{"id":349,"date":"2014-06-30T18:29:32","date_gmt":"2014-06-30T18:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=349"},"modified":"2015-10-13T19:05:43","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T19:05:43","slug":"modern-mormonism-kicking-out-and-keeping-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2014\/06\/30\/modern-mormonism-kicking-out-and-keeping-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Modern Mormonism: Kicking Out and Keeping In"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last\u00a0week the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints drew media attention for the public excommunication of Kate Kelly, a prominent member of the church working for the ordination of women. Women are not permitted to hold the priesthood<\/a> in the LDS church, meaning that<\/a> they do not have the authority to act in god\u2019s name, nor can they lead congregations or perform particular sacraments. This is not the first instance of high profile excommunications from the church\u2014in September 1993, six Mormon professors and feminists were excommunicated after church court trials in Utah. These progressive scholars, coined the \u201cSeptember Six<\/a>\u201d by news media, had published research contradicting official church history, or publicly advocated a feminist position.\u00a0Al Jazeera interviewed<\/a> Professor Jan Shipps<\/a> on the issue, who said this was one instance of the church practicing \u201cboundary maintenance,\u201d but how do these scandals help keep the church together?<\/p>\n

Mormonism didn\u2019t necessarily always exclude<\/i> women from high-profile involvement with the church. Instead, the development of formal institutions and bureaucracies tended to erase historical arrangements where women had a more equal role to male priests.<\/h5>\n