Skip to main content.
Religion News Blog is a non-profit service providing academics, religion professionals and other researchers with religion & cult news
ReligionNewsBlog

Religion news articles about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues

Navigation:
A Random Image
Mormonism/Mormon Church:

Dissident LDS intellectuals say excommunications will continue


ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 1517 • Posted: Thursday December 12, 2002  

Click here... More articles on this topic: Mormonism/Mormon Church

AP, Dec. 11, 2002
http://www.harktheherald.com/
PATTY HENETZ, Associated Press Writer

SALT LAKE CITY — Egyptologist Ed Ashment sympathizes with Washington anthropologist for now has escaped excommunication from the LDS Church.

But Ashment, a fellow member of the church, said he was disgusted with those who publicly protested the church action at a rally for Murphy on Salt Lake City’s Main Street plaza Sunday night.

“The church is a voluntary organization,” Ashment said. “If one speaks out in a way the organization feels is unacceptable, the church has every right to ask them to leave.”

A former coordinator of translation services for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ashment isn’t just preaching.

He, too, is under ecclesiastical investigation and expects to be excommunicated for publishing articles that assert church founder Joseph Smith fabricated key LDS texts he said were translations of ancient scriptures.

If that happens, Ashment will join the ranks of other dissidents stripped of their LDS Church membership after the sudden, public 1993 purge of six LDS scholars who questioned church doctrine.

Since then, others excommunicated include:

* David Wright, a professor of Hebrew studies and the Bible at Brandeis University, excommunicated in April 1994 for articles asserting the Book of Mormon was a 19th-century creation of church founder Joseph Smith.

*Michael Barrett, assistant general counsel for the CIA, excommunicated in 1994 for disobedience after writing letters to editors of several newspapers correcting news stories about Mormonism.

*Brent Metcalfe, editor of the anthology “New Approaches to the Book of Mormon,” published by Signature Books in Salt Lake City, also in 1994. Metcalfe also edited “American Apocrypha,” which included the article in which Murphy used genetic research to challenge the Book of Mormon doctrine that American Indians are descendants of ancient Israelite families.

*Janice Allred, a housewife and mother of nine, excommunicated in May 1997 for submitting papers on her personal studies of theological topics at a symposium organized by Sunstone, a journal of LDS ideas and scholarship.

*Margaret Toscano, a classics professor at the University of Utah, excommunicated in 2000 for writing on feminist issues after being told not to. Her husband, Paul, was one of those excommunicated in 1993.

*Shane LeGrande Whelan, author of “More Than One: Plural Marriage, A Sacred Heritage, A Promise For Tomorrow,” excommunicated Aug. 11 for refusing to stop marketing his self-published book. His wife, Rhonda, who researched the book, was disfellowshipped two weeks later. She has since divorced him.

A disfellowshipped member retains church membership but loses certain privileges of membership, such as being able to go into the temple or serve a church calling.

Rhonda Whelan didn’t respond to a telephone request for an interview.

The “


What You Can Do From Here

Read More Articles On These Topics
more religion news aboutmore Religion News Blog articles about
Share, Blog About, Bookmark, or Email This Article
Subscribe
Read Another Article
Find Related Information
cult research search enginecountercult information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults
Find Related Books


Most Popular Today


Share This Article

To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:





Counter Cult Search

Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support.


Note: results are listed on another domain -- CounterCultSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.


Apologetics Search

Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs.


Note: results are listed on another domain -- ApologeticsSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.

About Religion News Blog
Religion News Blog (RNB), published by Apologetics Index, highlights news items and other resources on world religions, cults, religious sects, alternative religions and related issues. RNB's non-profit news clipping service is used by - among others - Christian apologists, countercult professionals, anticult organizations, cult experts, teachers, religion professionals, reporters and other researchers.

Home
Latest Headlines
RSS news feed [?]
Headlines by Email
News Trackers
Free content for your site
About RNB
Privacy Policy
Contact RNB
Link to RNB
Advertise on RNB
Apologetics Index
Cult FAQ
Apologetics Search Engine
CounterCult Search Engine