Quote:
Originally Posted by tooblue
There is room for disagreement or rather what I would call opportunity ... within the context of todays church.
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I'm glad you see it this way. I don't blame the LDS leaders (although they could be more clear), but the rank-and-file membership that wants any notion of disagreement eliminated.
The June 1945 "Ward Teacher’s Message" in the
Improvement Era church magazine cautioned that Satan “wins a great victory when he can get members of the Church to speak out against their own leaders and ‘do their own thinking.’” Furthermore, the Message asserted, “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.” (
Improvement Era, June 1945, p. 354.)
Six months after the publication of this "Ward Teacher’s Message," in response to a query on the matter by a Salt Lake City Unitarian Reverend named Raymond Cope, LDS President George Albert Smith wrote that the message had not been approved by the leaders of the church, that General Authorities had been embarrassed by the misstep and “does not express the true position of the Church.” He continued, “Even to imply that members of the Church are not to do their own thinking is grossly to misrepresent the true ideal of the Church, which is that
every individual must obtain for himself a testimony of the truth of the Gospel.” (Smith’s emphasis. See
Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 19, no. 1 (Spring 1986), pp. 35-39 for reprints of the "Ward Teacher’s Message," Rev. Cope’s letter, and President Smith’s response.)
Despite LDS leaders' counsel, there are many members who seem to want a ban on any type of dissenting opinion.