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‘Mormonism at its best’ — Bishop clears New Zealander who faced possible excommunication

After a wave of poetry, prayers and personal petitions, good news greeted Gina Colvin about her membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The verdict from her local Latter-day Saint leaders in Christchurch, New Zealand, was not to discipline the outspoken Colvin at all.

Colvin, a theologian and writer, was summoned to a disciplinary “bishop’s council” — which meant her fate would be determined by her local lay bishop and his two counselors — to answer charges of apostasy and “conduct unbecoming” a member.

Though she was baptized and confirmed in the Anglican Communion in March, that was not the “sole or even the predominant factor” in considering formal church discipline, the bishop wrote in his letter to Colvin outlining his reasoning.