{"id":18453,"date":"2015-03-06T14:12:27","date_gmt":"2015-03-06T21:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=18453"},"modified":"2015-03-06T18:52:43","modified_gmt":"2015-03-07T01:52:43","slug":"opposing-church-leadership-at-the-next-general-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/opposing-church-leadership-at-the-next-general-conference.html","title":{"rendered":"Opposing Church leadership at the next General Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Where<\/a>
The interior of the Conference Center in Salt Lake City
(Click to enlarge.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

My friend Michael De Groote calls my attention to a plan to oppose the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> at the Church\u2019s upcoming annual General Conference.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Calling themselves \u201ca group of concerned members\u201d of the Church, its organizers seek \u201cto express feedback, opinions, dissent, or dissatisfaction about the current views, positions and teachings of the LDS Church<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The leadership of the Church, they claim, are \u201cinsulated from hearing authentic concerns and feedback of their members.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the record, I think this complaint misconceived. \u00a0Leaders of the Church come<\/em> from the general membership \u2014 they\u2019re not, say, a professional celibate elite \u2014 and aren\u2019t, for the most part, very long removed from it. \u00a0They live in ordinary neighborhoods, not in monasteries or convents. \u00a0They have spouses, children, grandchildren, and friends. \u00a0Moreover, as part of their calling, they\u2019re almost constantly on the road, meeting with local members, leaders, and missionaries.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course, communication can always be improved.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But one comment from the group is, to me, very revealing: \u00a0\u201cTypically members must be in good standing and enjoy certain levels of trust with their priesthood leaders before a request for tickets [to General Conference] will be granted. As such, it is often difficult for individuals who wish to express concerns to secure Conference tickets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

That, I think, speaks volumes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Implicitly, the people they\u2019re seeking to recruit for their protest are, to some substantial degree, those who aren\u2019t<\/em> in good standing in the Church and who don\u2019t<\/em> have the trust of their local Church leaders.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s always possible to gain admittance to General Conference if one is willing to wait in a standby line. \u00a0Probably most Conference attendees do precisely that. \u00a0But these folks would prefer higher numbers and easier access than that method would guarantee.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Accordingly, the group has issued a \u201ccall for action.\u201d \u00a0They\u2019re asking members and local leaders of the Church who might have control over tickets to General Conference, or who might be able to secure them, to give them not to faithful Latter-day Saints in good standing who seek to enjoy the Conference sessions but, rather, to the group itself, for distribution to dissidents. \u00a0They encourage \u201cLatter-day Saints who wish to cast a dissenting vote but do not have access to Conference tickets . . .\u00a0to request tickets\u201d from their leaders in order to stage a protest there. \u00a0They also urge dissidents unable to obtain tickets to arrive at the stand-by line early, so as to ensure that they, rather than believing Mormons<\/a> who support the General Authorities, will gain access to General Conference.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

To their credit, the organizers of this protest add that \u201cParticipants are to be aware that that this is a peaceful vote and not a disruption of General Conference. Participants are encouraged to dress and behave respectfully due to the sacredness and decorum of the Conference setting. Any indication of violent or malicious intent will be reported to law enforcement authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, they also indicate that they \u201cwill remain anonymous in the attempt to prevent LDS leadership from singling out and preventing specific individuals from participation,\u201d and in the hope of avoiding \u201creprisal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Monterey, California<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 My friend Michael De Groote calls my attention to a plan to oppose the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the Church\u2019s upcoming annual General Conference. \u00a0 Calling themselves \u201ca group of concerned members\u201d of the Church, its organizers seek \u201cto express feedback, opinions, dissent, or dissatisfaction about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOpposing Church leadership at the next General Conference<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    My friend Michael De Groote calls my attention to a plan to oppose the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/opposing-church-leadership-at-the-next-general-conference.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Opposing Church leadership at the next General Conference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    My friend Michael De Groote calls my attention to a plan to oppose the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/opposing-church-leadership-at-the-next-general-conference.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-06T21:12:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-07T01:52:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2015\/03\/799px-LDS_Conference_Center_interior_panoramic-300x90.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/opposing-church-leadership-at-the-next-general-conference.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/opposing-church-leadership-at-the-next-general-conference.html\",\"name\":\"Opposing Church leadership at the next General Conference\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-06T21:12:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-07T01:52:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    My friend Michael De Groote calls my attention to a plan to oppose the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/opposing-church-leadership-at-the-next-general-conference.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/opposing-church-leadership-at-the-next-general-conference.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/opposing-church-leadership-at-the-next-general-conference.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Opposing Church leadership at the next General Conference\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Opposing Church leadership at the next General Conference","description":"    My friend Michael De Groote calls my attention to a plan to oppose the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/opposing-church-leadership-at-the-next-general-conference.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Opposing Church leadership at the next General Conference","og_description":"    My friend Michael De Groote calls my attention to a plan to oppose the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/opposing-church-leadership-at-the-next-general-conference.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2015-03-06T21:12:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-03-07T01:52:43+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2015\/03\/799px-LDS_Conference_Center_interior_panoramic-300x90.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/opposing-church-leadership-at-the-next-general-conference.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/opposing-church-leadership-at-the-next-general-conference.html","name":"Opposing Church leadership at the next General Conference","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-03-06T21:12:27+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-07T01:52:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    My friend Michael De Groote calls my attention to a plan to oppose the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/opposing-church-leadership-at-the-next-general-conference.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/opposing-church-leadership-at-the-next-general-conference.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/03\/opposing-church-leadership-at-the-next-general-conference.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Opposing Church leadership at the next General Conference"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18453\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}