Let’s talk about two aspects of this.

First, when you say that obedience to leadership is the most important virtue signal within an organization, you make it a sin to question or criticize the leadership. Mormon Apostle Dallin H. Oaks makes this exact statement in this interview on PBS:

“It is wrong to criticize the leaders of the church, even if that criticism is true.”

The church takes this so seriously, in fact, that people have been excommunicated for simply asking for changes in church policy, for talking openly about events in church history that the church has censored, or interpreting passages of scripture differently than church leadership.

Let’s take a couple of examples.

In 1838, Oliver Cowdery was excommunicated for accusing Joseph Smith of adultery with Fanny Alger. Smith later obtained an affidavit from Cowdery saying that Smith had never acknowledged himself to be guilty of adultery. The church does acknowledge today, however, that Smith and Alger were “married.” This despite the fact that bigamy has always been illegal in the United States.

In 1993, Avraham Gileadi was excommunicated as a part of the September Six. His apostasy consisted of interpreting a passage in Isaiah to say that a “Davidic King” would arise in the last days. This contradicted Bruce R. McConkie’s notion that the scripture referred to the Messiah.

In 2014, Kate Kelly was excommunicated for advocating for the ordination of Mormon women to the Priesthood.

In 2015, John Dehlin was excommunicated following his TEDx talk advocating for better treatment of LGBTQ individuals. Dehlin runs the Mormon Stories podcast, which has over 900 episodes discussing issues within Mormon culture and church history, interviewing a wide range of scholars and experts with different perspectives.

In 2018, Sam Young was excommunicated for asking that Mormon bishops stop conducting one-on-one interviews with children behind closed doors. Young criticized the fact that sometimes these interviews become sexually explicit, and included a list of 29 questions in his petition. Hundreds of stories are posted on his website protectldschildren.org.

In 2018, Bill Reel was excommunicated for his podcast episode Elder Holland — Liar, Liar Pants on Fire. In this episode, Reel outlines 5 examples of Mormon Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland lying. In my opinion, the evidence is convincing. During his disciplinary council, the Stake President specifically says that it is not okay for Reel to point out that an apostle has lied, even if they have lied — because Apostles hold priesthood keys (page 27–28). Reel then responds:

You guys see that, right? If an apostle lies and a member shines a light on it, and that apostle is unwilling to acknowledge that he lied, then it is the member who shines the light on it that gets excommunicated. That is a lack of integrity in this system.

In every one of these examples, the individual was excommunicated for going against church leaders in some way:

Oliver Cowdery said that a church leader committed adultery

Avraham Gileadi interpreted the scriptures differently than a church leader

Kate Kelly asked church leaders to pray to God to see if they should change a policy excluding women

John Dehlin publicly asked everyone, including church leaders, to treat LGBTQ+ people better

Sam Young asked church leaders to stop asking children about their sex lives in one-on-one interviews behind closed doors

Bill Reel presented evidence that a church leader was lying

In every one of these examples, these people disagreed with church leaders publicly. Remember what President Oaks said? “It is wrong to criticize leaders of the church, even if that criticism is true.”

It is wrong.

Within Mormonism, it is a sin to speak the truth if that truth reflects badly on the church. This viewpoint may actually explain why the church has so assiduously hidden its troubling history — because they believe that being truthful is wrong if it reflects badly upon them.

Of course, church leaders also teach that when we confess we must never leave anything out, or we can never repent of our sins.