Aristotle Smith wrote:Just long enough to have plausible deniability that his time was really up and the release had nothing to do with him shooting his mouth off.
I hope the former Bishop Kloosterman enjoys his new calling in the Cub Scouts. He is going to be there a good long while.
Being a Bishop is hard work. I am sure he will enjoy his new calling. At 4.5 years I was ready to be released but ended up going on for about 1 year and 3 months longer.
Willy Law wrote:certainly goes against the latest trend outside the morcor that bishops are serving longer sentences. My bro in law was recently told that he should expect to serve at least seven years.
Aristotle Smith wrote:[True.
My only point is that it's close enough to the old "5 year sentence" that used to be customary for Mormon bishops. Because of that, there is room to finagle. Had he been released after only 2-3 years, the plausible deniability goes away.
In our area it is about 4.5-6 years. BPs tend to go longer if there is not a lot to choose from.
I really believe that this release was amicable (as was described by the Bishop on his Facebook post). It sounds like his relationship is good with his SP. However, I do know that he was called in and talked to after what took place at the SLC Mormon Stories conference, "Circling the Wagons – a conference for LGBTQ Mormons and their friends, families and allies" that was held 4.5 months ago.
Now that he is heavily involved with planning a conference with the same title in Washington D.C. (to be held April 20 - 22nd), I have to believe that it was decided it was best to release Kloosterman from serving as Bishop. They could overlook his involvement with the one conference, but now that it is apparent he is going to be involved in others, it was probably a mutual decision for him to step down. I'm only speculating here, of course.
As long as the decision was amicable, did not involve a court marshal or a firing squad then the release does not seem horrendous.
I wonder after reading what Jason said about Dehlin and Brooks if there is a relationship between public visibility of the member and the latitude granted for supporting the rights of the downtrodden.
