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Dehlin: “Church leaders likely see both Peterson and myself as bad for PR. And next to the temple, maybe, I believe that PR is perhaps the most sacred thing to church leadership.”

Discuss.

Dehlin is enjoying the ride.“In the history of the modern LDS church, there has never been a better time to be a progressive Mormon,” he says. “The Internet — combined with the church’s passion for positive PR and the intense media exposure of the Romney moment — have combined to create a perfect storm of protection — almost a safe haven — for progressive Mormons to speak without fear of reprisal.”

Almost seems like he is baiting the church, just daring them to take some action against him.

Willy Law wrote:

Dehlin is enjoying the ride.“In the history of the modern LDS church, there has never been a better time to be a progressive Mormon,” he says. “The Internet — combined with the church’s passion for positive PR and the intense media exposure of the Romney moment — have combined to create a perfect storm of protection — almost a safe haven — for progressive Mormons to speak without fear of reprisal.”

Almost seems like he is baiting the church, just daring them to take some action against him.

I think he's telling progressive Mormons to speak up now, because that window of opportunity may be closing after November.

CaliforniaKid wrote:Dehlin: “Church leaders likely see both Peterson and myself as bad for PR. And next to the temple, maybe, I believe that PR is perhaps the most sacred thing to church leadership.”

Discuss.

I think there are number of evidences for this.

The "I'm a Mormon" campaign.

'Repudiation' of unusual past doctrines. For example:
Getting your own planet.
The White Horse Prophecy.

Also as noted in the article, in the past the John Dehlin/Johanna Brook types would likely have been cast out. Also just the whole overall tone the church takes in their press releases is much more timid. Now they're the kind of press releases you'd expect from any large corporation.

harmony wrote:

Dehlin is enjoying the ride.“In the history of the modern LDS church, there has never been a better time to be a progressive Mormon,” he says. “The Internet — combined with the church’s passion for positive PR and the intense media exposure of the Romney moment — have combined to create a perfect storm of protection — almost a safe haven — for progressive Mormons to speak without fear of reprisal.”

I think he's telling progressive Mormons to speak up now, because that window of opportunity may be closing after November.

Yeah. I think he his right. If there is ever a chance of bottom-up reformation...now is the time.

Of course, I have admitted that I am pretty "stupid" to cling to that kind of hope. Sometimes the idealists in my nature gets the better of me?

:(

I rather liked the way that the Salon author characterized DCP's style as "adversarial." This just reinforces the point that I and others have been making for years: this is how the FARMS apologists come across. It's only the hardcore, lower-tier people who somehow *don't* think that their style is inappropriate. It's as if these people actually need the attacks to go on, and there's something disturbing about that.

Excellent find, sock puppet!

With the readership Salon has, thousands could potentially read about these developments. This is incredible, especially given the fact that, in the larger scheme of things, it is a mere tempest in a teapot.

The Good Doctor is right about the minions of classic-FARMS fighting on for the foreseeable future. It is amazing to me that, although these events have included two or three interventions from GA-level leadership, the apologists continue to press on, as though this were just Bradford's doing.

Willy Law wrote:Almost seems like he is baiting the church, just daring them to take some action against him.

I read this on John's public Facebook page yesterday:

Fred W. Anson: John I was saddened to hear about the discipline you received from your Bishop. Very sad. 17 hours ago Like 6

Perhaps the church already has taken action.