Apostle; acting president of the Twelve
Boyd K. Packer
1924–2015
2 topics · 6 dated events · 4 sources
Their part in each topic
The September Six
Apostle; critic of the new history
Packer's 1981 address to Church Educational System teachers, 'The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect,' became the central text of the argument over how Latter-day Saint history should be written. In May 1993 he told the All-Church Coordinating Council that the dangers facing the Church came from the gay-lesbian movement, the feminist movement and 'the so-called scholars or intellectuals.' Several of the disciplined scholars say their local leaders told them Packer was coordinating the 1993 councils; the Church has denied that general authorities directed those decisions.
LGBTQ Latter-day Saints
Apostle; acting president of the Twelve
His October 1976 general priesthood address 'To Young Men Only' was reprinted as a pamphlet distributed by Church headquarters for decades. In it he told of a missionary who 'floored' a companion who had propositioned him and said, 'I am not recommending that course to you, but I am not omitting it. You must protect yourself.' Packer also urged the Quorum of the Twelve in 1994 to prepare what became the family proclamation, and his October 2010 conference talk on same-sex attraction was revised before publication.
In the timeline
6 events across 2 topics, chronological. Only events this person was actually part of — present at, responsible for, or the subject of — not every event where the name comes up.
Packer delivers "To Young Men Only"hinge
In the general priesthood session, broadcast to Latter-day Saint males twelve and older across the United States and Canada, Boyd K. Packer told of a missionary who confessed to hitting his companion after a homosexual advance. Packer's reply was 'Well, thanks. Somebody had to do it, and it wouldn't be well for a General Authority to solve the problem that way.' He added: 'I am not recommending that course to you, but I am not omitting it. You must protect yourself.' The talk was not printed in the November 1976 Ensign but was issued as a pamphlet and distributed by Church headquarters for decades.
Packer addresses BYU at Kimball's request
At President Kimball's request, Packer spoke at BYU on homosexual temptation. FAIR notes that in this address he treated such temptations as deep and relatively fixed, indicating that those affected might spend the rest of their lives resisting them — a position he restated in 2010: 'That may be a struggle from which you will not be free in this life. If you do not act on temptations, you need feel no guilt.'
Packer delivers 'The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect'hinge
Speaking to Church Educational System religious educators, Packer warned that there is no accurate, objective history of the Church without consideration of the spiritual powers attending the work, that there is a temptation to want to tell everything 'whether it is worthy or faith promoting or not,' and that 'some things that are true are not very useful.' The address was reprinted in BYU Studies that summer.
Packer names three dangershinge
Speaking to the All-Church Coordinating Council, Packer said the dangers facing members 'come from the gay-lesbian movement, the feminist movement (both of which are relatively new), and the ever-present challenge from the so-called scholars or intellectuals,' and added that local leaders must deal with all three with increasing frequency.
The family proclamation is drafted
At the urging of Boyd K. Packer, then acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve, a committee of Elders Faust, Nelson and Oaks prepared a draft over the Christmas holidays, Nelson serving as principal draftsman. The draft went to the First Presidency on 9 January 1995. During the same months Church leaders grew concerned about the Hawaii litigation, and on 24 February 1995 the Associated Press reported that the Church had announced a petition to intervene in the case.
Packer's conference talk and its printed revision
Packer told the general conference that some 'suppose that they were preset and cannot overcome what they feel are inborn temptations toward the impure and unnatural. Not so!' After criticism, the printed text was revised. The Human Rights Campaign called the sermon 'inaccurate and dangerous'; Church spokesman Michael Otterson read an unusual statement using the word 'gay' and joining 'in unreserved condemnation of acts of cruelty' toward any group. Thousands encircled Temple Square in a silent protest.
Sources in their own name
Source records in the database whose author line names this person. Each links to the topic that uses it.
"To Young Men Only" (general priesthood session address, later a Church-distributed pamphlet)
Boyd K. Packer
The 1970s teaching on homosexual advances given to every Latter-day Saint male twelve and older, including the sentence 'I am not recommending that course to you, but I am not omitting it.'
The Blessing of Church Interviews
Boyd K. Packer
The Church's own instruction on how worthiness interviews are to be conducted, and its explicit prohibition on cross-examining members about specific sexual practices.
The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect
Boyd K. Packer
The charge that historians should not 'tell everything,' that 'some things that are true are not very useful,' and that in the Church 'we are not neutral.'
Talk to the All-Church Coordinating Council, 18 May 1993
Boyd K. Packer
That an apostle publicly named 'the so-called scholars or intellectuals' as one of three dangers four months before the councils convened.
Appears alongside
People who share the most dated events with Boyd K. Packer.
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