The Gum Tree for 2008 February 25 (entry 0)

(9) Mon Feb 25 10:09:05 On Church Discipline:

A couple of articles have appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune criticizing the Church for ‘oppressive’ action in suppressing opposing opinions regarding the issue of Gay Marriage. The church has taken the unusual step of releasing their side of the story.

I think the issue here is the bright line the church has drawn between political action and speech and advocating doctrines or criticizing church leaders. With regards to the issue of Gay Marriage, it seems the church has drawn it’s lines accordingly: it’s OK to oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment, or to support Gay Marriage legislation, but it’s not OK to say that church leaders are wrong for supporting the legislation.

It seems that, as long as people don’t criticize the Church or its leaders, or start publicly teaching doctrine that is against the Church’s doctrine (e.g. teaching that late-term abortion is not a sin), then they don’t need to worry about excommunication. They can reason all they want (like Harry Reid does) for or against a position (e.g. abortion, Marriage Amendment), but they can’t publicly argue doctrine contrary to the Church or oppose the church’s leaders in public.

Is this anti-intellectual? You decide. I’m not sure the church wants amateur theologians that constantly oppose the church from within the church.

Comments:

Posted by Kristen at Mon Feb 25 16:15:06

Interesting. Aaron had Bradshaw for a class and couldn't stand the guy. He had a particular day of class that was mandatory to attend and all he talked about was Bush and the war and not at all about Genetics or whatever science class it was. We don't pay tuition to hear lectures about your own personal political affiliations, let alone to be graded upon whether or not you are there to listen.

Posted by Joseph D. Walch at Mon Feb 25 16:45:40

Interesting you caught on to the fact that Bradshaw was mentioned in the article. Bradshaw mentiones his 'deep sadness' at not being able to sit next to Danzig in church anymore. I wonder if that sadness is that Danzig can't be a full member with the views he has that the church should allow gay marriage, or sadness about how the church handled the situation.

From my personal experience in his classes, I suspect it's the latter circumstance.

Posted by Sumana at Tue Feb 26 06:42:38

WOW.

Posted by Joseph D. Walch at Tue Feb 26 07:59:05

Yes, it's the pitfalls of a system of thought based on deductive reasoning which reason is based on faith and not some kind of concrete material proof.

I suppose one day, all the inconsistencies between the truth discovered through inductive scientific reasoning and truth based on faith deduction will all be resolved.

Posted by Joseph D. Walch at Tue Feb 26 07:59:34

Yes, it's the pitfalls of a system of thought based on deductive reasoning which reason is based on faith and not some kind of concrete material proof.

I suppose one day, all the inconsistencies between the truth discovered through inductive scientific reasoning and truth based on faith deduction will all be resolved.

Posted by Joseph D.+Walch at Tue Feb 26 08:00:42

Yes, it's the pitfalls of a system of thought based on deductive reasoning which reason is based on faith and not some kind of concrete material proof.

I suppose one day, all the inconsistencies between the truth discovered through inductive scientific reasoning and truth based on faith deduction will all be resolved.

Posted by Joseph D.+Walch at Tue Feb 26 08:03:49

my comments are acting weird.

Posted by John at Tue Feb 26 10:18:21

I feel absolutely vindicated by the church's response. Contrary to popular belief, as I posted on my blog at the time (May 2006), the church only asked us to write to our leaders to voice an opinion. Our opinion. The church did not ask us to opine our their behalf.

Many people pooh-poohed my literal reading of the letter, stating that the intent clearly set forth in the letter was to support the amendment. They were wrong.

Not sure how I feel about the whole thing yet, but at least I have gained comfort knowing that I am allowed to keep my temple recommend and believe how I see fit. Though I will not be writing op-eds to any specific publication, I hope through my actions to others to show that I believe that all men are created equal and should be treated with respect and dignity.

Thanks Joe for this post! I never took you as a Trib reader.

Posted by Joseph D. Walch at Tue Feb 26 11:12:35

Yup, I like reading the opposition papers once in a while. I also like NPR, in fact, Louise and I talked about that Denzel Washington interview by Terri Gross just last night.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.