<Date>
Dear President <Stake President Name>,
In accordance with my rights and responsibilities as a member
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (hereafter, “the Church”) in
the <Stake or District Name> in the <Ward or Branch Name>, and
under the instruction stated by President Henry B. Eyring in the Saturday Afternoon
Session of the 191st Semi-Annual General Conference of the Church, I
would like to submit a vote of opposition under the principle of common consent
as taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith in Doctrine and Covenants Section 26. My
vote of opposition is on the following proposals:
·
Russell Marion Nelson as prophet, seer and
revelator and President of the Church; Dallin Harris Oaks as First Counselor in
the First Presidency; and Henry Bennion Eyring as Second Counselor in the First
Presidency
·
Dallin H. Oaks as President of the Quorum of the
Twelve Apostles and M. Russell Ballard as Acting President of the Quorum of the
Twelve Apostles
·
As members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:
M. Russell Ballard, Jeffrey R. Holland, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, David A. Bednar, Quentin
L. Cook, D. Todd Christofferson, Neil L. Andersen, Ronald A. Rasband, Gary E.
Stevenson, Dale G. Renlund, Gerrit W. Gong, and Ulisses Soares
·
The counselors in the First Presidency and the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators
·
Other General Authorities, Area Seventies, and
General Officers as called or presently constituted
<Below, enter your reasons for issuing an opposing vote. This
can be as detailed or as simple as you would like. I have included the substance
of my own letter as a reference. Feel free to use that content as a guide in
your own letter.>
As a holistic list of reasons for my opposing vote would transform
this letter into an exercise of excess, I would like to focus on a handful of
reasons for my opposition under the law of common consent. In summary, these
are the pervasive bigotry of the General Authorities, Area Authorities, and
General Officers of the Church against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and
queer (LGBTQ) members; the dishonesty of members of the First Presidency and
the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; the dereliction of responsibilities as
prophets, seers, and revelators exhibited by the First Presidency and the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; the altering of ordinances, a condition of apostasy;
deceit on the part of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
in describing their compensation and the use of “sacred tithing funds”.
As a young member of the Church raised in California, I had
the opportunity to witness or participate in two political campaigns under the
guidance of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and/or the
General Authority and Area Authority Seventies responsible against the LGBTQ
community. The first was the 2000 California Proposition 22, also known as the
Knight Initiative, in which the Church directed local leaders to solicit donations
from wealthy members in support of the Proposition. The Church’s involvement in
the campaign was a contributing factor in the suicides of Stuart Matis, D.J.
Thompson, and Clay Whitmer. Without admission of guilt or seeking repentance,
the Church continued its bigoted campaign under the direction of the First
Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 2008 with its infamous
support of California Proposition 8. When the United States Supreme Court
declared Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and so-called “DOMA-lite” state laws
unconstitutional in the Obergefell v. Hodges case in 2015, the First
Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles responded by secretly issuing
a new policy that has been called the “November Policy of Exclusion”. This policy
prohibited the baptisms of the children of same-sex couples until the age of
18, at which time they would be required to disavow their parents’ loving
relationship if they wished to be baptized. Entering a loving, consensual same-sex
marriage was made a spiritual crime more severe than rape or fraud. This policy,
which only become public knowledge when church critic John Dehlin leaked the
file on November 5, 2015, was stated to be “revelation” by Russell M. Nelson at
a January 2016 speech at Brigham Young University-Hawaii. This “revelation” was
overturned on April 9, 2019.
In the past, members of the First Presidency and the Quorum
of the Twelve Apostles have made false teachings about LGBTQ members or have committed
or endorsed heinous acts of violence against the LGBTQ community. In The
Miracle of Forgiveness and in a 1980 General Conference talk, Spencer W. Kimball
taught that masturbation leads to homosexuality. Indeed, President Cook, were
this a true teaching, I would wager that a great many elders of the church would
be homosexuals. In his October 1976 General Conference address, future President
of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Boyd K. Packer casually endorsed violence
against homosexuals in a “retired” talk called “Message to Young Men”. The talk
was circulated in a pamphlet called “To Young Men Only” for decades before this
“retirement”. As President of Brigham Young University, Dallin H. Oaks, the
current President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, oversaw an “aversion therapy”
program which was carried out in the basements of the university. Gay men were
strapped to chair with electrodes attached to sensitive areas, including their
genitals. They were shown pornographic images and experienced electric shock if
they experienced arousal. Apart from the questionable practice of the Church procuring
and showing pornographic images for any cause, the described actions can only
be fittingly described as a “torture dungeon”. As mentioned, this was overseen
by the First Counselor in the First Presidency and President of the Quorum of
the Twelve Apostles, Dallin H. Oaks. This despicable practice is now officially
repudiated by the Church, but Dallin H. Oaks and the Church have offered no
apologies to their victims, and Dallin H. Oaks is permitted by other members of
the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve to sit in council and to
preside over them. This alone is cause enough to issue an opposing vote, but it
constitutes only the beginning of my reasons for writing this letter.
Honesty and integrity are among the most important characteristics
a sustained leader of the Church can hold. The First Presidency and the Quorum of
the Twelve Apostles fail to meet this standard. When acting as Church
Historian, Joseph Fielding Smith came across the 1832 account of the First
Vision in one of Joseph Smith’s journals. Embarrassed by what he had found, the
future Church President excised the account from the journal and stored it in
his safe. It was only upon the urging of church critics Jerald and Sandra
Tanner that the account was restored to the journal and released to the public.
This is dishonest. This is without integrity. President Russell M. Nelson, the
current President of the Church, has described on several occasions an
experience where he was on a plane when the engine suddenly exploded. There was
incredible turbulence and a woman crying in terror as the plane plummeted
towards the ground. Because of his faith, Nelson was at peace. Fortunately, the
pilot was able to get control of the plane, masterfully maneuvering to
extinguish the flames. President Nelson was even able to make it on time to his
meeting, perhaps the greatest miracle in the Church. Unfortunately for
President Nelson’s account, the records do not support his narrative. Church
critic Radio Free Mormon has pieced together the disparate accounts offered by
President Nelson of the events of that day to find the relevant flight records
and accident reporting. The engine of the plane never exploded. The pilot put
the plane down as a precaution because of suspected engine trouble. The meeting
was two days after the flight. President Nelson presents a dishonest narrative to
build faith.
Member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Jeffrey R.
Holland has been caught lying on several occasions. In his famous discourse
defending the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, “Safety for the Soul”, Holland
claimed to be holding the very copy of the Book of Mormon that Hyrum Smith
carried into Carthage Jail just before the slaying of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.
The copy in Holland’s hand is not that copy. On another occasion,
Jeffrey R. Holland relayed a miraculous story to a group of mission presidents
about a family that was reunited through the missionary service of one son to
another. After the account was published far and wide, the family reached out to
Holland and informed him that the facts in his account were incorrect. On
August 23, 2021, Holland was once again caught misrepresenting the truth when
he described 2019 BYU valedictorian Matt Easton’s speech as “commandeering” the
valedictory podium. Matt Easton, who came out publicly as gay in his speech,
had his speech by vetted by the university before speaking. Holland lied.
Holland has, to date, made no attempts to correct the record. On the charge of
dishonesty, I issue a vote of opposition.
We are asked to sustain the members of the First Presidency
and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators. How
can I be asked to sustain them as such when they are derelict in all those
responsibilities? One of my favorite scriptures as a missionary, and indeed, a
scripture that was quoted in the October 2021 General Conference of the Church,
Amos 3:7 states, “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret
to his servants the prophets.” In October 2019, President Russell M. Nelson
claimed that the April 2020 General Conference would be “different from any
previous conference”. In March 2020, the world shut down as the COVID-19
pandemic began to spread in earnest. As it would turn out, the April 2020
General Conference was different, but not for the reasons that President
Nelson had asserted in October 2019. Said President Nelson, “Little did I know,
when I promised you at the October 2019 general conference that this April conference
would be ‘memorable’ and ‘unforgettable,’ that speaking to a visible
congregation of fewer than 10 people would make this conference so memorable
and unforgettable for me!” What features of this Conference actually
existed and informed the prophetic message of Russell M. Nelson in October 2019?
Not a warning of a great plague as the prophets of old would have done. Nor did
he counsel the members to wear masks, socially distance, participate in contact
tracing, and receive the eventual vaccine at the first availability. No, the prophesied
aspects of the Conference included a Hosana Shout, a new Proclamation, and a
new logo. In other words, God’s secret message to humanity during the greatest
plague in a century was a new logo for a church. This represents a gross dereliction
of duty. The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have acted
slowly in raising their voices about the obligations of each member to combat the
COVID-19 pandemic. This has allowed a strong anti-vaccine and far-right
conservative movement to foment and fester in the Church communities. On the
charge of dereliction in their capacity as prophets, seers, and revelators, I issue
a vote of opposition against the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that the ordinances of the
Gospel “instituted in the heavens before the foundation of the world, in the priesthood,
for the salvation of men, are not to be altered or changed.” Improper performance
of the ordinances is considered a basis for the Lord to reject the Church (Teachings
of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith Chapter 36). In my lifetime,
the endowment has changed several times, first removing the penalties for
revealing the tokens of the Priesthood with their accompanying names and signs
to the present day where the covenants that women take in the temple have been
changed. This is to say nothing of the changes to the initiatory ordinance. If
the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles wish to claim an
unbroken chain of Priesthood authority from Joseph Smith to the present day,
then it is apparent that they are in apostasy because of the changes to the
ordinances which they have instituted. On this charge, I issue an opposing
vote.
According to FAIR Latter-Day Saints, a church apologetics
group, a 2013 Church manual for teens stated, “In our day, General Authorities of
the Church give up their livelihoods to serve full-time, so they receive a
modest living allowance – enough for them to support themselves and their
families.” In principle, there is nothing wrong with this. The nature of the
world requires financial support for those who are devoting themselves full-time
to any cause. The word “modest” to describe the stipend is, however, quite
deceptive. Leaked Henry B. Eyring pay stubs show that the current Second Counselor
in the First Presidency was earning a gross income in 2000 that exceeds my current
salary. Using calculations to adjust for cost-of-living increases, the current “modest
stipend” for the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the First Presidency would
be six-figures. This is without consideration for housing allowances, travel
allowances, and other expenses. Thanks to the efforts of a whistleblower, it
was revealed that the Church holds over $100 billion in investment assets
through the Ensign Peak fund. With a marginal rate of return of just 7%, the Church
could cover its annual operating expenses from the interest on this money
alone. Nevertheless, the Church continues to collect tithing from its members
and exclude non-tithe-paying members from temple service. How is it moral for a
Fortune 100 corporation, marketing itself as a 501(c)(3) charitable
organization, to extort tithing dollars from members in impoverished conditions
upon threat of being unable to attend a loved one’s wedding? This is perhaps
the least Christian feature of a Church that once conducted torture experiments
in the basements of its university. This immorality is another charge upon
which I issue a vote of opposition.
The aforementioned are just a few reasons why I feel
compelled to exercise my right and responsibilities as a member of the Church
to issue an opposing vote under the law of common consent. I ask that you
coordinate this vote through the appropriate channels and to ensure that it
receives a place at the desks of Russell Marion Nelson, Dallin Harris Oaks,
Henry Bennion Eyring, M. Russell Ballard, Jeffrey R. Holland, Dieter F. Uchtdorf,
David A. Bednar, Quentin L. Cook, D. Todd Christofferson, Neil L. Andersen, Ronald
A. Rasband, Gary E. Stevenson, Dale G. Renlund, Gerrit W. Gong, and Ulisses
Soares, and the other General Authorities, Area Authorities, and General
Officers of the Church. Please feel free to contact me at the email address or
phone number provided in my membership record if you have any questions or
concerns that you would like to discuss with me. Thank you for your time and
consideration in reviewing the contents of this letter.
Very Respectfully,
Signature
<Your full name>
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