Today in Mormon History ...
[Council of Fifty Members] Taylor, William W. (1853-1884). Admitted 10 April 1880. Elected assistant clerk on 10 April 1880. (1)
-- 130 years ago - Apr 10, 1880
Changes in the temple ceremony that eliminated symbolic violence and somewhat broadened the role for women trigger articles by the Associated Press, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine, U.S. News and World Report, and many local papers. Mormons who are quoted include Rebecca England, Ross Peterson, then co-editor of Dialogue, Allen Roberts, Ron Priddis, Robert Rees, Keith Norman, various public relations officers, and me, all of whom make comments ranging from favorable to complimentary. Various former Mormons, including Sandra Tanner, make critical comments.
Acting on instructions, reportedly from President Hinckley, the area presidents of the quoted Mormons are interviewed by their stake presidents. (The single exception seems to be Beverly Campbell, church public relations officer in Washington, D.C., who tells Ron Priddis that she has not been called in.) My stake president says he has been asked "to call you in and see if you had violated any of your covenants of secrecy." Mine is a cordial meeting with a productive and mutually respectful discussion.
Other meetings are less cordial. Ross Peterson's stake president, Bill Rich, acting on instructions from the area presidency, Elders William Bradford, Malcolm Jeppsen, and Richard P. Lindsay, take away his (expired) temple recommend. In a follow-up meeting the area presidency threaten "further action" and refer to a thick file containing materials dating back to the 1960s on Ross, an active Democrat in Cache Valley for many years. It is only after a flood of letters and phone calls to church headquarters, plus individual lobbying of general authorities by Ross's friends, that Rich reissues a recommend in June. He does not require a prior bishop's interview.
Keith Norman presents a paper at the 1990 Sunstone Symposium in Washington, D.C., coincidentally the weekend that the temples are closed to effect the changes. He discusses the church's need to disassociate itself from violence, citing blood atonement and the ready public identification of RLDS cult murderer Jeff Lundgren in Kirtland, Ohio, with Mormonism as evidence, and suggesting that temple penalties have "outgrown their usefulness." In early August Bishop David Marchant "reluctantly told him that he had been instructed to deny Keith a temple recommend for one year, after which he could have a recommend if he had repented. When Keith asked of what he needed to repent, his bishop replied, 'I don't know.'" Marchant had read the Sunstone paper prior to delivery and found it unobjectionable. He also failed to identify problems in the quotations from Keith that appear in the Los Angeles Times article. When Marchant brings the matter up with Stake President Zane Lee, Lee respo
nds, "The decision has been made. There is no further discussion." Keith, who currently has no recommend, conducts Sunday school song practice and instructs the deacons' quorum (which includes being a counselor in the Young Men's presidency and assistant scoutmaster). A calling as assistant high priests' group leader is first issued, then withdrawn. His wife Kerry, the roadshow director, is specifically told not to have Keith, who wrote the previous (winning) script, write this year's. (2)
-- 20 years ago - Apr 10, 1990.
- Both U.S. Senate and House propose bills to disfranchise all Mormons. With delaying tactics by Mormon allies in Congress, these two bills make slow progress into summer, but Supreme Court decision in Feb. 1890 assures eventual enactment. (3)
-- 120 years ago - Apr 10-11, 1890
1 - Quinn, D. Michael, Council of Fifty Members, 1844-1945, BYU Studies 20, #2 (1980)
2 - Anderson, Lavina Fielding, "The LDS Intellectual Community and Church Leadership: A Contemporary Chronology," Dialogue, Vol.26, No.1
3 - This Day in Mormon History, http://www.advent-adam.com/jakestand.html
