Simple Utah Mormon Politics

In politics there is a great deal of controversy as to whether the greater inclusion of a "big tent" is better.  But in religion, there is no question that a big tent is good. Ralph J. Bunche It has taken us Mormons a great deal of time to understand the concept, but we're starting to get better at it.

I've been following the Sutherland Institute much more closely lately, in large part because Sutherland places a high premium on civil dialog. The topic Sutherland is hosting today is one that desperately needs such courteous conversation. The topic is entitled "Undocumented Immigrants in Utah: A Civil Conversation About the Facts".  You can watch the live broadcast here , or check back later at the same site for the archived presentation.

Once we have a correct understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we no longer beat the drums of war. Instead, we seek to understand other peoples and cultures and what motivates them. Disciples of Jesus Christ advocate peaceful solutions to our problems. As a nation, we Americans are not doing a very good job of living the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I find it ironic, in light of this recent article about Mormons being intentionally kicked out as scout leaders in another Christian church, that in 1974 the LDS Church changed its policies when it found that they were having unintended consequences.

As important as the science of man-made global warming is the hotly politicized history behind the man-causes-global-warming movement. When one understands the political nature behind the so-called global warming consensus, one does not need to be a scientist to realize that any consensus cannot be taken at scientific face value.

I and my family members were asked to speak in our LDS ward sacrament meeting this past Sunday on the topic of "Spiritual Preparedness".  Here are the thoughts that I conveyed in my talk.

Does it seem to you that nothing ever changes in Washington, D.C.? Well, it's your fault. You've been co-opted by a carefully crafted plan to get you to think that you're doing something by voting when in reality you're doing worse than nothing at all by continually voting for the same insane cabal of rascal politicians that runs our country.

In December 1969, the LDS Church First Presidency issued a statement stating that, while a revelation had not yet been given authorizing the priesthood to be given to black males, it is yet important to uphold the Constitutional and civil rights of all citizens regardless of skin color. Ironically, in light of the failure of the United States and other nations of that time to uphold the civil rights of all citizens, many people chose instead to focus on the supposed racism and hypocrisy of the LDS Church.

We often talk of having faith in Christ to help us accomplish things that we can't do by ourselves. The real essence of faith in Christ, however, is to ask him to accomplish things for us that we can't do at all.

Many people think that LDS Apostle Boyd K. Packer's talk in October 2010 LDS General Conference was hateful toward homosexuals or that it encouraged hatred toward homosexuals. I don't. However, Elder Packer could have helped a lot of people if, in his talk, he had said "it".What, then, is "it"? "It" is this...

The question posed in the title of this article is one that was asked by Richard Dawkins in his book The God Delusion . To the religious person, at first glance, the question might seem preposterous.  But the more I think about the eternal nature of eternity, the more I think Dawkins is onto something.

Here is a list of ten things that I resolve to be better at as a result of what I have learned and felt while participating in the October 2010 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The more I learn about the allegations of malfeasance in I-15 construction project bidding, the more I think that Peter Corroon has dug his political grave in the race for Utah's governor. How anyone could vote for Corroon for governor after this fiasco is beyond me.

It's important to be able to recognize and choose the good.  While it's okay to choose good because God wants us to, ultimately, we can't aim to please God or anyone else with our choices.  We've got to become able to choose good simply because we want to .