Three general authorities at spring general conference include counsel to the intellectual community. Elder Dallin H. Oaks warns church members against listening to "alternate voices," noting that some are "the lost leading the lost" while others "are of those whose avowed or secret object is to deceive and devour the flock." Among responses are sociologist Armand L. Mauss's call to "endure to the end. The calling of `alternate voice' is too important for us to allow ourselves either to be intimidated by the exercise of unrighteous dominion or to be silenced by our own fatigue."
Bishop Glenn L. Pace observes: Criticism "from within the Church . . . is more lethal than that coming from nonmembers and former members. The danger lies not in what may come from a member critic, but that we might become one." Elder Russell M. Nelson comments, "Certainly no faithful follower of God would promote any cause--even remotely related to religion--if rooted in controversy, because contention is not of the Lord. Surely a stalwart would not lend his or her good name to periodicals, programs, or forums that feature offenders who do sow `discord among brethren.'"
[Source: Anderson, Lavina Fielding, "The LDS Intellectual Community and Church Leadership: A Contemporary Chronology," Dialogue, Vol.26, No.1]
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