"I Heard Steve Young and His Wife Have Left The Church!"

No, to my knowledge this is just a rumor, but it would be a juicy story.

But it is an actual post from a Mormon news thread, and therein lies the story. Many people in the church (including most of my siblings and nieces and nephews) were actually so caught up in this letter from the pulpit on June 29th that, in their minds, only a true apostate would ignore it. (Link back here if unfamiliar with the "Letter from the Pulpit" story.)

My son, out of love for his father, experienced a similar backlash to Steve & Barbara Young (read his blog post here).

Let me take you back to my June 25th post that opened this thread. In response to my appeal to walk out of church (figuratively...because not all of my family live in California), this is what was in my inbox from my older sister:

“…you are asking us to choose between our God (our Father in Heaven) and our brother (you). I cannot, nor will I, go against what I know to be true, which is this church, and that it is guided directly by God through the prophet. I will never go against that.”

The last sentence echoed in my mind. I had read a very similar line the night before in an email from one of my favorite nieces. After regurgitating the tired line about her love for me in spite of my sinful “lifestyle”, she finished the email with:

“...but I follow the doctrine and that includes the First Presidency and anything they sign in accordance with their callings as Prophets of God!”

Well, I guess in the minds of people like Jackie and Tina, anybody who would have "walked out of church" on June 29th might as well have just "kept on walking" and resigned their membership.

That is where the logic comes from that starts rumors that Steve and Barbara Young "have left the church".

I recommend that you link to the story and work your way through the 299 comments left after the story. Comments like these two I will copy-and-paste here:

Then he is not Mormon. Simple as that. I think he forgot an important part of his belief system is that Mormons believe the Prophet receives direct council from the Lord. Whoops! Perhaps he should read 'The Proclamation on the Family' and redo his [temple] recommend interview.

Posted By: Meetthekellys October 31 2008 at 10:16 PM

[Steve], it's funny that my children asked me a while back who was my childhood hero. I am embarrassed to say today that I even mentioned your name. Just because others have different beliefs doesn't mean you need to turn your back on your very heritage. You're an embarrassment to everything "we" hold sacred. Apparently, you are no longer a part of "we". Glad to see we can count on you when things get tough...I guess only on the football field, huh? Montana was always better. You're pathetic--why didn't you sign the check coward? [referring to a donation that Barbara Young made to the "No on 8" campaign.]
Posted By: scubachewy14 October 31 2008 at 11:08 PM

Link to the SFGate.com story and all 299 comments here.