Utah Mormon activist to learn fate in coming days: Salt Lake Tribune

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[February 10, 2015]  By Peg McEntee
 
 SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - A prominent Mormon activist who faces possible excommunication after going against the church by supporting same-sex marriage and questioning doctrine is set to learn his fate "in the coming" days, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

John Dehlin, founder of the Mormon Stories website and podcast, has drawn supporters and the attention of church leaders who fear his work could unduly influence the faithful.

A disciplinary council met privately for three hours with Dehlin and his wife, Margi, in North Logan, a city about 85 miles (137 km) north of Salt Lake City, the paper said.

He would be notified of his fate in writing "in the coming days", the paper reported, quoting a church representative.

"I will be waiting anxiously for that letter," Dehlin told the Tribune.

A call to Dehlin was not immediately returned on Monday. However, Dehlin has said the church has found fault with his positions on same-sex marriage, the ordination of women, and for doubting key elements of orthodox Mormon theology.

He has also criticized the way the church deals with gay and lesbian members, feminists and intellectuals.

Eric Dawkins, a spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the Mormons are officially known, declined to comment when reached on Monday.

Among other issues, the church strongly opposes gay marriage, although same-sex marriage is legal in Utah, its base.

Dehlin's struggles with the church have triggered one of its most high-profile threats of discipline, stemming from his role as the outspoken founder of "Mormon Stories," an online discussion forum and podcast that has run for 10 years.

In another prominent instance of church discipline, feminist Kate Kelly, the founder of the website Ordain Women, was excommunicated last June, after church leaders found she violated its "laws and order."

(Editing by Curtis Skinner)

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