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. He was in a wheelchair. I said I didn't think members believe general authorities don't make mistakes. They had the responsibility to preserve the doctrinal purity of the church, they said, adding that, because Mormon leaders are constrained by confidentiality rules, the media have relied on information supplied by those disciplined or by their sympathizers. Similar councils occurred more sporadically over the next few years. 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. No telephone call came., On Aug. 27, McLean delivered the First Presidency denial. Lavina Fielding Anderson, who was excommunicated in 1993 as part of the so-called September Six, has had her request for rebaptism into the LDS Church rejected by the faith's governing First Presidency after being approved by her local lay leaders. Grant, a President of the LDS Church and is the granddaughter of United States Senator from Utah Wallace F. Bennett. In 1975 Stack helped found Sunstone, an independent magazine of Mormon studies, and steered it for its first eleven years. Find your friends on Facebook. [4] During her time there, she has met and interviewed the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Gordon B. Hinckley, among others. Quinns mother, on the other hand, was a sixth-generation Mormon: She had an ancestor who converted when the Mormons were still in Nauvoo, Ill., and who is mentioned in Joseph Smiths journals. On the Sunday it was held, Quinn went to a movie theater in downtown Salt Lake and bought a ticket for the first screening he could find, to take his mind off the disciplinary council. This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. The bombings and subsequent murder trial cast a pall over the practice of Mormon history. Dallin Oaks speaking at the General Conference in April 1989. Vern Anderson wrote an AP story about the book, and several Utah papers carried reviews. He developed a fervent testimony not only that God exists but that God spoke to Joseph Smith face to face and that the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants are, like the Old and New Testaments, divinely inspired. It sent him down a rabbit hole. For details, go to http://www.sunstonemagazine.com/symposium. The other five people who were by then being referred to as the September Six had already faced their courts. All rights reserved. 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. He later got married in the temple, while I sat outside with friends. The high council also heard from Andersons son, Christian, who offered his personal assessment. It went back to his college years. In 1989, Dallin H. Oaks, the onetime law professor and BYU president who was now an apostle, had given a talk called Alternate Voices at the churchs semiannual General Conference. Mormon author Grant H. Palmer has been summoned to an LDS Church disciplinary hearing on Sunday, facing possible excommunication for apostasy. BYU and Utah State both wanted to hire him. Quinn told friends that he did not want anyone to lobby on his behalf. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. 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 Michael Quinns final disciplinary council was held on Sept. 26, 1993, in the Salt Lake Stake Center, the headquarters for the oldest stake in Utah, founded by Brigham Young in 1847. Hanks became conciliatory, reading On Being a Mormon Historian, and writing to say hed gotten from it deeper insight into your devotion and your dedication to history and the Church. He asked again to meet when Quinn came back to Utah. 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. Though the letter from the current First Presidency made up of church President Russell M. Nelson and counselors Dallin H. Oaks and Henry B. Eyring offered no explanation for the rejection, Bowman speculates that there may be at least two possible answers history and dissent. I was removed from that situation. He does not have friends in Rancho Cucamonga. I don't think I could have done that graciously. (In 1985, an Arizona man filed an $18 million lawsuit against the LDS church for not allowing him to do so. [5] She met Mike Stack when he volunteered as a photographer for Sunstone in 1984, and they married in October 1985. It struck him as an old missionarys trick. But some simply baptized the boysa few without explaining what the baptisms were for. 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. Truth is, she has never stopped attending her Mormon ward. As Quinn writes, the Manifesto inherited ambiguity, was created in ambiguity, and produced ambiguity.. Born in 1924 in Brigham City, Utah, the 10th of 11 children, Packer worked for years as a teacher and administrator in the Church Educational System. Since I'm there every Sunday, I don't fit their model of an excommunicated member. (Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Lavina Fielding Anderson, who was excommunicated in 1993 as part of the so-called September Six, has had her request for rebaptism into the LDS Church rejected by the faith's governing First Presidency after being approved by her local lay leaders. One of Ordain Womens founders, Kate Kelly, was excommunicated in June 2014. He also criticized Ezra Taft Benson, then a senior apostle, who had made comments similar to Packers. . In a detailed confession, Hofmann said that he had secretly stopped believing in Mormonism as a teenager and had hatched a plan to embarrass the church by creating fake documents that exposed uncomfortable facts about early Mormon history. 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. This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. The charge stems from Palmer's 2002 book, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, which challenges the traditional explanations of the faith's founding . In the past, many Mormon officials had a sense, he said, that the church must protect its members from "wolves among them.". Following his excommunication, he finished The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power and turned his attention to another scholarly book with deep personal meaning. [4], She won the 2004 Cornell Award for 'Excellence in Religion ReportingMid-sized Newspapers' from the Religion Newswriters Association in 2004, an award she also received in 2012, 2017, and 2018. That has been a blessing truly fulfilled. Kate Kelly Shreds Peggy Fletcher Stack for Using Her as "Clickbait" Again, I'm reminded of a scene in "Schindler's List" where the Dave: We remind our listeners about a new way to support Mormon Land. 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. Arrington). "Mormonism was limiting to me, so I needed to test the limits to see who I and the church really might be. Following the wave of media attention that greeted the September excommunications, the First Presidency defended what had taken place. The movie was a live-action adaptation of the Nintendo game Super Mario Bros. With his background in education, he became interested in how the church taught its own past, and decided he did not like what was going on at the church historians office. From that point on, she explored various Christian teachings and practices, assisted clergy with religious services and served as volunteer chaplain at Holy Cross Chapel for 13 years. I admire her. What do you think about these potential actions against Kate Kelly and John Dehlin? I am confident that my desire to be worthy of the temple is acceptable of the Lord. The church declined to comment on the decision. It's a way for me to participate and contribute, almost like having a calling. Nowadays, anyone can Google Mormon polygamy and learn more than theyd ever need to know about that practice, about its abandonment, the subsequent fallout, and so on. But the third bomb, which badly injured but did not kill Hofmann, hinted at a tie to the salamander letter, a disputed historical document that Christensen had purchased from Hofmann a year before and which had inspired Quinns latest research project, a book eventually titled Early Mormonism and the Magic Worldview. But nothing else has driven him to contribute to the lives of others the way the faith in which he was born and raised once did. Quinn went to Californiahe had another fellowship at the Huntington Librarystaying this time with his mother. Truth is, she has never stopped attending her Mormon ward. Quinn had spent three years in the military in the late 60s, working in counterintelligence. There were stretches of time when he was the only deacon, and he and I would exchange glances as he passed the sacrament to our row. Some did not know that they were. At the pinnacle of the Mormon hierarchy is the First Presidencythe churchs prophet and his two counselorsand the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Mormons devote one sacrament meeting each month to personal testimonies, and Quinn was sure this would be his last opportunity to offer his in church. He slept on her futon and had no Internet access or health insurance. 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. Whether Quinns fate had truly been sealed is hard to say. Snuffer was excommunicated. By Chris Jorgensen and Peggy Fletcher Stack The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is purging hundreds of Mormon dissidents who church officials say are preoccupied unduly with Armageddon. Gileadi was not part of the Sunstone and Dialogue circles that the others moved in; he had been writing and teaching popular workshops about biblical and Book of Mormon prophecies, which appear to have been deemed false doctrine by LDS leaders. Many religions have strictures that establish who is in and who is out, but the Mormon church draws a brighter line than most. Crucially, much of that project is onlinemore than anything, the Internet has revolutionized the field. As the historian Ross Peterson said at the time, Comparing Sunstone and Dialogue folks to people who were shooting Mormons in 1839 Missouri is unfair. Peterson, after speaking about Mormon temple rites in the press, had been shown his own file during a conversation with local church leaders. [Excommunicated Mormons are not supposed to take communion.] Some things that are true are not very useful. Its not clear whether Packer read Quinns work before interviewing him, but if he did, it probably would have struck him as less than useful. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. But by the fall of 92 he had to return to Salt Lake City to finish research on the book, and he had grown tired of hiding from church authorities. I could listen to the spirit there. Then I went away to my cabin for the summer and he called all the temples in Utah, saying he was canceling my recommend. That's a good question. 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. 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. Hanks had already held one church court in Quinns absence, in July, at which Quinn was disfellowshipped. Dear Reader: When I began this series of essays on leadership, I never anticipated the final installment would chronicle recent events that have triggered the biggest spiritual struggle of my life. She currently serves on the . Article type . Stack is an advisor on religion to the Public Broadcasting Service,[2] and has written two books. See Photos. The former LDS stake president, who oversaw a group of congregations in Tooele for eight years and worked as an architect on her faith's most sacred spaces, faced, in her mind, an . Soon after, he happened to attend, with some friends, a meeting of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a splinter sect that believes Joseph Smiths son, not Brigham Young, was Smiths rightful successor as prophet. He subsequently has . Hed better start keeping it to himself. Gileadi, Toscano, Anderson, and Hanks were all excommunicated. ", 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]. Peggy Fletcher Stack is an American journalist, editor, and author. How have the members of your ward treated you? His wife Margaret, an English professor and feminist who attracted attention from church leaders before her husband did, was excommunicated in 2000. Especially considering that in a lot of cases she's the one doing the exposing My guess is she's a let's-reform-this-baby-from-within progressive. The book won an award from the American Historical Association, but it brought Quinn more grief in Utah. Maxine Hanks was held in the same stake center one week before, though she did not attend it. It is always harder on the loved one who has to stand by and see someone they love being hurt. Local TV reporters were filming the session, and the AP reporter Vern Anderson was sitting at the far side of the room about halfway back. The timing of his career, which once appeared serendipitous, now seems almost cruel. It had since become the premier event for the so-called scholars and intellectuals of Mormonism to gather and exchange ideas. Why didn't you go to the hearing to defend yourself? The book, published a decade before, was written by Taylors son Samuel, best known today, perhaps, for writing the short story that became The Absent-Minded Professor. At Sunstone, Hanks described her path back to Mormonism as a heros journey, la Joseph Campbell. sltrib.com. 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.. The Salt Lake Tribune . Hired in 1991 to cover Utah's various faiths, particularly Mormonism, Peggy has talked forgiveness with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, nearly fainted waiting for the Dalai Lama, fasted with Muslims during Ramadan and has reported on 50 consecutive semiannual LDS General Conferences. But that was not how he experienced it. If there is unfinished business, its the First Presidencys, not mine.. I hate him. My searching was complete. The kindness of my ward members has been really important. I have been doing that for 18 years. This other Quinn was not home when the call came, and a baby-sitter answered the phone. The stake president shook our hands and was cordial. 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. There are three areas where members of the church, influenced by social and political unrest, are being caught up and led away, declared Boyd K. Packer, one of the churchs Twelve Apostles, in May 1993. This made some church leaders uneasy. Lavina Fielding Anderson decided not to appear at her court, either, which took place at another Salt Lake meetinghouse a few days afterward. He went to stay instead with an old college friend, Richard Lambert. c. 2014 Salt Lake Tribune(RNS) The Mormon Church insists that excommunication threats targeting activists Kate Kelly and John Dehlin were generated by their respective LDS leaders in Virginia and northern Utah.Others see the timing as evidence that the two disciplinary hearings are being coordinated from the faith's Salt Lake City headquarters.But this much is certain: If Mormon higher-ups . That came out in early 1993. 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. Supposedly Nelson, like Benson, was a supporter of the John Birch Society, a radically right-wing, conspiracy-mongering, anti-Communist group. He was troubled by the openness with which materials were being made available to certain individuals other than those authorized, according to Lucile C. Tates admiring 1995 biography, Boyd K. Packer: Watchman on the Tower. I had my answers.". I might have lost my soul, but at least I still have my mind. This is all lies! he told the friend who showed it to him. Once the kids were interested, the missionaries were supposed to contact their parents, with the aim of converting whole families. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. He has continued to publish articles about Mormon history and to participate in the Sunstone Symposium. He acknowledged to me that, of course, it is possible to find outlets for service outside of Mormonism. [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. She was told to pass along this message: Im tired of hearing him criticize the church. Hanks return predated the Ordain Women movement, which pushed for women to join the faiths priesthood, said Latter-day Saint scholar Matthew Bowman, who heads the Mormon studies program at Claremont Graduate University in Southern California. Quinn had been avoiding this confrontation for nearly five years. 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.

Why Did Bobby Holmes Leave Fantomworks, Why Didn't The Indoraptor Kill Maisie, Install Android On Lumia 640 Xl Lte, Mezzaluna Waiters Missing, Articles P