Buzzfeed: Twede Excom Story "Went Viral" -Called "Baseless"

[_Kishkumen]

Here is my take:

Republican Mitt Romney supporter and FAIR apologist Scott Gordon ratted out David Twede of MormonThink, who had written and published some pieces on Mormonism and politics directly or indirectly related to the issue of having an LDS candidate for president.

Twede took a risk by revealing too much of his identity--I think because he thought the Mitt issue would protect him from consequences.

What he did not fully appreciate, it seems, is that the Church has not fully worked out how to handle disciplinary action strategically, such that the best interests of both the individual and the Church are served.

In this case, Gordon probably ratted out Twede out of mixture of motives, and I would not exclude his political sympathies from that list. Once he got that ball rolling, the only thing that could stop it until PR intervened was the good sense of the leadership. But I don't think that either the apostles, area authorities, or local leaders really have a set plan for dealing with media-explosive issues involving Church discipline. Some probably think that they should press on in principle. Some think it would be wise to wait until the storm passes over and discipline can be undertaken outside of the spotlight.

In this case, PR intervened, causing the process to be paused until after the election. The way this was reported and handled was just clumsy enough to give the impression that politics may have had something to do with it, even though, officially, politics had nothing to do with it. I would say that politics have *something* to do with it, but not such that it can be pinned on the COB as a deliberate plan to swat down Twede for criticizing the Church in politics.

I would say that the most one can say is that Scott Gordon's motives may not have been completely pure, and that he was perhaps pleased to participate in bringing down a critic who is also critical of Mitt Romney, Gordon's candidate of choice.

[_lulu]

was the good sense of the leadership.

I'm going to hazzard a guess the Pres. Allen "Masturbation" Pratt might come up a little short on the "good sense leadership" stick.

[_DrW]

What surprised me about the whole fiasco was the number of fact based denunciations of Mormonism that appeared in the comments sections of several national online publications that carried the story. These negative comments came from a variety of sources, and the strength of secular positions seemed very strong as compared to the positions of those defending the Church.

The comment sections I saw could have used a few articulate Mormon posters. Most comments in defense of the Church were from people who simply kept insisting that the Book of Mormon was true and that detractors didn't understand Mormonism and therefore had no right to make negative comments.

Wonder if some of the faithful, in reading some of the comment threads, were wondering why no real Mopologists showed up to defend the LDS Church.

[_zeezrom]

Thanks for clearing that up for me. So basically, the cause for ex'ing Twede would not be Romney criticism, but LDS Inc would not ex Twede for his non-Romney offenses in the midst of a Romney/Mormon presidency. That makes sense.

I guess they realized any ex'ing during the campaign is bad news.