He apparently hasn't been spending much time in Temple Square.
Church leadership today is very careful to steer clear of partisan politics, but the moral focus of the LDS Church most assuredly casts these important matters into stark black and white terms. It is tough to be both a faithful LDS member and a Democrat today because the Democratic Party has drifted far into the waters of moral relativism, and many of its most important goals are either designed to destroy or have the effect of corroding the traditional family.
It's easy to discern where this erstwhile Mormon stands, and it isn't with the LDS faithful.
This guy sounds like a shill for the Democratic Party. I love how he brings up the rich and poor mantra. Hey buddy!!! Nobody got rich off of government handouts!!! What an idiot.
I see- we need to view terrorists as grown-ups and President Bush as a narrow-minded juvenile? The writer has made it clear, to me, who his intended audience is. It's funny that he can draw a line between the John Birch Society having a hyper-patriotic stance (that has resulted in zero deaths) and the conservatives of today. I believe he's been hibernating since the 2000 Election and hasn't realized there have been riots, murders, kidnappings, rapes, violent protests, etc. in the name of islam and there is no concern for any of that. He's more concerned about the LDS religion that hasn't beheaded anyone lately?
The point these fruitcakes always leave out is that conservatism doesn't lead people to go on killing sprees. It doesn't make people want to burn effigies and carry posters thanking God for Hitler.
The writer may want to get to the bottom of who is dividing this country.....and stroll over to a mirror
Another reason why I don't subscribe to the Salt Lake Trib.
There is that core in Salt Lake which I call SF Lite...and he's playing to it.
Frank Church of Idaho? How does that rat enter into a diatribe about Utah, my relatives in Idaho hated him.
I smell a pro-abortion, pro-homosexual marriage, globalist dressing up like a Mormon. I've seen their type before.
The man who issued this statement and also trumpeted his good church-going habits should think about this, Isn't that statement totally consistent with what the Lord has taught us over the ages, there is black and white,good or evil,not lukewarm mush?
Someone should say to this guy "You know you are right. Those Commies and terroists would have let you keep teaching your Sunday school class." I love leftists they are so easy to pick on.
This appears to be an op-ed piece, submitted by someone to the paper. Why not write a countering editorial and submit it to the same paper?
Perhaps your point of view would be printed as well. That seems to me to be a very good way of responding to this, if you're in Utah.
Think about it.
Then along came Bill Clinton, gave our Hi-Tech secrets to the Chicoms, and,,,,,guess who don't give a sh*t? Full blown treason here, and count how many folks with top secret clearances and a sworn oath to their job, completely ignored it.???
I think I read somewhere and Lds church leader back in the 30's said communism was evil and that if the U.S. didn't make it treasonable, it would be our undoing. Maybe I am misquoting, don't know. It was a while ago.
Not being a resident of the state, is the author citing something specific to Utah or is he drinking the koolaide of an elected president nominating judges as he had promised in the campaigns that the opposition dislikes? It would seem to many of the Dims that unless they could return to those glorious days of Democrat absolute control over the 3 branches (FDR/JFK/LBJ/JEC & WJC), then there are no 'checks and balances'.
McCarthy was right, 100%.
Ping
Luke 19:21-27
"Another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief;
for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.'
"He said to him, 'By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?
'Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?'
"Then he said to the bystanders, 'Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.'
"And they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas already.'
"I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.
"But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence."
Frequently, Birch Society members claim that the Mormon Church has never taken a stand against the beliefs or behavior of the JBS. A recent example is a letter-to-the-editor by Mary Lindsay, posted on the Salt Lake City Tribune website (below) in response to the article bu Jerrold Willmore (above).
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_3576279
I submitted the following reply to Mary's letter.
Mary Lindsay's March 8th letter defending the Birch Society is inaccurate, especially when she claims that....
"The leadership of the LDS Church has never accused the members of the John Birch Society of supporting extremist organizations."
See 1/4/63 Deseret News article, page B1, entitled "Church Sets Policy In Birch Society", for the following First Presidency quote:
"We deplore the presumption of some politicians, especially officers, co-ordinators and members of the John Birch Society, who undertake to align the Church or its leadership with their partisan views.
"We encourage our members to exercise the right of citizenship, to vote according to their own convictions, but no one should seek or pretend to have our approval of their adherence to any extremist ideologies.
"We denounce communism as being anti-Christian, anti-American, and the enemy of freedom, but we think they who pretend to fight it by casting aspersions on our elected officers or other fellow citizens do the anti-Communist cause a great disservice."
Also see October 1992 Stake Presidents document entitled "Profile of the Splinter Group Members Or Others With Troublesome Ideologies" which lists 20 warning signs of apostasy. Third on the list was "John Birch membership or leanings."
There is a long history of internal disputes about the JBS and its doctrines within the Mormon hierarchy.
In October 1961, for example, Ezra Taft Benson stated that "the internal threat to the American way of life is in the secret alliance which exists between the more advanced Social Democrats and the hard-core Communist conspiracy" and he described the "insidious infiltration of communist agents and sympathizers into almost every segment of American life."
First Presidency counsellor Hugh Brown interpreted these remarks as endorsing JBS doctrine and he subsequently answered an inquiry about the JBS by writing that "we [the First Presidency] are definitely against their methods" and he observed that "we do not think dividing our own people, casting reflections on our government officials, or calling everybody a Communist who does not agree with the political views of certain individuals is the proper way to fight Communism."
[Brown 12/18/61 letter to Mrs. Alicia Bingham].
In April 1962 Brown wrote, in an obvious reference to the Birch Society:
"Let us not undermine our government or accuse those who hold office of being soft on communism...{or} by destroying faith in our elected officials under the guise of fighting communism."
[ Improvement Era , June 1962, "Honor The Priesthood", page 450]
After Ezra Taft Benson explicitly endorsed the JBS, Hugh Brown described himself as "disgusted" with Benson's pro-JBS activities and if they did not cease, Brown suggested "some disciplinary action should be taken."
[Hugh Brown to Gustive O. Larson, 11/11/62].
In October 1962, Ezra T. Benson's son, Reed, became JBS Coordinator in Utah. Reed used chapels to speak to stake meetings about the JBS. Hugh Brown wrote in November 1962 that...
"It is certainly regrettable [Benson] is permitted to continue to peddle his bunk in our Church houses."
For a 65-page report, based upon FBI documents, which explains why FBI officials described the JBS in memos as "extremist" see http://birchers.blogspot.com/