I was excommunicated from the Mormon Church in 2014 & uniquely understand the pain caused by a "court of love" (which is eerily what Mormons call this formal punishment).

It's spiritual abuse. Full stop.

That said, this isn't even remotely abt what this article claims it is. https://twitter.com/spulliam/status/1383026725068681222

Even after my excommunication Natasha tried to stay in/ play by the rules/ skirt the line to stay "acceptable" & claim the "why I stay" narrative AND I COMPLETELY GET THAT. At one point I was there, too.

But, this isn't abt professional ethics.

Mormons don't care what you *think* privately, or even counsel clients— this is abt women having a voice in the public square to critique patriarchy.

And, no matter how "good" you stay, if you get traction they'll put the kibosh on it.

It also appears it wasn't until she decided to divorce her husband (who had a professional connection to the men carrying this out), they decided to act (even well after she had moved away from their jurisdiction).

Being protected by patriarchy is great— until it isn't.

She's also very closely connected to a man who's been credibly accused of sexual harassment by a former employee (& is on the board of that org).

IMHO the org takes advantage of vulnerable people in crisis for profit.

It's very heavily focused on recruitment (sound familiar?).

Taking advantage of vulnerable ppl in crisis for profit is NOT the same as providing neutral evidence-based mental health resources.

Again, behavioral control in the form of spiritual punishment is abuse & should never be used.

But, X-Mormonism as a biz is a cult of its own.

I also think that people in X-Mormonism use these type of punishments to continue their grift—— as evidenced by the fact that man I mentioned is CURRENTLY using this potential excommunication to SOLICIT DONATIONS TO THE ORG HE RUNS & Natasha sits on the board of.

It's gross.

So, this excommunication is about many things:

— For the Mormon leaders it's about silencing a woman (you'll notice all of their complaints are abt things she said *publicly*, which they monitor closely)

— For X-Mormon it's about continuing to raise their profile & recruit

As someone who was punished for trying to actually change the Mormon Church when I was excommunicated— the whole thing is rotten.

I don't support this draconian system, but I also don't support ppl & orgs who take advantage of the vulnerable in order to monetize people's pain.

I also want to acknowledge that it could be argued she's being used by men on both sides—

Mormons to pursue their odd vendetta & send a dog whistle to other uppity women

+

Dehlin/ OSF to further the grift & give him credibility since he's NOT licensed to practice & she is

TL;DR this story is more complicated than being reported & I have some real concerns about the way it's being framed.

My concern is that in the end (as always) no matter what the outcome is, it will be used to prop up problematic men on both sides.

For those wondering what my problem(s) with OSF & John Dehlin are... I've written many, many things about this over the past few years. Here's one (again, there are many):

https://www.facebook.com/katekellyesq/posts/10158869661055226