The 11th Article of Faith states:
We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
In the Book of Mormon “there was no law against a man’s belief...” (Alma 30:7.) These perspectives match with our accounts of Joseph’s treatment of church members. For example, when one man was disciplined for a difference in doctrine, Joseph argued in his favor, saying:
I did not like the old man being called up for erring in doctrine. It looks too much like the Methodist, and not like the Latter-day Saints. Methodists have creeds which a man must believe or be asked out of their church. I want the liberty of thinking and believing as I please. It feels so good not to be trammeled. It does not prove that a man is not a good man because he errs in doctrine. (History of the Church 5:340.)
There are plenty of statements from subsequent church leaders that seem to reinforce the same principle of freedom of belief and expression in the church. For instance, President Joseph F. Smith explained:
contradictions of the Catholic Church, Martin Luther was told to recant or be punished. He responded: “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything...” [Latter Day Saints] are given the largest possible latitude of their convictions, and if a man rejects a message that I may give to him but is still moral and believes in the main principles of the gospel and desires to continue in his membership in the Church, he is permitted to remain...Members of the Mormon Church are not all united on every principle. Every man is entitled to his own opinion and his own views and his own conceptions of right and wrong so long as they do not come in conflict with the standard principles of the Church... But so long as a man believes in God and has a little faith in the Church organization, we nurture and aid that person to continue faithfully as a member of the Church though he may not believe all that is revealed. (Joseph F. Smith U.S. Congress, Senate, 1904-1907, Vol. I, pp. 97-98.)
More recently, President Gordon B. Hinckley stated:
We must work harder to build mutual respect, an attitude of forbearance, with tolerance one for another regardless of the doctrines and philosophies which we may espouse. Concerning these you and I may disagree. But we can do so with respect and civility. (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley 1997, 661, 665.)
And yet, the Handbook of Instructions states that members who publicly disagree with church leaders should be excommunicated from the church.