How excommunication is like Voldemort (yeah, the one from Harry Potter) 0

Mormon Life says: No, this is not a joke.

Mormons need to lose their fear of talking about excommunication, says a student at the 12th Annual Religious Education Student Symposium.

Presenting his paper "Excommunication and 'He Who Must Not Be Named,'" Feb. 19 at Brigham Young University, Benjamin Tengelsen said excommunication is comparable to talking openly about Voldemort in the popular Harry Potter series.

"Noboby talks about him except Harry, who isn't afraid to say his name out loud," Tengelsen said. "We need to be like that. We need to lose our fear and be unafraid to talk about it."

As long as the subject of excommunication is a taboo topic, fear and misinformation hurt those involved, he said.

Tengelsen outlined the three purposes of church discipline or excommunication from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: to save the soul of the transgressor, to protect the innocent and to maintain the integrity, purity and good name of the church.

Read the rest of this story at MormonTimes.com