Latest from Mormon Land: Member of the ‘September Six’ disciplined by the church dies; Oaks mentions Heavenly Mother(s)

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Remembering Lynne Whitesides

A third member of the “September Six” has died.

Lynne Kanavel Whitesides, who was disfellowshipped for her writings on Heavenly Mother and for public comments she made about the church’s treatment of women, died July 7 from pneumonia and leukemia. She was 73.

Whitesides was the first of six Latter-day Saint scholars and advocates disciplined by church leaders in September 1993 for “apostasy.”

“Being disfellowshipped was one of the best things that ever happened to me,” she once said. “It opened up a world of spirituality I didn’t even know was possible.”

That opening led her to an ever-evolving and ever-expanding range of interests.

“Lynne got deeply involved with Native American ceremonies,” the family’s obituary states. “... She started a practice as a life coach, which very much defined her life for the last 20 years.”

Ever a “nonconformist,” the obit adds, Whitesides carried a “spirit of curiosity and compassion” in which she “lovingly invited others into greater intimacy with themselves, with life, and with each other. …She died how she lived, with courage, surrounded by loved ones.”

Whitesides is survived by two sons, a daughter and six grandchildren. She was preceded in death by fellow “September Six” members: historian D. Michael Quinn, who died in 2021, and writer-editor Lavina Fielding Anderson, who died in 2023 and was posthumously readmitted into the church a year later.

Heavenly Mother(s)?

Fact: The church teaches there is a Heavenly Mother.

Fact: It also allows men to be “sealed” in the eternities to multiple wives (church President Russell Nelson and his top counselor, Dallin Oaks, for instance, both married a second woman in the temple after their first wives died).

Question: So does God have multiple wives?

Even Oaks, the 92-year-old apostle next in line to lead the global church, isn’t sure.

“We know that we are children of Heavenly Parents,” he says in a video from his appearance in Belgium. “So we know that we have a Heavenly Mother or Mothers.”

Those final two words are garnering attention online and have Exponent II blogger Linda Hamilton “rattled.”

“It’s a clear indication that the church isn’t going to be un-muddying the waters around polygamy anytime soon,” Hamilton writes. “Some members like to pretend that polygamy is something from the past, and we shouldn’t worry about it. But…we’re still swimming in this water every day.”

The latest ‘Mormon Land’ podcast: Endorsing candidates

In the wake of an IRS filing that says religions can endorse political candidates, the question arises: Might the time come that the church publicly supports office seekers?

Listen to the podcast.

• The third crossover episode between “Mormon Land” and “Mormons in Media” zeroes in on the “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” reunion. Listen to this bonus podcast. (The reality show, by the way, earned an Emmy nomination this week.)

Choir celebrates 5K

The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square aired its 5,000th episode of “Music and the Spoken Word,” already the world’s longest continuously running network broadcast.

“I remember the first broadcast” on July 15, 1929, 101-year-old Warna Huff said in a news release. “It was something you don’t forget.”

In fact, she still tunes in every week. “It just makes you feel good,” Huff said. “...The music’s beautiful.”

More on Mike Lee

We wrote earlier this month about the concerns voiced by members and others regarding the sometimes cruel and callous online comments posted by Utah Sen. Mike Lee.

Well, those worries apparently extend to inside church headquarters.

Politico reports that the Latter-day Saint Republican’s social media barbs became a topic of discussion after several senior leaders saw them, and fears arose that they could damage the faith’s image. Ultimately, the church stayed silent on the issue.

A gay member’s journey out of the faith

In Esquire, a gay Latter-day Saint shares his struggles to stay within the church, his battles over enforcement of BYU’s Honor Code and his decision to leave the faith.

“What I’ve learned is that sometimes the most faithful thing you can do is admit that a path isn’t working for you,” explains 36-year-old Los Angeles resident Brett Evans. “...The church wanted me to be a good Mormon who happened to be gay. I needed to be a whole person who happened to have been Mormon.”

A $27M temple

The church has submitted a permit to build a $27 million single-spired, single-story, 29,000-square-foot temple in Jacksonville, Florida, the Jacksonville Business Journal reports.

From The Tribune

• Don’t expect apostles to be endorsing candidates from the pulpit anytime soon — even in the wake of an IRS filing that allows clergy to do just that. The church instead points to its policy of political neutrality.

• Pulitzer-winning cartoonist, a grandson of former church President Ezra Taft Benson, has died.