Sunstone Magazine

From the 2000 Sunstone Symposium

Presentation: Multiply and Replenish– If You Want To: The 1999 LDS Church Birth Control Policy in Perspective

Presenters:

Chair: Chris Zollinger

Maxine Hanks, writer; editor, Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism.

Karrie Galloway, president, CEO, Planned Parenthood Association of Utah

Rebecca Chandler, LDS mother of eight children, Co-editor, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought

Abstract: In 1999, a new LDS church policy gave Mormons significant freedom. For the first time in 170 years, birth control is officially a completely personal decision. This paper compares the new 1998-99 policy on birth control with previous official policies in 1989, 1976, and 1969. Other historical views on LDS birth control and childbearing are reviewed. The benefits of the new birth control and childbearing are reviewed. The benefits of the new birth control policy are explored, while the effects of previous policies are also considered. Statements from parents will share how past birth control policies after their lives. The year 2000 also marks the 40th anniversary of the Pill, the first time in history when women could safely and effectively control childbearing by taking the pill. It also marked 30 years of Planned Parenthood in Utah.

From the 1991 Sunstone Symposium

Presentation: The “One Anointed and Appointed”: An Analysis of Polygamist Priesthood Authority

Presenters:

Chair: Anne Wilde

Brian C. Hales, M.D.

J. Ma Anderson, architect; author, The Polygamy Story: Fiction and Fact

Fred Collier, writer; publisher, Doctrines of the Priesthood

Abstract: The modern polygamy movement boasts more participants today than existed at the time of the 1890 Manifesto. However, many divisions exist among these current practitioners of plural marriage. One important area of contrast concerns the keys sealing restored through Joseph Smith. These keys must be utilized if present marriages are to be “valid in the world to come.” This paper will examine several of the priesthood lines of polygamist sealing authority with an emphasis on Lorin C. Woolley’s purported 1886 ordinations, including the claims of the LeBarons, Joseph W. Musser, the Allreds, the “Shortcreek” polygamists, and various “Independents.”

From the 1993 Sunstone West Symposium

Presentation: Whoa, Man, What’s Not History? Hugh Had Better Believe It

Presenters:

Chair: Matthew Hulse

Samuel W. Taylor, author, Nightfall at Nauvoo

Newell Bringhurst, instructor, History and Political Science, College of the Sequoias

Abstract: How intellectually honest was Hugh Nibley’s attack on Fawn Brodie’s biography of Joseph Smith? While simultaneously shedding more light on the true characters of Smith, his biographer, and the early church, this paper excoriates Nibley for sins of omission, commission, and plenty of over-zealous mission.

From the 2010 Summer Symposium in Salt Lake City

Presentation: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty in the Mormon Community

Presenters:

Moderator: Kaimipono Wenger, JD, assistant professor, Thomas Jefferson Law School, San Diego.

Kristine Haglund, editor, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought

Bridget Jack Jeffries, MA candidate, history of Christianity in America, Trinity Divinity School.

John Dehlin, PhD, clinical/counseling psychology, Utah State University, funder of Mormon Stories podcast, StayLDS.com

Abstract: The work of political economist Albert Hirschman suggests a nuanced approach to public dissatisfaction with an organization. Dissatisfied members of an organization, business, or nation have a variety of choices available, including both exit (simply leaving) and voice (discussing their dissatisfaction). As Hirschman notes, greater loyalty to the organization can correspond to greater use of voice. Contradicting traditional Mormon views, dissent may actually indicate greater loyalty to the organization than does silent acquiescence. Panelists will discuss loyalty, voice, exit, and dissent from a variety of angles, ultimately suggesting that the LDS understanding of public disagreement may be underdeveloped, and sketching ways in which legitimate dissent could take on a broader role in the LDS community.