Salt Lake City (AP) is faithful that Dallin H. Oax, a former judge of the Utah Supreme Court, known for his lawyers’ sensitivity and traditionalist beliefs of marriage and religion, will be another president of the Saints of Jesus Christ in recent days and more than 17 million members worldwide.
The passage of leadership will take place after the recent death of President Russell M. Nelson, as many church members of the US will wake up from a fatal attack on the Michigan Congregation and the High Deal Murder in the Utah, where the so -called name, known as the Mormon Church.
Oaks is the longest -lived member of the top -level leaders’ body called the quorum of the twelve apostles. This forces him to continue to be president by tradition, established more than a century ago to ensure a smooth transmission and prevent lobbying inside or public. The formal message is likely to take place at a time after Nelson’s funeral on October 7th. He was 101 when he died on Saturday.
At the age of 93, Oaks will be one of the oldest presidents. Seven of the last nine participated in the 1980s, including the five age of Oax.
Open Church faces violence
Faith, which priority is hospitable – especially on Sundays in local churches – last weekend’s attack on Michigan was shocking.
The Grand Blanc Township has just begun when the former Marine grabbed his pickup and started shooting at church. Four people died and eight were injured in a Sunday attack about 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of Detroit. The attacker lit a fire before chasing and murdered by changing the arms fire with the police.
“We are all looking for answers and understanding of trauma, shock and anguish. We are grateful to anyone who appeals to ministry, prayers and words of support in this difficult time,” says Oax’s report, which also honored Nelson.
Oax said Nelson’s “timeless training” helps people find consolation by suffering.
Utah also still ranges from September 10th. Conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death at the Utah Valley University. His alleged shooter Tyler Robinson grew up as a member of the church.
Violence this weekend can be a speaking point at the Church General Conference in Salt Lake City twice a year, ”said Matthew Bowman, a professor of Claring University specialized in the US religious history. Church leaders often deal with the most important problems of this moment, leaving a little space for almost 100,000 personal participants and even more remotely to explain the religious doctrine themselves.
Church policy only allows law enforcement officers to bring weapons and other deadly weapons in the Church’s property. It is unclear whether new measures are coming.
Experts will skeptical of the Oak Presidency
The long -standing voice in the church, Oax joined twelve in 1984. Quorum approximately at the same time as Nelson.
When Nelson became president, he raised Oax to the first presidency, the highest management body.
“I suspect Oax had a fairly strong leadership hand through the Nelson Presidency,” Bowman said. “I think we won’t see a very huge turn.”
Earlier as the Apostle, Oax participated in the coping with extreme right extremism, which resulted in some excommunication. 2020 He said about faith in the election without taking radicalism or violence.
Although Nelson focused on faith in the global footprint, including the collection of the apostles with international and immigrants, Oax may focus on the US and its policies, Bowman said.
When Nelson dies, twelve twelve quorum is free, which Oax will fill as a president – one way of church presidents can leave their imprint. Some are wondering if he will use the Church Education Commissioner Clark Gilbert, who will lead the efforts to carry out church orthodoxy in the campus of Brigham Youngham University, said Bowman.
The OAKS Presidency causes anxiety for LGBTQ+ members and allies
Oax was a driving force against the marriage of same -sex persons and supports teaching that homosexuality is a sin that causes anxiety and concern among believers who are gay, lesbian and transgender.
He often married speeches that strengthen the position of faith, including the one he says, the meaning of “gender” in the church doctrine is “biological sex.” 2024 The church policy was significantly restricted significantly in the participation of members who have passed physically or socially, such as changing their name or pronouns.
Some remember observation and coping with gay students at Brigham Young University, and Oax was the school’s president in the 1970s. Church spokesman 1979 Acknowledged that the security of the LYU had pushed gay bars, but said Oax had stopped the practice of learning about it.
However, in recent years, Oax has been involved in several major movements of the Church, which shows that it may not be the subject of its administration, the experts say.
Oax was the closest advisor to Nelson in 2019, when Nelson canceled a politician that banned the baptism of gay parents and noted the same -sex couples as sinners that could be sent. The move annulled the decision that was disastrous and confusing to members of the Gay and Lesbian Church, promoted by church leaders’ calls for more love and understanding of LGBTQ+ members in the past year.
“It would be certainly unlikely that he, you know, will return to it when he was one of the decision-makers to eliminate that restriction,” said Paul Reeve, chairman of the Utah University Mormon Simmons.
Oax also helped the Church a compromise in 2022, when faith supported federal laws to protect the marriage of same -sex persons until these laws violated religious freedom or forced the faith in the same sex or granted the Church’s official sanctions.
Noah Hanson, who is gay and grew up in religion, is worried that Oax’s rise will lead to a larger wedge among the LGBTQ+ people and their pious family members. Under the leadership of Nelson, the Church mainly supported talk about homosexuality, Hanson said, giving parents a “a bit of progress.”
“They started telling my husband that they love him,” said Logan, 27, Utah.
If Oax is as talked about the LGBTQ+ people as it was in the past, Hanson is worried that progress will slide. His parents respect the presidents of the Church, whom members consider prophets, even if their politics are harmful to their children, he said.
“If Shalin H. Oax does not diminish his attitude to how marriage is only between a man and a woman, or that the act of homosexuality is a sin, as if it pushed that hammer, I feel it will ruin my relationship with my parents,” Hanson said.
The Oak Presidency can be stylistically different
Well known for dry sermons and languages that turn to the mind rather than emotions, Oax gives a lawyer sensitivity to his work. Compared to Nelson’s sentimentalism, Oax is cooler, more accurate and fair, Bowman said.
However, Patrick Mason, a professor of religious studies and history of religion and history of the Utah State University, could become a president.
“The president of the Church is very different and admit that now you have to be all things to all the people of the Church,” Mason said.
Oax talked about the support of civil public discourse, urging people just before 2024. The presidential election to “avoid what is strict and hateful” and be peaceful in their communities.
After the echo of the Church members of the Church, the Covid-19 vaccine was celebrated in social media, Nelson and Oax began to talk more about the need for moderation, political dialogue and avoid conspiracy theories and hatred.
“It’s really, I think, anxious Nelson and he’s anxious oaks,” Bowman said. “I think it returns to Oaks Radar that political extremism in the church is a problem. And I think it may be because of his teaching and his origin, perhaps more inclined than Nelson had to take concrete steps.”
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Gruver reported from Fort Collins, Colorado, and Meyer of Naver. The AP Corporate Archivist Sarit Hand in New York contributed to this report.
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