Criticism of Mormonism - Criticism of Response To Internal Dissent

Criticism of Response To Internal Dissent

See also: Academic freedom at Brigham Young University and September Six

The Ostlings say that the LDS Church retaliates against members that publish information that undermines church policies, citing excommunications of scientist Simon Southerton and biographer Fawn M. Brodie. They further state that the church suppresses intellectual freedom, citing the 1993 excommunication of the "September Six", including gay LDS historian D. Michael Quinn, and author Lavina Fielding Anderson. The Ostlings write that Anderson was the first to reveal the LDS Church keeps files on LDS scholars, documenting questionable activities, and the Ostlings state that "No other sizable religion in America monitors its followers in this way".

The American Association of University Professors, since 1998, has put LDS-owned Brigham Young University on its list of universities that do not allow tenured professors sufficient freedom in teaching and research.

Richard Abanes lists the following as church members excommunicated or censured for views unacceptable to the church hierarchy:

  • Journalist Deborah Laake, for her book Secret Ceremonies: A Mormon Woman's Intimate Diary of Marriage and Beyond
  • BYU English teacher Cecilia Konchar-Farr, for her views on abortion laws
  • Writer Janice Merrill Allred
  • English Professor Gail Houston
  • Anthropologist David Knowlton

Read more about this topic:  Criticism Of Mormonism

Famous quotes containing the words criticism, response, internal and/or dissent:

    “The greater the decrease in the social significance of an art form, the sharper the distinction between criticism and enjoyment by the public. The conventional is uncritically enjoyed, and the truly new is criticized with aversion.”
    —Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)

    “It’s given new meaning to me of the scientific term black hole.”
    —Don Logan, U.S. businessman, president and chief executive of Time Inc. His response when asked how much his company had spent in the last year to develop Pathfinder, Time Inc.’S site on the World Wide Web. Quoted in New York Times, p. D7 (November 13, 1995)

    “The internal effects of a mutable policy ... poisons the blessings of liberty itself.”
    —James Madison (1751–1836)

    “The rightful claim to dissent is an existential right of the individual.”
    —Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)