Like many other Americans, our family recently celebrated our country’s birthday. The next day we sang patriotic hymns during Sacrament Meeting. These beautiful hymns mean a lot to my family as we sing those hymns since I serve in our country’s military and see the sacrifice my family makes on my behalf.
After the meeting we moved to our Sunday School class. The discussion started well but quickly moved, as it seems to more often, to political matters. Although there might be some merit to a cursory comment on current political matters, more often than not the discussion continues into realms that go beyond the official political neutrality that our church leaders counsel each election year as far as the church's stance goes--members are taught to study the issues and vote for themselves.
The latest issue dealt with immigration, Mexico, and political parties. There are many noisy conservative voices repeating the latest popular rhetoric about these issues and these viewpoints are carried into church meetings—sometimes intentionally. Since we are studying the Doctrine and Covenants this year, Church history is also a part of our lessons. As the discussion turned to illegal immigration, I wondered how many of my fellows members recall that the early Saints were fleeing the United States for the Great Basin Valley in Mexico. Only after a war that President Ulysses S. Grant called, “an instance of a republic following the bad example of European monarchies” did the Saints arrive in the Great Basin in new US territory.
I also wonder how many of my fellow members realize that Fort Leavenworth, Fort Bliss, and all the other forts established along the border of the Louisiana Purchase were to prevent incursions into Mexico and not the other way around. From some discussions, one would think that the problem of people crossing borders had always been from Mexico into the US.
I wonder when I hear members say that a certain political party is the “right” party and disparaging those of other parities. It was this same “right” party that threatened to “force a reversal” of the vote in 1876 after the Democratic candidate clearly won the election. Only after agreeing to discard the voting returns of Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina was the situation resolved with the concession that all federal troops would be withdrawn from the South and cease intervening in southern affairs. As a consequence, it left our African-American brothers and sisters to fend for themselves in an unrepentant time eventually leading to the civil rights movement 80 years later.
Finally, I wonder what happens when our wonderful missionaries bring new investigators to church. Do they feel they have found acceptance in Christ’s church that would lead them to the waters of baptism? Do they feel the spirit during the class discussions that would make them want to unite themselves to this church? Although I have similar views with a majority of what is expressed, I temper what I share on those views to assure all visitors feel welcome. I also find that my political and social views usually are not pertinent to the lesson as outlined in the manual or to the salvation of others.
We are a world-wide church. It’s a known fact that we have more members outside the United States than we have inside; it will continue to be so. We also have church members whose political views are spread across the entire spectrum of political and social issues. We need to ensure everyone feels the spirit at church as we focus on Christ and His teachings instead of the things of the world.