In June 2015 Rock Waterman, who hosts the popular blog Pure Mormonism, attended a Church Disciplinary Council in Sacramento California where he was excommunicated. Several questions arise out of this incident not the least being – ‘What does it take these days to be considered an apostate?’.
In this podcast we talk about what lead Rock to begin blogging; the reaction his blog has received; some of his most controversial pieces; his conversations with his local leaders, and the events surrounding his excommunication.
In particular we consider the process of the Church Disciplinary Council as is required by the General Handbook of Instructions and how it was conducted in Rock’s case.
I come from a very alcoholic family and saw many beer and wine alcoholics. My son became an alcoholic in spite of the fact that his parents never drank and taught him the Mormon way of abstinence. I am not against people drinking these two beverages as long as they are taught that that those who were born into alcoholic families have a high risk of themselves becoming alcoholics in spite of their best intentions. If they choose to imbibe beer and/or wine anyway, they need information constantly available about how to get help if an alcohol problem develops. They need to understand that there is no shame in having an alcohol problem. Shame causes people to go into denial and refuse to get help. But I know that most people are not at risk of becoming alcoholics from beer and wine and they will be fine, as long as they stay away from those distilled products!
on the topic of barley beer, or ale, it was a staple during times when water from wells were said to be contaminated. they boiled the barley in the water to kill the bacteria and then added alcohol to keep it sterile. after a day of heavy labour, it was something to look forward to and wind down.
btw, i came through this podcast via rock’s blog. i noticed it doesn’t appear when you type in the name of the website. glad i looked on rock’s blog! i’m still listening to the first podcast but enjoying it very much.
Gina,
Wonderful interview! Your questions allowed the REAL Rock to shine forth. He and Connie are among the sweetest people we have ever met, and the injustice shown to them by that court will sadly not reflect well upon those involved.
They may have thought they were doing the Lord’s work, but I should rather think that their work is a shiningly sad example of the “justice” currently being meted out at the behest of high church officials.
To think that we have come to this…
And all done in the name of the Lord as well — it boggles the mind!
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