Latter-Dazed And Confused - The Mormon NewsCast 007 | Ep. 1860

The Doctrine Problem: Why the LDS Church's Shifting Positions Are Leaving Members Confused and Divided

When the First Presidency quietly approved baptism for a transgender woman in recent months, reversing course from the policies that had prompted excommunications just years earlier, it crystallized a tension that has been building within Latter-day Saint communities for over a decade. According to Latter-Dazed and Confused: The Mormon NewsCast, a discussion series that examines the intersection of LDS doctrine and contemporary practice, this reversal exposes a fundamental crisis: members no longer know which teachings to consider doctrine, which policies are permanent, and whether church leaders themselves have clarity on these questions.

The problem isn't simply that the church has changed its mind. It's that institutional leadership has remained publicly silent about why it changed, leaving members across the theological spectrum to construct competing narratives about the church's trajectory and authority structure.

The Documentation Problem: What Counts as Doctrine?

In an institutional organization claiming divine authority, doctrinal consistency matters. The LDS Church teaches that scripture, the words of living prophets, and official handbooks constitute binding doctrine. Yet each of these sources has become unstable.

Consider the evidence cited on The Mormon NewsCast: General Conference talks have been retroactively edited or disavowed after publication, creating uncertainty about which prophetic utterances remain binding The Church Handbook has undergone dramatic reversals, the 2015 policy excluding children of same-sex couples from baptism until age 18 was implemented with official First Presidency approval, then rescinded 3.5 years later Institutional messaging through BYU faculty publications and Deseret Book offerings sometimes contradicts official General Conference positions, leaving members unsure which voices represent actual church direction