Great Point

Alan Rock Waterman: Publicly questioning for 5 years
John Dehlin: Publicly questioning for 9 years
Kate Kelly: Publicly questioning for only ONE year and Excommunicated
No, there's no sexism in the Mormon church...why do you ask?

Comments

  1. DJ ScheererJune 25, 2014 at 1:22 PM

    From what I understand it was not that she questioned. It also wasn't that she questioned publicly. It was that her organization provided a framework to "recruit" (for lack of a better word) others to her cause. The OW website contains six discussions that are there to persuade others and a Getting Started Packet that encourages and teaches one how to hold a meeting as well as information on how to join their protest efforts. All of the church statements have been very clear that asking questions is encouraged--just in the right way:

    "How and why one asks is as important as the questions we're asking. What causes concern for church leaders is when personal motivations drive those conversations beyond discussion, and a person or group begins recruiting others to insist on changes in church doctrines or structure. When it goes so far as creating organized groups, staging public events to further a cause or creating literature for members to share in their local congregations, the church has to protect the integrity of its doctrine as well as other members from being misled."

    There have been a few times in my life that Bishops are asked to read statements from the pulpit from the First Presidency regarding non-church-sanctioned reading material or meetings. All of these types of statements occurred before the OW thing even happened. So I guess the church just has a pretty strict policy regarding things that go from questioning to action.

    My personal opinion is that I'm on the fence. Like you, I saw it coming so I wasn't surprised. I am sad because it sucks to lose anyone. Especially when she was such a public figure. It makes the church look awful. Of course the church has never really been overly concerned when people think we are old-fashioned, etc. But I can also see that from the church's point of view, they really didnt have a choice when she refused to cooperate and not take down the website or not demonstrate during conference, etc.

    I think the OW movement could have greatly benefitted from a more moderate stance (such as yours). I think if all they wanted to do was open the discussion it would have been much more beneficial. It is a crucial discussion that needs to continue. But there is a difference between having a discussion and coming to a conclusion. For OW, the only solution was to, you guessed it, ordain women. Once a conclusion has been reached, the discussion is over. And Kate said very publicly "I told them [church leaders] point-blank, in person, 'I am not going to take down the website and I'm not going to disassociate myself from the group, and those are not negotiable." And since her group's only objective, and dare I say, imperative demand is "Ordain Women" then local leaders don't really have a choice. Sadly.

    http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865605646/LDS-bishop-excommunicates-Ordain-Women-founder.html

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