From our earliest days, when the Prophet Joseph and Patriarch Hyrum suffered in Liberty Jail and died in Carthage Jail, to the Saints spending nearly 30 years resisting Federal anti-polygamy laws, practicing civil disobedience and being willing to go to prison in order to serve God, on down to the modern day we have examples of the lives of great Saints who have repeatedly broken the laws of the land in order to do what is right and to serve God. Latter-day Saint history is full of rebels and rogues, people who would rather be exiled from the nation, who would rather be killed, than disobey the Lord. So how is it that so many of us have become so milquetoast about standing up the government tyranny? Why is it that so many of us think that the Saints should “strictly obey the laws of the government in which they live,” even when such laws aren’t just wrong or immoral, but even when said laws actively compel us either to disobey God or punish us for obeying Him? While there are numerous reasons, one of the largest is because Latter-day Saints have misinterpreted the Twelfth Article of Faith, D&C 58:21, and D&C 134:5 as giving commandments to the Saints to obey the law and to comply even with evil laws. A close examination of these scriptures though, as I attempt here, show that such interpretations are, by the large, gross nonsense.
Tag: latterdaysaints
The Religious Nature of the Political Right
A few weeks back I wrote an exploration of the religious nature of the political Left, exploring the ways that Leftist ideology acts as a religion within the lives of Leftists themselves. Today’s article is about the religious nature of the political Right and about the ways that right wing ideology acts as the religious beliefs of Rightists. Unlike many people, who make the easily understood and common mistake of equating the religion of the political Right with some aberrant form of Christianity, I have relied upon the works of Dr. Carlton J.H. Hayes, an eminent historian who pioneered the historical study of Nationalism, to study the true religion of the political Right and the impact it has in the lives of Rightists. In doing so I also dig into what it means to be on the political Right in terms of conservatism, traditionalism, and nationalism, seeking to reach the true taproot of the political Right, that set of beliefs which defines it even when all its other ideas shift and change over time. Here I believe I have hit on the definitive truth of not only what motivates right wing politics but what also drives the faith of Rightists in their ideology and what motivates them to try and remake the world in its image.
Did The Church’s November 2015 Policy Cause LGBT+ Teens To Harm or Kill Themselves?
It is common among ex-Mormons to claim that the doctrines and policies of the church regarding homosexuality cause gay teens to harm and kill themselves, especially the November 2015 policy of the church that says same-sex marriage is an offense that can get you excommunicated. This argument has even been made by major news outlets. But is it actually true? Here I republish an online essay from another writer that addresses the strongest evidence for this argument head on, evaluates all the proof, and comes to powerful, fact-based conclusions that demonstrates that the argument, for all its emotional power, is contradictory and false. In my afterword to the essay, I point out that the evidence is actually the opposite, that deeply religious gay teens are less likely to harm or kill themselves, and draw conclusions about how we can keep from falling for similar emotionally manipulative and erroneous arguments made by the critics of the church and its policies.