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 LDS Rhetoric on Homosexuality
Obviously, on this issue, the debate has not even occurred by Lavina Fielding Anderson Originally published as a sidebar in By Common Consent, the newsletter of the Mormon Alliance in July of 2008. Posted with the author's permission. In June 1945, the Improvement Era published, as its monthly message for ward teachers (now home teachers): Any Latter-day Saint who denounces or opposes, whether actively or otherwise, any plan or doctrine advocated by the "prophets, seers, and revelators" of the Church is cultivating the spirit of apostasy. One cannot speak evil of the Lord's anointed and retain the Holy Spirit in his heart. . . . When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done. When they propose a plan--it is God's plan. When they point the way, there is no other which is safe. When they give direction, it should mark the end of controversy. God works in no other way. To think otherwise, without immediate repentance, may cost one his faith, may destroy his testimony, and leave him a stranger to the kingdom of God. (354)J. Raymond Cope, a Unitarian minister in Salt Lake City, wrote to Church President George Albert Smith, asking if this statement was official doctrine. President Smith promptly replied that it was not, but his response was in a private letter. There was no public clarification in the Improvement Era or any other public source. And the aphorism keeps cropping up. Elaine Cannon, Young Women's general president, speaking at the first Women's Fireside, which replaced the auxiliary conference, announced, "When the prophet speaks, sisters, the debate is over." (Ensign, November 1978, 108). First Counselor N. Eldon Tanner picked it up in an August 1979 First Presidency message in the Ensign: "When the prophet speaks, the debate is over." (2-3). Obviously, on this issue, the debate has not even occurred. |
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