Same-Sex Marriage Isn’t Apostasy, LDS Church Decides

Four years after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that the children of same-sex couples could no longer be baptized, church leaders reversed the decision. CNN reported on Thursday that Dallin Oaks, who belong to the governing body of the LDS church, announced the change at a Salt Lake City conference. After a 2015 decision announced by then-church president Thomas Monson, the church only allowed the baptism of children in LGBT households with a special dispensation. In most cases, the children of LGBT parents could only be baptized after they turned 18, left home, and repudiated same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriage was considered considered evidence of apostasy, which the church defined in a 2014 press release as “repeatedly acting in clear, open, and deliberate public opposition to the Church or its faithful leaders, or persisting, after receiving counsel, in teaching false doctrine.”

The church’s new statement says that while it still considers same-sex marriage to be sinful, it has reconsidered its categorization of the offense. “Previously, our Handbook characterized same-gender marriage by a member as apostasy,” the church said in a statement published in partial form by CNN. “While we still consider such a marriage to be a serious transgression, it will not be treated as apostasy for purposes of Church discipline. Instead, the immoral conduct in heterosexual or homosexual relationships will be treated in the same way.”It’s a surprising reversal for the LDS church, w

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