Almost two decades ago, when I began studying my way out of the church, I came across this interview of Mormon educator Sterling McMurrin:

http://www.lds-mormon.com/newell_mcmurrin.shtml

Jeremy Runnells' kangaroo church court reminded me of McMurrin's experience wherein Joseph Fielding Smith tried to railroad him out of the church on charges of heresy. The relevant part begins about halfway in, with the paragraph "Jack: Now let's get back to ... excommunication."

The funny part was, McMurrin was told to secure two witnesses to testify on his behalf. He proposed JF Smith and Harold B. Lee, only to learn later that Smith was the one who was trying to engineer his excommunication. This is relevant to Jeremy Runnells' case because it demonstrates that GAs can indeed be behind the trial and/or excommunication of vocal heretics/dissidents, as opposed to the church's claims that such trials are a "local matter."

From the interview:

"President Smith said to me, 'Now Brother McMurrin, we want you to know' (they were very nice to me, they were both very nice), he said, '... we want you to know that in this church a man is free to believe whatever he wants to believe just so he accepts certain of the fundamentals.' I thought, a good statement. Well, I said, 'Now President Smith, the problem is it's those fundamentals that I simply don't believe.'"

So McMurrin wasn't excommunicated, even though he, like Jeremy Runnells, admitted that he didn't believe in the fundamental doctrines of the church---and on top of that McMurrin, as opposed to Jeremy, was a paid educator for the church, teaching and influencing young Mormon minds.

I also noted this portion:

"I heard this often, that I am excommunicated. It is nothing new. But it was fairly new back then, back in 1954. I began hearing in my ward that I was being excommunicated and so on, so I called on the bishop."

As I've written here many times: when my wife and I were inactive, and working our way towards leaving the church, we heard from ward friends that I was going to be excommunicated---as though it was a done deal, even though I had never even discussed any matters with the bishop or SP, and had never been interviewed or questioned by either of them. In their minds, it was just a foregone conclusion that I was going to be ex'ed simply because I questioned the church and spoke to other Mormons about it. That rumor had made it around the gossip mill, even though there was never a church court and I was not ex'ed.

We've covered this subject here before, and here's a thread (bullchip warning: There's a link from the D-News) that discusses "Mormon Intellectuals" (an oxymoron if ever there was one).

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,214344,214355

http://www.deseretnews.com/top/168/0/Top-10-LDS-6Intellectuals7.html

McMurrin is listed #4, below Joseph Smith, Orson Pratt, and B.H. Roberts... Like I said, it is the D-News, and as Uncle Golden said, "Let me tell you takes a good man to read the Deseret News. In fact it takes a damn good man."

The Mormons want to claim him as their own, but given he was an atheist most of his life (I'm going to provide a source showing his unbelief was in full flower in 1952), that's just the usual "make nice" shinola shipping here on Planet Utah.

A poster here who knew McMurrin well offered the following well-articulated reply to my comment:

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,214344,214355

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,214344,214492#msg-214492

Poster Reed Smith noted:

>I was a graduate student in philosophy at the University of Utah in the early 80s. Sterling McMurrin was one of my mentors. However, he was actually in the History Department at that time. In hindsight, I do not think that he was that intellectually gifted. His book, The Theological Foundations of Mormonism (I think that was the title) was much too accomodating philosophically, and at times almost apologetic. Moreover, its philosophy was shallow.

>As you noted, McMurrin was a non-believer for most, if not all, of his later life. When I knew him, he was absolutely an atheist, and not shy about expressing his beliefs. (At least to me and I was TBM at the time) But for his friendship with McKay, Hugh B. Brown, and other Church leaders, and his jovial, accomodating demeanor, he might have been excommunicated at some point. I think he survived the purge of the early 90s because at that point he was old, irrelevant, and too much of an institution in SLC. Certainly, if currently in his prime he would not be tolerated in today's anti-intellectual climate. I also know firsthand that ETB was highly critical with McMurrin, the U of U philosophy department, and the U of U, generally.

No surprise about ETB...

And this was a nice tribute to the late David Bennett (a brother of a former U.S. Senator and a son of another):

>As for the U of U philosophy department, I share your view of Rogers [Lewis M. Rogers, who taught the only philosophy class I enrolled in until my teaching cohort]. But there were others there that were very good. My primary mentor was David Bennett (apostate Mormon), and Peter Appleby, an atheist, very active in the community, and vocally anti-Mormon.

And speaking of the "Bennett Family," my disdain for Peggy Fletcher Stack is well known, but here's an account of McMurrin's relationship with the brethren that confirms Reed Smith's reporting. Note to ADMIN: This link is just to a Tribune story I remember, and contrary to what the trolls say, I'm not taking the mishie discussions.

http://www.lds-mormon.com/1833.shtml

>In the summer of 1952, the late Sterling McMurrin, an eminent philosopher and writer, met with two LDS apostles to defend his theological views. With complete candor, McMurrin laid out for Elders Joseph Fielding Smith and Harold B. Lee the depth and breadth of his disbelief.
>There was no Adam, no Eve, no fall from grace. Jesus was not divine, LDS Church founder Joseph Smith did not see God and the Book of Mormon is not authentic history, McMurrin told the astonished Smith and Lee.
>The apostles (both future church presidents) responded graciously, McMurrin recalled later. Smith, who would become church president in 1970, held out his hand and told McMurrin: ''In spite of your telling us of your disbeliefs and heresies, we want you to know that you have the Holy Ghost.''
>This exchange is chronicled in the new book Matters of Conscience: Conversations with Sterling M. McMurrin, published by Signature Books of Salt Lake City.

>Matters of Conscience makes it clear that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints once treated its dissident members more like wayward sons than evil opponents. Church leaders viewed McMurrin as wrong-headed spiritually, but still a member of the same family.

>McMurrin felt the same way. And he took offense at being cast as strictly a church critic.
>"While I readily confess to being a heretic -- one who doesn't believe -- I frankly resent being called an apostate -- one who turns against the church,'' he says in the book.
>"I am critical of the church, but I'm for it, not against it."

Sterling McMurrin's views are remarkably similar to Grant Palmer's from a few years ago.

As for that "hornswaggle history" that Fletcher Stack--and the Signature author--are referring to, rarely in its history did the LDS Church not toss out dissenters. That practice began with Joseph Smith, and modern examples include Fawn Brodie, D. Michael Quinn, and others. And of course, there's my "personal 19th Century hero," John V. Hyde.

https://archive.org/details/mormonismitslea00hydegoog

My take: Sterling McMurrin was an "early prototype" for a "New Order Mormon."

Opinions are lovely things and I think it's good that people have them and cherich them. One opinion Professor McMurrin has that I have had for ages is, "I think it was a fortunate thing for the church historically that Joseph Smith died when he did. Because the church was beginning to fall apart. It seems like it was beginning to go to pieces and something needed to be done to pull things together."

There would be no Primary, no MIA, no Roadshows or Gold & Green Ball, no Seminary, no missions, no BYU, etc., if JS had lived. Not that it makes any difference now. But it's a lovely talking point and mormons hate considering it, because it speaks to just exactly JS really was...in my opinion.

My absolute favorite story regarding McMurrin is the phone call
he got from President David O. McKay. McKay called to talk
with him when McKay found out they were trying to ex him. The
two of them met on the UofU campus and McKay ended up saying,
"if they call you to a disciplinary court, I'll be a witness in
your favor."

The "court of love" got called off.

I've always imagined an SP and the High Councilors holding a
court of love for someone and the guy's witness in his favor
turns out to be the President of the Church--the freakin'
PROPHET!

What are you gonna do then, SP? If the Prophet says he
shouldn't be exed, are you gonna say, "well my promptings are
different."

My second favorite Sterling McMurrin story involves the
"swearing elders," a group of Mormon intellectuals that met and
discussed Mormon topics at an auditorium at the UofU. One
night Bruce R. McConkie showed up to put them in their proper
place. It was the habit of McConkie, when he was the boss, to
have someone stand and answer some doctrinal question, and then
tell them they were wrong and to "sit down."

McConkie wanted to expound on something but they were getting
very close to closing time and the janitor with his keys was
standing at the door tapping his foot.

McConkie was going on and on and, McMurrin, who was running the
meeting, said to him, "Bruce, sit down." He said he found that
very satisfying.