Church Power, Governance, and Private Voluntary Organizations

In her recent editorial about ecclesiastical actions and women, acclaimed author Terry Tempest Williams wrote, while referring to “spiritual patrimony” of “organizational misogyny”:

This kind of governance is not tolerated in the United States of America. And it should not be tolerated by those of us who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The word governance here opens an intriguing avenue of comprehending Mormonism.  This is particularly clear if we compare it with another term used by a contrasting writer (this time an attorney), Ashley Isaacson Woolley:  

A church is a voluntary private association based on shared convictions (one of which, for Mormonism, is the inspired calling of leaders).

In this sling-fest of contrasting terms from the conflict over so called “courts of love” these two ideas governance--something that seems to pertain to the state, versus  private, voluntary organization we see contrasting idea of what a Church is and does. 

In the Spirit: A Central Stage of Mormon LIfe

An aspect of Mormon life that has fascinated me for a long time is spiritual experience. Yet this is a difficult area to write about. Here I feel strengthened to write because of a moment in my field, anthropology, called the ontological moment. Most importantly, this moment does not grant priority to propositions that say the standard world is the only one, i.e. that there is not a singular reality out there per se.

Why this is important to me as I write will become clear, I hope, from the following vignette.