Barred from baptism: children of gay parents, 2015

Admitted

Their own church publications admit these facts. You can make this point from LDS sources alone.

What changed in November 2015

The church Handbook was changed. Members in same-sex marriages were labelled apostates, subject to mandatory discipline.

Their children could not receive a baby blessing or be baptised until they were 18. Baptism was then conditioned on disavowing their parents' marriage and leaving home.

What it was called

In January 2016, President Russell M. Nelson publicly declared the policy a revelation.

It was, he said, "the mind of the Lord and the will of the Lord," revealed to President Monson.

What happened in April 2019

The church reversed both provisions. The reversal was also framed as directed by the Lord.

Four years, and families carried the cost in between.

Their answer, at full strength

That both the policy and the reversal were inspired responses to circumstances, not eternal doctrine in conflict. The 2015 policy was meant to protect children from being caught between home and church — the same reasoning already applied to children of polygamists.

By 2019, leaders concluded through continuing revelation that it did more harm than it prevented. Continuing revelation allows course correction; Acts 10, where the exclusion of Gentiles is reversed, is the template apologists cite.

Policies implement doctrine for a time and a place, and the underlying doctrine of marriage never changed.

How strong is this argument?

They admit every fact, including Nelson's own "will of the Lord" wording — which closes off the easier defence that it was only ever policy. The continuing-revelation argument is coherent on its own terms.

It concedes the sequence rather than refuting it. Deuteronomy 24:16 and Ezekiel 18:20 say a child does not bear the parent's guilt.

What to say

"It was called the will of the Lord in 2016 and reversed in 2019. How do you read that?"

Russell M. Nelson, who in January 2016 called the 2015 handbook change the mind and will of the Lord

Over 400 Latter-day Saints marched in the Salt Lake City pride parade in 2014

How they answer this — at its strongest

Both were inspired answers to a moment. Neither was meant to stand for ever.

The church frames both the policy and its reversal as inspired answers to circumstances. Neither, on that view, is eternal doctrine.

The 2015 policy aimed to keep children out of the crossfire between home and church. The same reasoning already applied to the children of polygamists.

By 2019, leaders concluded through continued revelation that it caused more harm than it prevented. Continuing revelation allows a change of course by its very nature. Apologists cite Acts 10 as the pattern, where the shutting out of Gentiles is reversed.

Policies carry out doctrine for a time and a place. The doctrine of marriage beneath them never changed.

The verdict

They admit it all, including the words 'will of the Lord' in 2016.

Every fact is on the record. That includes Nelson's own 'mind of the Lord and the will of the Lord' framing in January 2016. It shuts off the easier defence, that the 2015 change was only policy.

The argument that continuing revelation can reverse course is coherent on its own terms. But it concedes the sequence rather than refuting it.

Four years, and families carried the cost between. What that implies about revelation is for the reader. The record itself is not in dispute.

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