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Continue ShoppingPresident Oaks Asks Members To Not Judge Those With Differing Political Beliefs Than You
“We should never assert that a faithful Latter-day Saint cannot belong to a particular party or vote for a particular candidate,” said President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the governing First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “There are many political issues, and no party, platform or individual candidate can satisfy all personal preferences.”
President Oaks in his talk during General Conference in April 2021, asked Latter-day Saint members to not judge or create contention with members and others who had different political views. Whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, or a Conservative or a Liberal. It doesn't matter. Stop the judgements, stop the hate, and learn to love one another.
A couple months ago we posted a blog entitled: Shame on Latter-day Saints Letting Politics Ruin Their Testimonies | Signs of the Last Days, that said the following:
In a recent post that we did, we talked about how The First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ made a statement, like they do every time there is a new President announced, congratulating President-elect Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris. What happened next in our comments section was horrifically sad.
So many members were caught up in the heat of the politics that they made some terrible comments about The First Presidency, some of them saying:
- "I'm ashamed of these people. They must have not gotten any prophecy of late."
- "Seems that this presidency is more concerned with appearance and being of this world."
- "Sell outs."
- "Disappointed."
President Oaks this last conference asked members to stop this behavior, and you could tell by many of the other talks that were given, that a common theme was to kind and to love on another.
The United Utah Party Chair Hilary Stirling issued an official statement in response to Oaks comments on Sunday:
The United Utah Party applauds Pres. Dallin H. Oaks address during the Sunday afternoon session of the LDS General Conference. We welcome his call for Latter-Day Saints to not judge each other based on the political party they support. His counsel to his fellow Church members to not simply vote straight party in every election is also much appreciated, as is his instruction to prioritize moral values and to seek out and support the political party and candidates that best reflect those values.
“Each citizen must therefore decide which issues are most important to him or her at any particular time,” Oaks said. “Then, members should seek inspiration on how to exercise their influence according to their individual priorities. This process will not be easy. It may require changing party support or candidate choices, even from election to election.”
So regardless of your political views, know that members of the Church can be part of any political party that they want and it doesn't matter in terms of their standing with the Church. Just because someone is a member of the Democratic party doesn't mean they believe 100% all the talking points that are being brought up, and vice versa with being a Republican, or Libertarian, etc. Everyone has a reason for their beliefs and their decisions. Maybe instead of pointing fingers, we can start to listen, learn, and love one another.
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments!
ritch noud
Apr 12, 2021
I agree with Apostle Oaks an it prompts me to reread a writing by him some years back called The Divinely Inspired Constitution a value rich piece