Nor is Nielsen Martin Luther . . .

Two days ago, The Salt Lake Tribune, compared Jeffrey Nielsen, their latest LDS martyr, to Henry David Thoreau. Today, The Tribune's implication is that he is the modern day Martin Luther for the LDS Church. Today's Tribune article begins by painting a rather bland and mundane protrait of Mr. Nielsen:

OREM - Jeffrey Nielsen drives a red minivan, but most days he takes the bus.
He goes to his LDS ward in Orem on Sundays. He likes to read and play catch with his two youngest daughters, ages 10 and 12. Lately, he has been hooked on dominoes. Most mornings, he and his 21-year-old son go jogging.

"I'm a pretty boring person," Nielsen concedes. But that is Nielsen's private self-image. His emerging public persona is anything but boring. The part-time Brigham Young University philosophy instructor has become the subject of a steady stream of letters to the editor and who knows how many office water-cooler chats since he penned a guest column earlier this month questioning his church's support of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

That attention ratcheted up this past week when BYU opted not to rehire Nielsen because his remarks in the June 4 edition of The Salt Lake Tribune publicly opposed leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on an issue they deem of supreme importance.

Now the spotlight-shy Nielsen is being flooded with even more e-mails. His name is surfacing in even more letters to the editor. And his voice is popping up in radio interviews.

But don't label Nielsen a rebel with a cause. "I'm not a revolutionary,” he says. "I'm a very flawed human being. I'm not a spokesperson for any movement." Even so, he is speaking out - as a matter of conscience if not convenience.

A couple of questions (if I might) to the Tribune and Mr. Nielsen:

Why--if you are not a spokesperson for any movement or a revolutionary; why, if you "cherish" your LDS membership; why, if you consider yourself to be just a "boring person"; why, if you truly do not want to be the subject of newspaper columns, water-cooler conversations, radio interviews, and general "ratched up" attention; why do you continue to speak with Salt Lake Tribune reporters openly and unapologetically still criticizing the LDS Church and leadership?

Well, it appears the answer--according to Mr. Nielsen is that his conscience just won't let him keep silent:

Even so, he is speaking out - as a matter of conscience if not convenience. The 44-year-old father of four not only openly questions LDS leaders on their backing of the marriage amendment, he also criticizes church statements on wedlock. In addition, he wonders about his church's position on its past denial of priesthood to blacks, its polygamous history, its membership counts and more. Nielsen, who says he cherishes his church membership, hasn't always been the questioning type.

"I was a very conformist . . . youth," he says. Reared like many Utah Mormons, Nielsen was born in Salt Lake City but did most of his growing up in Brigham City. Everyone in his immediate family was Mormon - mom, dad, three sisters and two brothers.

He graduated as student-body president from Box Elder High, earned a scholarship to BYU and served an LDS mission to Zurich, Switzerland. There he labored in one of the highest missionary leadership posts: assistant to the president. His mind-set was much different then. "I just took the line that you don't question your priesthood leaders," Nielsen recalls.

Why is it that Mr. Nielsen's conscience compels his criticisim of Christ's Church? Despite his protestations to the contrary--does he see himself as a modern day Martin Luther sent to guide The Brethren, to reform and correct LDS doctrine and practice? If so--how fortunate for us all! Who would have guessed such a reformation would come through a part time philosophy instructor at BYU nailing copies of the Salt Lake Tribune on the Church Office Building's front door? After noting how Mr. Nielsen dutifully fulfilled an LDS mission, never questioning his leaders, the Tribune continues:

Twenty-five years later, Nielsen is doing just the opposite. He believes the foundation of his about-face was laid by an introductory philosophy class he took his last semester at Weber State University . . . The philosophy class flicked on a switch in Nielsen's brain. "It opened me up to this idea of the 'world of ideas' that I hadn't ever experienced before," he says. With that light-bulb moment, poof went Nielsen's plans to attend law school. Instead, he earned a graduate degree in philosophy from Boston College, then returned to Utah and began teaching philosophy at BYU.

So, it's Plato's fault! I'm sympathetic to the notion that philosophy classes can in fact open up a person's mind to ideas. I've had a few of those classes myself (but unlike Mr. Nielsen I went to law school instead of graduating in philosophy). But, isn't it equally as likely that a person's mind can and is opened up to a world (and eternity) of ideas by praying, pondering and studying scriptures, conference talks, or even attending a lowly, unsophisticated Sacrament meeting?

His current thoughts are found in The Myth of Leadership, a 2004 book he wrote that advocates leaderless organizations and peer-based management. The book rests on two premises: Real communication can occur only between equals; and secrecy breeds corruption and abuses of power.

And so it is that the LDS Church's unbending stand against same-sex marriage isn't the only issue that troubles Nielsen. He wants LDS leaders to be more open about the church's membership numbers, its finances and its history. He wants leaders to more clearly address the church's past - and future - teachings about polygamy. (The church abandoned the practice in 1890.)

And he wants LDS temple weddings open to nonmember and non-tithe-paying parents. His reasons are both moral and personal. One of his sisters left the faith when, in her view, some church teachings didn't mesh with its history. In addition, a parent of his son-in-law wasn't able to attend the young man's temple wedding to Nielsen's daughter. "I really hope the membership has the privilege to raise these concerns and not be silenced," he says. "I don't want to attack the church. I'm not an enemy of the church. I don't want to hurt the church or destroy anyone's faith. I want to do things to strengthen the church."

I think the real Mr. Nielsen begins to emerge in these paragraphs. He's not really interested, as he suggested previously, to thoughtfully question and benevolently criticize Church leaders. He wants to dismantle the entire organization from the top down (or bottom up--depending on the point of view). So, all that "revelation" stuff on Church organization and priesthood offices, that The Prophet Joseph received from God--it just breeds corruption and is an abuse of power. Mr. Nielsen would have us throw out canonized scripture (portions of the Doctrine and Covenants) received via revelation, and supplant it with his own version of the philosophies (his) of men--mingled with scripture!

Not content to deconstruct the entire current Church hierarchy, Mr. Nielsen advocates further reforms to allow non members and non tithe payers to attend temple weddings. Why stop there? Why not open the endowment ceremony to the general public? After all that would really make us all equals. But, keep in mind Mr. Nielsen isn't attacking the Church, isn't its enemy, and doesn't want to destroy faith. He wants to strengthen faith and the Church. He comes not to bury the Church but to praise it. Are you kidding?

What of Mr. Nielsen and his future now that those corrupt, power abusing BYU administrators have so unrighteously and summarily fired him as a part time philosophy instructor?

David R. Keller, a philosophy professor at Utah Valley State College, can see Nielsen's reasoning. "He was motivated through ethical concerns, not to ruffle feathers or to create a situation of animosity," Keller says. "The tone of it was really concerned about the betterment of the human condition." Keller would like to see Nielsen teaching at UVSC one day. He already has tapped Nielsen as a speaker this fall for the Orem school's Center for the Study of Ethics, which Keller directs.

Not to worry: Mr. Nielsen has a bright future at a much more enlightened educational institution--one that has real academic freedom. Then of course there is his book The Tribune promotes in almost every article it prints. It sounds as if Mr. Nielsen is a much better fit over at UVSC or any other "secular" college or university--assuming he has the academic credentials to go beyond a mere part time instructor. My question to Mr. Nielsen is why was he so untruthful with himself and BYU administrators when he signed on at BYU as a philosophy instructor--given his true beliefs about the Church and its leadership? Was that an ethical lapse of judgment by Mr. Nielsen?

The more I read about Mr. Nielsen, the less I believe his originally stated motivation that began this ridiculous series of events: to thoughtfully question and benevolently criticize Church leaders. To the Tribune I repeat: Mr. Nielsen is not Henry David Thoreau or a modern day Martin Luther. To Mr. Nielsen: if you truly are as you portray yourself to the Tribune--the smartest thing I think you can do is stop speaking with their reporters.