Web Site Editor May Face Mormon Excommunication

The following is an excerpt from an article in:


The New York Times
Saturday, September 22, 2012

Web Site Editor May Face Mormon Excommunication

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

The editor of a Web site that encourages Mormons to question church history and doctrine has been told that he faces a church trial and possible excommunication because he is an apostate who is trying to lead church members astray.

David Twede, a fifth-generation Mormon who lives in Florida, is the managing editor of MormonThink, one of the most influential of the many Web sites on which active and former Mormons debate church teaching. Such sites have drawn increased traffic as Mormons turn to the Internet to find answers to controversial questions about Mormon history and traditions that the church does not address.

The church has come under heightened scrutiny with the presidential candidacy of Mitt Romney, a Mormon who once served as a bishop. The church went through a spate of public excommunications of prominent scholars and feminists in the early 1990s, but in recent years public excommunications of dissidents have been rare, church experts said.

Mr. Twede’s situation was first reported on Friday by the Web site The Daily Beast, which suggested that Mr. Twede was being disciplined because he had posted several articles on MormonThink critical of Mr. Romney.

For more, visit www.nytimes.com.