… he’d probably write for The Salt Lake Tribune (and work in community radio):
The case for Book of Mormon socialism
Though redistribution is the highest economic order in Mormon scripture, Sen. Chris Buttars vehemently denounced Alpine School District for allegedly advocating “democratic socialism.” He, Mitt Romney, Glenn Beck and others seem to believe that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a de facto 14th Article of Faith: We believe in the unquestioned virtue of unregulated capitalism.
But Mormon scripture makes such a belief indefensible. The notorious villains of Nephite civilization were the Gadianton Robbers, who perpetuated policies that exacerbated class inequality. They eventually “did obtain the sole management of the government, insomuch that they did trample under their feet and smite and rend and turn their backs upon the poor and the meek, and the humble followers of God” (Helaman 6:39).
Many politically powerful Latter-day Saints have also turned their back on the poor and working class in this country. The Patrick Henry Caucus, Eagle Forum and Romney are determined to eliminate the very social programs that have traditionally protected vulnerable populations. Conversely, they are equally invested in protecting the wealthy.
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Naming names and calling out a broad swath of Mormon power politics. Could this be Jesus? ;-)
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This is one of the main reasons I am no longer Mormon. I am a liberal Democrat – very active in politics.
Obama is not a brown-skinned anti-war socialist who gives away free healthcare. You’re thinking of Jesus. -John Fugelsang
I like the way you think!
So I’m hearing that Troy Williams is known as the ‘gay mayor of Salt Lake City.’ I’m tempted to call him a real-world ‘Samuel the Lamanite.’ But ‘Jesus’ will be more accessible to those who know the story of his fight with the Pharisees and Sadducees.
The main theme of the New Testament was Jesus warning MEMBERS of his church. . . you are worshipping the vehicle while your God stands right in front of you. Christianity is simple – it’s being good and nice to each other.
My prayers are with Troy Williams. I hope he is kept safe while he does his work.
The Book of Mormon is a book about MEMBERS gone bad. All scripture warns MEMBERS to look to God and not to other things. Pure religion is taking care of the fatherless, the widows, the sick. . . how far away we have gotten.
How can Mormons sit in meetings for 3 hours every Sunday and then so rigorously espouse and spew hate?
Gandhi put it beautifully: “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
Christianity is very basic. To chase rules and laws and words of prophets to the exclusion of helping others, is missing the point.
“When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a
communist.”
-Dom Helder Camara, Brazilian archbishop
This seems to point to a suspicion I’ve long held … that all this anti-socialism, communism, blahh-blah rhetoric is really just organized religion defending itself from more secular models.
Do you think all the converts in foreign countries are American Republicans? No, they come to the church in search of Christ – and they may be communist. Can you be a communist and still a follower of Christ? Maybe you have to BE a communist to be Christian . . . what would Mormons say then?
“There is nothing patriotic about hating your government or pretending you can hate your government but love your country.” – Bill Clinton
If Mormonism was truly the religion of Christ, wouldn’t it embrace all instead of quietly supporting a certain party or conservative right wing point of view. I believe the Christ loves American Democrats too.
“If by a ‘Liberal’ they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people – their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties…if that is what they mean by a ‘Liberal,’ then I’m proud to say I’m a ‘Liberal.'” -JFK
I think you could replace the word Liberal in this quote with the word Christian.
Loved that, Angie. And every other quote you’ve shared here.
Reading the comments on FB and the SL Trib where conservative-minded Mormons so indignantly and occasionally thoughtfully seek to defend their position while simultaneously twisting the BoM to their will … One thing that amazes me is that folks can believe the BoM is literally true and real but then write-off select themes as being do-able only in some surreal, abstract, perfectly impractical scenario. Ah well, that’s what scriptures are best at.
The very things that I was taught in Sunday School – love one another, do what is right, stand up for what you believe . . . are the reasons I cannot tolerate the political rhetoric I hear spewed from the pulpit and from the white male conservative teachers at church.
The first scripture that Joseph Smith read to start the whole thing: James 1:5
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
I cannot tolerate any longer things which are not from God – but the baying of sheep following a conservative path regardless of the people it mangles.
I think Mormons don’t think. They are lemmings.
The church has become a very rich and powerful corporation. They used to announce in conference how much wealth the church had. Now they don’t – the church has become an organization that uses the widows mite and watches them die. All along praising God, and assuring them that they are going to heaven. I cannot sit in those buildings built with their tears and on their backs and listen to rich men talk about helping the poor. We brag about not having a paid ministry – but some are paid. Not me – I’m not paid, but some men are.
The men who lead who have never had to work outside the church or with their hands . . . need to repent.
This is why I left. My God does not like it – not one bit.
It gets me going too. I’ve lost patience with having the aspects of faith that flow into things I care most about marginalized and demonized by folks claiming to hold the high-ground and bully pulpit if God. Sick. Of. It.
Matt, you are more than welcome to visit my ward–we don’t put up with this foolishness at the pulpit (or in Gospel Doctrine, for that matter–in my experience, that’s where the conservatism-as-doctrine folks really come out to play). I sincerely hope that those in the church, like myself, who see their faith as the reason they support societal aid to the poor and downtrodden know that they are not alone. Please don’t leave. We need your voices in the church more than ever.
Victoria, thank you. There’s definitely some variation on the subject between communities/wards. So much for the famous ‘everywhere I go the church is the same.’ :) I think the church in it’s current monolithic, top-down state will continue to serve the needs of the majority for some time to come. For the rest of us, it’s get lucky or get out. The odds are rarely with luck.
I cannot spend anymore time listening to members who sound like Rush Limbaugh in their approach to people. It’s the main thing that drove me – literally DROVE me out. I don’t appreciate Glenn Beck or anything of the hateful things he says – and I certainly don’t support George Bush and anything he did to destroy the economy and start wars based on rumors. If THAT is what I have to believe to be a mainstream Mormon – count me out.
When studying for my MBA, I came to realize the real value of socialism for economic purposes. I don’t support capitalism – and that doesn’t make me anti-American, it makes me a liberal Democrat. I believed the richest nation on Earth should not be letting it’s people go hungry or without the opportunity of education or without health insurancde. Something is very wrong in this system that 2% of all Americans own most of the wealth. From my understanding of the Book or Mormon, it was classism that destroyed the Nephite society. But maybe I haven’t been reading the same thing as my George-Bush-Rush-Limbaugh-Loving church leadership.
I need to get off this blog – because as you can tell I feel deeply hurt by the politics that I had thrust down my throat at church, which I do NOT believe.