Dallin H. Oaks, a former judge of the Supreme Court in Utah, known for his residences and traditionalist beliefs of marriage and religious freedom, will be the next president of the Church of Jesus Christ the last days and his more than 17 million members around the world.
The transition of leadership follows the recent death of President Russell M. Nelson and comes, because many of the American members of the Church are winding from a deadly attack on the Michigan congregation and a highly profile assassination in Utah, where he is well known as the Mormon Church.
Oaks is the longest member of the highest body of leaders called the quorum of twelve apostles. As a result, it is in accordance with the President, according to a tradition established more than a century ago, to ensure smooth handover and prevent any lobby from internally or publicly preventing any lobbying. The formal announcement probably comes sometime after Nelson’s funeral 7. October. He was 101 when he died on Saturday.
At the age of 93, Oaks will be among the oldest presidents. Seven of the last nine served until the 1990s, including five over the age of Oaks.
The open church faces violence
For a faith that favors welcome – especially in local churches on Sunday – the attack last weekend was shocking. Also read | Mormon Church Fire Video goes viral. Here’s what we know if several people make
Services in the Grand Blanc Černo district have just begun when the former sailor thrust his pickup into the church and started shooting. Four people died and eight were injured by Sunday attack about 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of Detroit. The attacker set fire to fire before being persecuted and killed while replacing the shooting with the police.
“We all look for answers and understanding due to trauma, shock and grief. We are grateful to all who are stretching through service, prayers and support in this difficult period,” Oaks said in a statement that he also paid Hant Nelson.
Nelson’s “timeless learning” helps people find the comfort of suffering, Oaks said.
Utah also turns out of 10 September shooting of the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University. His alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, grew up as a member of the church. Also read | Who was Russell Marion Nelson? In 101 the President of the Church died
Violence could be twice an annual Salt Lake City conference this weekend, said Matthew Bowman, Professor of the University of Claremont, specializing in American religious history. Church leaders often deal with the main questions of the moment, while leaving some space for nearly 100,000 participants and watching many others remotely to interpret religious doctrine.
Church policy allows only coercive bodies to bring weapons and other deadly weapons to the property of the Church. It is not clear whether new measures are coming.
Experts Skeptical Presidency of Oaks will bring a fundamental change
The long -term prominent voice in the church was joined by Oaks’s twelve in 1984 at about the same time as Nelson.
When Nelson became president, he elevated Oaks to the first Presidency, the highest government body.
“I suspect that Oaks had a relatively strong hand in leadership through Nelson’s Presidency,” Bowman said. “I think we won’t see a very huge pivot.”
Soon as the Apostle, Oaks was involved in an intervention to the extreme right -wing extremism that resulted in some excommunication. In 2020 he gave a speech about faith in the election without resorting to radicalism or violence.
While Nelson focused on the global trail of faith, including the collection of apostles with international and immigration facilities, oaks can focus on the US and its policy, Bowman said.
With Nelson’s death, twelve, which Oaks would fill as president – one -way church presidents can leave their imprint. Some wonder if he will use the Commissioner for the Education of the Church, Clark Gilbert, who led the efforts in the brigham of Young University to push through the church Orthodoxy, Bowman said.
Oaks Presidency creates anxiety for members and allies of LGBTQ
Oaks was the driving force against the marriage of the same sex and in promoting learning that homosexuality is a sin, it creates anxiety and concerns between believers who are gay, lesbian and transgender.
He often presented manifestations strengthening the attitude of faith, including the one in which he said that the intended meaning of the “sex” in church doctrine is “biological sex at birth”. The church policy introduced in 2024 significantly reduced the involvement of members who have passed physically or socially, such as changing their name or pronoun.
Some remember the supervision and intervention against homosexual students Brigham Young University, while Oaks was president of the school at the age of 70. Church spokesman in 1979 acknowledged that Byu Security pulled out gay bars, but said Oaks stopped practice when he learned about it.
Yet in recent years, Oaks has been part of several key church movements that indicate that it could not make the topic of the highlight of his administration, experts say.
Oaks was Nelson’s closest advisor in 2019, when Nelson abolished a policy that banned baptism for children of homosexual parents and identified the same sex couples as sinners eligible for expulsion. This step reversed the decision that was devastating and confusing for members of the homosexual and lesbian churches who were flooded in previous years by the Church leaders for greater love and understanding for LGBTQ members.
“It would really be unlikely that, as you know, he will return when he was one of the creators of deciding to remove this restriction,” said Paul Reeve, Simmons chairman Mormon Studies at the University of Utah.
Oaks also helped the Church a compromise in 2022, in which faith supported federal legislation to protect the same sex marriage until these laws violated religious freedom or forced the faith to exercise the same sex or provide them with the official sanction of the Church.
Noah Hanson, who is gay and has grown in religion, is worried about the rise of the Oaks, leads a larger wedge between people LGBTQ and their devoted family members. Under Nelson, the Church largely withdrew talked about homosexuality, Hanson said, and gave his parents a space to “make little progress”.
“They began to tell my husband that they love him,” said 27 -year -old from Logan, Utah.
If Oaks is as open about LGBTQ people as it did in the past, Hanson fears that progress will slip. His parents honor church presidents who are considered by members as prophets, although their politicians are harmful to their own children, he said.
“If Dallin H. Oaks does not soften his attitudes to how marriage is only between a man and a woman, or that the act of homosexuality is a sin, as if the hammer put it, I feel that it will destroy my relationship with my parents,” Hanson said.
Oaks’ Presidency could be stylistically different
Oaks well known for dry sermon and manifestations that attract more reason than emotions bring the sensitivity of the lawyer to his work. Compared to Nelson’s sentimentalism, Oaks is colder, more accurate and legal, Bowman said.
However, the state could inspire him to accept a more personal approach, proposed to Patrick Mason, a religious and historical professor at Utah State University.
“It’s a very different thing to be the president of the Church and to admit that now you should be everything for all people in the Church, that you should be all things,” Mason said.
Oaks was opened on maintaining civilian discourse and urging people shortly before the presidential elections in 2024 to “avoid what was harsh and hateful” and became peace in their communities.
After the celebration of the Covid-19 vaccine on the social media after the Covid-19 celebrations on the social media and oaks, they began to speak more about the need for moderation, political dialogue and avoiding conspiracy theories and hatred.
“Really, I think, frightened Nelson, and it scared the oaks,” Bowman said. “I think it’s back to Oaks’s radar, that political extremism in the church is a problem. And I think it may be, because of his training and his background perhaps more willing than Nelson, should take specific steps.”
Responding to responsibility: This story has been published from the Agency’s wire feed without text modifications. Only the title has been changed.
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