The Growing Purge of Unwanted LDS Voices
by Brig Bagley
19 June 2014
Kate Kelly and John Dehlin are just two of many LDS people being disciplined for dissenting from LDS belief and accused of apostasy. There are hundreds of blogs (a very common thing for a Mormon to have) that ring with the same voices of Kelly and Dehlin.
Rock Waterman from California has a strong voiced LDS opinion blog that accuses LDS leaders of straying from the true doctrine. A recent posts of his said, "Stop making up your own rules and try preaching the Gospel of Christ for a change." He was promptly contacted by his bishop and asked to stop blogging or resign from the church. If he did neither, he would be called to a disciplinary council to face excommunication for apostasy. Although the church claims these cases to personal and local, it is rumored that area authorities have been monitoring internet posts of members and contacting local leaders to call them out.
Several members of Ordain Women, created by Kelly, have public profiles on the group webpage. Several of them have been contacted by local leaders and have had member privileges revoked, like their temple recommends, which give them access to Mormon Temples.
An Ordain Women member, Dana, who anonymously participated in a chat room, was somehow discovered and her posts were quoted by her bishop. On June 1, her bishop called and asked her to stop posting or face discipline. She and her family decided to resign from the church four days later.
Denver Snuffer, a lawyer and a blogger, wrote that he was excommunicated for apostasy Fall of 2013 for criticizing Mormonism for straying.
Kevin Kloosterman was a bishop from 2007 to 2012, and is a mental health therapist in Illinois. He publicly apologized to gay members rejected by their families in a conference that gathered media attention. He also was a major supporter for SSM is his own state. It wasn't until March of this year that a post of his on Twitter congratulating the first gay couple to be married in Utah, that his Bishop called him in for discipline. "Jesus wouldn't do that," Kloosterman says his bishop told him. He was also told that an Area Seventy was involved in monitoring his internet activities. Kloosterman's temple recommend has been revoked.
The three reasons the church disciplines its members are to aid in the process in repentance, to protect the innocent, and to protect the good name of the church. It seems that the good name of the church has become the priority.
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