Posted by:
David Twede
(
)
Date: September 21, 2012 08:37PM
In my local rag was written:
" Michael Purdy [the Church Spokesman] added in an email: "It is patently false for someone to suggest they face Church discipline for having questions or for expressing a political view. The Church is an advocate of individual choice. It is a core tenet of our faith. Church discipline becomes necessary only in those rare occasions when an individual's actions cannot be ignored while they claim to be in good standing with the Church. Every organization, whether religious or secular, must be able to define where its boundaries begin and end." "
Wait... "The Church is an advocate of individual choice. It is a core tenet of our faith."
Huh???
Purdy also dances around the issue and generally says it is about "actions" when the leaders who interrogated me clearly were upset about my writings and "hiding" behind only my first name. By saying "actions" Purdy purposely implies to the mormon membership that I have done something sinful and shameful.
He can't address my dissenting writings because he has no defense. He must imply an ad-hominem.
Lastly, he states the church "must be able to define where its boundaries begin and end."
Ok, so, define it. Clearly. Leaving it vague allows the church to bully people arbitrarily. MT sits in the borderlands that FAIR also floats in, but without fear of reprisal.
And Scott Gordon:
" Scott Gordon, president of FAIR, a nonprofit group that defends Mormonism, said he doubted that the church initiated action against Twede because of criticism of Romney. Gordon said the church has members on both sides of the political aisle.
" More likely, Gordon said, church leaders took exception to Twede's other writings, including an unflattering blog post detailing his attendance at a Sept. 9 church service at Hunter's Creek in south Orange County. Gordon said some MormonThink contributors "will do anything they can to embarrass the church. They want to justify their leaving." "
Gordon leaves "other writings" undefined. Mentioned, presumably by Gordon is my tongue-in-cheek story about going to church in colorful paisley where the ward members are mostly dressed in black-n-white plain or stripes. It is, of course, playful writing and no more unflattering than, say, a Robert Kirby piece about Mormon culture in the Salt Lake Tribune.
Unfortunately for FAIR, they cannot defend the content of MT articles on LDS history or doctrine, and it would seem he's lacking a sense of humor as well.
If this is all they have, and it is excommunicable to joke about a day at church, then Watch Out, Kirby!
Source:
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-09-21/features/os-mormon-mitt-romney-excommunication-20120921_1_excommunication-mitt-romney-disciplinary-councilAdditionally, as for the newly posted SLTrib article,
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/54944698-78/church-lds-twede-romney.html.cspIt's true that my local leaders never said "Romney" in my interrogation. They indicated discomfort with my recent writings as a whole, which includes three blog entries and one MT article discussing Romney that were posted from Sept 11-15. While referring to my writings, the stake president did say about himself, "I'm not a political man..." It is unclear to me what he meant by this and why he interjected it.
Likewise, when it says that I didn't intend for it to go this way, I meant: I didn't intend for discussions of my excommunications to take on such a politcal tone. I would prefer the topic remain on the Mormon church's inability to defend its own position on this matter.
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2012 09:11PM by David Twede.