Six scholars and feminists, disciplined in one month

Unrefuted

No good counter-argument has been published by LDS scholars.

What happened

In September 1993, six Mormon scholars and feminists were excommunicated or disfellowshipped within weeks of each other. Lavina Fielding Anderson.

Avraham Gileadi. Maxine Hanks.

D. Michael Quinn.

Paul Toscano. Lynne Kanavel Whitesides.

What they had published

History and theology that leaders did not welcome. Quinn's research on plural marriage after 1890.

Writing about Heavenly Mother. Feminist advocacy.

The context

Months before, the apostle Boyd K. Packer had named the church's three great dangers in public.

They were "the gay-lesbian movement, the feminist movement, and the so-called scholars or intellectuals." On paper the discipline was local. The evidence points to apostles taking part.

Mormon studies went quiet for a generation.

Their answer, at full strength

That discipline is run locally, by stake presidents. It is for conduct such as speaking out against the church and its leaders.

That is apostasy as the handbook sets it out. It is not scholarship as such.

Many working historians publish critical work and are never disciplined. And the church does not run these councils from the centre.

FAIR also points to what came after: the Joseph Smith Papers, the Gospel Topics Essays, and Maxine Hanks being rebaptised in 2012.

How strong is this argument?

Strong for you. The six actions, their timing and Packer's speech are on the record, and no one disputes them.

Only the question of how much came from the centre is argued. As a claim about how the church met dissent, it stands.

What to say

"What happened to the six in 1993? I'd like to know how you read it."

The Church Office Building in Salt Lake City; the church says such discipline is run locally, not here

How they answer this — at its strongest

These councils are run by a stake president, and the charge was speaking out.

FAIR and the church hold that discipline is run locally, by stake presidents. It is for conduct such as speaking out against the church and its leaders. That is apostasy as the handbook sets it out, and it is not scholarship as such.

They note that many working historians publish critical work and are never disciplined. The church does not run these councils from the centre.

The church also points to what came after, as a sign that it can take rigorous history. The Joseph Smith Papers. The Gospel Topics Essays. And Maxine Hanks being rebaptised in 2012.

The verdict

Strong for you: the dates, the six names and Packer's speech are not disputed.

The six actions, their timing, and Packer's speech about three dangers are all on the record. No one disputes them.

What is argued is only how much was run from the centre.

As a claim about how the church met dissent, it stands.

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