Being treated like an ordinary person is a gift a ward can give. This puzzled me because I had a lot to say, but the message was absolutely clear. It went back to his college years. As a Mormon, he also knew that same-sex attraction was considered unfortunate at bestsomething to be struggled with, and, if possible, overcome. Unto Dust Shalt Thou Return | Out of Obscurity In the field of Mormon history the changes are particularly pronounced. The day before, a similar bomb had killed Steve Christensen, a friend and Mormon history enthusiast who had arranged for Quinn to speak at lunch and dinner engagements, paying him with generous gift cards to his fathers clothing store. Not long before Hofmann sold that forged document, he approached Quinn in the church archives, and asked about the succession crisis and the article. In the past, many Mormon officials had a sense, he said, that the church must protect its members from "wolves among them.". Anderson was excommunicated for an article she wrote in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought that described episodes of what she called ecclesiastical abuse of Latter-day Saint intellectuals. That was my decision. These three shocks to Quinns testimonyabout the Book of Mormon, polygamy, and LDS theologyspurred a pursuit to unearth and understand those parts of his religions past that complicated the simpler story of the faith he had learned as a child. Her testimony was that of a believer, Madrigal later told her. Lavina Fielding Anderson decided not to appear at her court, either, which took place at another Salt Lake meetinghouse a few days afterward. Peggy Fletcher Stack (@religiongal) / Twitter It took several hoursa vigil was held outside for the first few, with candles and hymns and hot chocolate. I did. What's happening is so wrong. Quinn is no longer actively seeking an academic job. As Quinn writes, the Manifesto inherited ambiguity, was created in ambiguity, and produced ambiguity.. However, I do not see that eternal equality reflected in the contemporary church.". LDS bloggers issue statement of support More than 70 Mormon bloggers, representing a dozen or more websites, have signed a document, "Room for All in This Church," calling for "clemency" in the upcoming disciplinary councils for Kate Kelly and John Dehlin. That came out in early 1993. In 1975 Stack helped found Sunstone, an independent magazine of Mormon studies, and steered it for its first eleven years. . When the men from the stake presidency came to his door in February, Quinn was living three blocks from the Salt Lake Temple and the worldwide headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 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. When Benson asked why no one had stopped him, Oaks allegedly replied, You cant stage manage a grizzly bear. Benson resigned his Mormon membership shortly afterward and became a vocal opponent of the church his grandfather ostensibly led. Experts authenticated the letter, and Christensen, a devout Mormon, bought it from Hofmann, with plans to donate it to the church. 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 . But gradually, pressure on Mormon scholars eased, and today many write and publish without any obvious concern for what their stake presidents might think. The field has grown and appears to have moved on, even though the research that Quinn did, and the fights that he picked, were crucial to what has come in his wake. That night, we went over to our neighbors' house and watched "A Man for All Seasons" and ate popcorn. I know how to avoid people I didnt want to be in contact with, he says. It is always harder on the loved one who has to stand by and see someone they love being hurt. Peggy Fletcher Stack / Salt Lake Tribune: High-ranking Mormon official, who twice spoke in General Conference, is excommunicated Check out Mini-memeorandum for simple mobiles or memeorandum Mobile for modern smartphones. Peggy Fletcher Stack Senior religion reporter. 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. Then he made copies of his letter and Hanks' letter and dropped them off at the offices of Vern Anderson and Peggy Fletcher Stack, a former Sunstone editor who had become a religion reporter for . He was housesitting. Quinns parents were divorced when he was 4, and he was raised largely by his mothers parents, who frequently fought. Maybe she wants to be, though. Jay Christian, left, and thousands of other people protest against the passage of Californias Proposition 8 outside the world headquarters of Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 2008 in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1988 he resigned his position at Brigham Young University, the private college owned and operated by the Mormon church, having decided that his interest in the problem areas of the religions past jeopardized not only his position on the history faculty but his membership in the church itself. The term "September Six" was coined by The Salt Lake Tribune and was used in the media and subsequent discussion. (He took the surname from actor Anthony Quinn, whom he knew growing up in the Los Angeles barrio.) Supposedly Nelson, like Benson, was a supporter of the John Birch Society, a radically right-wing, conspiracy-mongering, anti-Communist group. Truth is, she has never stopped attending her Mormon ward. How is Peggy Fletcher Stack still Mormon? : r/exmormon - reddit What's it like going to church for two decades as an excommunicated member? At first, his timing appeared serendipitous: In 1972, while he was completing a masters in history at the University of Utah, an academic named Leonard Arrington was appointed church historian. (Peggy Fletcher Stack writes for The Salt Lake Tribune.) The Salt Lake Tribune . Peggy Fletcher Stack: How I report on Utah's changing faith landscape Hed been told it was an unusually accepting congregation. This year he completed the third and final volume in his trilogy on the Mormon hierarchy, which examines the churchs business and financial activities from 1830 to 2010. They never gave me one reason. Stack is an advisor on religion to the Public Broadcasting Service,[2] and has written two books. Quinn argued against excommunication, he told me, but he did not have the final say. All rights reserved. A missionary who doesn't want to preach false doctrine This made some church leaders uneasy. 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. The Salt Lake Tribune/June 16, 2014. Quinn was convinced, in any case, that his fate in any disciplinary council was predetermined, that Boyd K. Packer wanted him out of the church and Hanks was going to make it happen. 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. Snuffer was excommunicated. By Peggy Fletcher Stack January 3, 2013. Devout Mormons consider these callings divinely inspired. 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. 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. In his Yale dissertation, Quinn examined the highest leadership of the LDS church as a social elite, focusing on the extensive family ties within the hierarchy, the considerable wealth of Mormon authorities, and their long-standing involvement in politics. This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. "We pray that a spirit of clemency will guide the words and actions of everyone especially those who bear the heavy responsibility of ecclesiastical discipline of church members and that the words of President [Dieter F.] Uchtdorf [second counselor in faith's governing First Presidency] will hold sway: "Regardless of your circumstances, your personal history, or the strength of your testimony, there is room for you in this church. When they left, they said, "Have a nice day," to which I replied, "You have just assured that I will not.". He does not have friends in Rancho Cucamonga. Quinn went over local church rolls and found addresses of kids who didnt come to Sunday services. A candlelight vigil was held outside the Salt Lake City meetinghouse where it took place. The same group of local church leaders who participated in Gileadi's excommunication were present at the baptism service. She was struck by how frail he appeared, and found herself feeling nothing but compassion and love for a man who had once seemed like an enemy. Mormon author Grant H. Palmer has been summoned to an LDS Church disciplinary hearing on Sunday, facing possible excommunication for apostasy. Until 23 years ago, one could not formally leave the church without being excommunicated. Quinn was so depressed by the experience that for a few weeks he lost his belief in God completely. 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. All rights reserved. Hundreds of other members joined him at gatherings and in small groups, and thus was born the "remnant movement ," which today touts 1000s of adherents. "She might be a model for others who have been missing their Mormon community.". 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. [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. 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. It is also worth noting that the church president in 1993 was an ailing Ezra Taft Benson. Quinn was an ordinance worker, meaning he went to the temple regularly and helped others perform those rites. Knowing her personally (not closely, but we're acquainted) I get the feeling that she is much more culturally LDS than actually LDS. A page of the so-called Salamander Letter, forged by Mark Hofmann. Would love to hear your stories about her. Hired in 1991 to cover Utah's various faiths, particularly Mormonism, Peggy has talked forgiveness with Archbishop Desmond Tutu . He took a fellowship at the Huntington Library, near his hometown of Pasadena, Calif., and began indexing his enormous collection of notes on old Mormon documents, in preparation for his next book. I hate him. SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) After years of tension between Mormons and gay rights activists -- with political action and theological pronouncements on one .