Quote:
Originally Posted by Chapel-Hill-Coug
That's interesting, growing up in rural Utah I actually heard public announcements about members of my stake who were ex'd for polygamy. But to do it on account of the sharing of ideas, wow, I've never heard that. If you have the truth, why be afraid of ideas? What does the truth have to fear from inquiry? Are members not to be trusted to discern what is true and what is false in what this guy says? These, of course, are rhetorical questions.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski
No kidding.
I wonder what could be gained from the public announcement?
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I'm not familiar with the circumstances of this specific case, but when a person who has apostasized has served in leadership positions, the church has an interest in curtailing his influence. Innocent members, especially those less mature in gospel understanding or testimony, may be unduly influenced by someone whom they regard as authoritative. This is especially true (and probably directly correlative) to how vocal and public the person is about his apostasy. Publicly announcing discipline effectively dispels any aura of authority an apostate might artificially carry.
As noted in the article, such an announcement is rare, but apparently deemed necessary in this case. I understand the reasons why the church would feel a need to do so.