Differences between "Handbook 1: Stake Presidents and Bishops 2010" and 'Handbook 2: Administering the Church"

I have been wanting to write this post for months.  It's been a year now since the Mormon "Martin Luther" made the 2010 Church Handbook of Instructions Book 1 (CHI) available online for anyone to download for free.  The link has been taken down of course, but after Mormon Martin, savvy folks have not struggled to access a digitial copy.

I have to admit I was a little jealous of Mormon Martin- I fantasized about surreptitiously posting a searchable version of the Handbook 1: Stake Presidents and Bishops using some sort of romantic title like "The William Tyndale Project," and for all I know someone else has already done it.  However, I am also advised that the deep pockets of Intellectual Reserve, Inc. well equips the copyright enforcers (see here, here, and here), so perhaps such an endeavor would fail.  In any case, there are enough excerpts and analyses on the bloggernacle/exmormonosphere to get a decent idea of what's in the Stake-Presidents-and-Bishops-Only CHI.  Plus, I think blog analyses like this one fall under the fair use doctrine (but I'm no lawyer- though I may become one in a couple weeks ;-):

17 U.S.C. § 107

"the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.^[1]"

I don't even know how to tell if the CHI is "published."  On the first page past the cover it says it's published by the LDS Church in SLC, but on the other side of that same page it says it's an "unpublished work" printed in the USA.  Also, only the US and Israel recognize the concept of fair use.  Go figure. 

Anyway.  Some basics about Handbook 1.  The wikipedia article states:

"Handbook 1 is subtitled Stake Presidents and Bishops. It contains information that is primarily relevant to the functions and duties of stake presidents, bishops, mission presidents, district presidents, branch presidents, and their counselors. Other individuals who receive a copy of Book 1 are temple presidents and their counselors, general authorities, general auxiliary presidencies, area seventies, and church clerks and executive secretaries.

The topics in Handbook 1 include guidelines involving general, area, and regional administration; duties of the stake president; duties of the bishop; temples and marriage; missionary service; administering church welfare; church discipline and name removal; interviews and counseling; physical facilities; creating, changing, and naming new units; military relations; Church Educational System; Perpetual Education Fund; records and reports; finances; stake patriarch; ordinance and blessing policies; and general church policies on administrative, medical and health, and moral issues.

The church has stated that it did not place Handbook 1 online with Handbook 2 because church authorities were concerned that if it were widely read by the church membership, members 'might decide they don’t need to go see their bishop ... It made much more sense to reserve that volume for leaders.'"

Below, I will:

(1) Note the structure of Handbook 1
(2) Contrast Handbook 2, which is fully available (as of 2010) at lds.org, with Handbook 1
(3) Comment on the rights of the accused in disciplinary proceedings
(4) Reflect on the significance and secrecy of Handbook 1

1. Handbook 1 Structure
The CHI has "attorney" fingerprinted all over it. It is highly organized and has the appearance of a typical state legal code.  In fact, I'll use typical statutory organization terms (i.e. title, chapter, section) when citing content.  For instance, information about humanitarian aid is found in 14.4.4 [Title 14 (Finances), Chapter 4 (Contributions), Section 4 (Humanitarian Aid)].  The blue-covered CHI is about 170 pages long with a normal-looking index of about 15 pages and a single appendix of 2 pages. 
A sampling of 5 of the 17 titles:

2.   Duties of the Bishop
7.   Interviews and Counseling
11. Church Educational System
15. Stake Patriarch
17. Church Policies
Most sections are 1-5 paragraphs long; occasionally, a section spans several columns or more.

2. Handbook 2 v. Handbook 1
Here, I juxtapose Handbook 2: Administering the Church with Handbook 1: Stake Presidents and Bishops.

Handbook 2 (H2)	Handbook 1 (H1)
Publicly available on the internet	Very limited distribution (only high hierarchy, and only in hard copy, as far as I know)
Scope includes meetings, organizations (e.g. relief society and primary), doctrinal discussion, stake organization, and activities	Scope includes military relations, records, missionary service, finances, duties of bishops and stake presidents, and church welfare
21 titles	17 titles
Identical chapter: “Policies on Moral Issues” such as pornography, same-gender marriage, and in vitro fertilization	21.4 in H2; 17.4 in H1
Identical chapter: “Medical and Health Policies” such as cremation, hypnosis, and stillborn children	21.3 in H2; 17.3 in H1
Evidences a family focus with Title 1, “Families and the Church in God’s Plan”	Evidences a family focus with Title 3, “Temples and Marriage”
43 sections in “Administrative Policies” chapter: all identical to the comparable chapter in H1, except it exclusively has sections on members with disabilities (21.1.26) and temple clothing and garments (21.1.42).	48 sections in “Administrative Policies” chapter: seven exclusive sections include church employees (17.1.9); E-mail for priesthood leaders (17.1.17); legal matters (17.1.26); mail from church headquarters (17.1.27); mail sent to church headquarters (17.1.28); safety in church welfare operations (17.1.40); and support to members in prisons, hospitals, and other institutions (17.1.45).
Title 20 is entitled “Priesthood Ordinances and Blessings”	Title 16 is entitled “Ordinance and Blessing Policies,” but is basically the same as in H2
Title 20 matches H1’s Title 16 almost exactly: both have 12 chapters.	Title 16 has some additional sections in chapters 1 and 2: translating and interpreting ordinances and blessings; records of ordinances; ordinances for adopted children; babies who were born out of wedlock, critically ill, or with a nonmember parent.
Chapter 3 (title 20), Baptism and Confirmation, has exclusive details on baptismal services, fonts, clothing, etc.	Title 16 has some additional sections in chapter 3: Baptism and Confirmation.  Translating and interpreting ordinances and blessings; records of ordinances; ordinances for adopted children; babies who were born out of wedlock, critically ill, or with a nonmember parent; persons who may not be accountable; minors; children whose parents are divorced; adults involved in plural marriage; children whose parents have practiced or are practicing plural marriage; persons who have been cohabiting out of wedlock; persons who have been involved in an abortion, convicted of crimes, have HIV, or are considering/have had a transsexual operation.
Chapter 7 (title 20), “Conferring the Priesthood and Ordaining to an Office,” primarily instructs on performing the ordination.	Chapter 7 (title 16), “Conferring the Priesthood and Ordaining to an Office,” primarily instructs on M and A priesthood offices; prospective elders; and unusual circumstances.
The Patriarchal Blessing chapter discusses receiving a blessing and obtaining copies.	The Patriarchal Blessing chapter discusses giving blessings outside the stake, giving blessings to those entering the military, and translation and sign language interpretations.
Unique titles include Callings in the Church; Meetings in the Church; Uniformity and Adaptation; Single Members; Music, etc.	Unique titles include Stake Patriarch; Finances;  Records and Reports; Perpetual Education Fund; Church Educational System; Military Relations, etc.
“Welfare Principles and Leadership,” Title 6, focuses on welfare leadership in the ward and stake; confidentiality; and purpose.	“Administering Church Welfare,” Title 5, focuses on welfare duties of the bishopric and stake presidency, and has more detail on welfare abuse/fraud, transient or homeless members, and emergencies.
Title 5, “The Work of Salvation in the Ward and Stake,” discusses member missionary work, retention, activation, and family history work	The entire content of the “Duties of the Stake President” and “Duties of the Bishop” titles take up, together, a mere 5 pages.

There ya have it-a partial, side-by-side comparison of some salient dimensions.

3. Rights of the Accused in a Disciplinary Proceeding
My guess is that other authors have already analyzed and summarized the disciplinary proceeding details: for instance, Affirmation presents a layman's version in LDS Discipline and Excommunication: A New Guide for Gay and Lesbian Mormons.  Rather than detail the procedure and possible outcomes, etc., I'll summarize some of the procedure and pull out what I consider to be the noteworthy rights of the accused. 

Title 6 details"Church Discipline and Name Removal."  It has 16 chapters, and identifies three purposes of church discipline:

(1) Save the souls of transgressors
(2) Protect the innocent
(3) Safeguard the purity, integrity, and good name of the church

The process of church discipline starts when the presiding officer hears of a transgression (chapter 3) in one of three ways:

(1) The Holy Ghost
(2) Member confesses
(3) Outside source

The bishop interviews any member accused of a serious transgression, and is responsible to gather further evidence to prove or disprove the accusation, if the member denies upon interview.  The bishop can gather the evidence himself, or appoint two "reliable Mechizedek Priesthood holders" to investigate (unless the member is being investigated by law enforcement).  They're supposed to avoid hidden cameras, recording devices, or maintaining a watch on a member's home (chapter 4, Interviews and Investigation).  When members of different wards transgress together, and A tells A's bishop the identity of B, A's bishop consults with B's bishop (chapter 5, Confidentiality). 

There's a fair amount of treatment (chapter 7) about when a disciplinary council is:
(1) Not necessary
(2) Optional
(3) Mandatory

Mandatory situations include murder, incest, child abuse, serious transgression while holding a prominent position, apostasy, and predatory behavior.  Also, "Attempted murder, forcible rape, sexual abuse, spouse abuse, intentional serious physical injury of others, adultery, fornication, homosexual relations, deliberate abandonment of family responsibilities, robbery, burglary, theft, embezzlement, sale of illegal drugs, fraud, perjury, and false swearing."
Apostasy has four prongs (in my own words):
(1) Repeatedly opposing the Church or its leaders in public
(2) Teaching false doctrine after being corrected by an authority
(3) Following the teachings of an apostate sect (e.g. polygamy) after correction by an authority
(4) Formally advocating another church's teachings and joining it

There are four possible outcomes to a disciplinary council (chapter 9, Formal Church Discipline):
(1) Nothing
(2) Formal probation
(3) Disfellowshipment
(4) Excommunication

Over the last few months I've counseled with three accused people shortly before they attended their disciplinary council.  We went through the procedure in detail over the phone.  Contact me if you want more depth- I'm only giving the skinny here. 

Excom "almost always lasts a year," and you can't wear garments, pay tithing, hold a temple recomment, serve in a calling, exercise the priesthood, offer a public prayer, sustain church officers, or take the sacrament.

The first paragraph of chapter 10, Disciplinary Councils (DC), says that procedures "in a disciplinary council must be fair and considerate of the feelings of all who participate."  Bishops have to get stake president approval before convening a DC. 

There are 11 steps in a DC; two of them are prayers.  Step 2 is stating the reported misconduct.  After the evidence phase (both for and against- prosecution goes first), the accused is excused.  The presiding officer makes the judgment with his counselors, prayer, and through inspiration.  He has nine considerations to help him decide (6.10.6), such as magnitude of the transgression and the maturity of the accused.  He asks the counselors to sustain his decision, and listens if they have a different opinion.  He's supposed to resolve differences so the decision can be unanimous; no procedure is listed in the event of impasse (though the high council is asked to sustain the decision, but cannot veto it even if there's a lack of unanimity).  The accused is then brought back in and informed of the decision, and the terms of overcoming the restrictions are explained, and how to overcome those restrictions as well, in a spirit of love.    

Here's a list of rights of the accused I extracted from various parts of Title 6:
(1) You can object to the participation of a particular counselor in the bishopric or stake presidency.  The presiding officer decides whether the objection is reasonable and, if so, excludes that person. 
(2) You can object to the participation of the bishop.  The DC then becomes a stake, rather than ward, DC.
(3) You are entitled to written notice of your DC.  This notice should have the time and place, the general charges against you (no details or evidence- just something like "apostasy" or "conduct unbecoming a member").  The written notice should be personally served on you: privately, courteously, and with dignity.  If personal service isn't feasible, registered mail with a return receipt is acceptable (sounds like California Civil Procedure).
(4) If you're in jail when served, the only difference is that you're not invited to the DC, and may instead send evidence, including your written testimony.
(5) If you've confessed to the presiding officer, he must still ask for consent to use that confession as evidence in the DC.  The presiding officer is limited to informal discipline if his only evidence against you is your own unconsented confession.  If he has other evidence against you, the DC can proceed on the other evidence.
(6) You can refuse to confess, and you can refuse to allow a previous confession to be used in the DC.  God bless this equivalent of the Fifth Amendment!
(7) You must be allowed to admit or deny the misconduct- this is step 2 in the DC, after the misconduct is identified.
(8) Questions are to be asked of the accused and witnesses in "an orderly, polite manner, avoiding argument." "Questions are to be brief and limited to the essentail facts of the case."
(9) Informal probation is not announced; formal probation is, to whoever the presiding officer decides has a need to know. The presiding officer can also override the presumption that an announcement should not be made if the decision is appealed.
(10) You have the right to appeal to one level above the DC (i.e. to stake presidency if it was a ward DC, to First Presidency if it was a stake DC, etc.).  You must appeal in writing, specifying the unfairness or errors in procedure and decision, within 30 days, to (somewhat ironically) the presiding officer who decided.  The appeal must be forwarded up one level.  The appellate court either (A) affirms the lower court, (B) modifies the initial judgment, or (C) directs a rehearing (it is unclear whether B is broad enough to include reversal).  The First Presidency may refer your appeal to another priesthood officer or body for review, with or without additional evidence, and resubmittal to the First Presidency with a recommendation.
(11) I think I neglected to mention an obvious right: to attend your own DC.
(12) You may present your own witnesses- however, the presiding officer may exclude your non-member witnesses unless (A) the presiding officer was informed you'd bring them previous to the DC and (B) the presiding officer determines that the nonmember will respect the DC proceeding.
(13) You may question any witnesses who give evidence against you (unless they are unable to attend, in which case their written statement can be used as evidence.  6.10.12 says you can question such a witness in writing or orally, but I have no clue what that would look like if they're not in attendance- perhaps real-time chat or via phone?)
(14) You can comment on evidence and make other statements when presenting your defense
(15) You're entitled to "prompt written notice of the decision and its effects, even if he has been advised orally" (6.12.11). 

A presiding officer must convene a second DC to overcome formal church discipline (formal probation, disfellowshipment, and excom).  The First Presidency must approve reinstatement to full fellowship if there was disfellowshipment or excom based on, (or if after excom or disfellowshipment occurrred) the following:
Murder, incest, child sex abuse, serious transgression while holding a prominent position, apostasy, elective transsexual operation, or embezzlement. 

There are many more details regarding the reporting of DC's, readmission, membership records, restoration of blessings, etc.  Annotations on your membership record are automatic if a DC report was filed based on:
Incest, child sex (or serious physical) abuse, plural marriage, elective transsexual operation, predatory conduct, or embezzlement of Church funds or property.

The bishop of a member who relocates during disciplinary proceedings can contact Church HQ for a "move restriction," and the member can't move his records until the requesting bishop so authorizes.

My take on the disciplinary proceedings: I think it makes sense to have them, for one.  From an organizational standpoint, it is practical and important to be able to exclude members and leaders from the organization, especially those who break agreements or rules.  Given that need, it is good jurisprudence to build an adjudication structure focused on evidence gathering, hearing both sides, fairness, etc.  I'm less familiar with how other religious societies discipline their members.  My opinions on the listed grounds for excommunication?  I may give more serious thought to this on a different post- but perhaps initially, I would prefer that a transsexual operation be removed as a situation "when a disciplinary council may be necessary," amd I would hold homosexual relations to the same standard as heterosexual ones, with accommodation made where same-sex marriage is not yet a legal option.  Most of the mandatory grounds sound appropriate to me.  I'll admit I haven't thought this question through real well yet, though.

My main complaint: TRANSPARENCY.  The accused should have access to Title 6 of the CHI. Can you imagine the injustice in a state criminal system that hid the criminal code, or that refused to disclose the trial procedures?  Both sides knowing what to expect is so important to reducing the accused's fear.  I'm open to other safeguards, comparable to those that have been articulated in substantive and procedural due process in the federal courts (perhaps a right to counsel, someone's calling from an adjoining stake or something?).  I would separate the roles of prosecution and adjudciation.  I'd also make a public Reporter for the reports of DC (possibly with anonymized names and locations) where disfellowshipment or excommunication resulted- doing so engenders predictability and consistency (witness the availability of caselaw).  There's a lot to like in Title 6, though, in my view- and much of the procedure is familiar to a student of American law.



4. Reflections on the secrecy and significance of Handbook 1

My expressions of interest in the CHI were usually met with this response: "Boring!  It's just a bunch of administrative stuff."  Perhaps that's all it is to many, but I have a masters degree in administration, and I went to law school (please forgive me- I was young then).  Governance fascinates the hell out of me, and to be honest, I'm pretty impressed with the CHI.  The burden of administering a relatively uniform, global institution with millions of members is not a light one.  Stake Presidents and Bishops are where the rubber meets the road from a hierarchical standpoint- and these leaders are unpaid.  The CHI does a decent job, in my view, of straddling that narrow sweet-spot between granting too much discretion, and micromanaging.  Plus, the high level of organization helps a new reader reasonably navigate.  The advice is both aspirational/principle-based and procedural, which is another balance difficult to strike.  The language is usually plain English.  The content both explains and prescribes, and the internal cross-referencing is reasonable and consistent. 

Parting pieces

The counseling chapter (7.2) says no priesthood officer is to counsel a person on whom to marry, nor that a person should divorce.  Both decisions must "originate and remain with the individual."

Project Mayhem shared an excellent analysis of the CHI's changes regarding homosexuality.

I am interested in other CHI analyses.  I'm aware of some, for intance this one, from which I excerpt:

"So we’re going to go ahead and let you in on some of the changes you’ll find in the pages of the new handbook. To wit:
...
19. A remedial class for children, the Secondary, will be established and administered using the Gospel Principles manual and a ball of yarn.
20. Prayers in primary will be given only by little girls to make up for the disparity later in life.
21. Only foods Jesus would eat will be allowed in nursery for snack time."

Please comment with links to other articles abou the CHI: hopefully of slightly greater rigor than the one just quoted.  I hope this article adds value to the discussion.