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FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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Historian D. Michael Quinn has publicly discussed his excommunication, claiming that it was the direct result of his historical research on the origins of Mormonism.
Quinn claims that his excommunication was the direct result of his historical research on the origins of Mormonism. He refused to attend his own disciplinary council, telling his stake president that it was "a process which was designed to punish me for being the messenger of unwanted historical evidence and to intimidate me from further work in Mormon history."[1]
Despite Quinn's belief that his Church discipline was all about his history, his stake president wrote back on 11 May 1993, saying "There are other matters that I need to talk with you about that are not related to your historical writings. These are very sensitive and highly confidential and this is why I have not mentioned them before in writing."[2]
Lavina Fielding Anderson, another member of the "September Six," believes that the Stake President was alluding to issues related to Quinn's sexual orientation. Writes Anderson:
Lavina Anderson further writes:
Anderson later observes that in New Orleans, "He was also trying to come to terms with his gay identity, including intensive work with a therapist. They were years spent in hiding, trying to heal from an emotional battering."[5]
Michael Quinn has claimed that he has been persecuted and excommunicated for being a "heretic."[6] "Heresy" has little role in LDS discourse—heresy is about belief, while apostasy is about actions. Church leaders have an obligation to take action if behavior that is considered unacceptable comes to their attention. Quinn was put on formal probation, and again encouraged to meet with church leaders.
Quinn was eventually asked to appear to answer the charges "of conduct unbecoming a member of the Church and apostasy." Quinn claims that inside sources told him that the high council could not agree on the apostasy charge, and he was finally excommunicated for failure to meet with his priesthood leaders.[7]
Following his excommunication, Quinn "came out" as a practicing homosexual.[8]:132-133 Quinn also wrote a book claiming that "the Mormon church once accepted and condoned same-sex relationships and that these relationships were practiced by church leaders."[9] Any doubt of Quinn's position about same sex-acts is erased when one reads his announcement that he does not agree with the Church partly "because I claim that the mutual love of two men or of two women is as valid as the mutual love of a man and a woman."[10]
Quinn has criticized current Church leaders for supposedly altering a previously tolerant stance toward homosexuality. In addition, Quinn has also repeatedly attacked the Church and its leaders publicly. For example:
Because Quinn refused to attend his own disciplinary council, his claim that his excommunication was all because of his history work is conjecture — even favorable accounts, like those by Anderson, make it clear that there were more serious matters at stake.
Quinn's stake president's efforts are recorded with jaundiced eye by Anderson, who describes President Hank's efforts as "sounding plaintive and unjustly accused," "mildly phrased but...threatening," accompanied by "a ham-handed postscript." For Anderson, at best Hanks "was probably sincere,".
Quinn's letters, by contrast, are "temperate...even sympathetic," showing "a tone of genuine weariness," and he is filled with a "calm spirit of peace and comfort at the very center of his being. He crossed the last threshold of fear, the fear that he would not be able to bear what the church would do to him."[15]
Despite Anderson's one-sided telling, even her account shows a leader trying for months to speak privately with a wayward member who sees only a conspiracy to suppress historical truth. Thus, the historical record tells a somewhat different story—even when filtered through the lens of another member of the "September Six."
Notes
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