a Mormon Purge?” Flunking Sainthood blog post, 11 June 2014
Comments 2
Dan, would love to hear thoughts from Grant Palmer on this, how about reaching out to him?
I am sad and upset by the news, but I wonder if we’re not calling the foul before the match has been played. While we admit that we don’t know whether the discipline of Dehlin and Kelly is being orchestrated by higher authority, we are talking as if it actually is.
Although it may be natural for us to compare this to the September 6 incident, I think we should be careful not to jump to conclusions. Have we on the Mormon blogs become so conditioned to criticize the hierarchy that we grab hold of any news that reinforces our pre-conceptions? Shouldn’t we rather be giving our leaders the benefit of the doubt? This action just might not be a purge after all.
Let’s all cool down a bit. If it turns out to be a conspiracy, I will be first in line to criticize.