Democrat in a Conservative LDS Community

DISCLAIMER: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has no political affiliation whatsoever. It is neither conservative nor liberal nor does it hardly ever make any stance when it comes to political platform. If you do want to know the stance of the LDS church on any topic, they ALWAYS come out with an official press release. If you have questions, please consult with lds.org. This blog post is purely written from my own personal experiences with other members of the church along with members who share the same political beliefs as me within the church.

Let's go ahead and set the scene before I really go into this blog post by telling you about my upbringing. I was born and raised in Phoenix, AZ which has been a conservative state in every election except in 1996 since becoming part of the U.S in 1912. I have been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints my whole life. My whole family is basically conservative (unless there are some closeted liberals I don't know about hahaha). If you asked me during the 2012 election which political party I associated with I would have said none but I leaned more to right. I would've regurgitated something I heard from my parents or something I saw on Fox News, as that was the only new station I really watched growing up besides the local news. I was taught that the worst thing you could be was a democrat in the way those around me talked about it and even people in my church growing up.

Now because of the teachings of the church and its doctrines, many members of the church tend to affiliate with right wing or the conservative side of the spectrum. And there is nothing wrong with that BUT I am sick and tired of being judged and persecuted in my own community for believing and thinking differently. I am going to get so much heat for this but I feel like I'm not the only one who feels this way and I want them to know they're not alone so here it goes:

1. I am not any less a disciple of Jesus Christ because I am more liberal in my view points. Stop sending me articles about people who are anti-Mormon converting to church, about repentance when leaving the church or returning to activity. I AM AN ACTIVE AND CONTRIBUTING MEMBER OF THIS CHURCH AS MUCH AS YOU ARE. I keep my covenants, pay my tithing, attend the temple, partake of the sacrament and worship the same God as you. You and I have the same Heavenly Parents and Savior Jesus Christ. I love them as much as you do and maybe even more! Who really knows?! That's right no one and especially not you. You focus on your activity in the church, your relationship with God and your own salvation and I'll worry about mine. My salvation is not dependent on my political beliefs but on my obedience to the commandments and how I treat others.
2. "The world", "the adversary", "the devil", etc. is not interchangeable or synonymous with liberal or democrat. There are wicked men and women in ALL political parties who teach evil principles. Just because I am liberal does not mean I'm wicked or condone wickedness. Liberals do not exist to destroy righteousness and we are not the Great and Spacious building. We have not declared this imaginary holy war on all you hold dear and sacred, especially since mine are the same as yours!
3. Don't assume someone's reasons behind why they want certain legislation passed. I remember talking to another LDS liberal about the legalization of gay marriage and he sad, "I don't want the government to have that much power to define who loves who. It's not their place, it's God's."Here people assume that just because he wants equality for the LGBT community, he's a homo. When he states that he is pro-choice, he's automatically assigned the label 'baby killer'. When he states that he wants stricter gun laws, conservative members of the church assign the label "communist" or "fascist". When really all these stances he has taken is because he wants as little interference from the government as possible in the personal decisions of its citizens. In other words, he is pro-agency! He wants others to have the freedom to choose just like he would want that for himself.
4. Political beliefs are not church doctrine, so stop preaching them from the pulpit. Example: I was told from a high council member while attending a student ward at BYU-I that I would destroy the work of the Lord and His church if I voted democrat in anyway and he proceeded to tell the students how to vote. Trump is not ringing in the Second Coming nor is he doing God's work nor is he saving the world. That's all you, mingling the philosophies of men with scripture. If it doesn't come from the scriptures or directly from the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, you are preaching false doctrine.
5. If your political beliefs fill you with hate for any human being, then they are not in line with the teachings of the gospel. I'm going to leave it at that and have you interpret that as you will.
I want to end by explaining why a Mormon might in fact, be a democrat.

1. The main reason why I vote democrat is because I believe in universal healthcare. There are just some things that should not be for profit and one of those things is good health. Now that I live in a country with universal healthcare, I'll never live in the States again. Solely for that reason. People who tell you that the American healthcare system is the only way and that other countries have people waiting in lines suffering or dying on some list, is lying to you. I have a chronic disease and I am seen IMMEDIATELY. I have lived it and America's healthcare system preys on the sick and takes advantage of them.

2. I'm pro-choice because women NEED the right to make their own healthcare decisions independent of the government. No one is pro-abortion. Do I think that an abortion is morally wrong? Absolutely. Is it a form of birth control? Absolutely not. But it's not up to me what another woman chooses to do with her body and child. And for that matter I LOVE PLANNED PARENTHOOD! Abortions are not the only things they do! Pelvic exams, free STD testing, free pregnancy testing, affordable birth control etc. Either way, women will find a way to terminate a pregnancy. I would give 100% of my taxes to provide a low-income woman basic healthcare and that's what they do! (these facts come from their website at plannedparenthood.org)

3. Welfare. I heard the same conservative story. They saw someone on their iPhones texting with their fresh manicure wearing name brand clothes while using their food stamp card in line at Walmart. Just so you know, you just witnessed a very small percentage. Right wing politicians want to make tax cuts to welfare but 45% of welfare recipients are children in the system under the age of 18, 9% goes to the elderly over the age of 60 and 10% goes to disabled adults. That makes a collective of 74%!!! People who literally cannot work or provide for themselves. Let me ask you this... Did Jesus Christ ever turn someone away because of the way they were dressed? Whether too rich or poor? No. He commanded me and you to ALWAYS give to the poor. Let God do the judging. He's the only one who knows the whole story. (https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/2012Characteristics.pdf)

4. I believe in stricter guns laws. No citizen should own a gun such as an AR-15. Some say it's a God given right and to you I ask, where does it say that in the scriptures? Conference talks? I couldn't find it anywhere. If you find, let me know. I'm not afraid of being wrong. In all honesty, if it was a God given right, he wouldn't given Adam an assault rifle from the beginning. Bottom line, the government would've have nuked us all a long time ago if it really wanted to get rid of us and guns that are meant for war, should stay there. I live in a country currently where they have strict guns laws. My father-in-law owns a gun. And they haven't had a mass killing since 1990.

5. I'm an isolationist when it comes to foreign policy. I loved that Obama pulled the troops out of the middle east and ended the "War on Terror". The most vague and useless war ever, right after the Vietnam and Korean war. It is my opinion, that any war after World War 2 has only been because some old guys up in Washington saw them useful for election. Thanks goodness them baby-boomers got rid of the draft or who knows what wars we would've been forced to fight since then!





That's my 2 cents. My opinion. Take it or leave it. That's why I'm a Democrat and can be as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Not the Church of Trump of Latter-day Saints or the Church of Jesus Christ of Conservative Saints. Yeah, I'm little defensive but enough is enough dude. Stop taking my political beliefs so personally and can we all just work to get to the Celestial kingdom together. I'll vote how I want and you vote how you want. Let's discuss this in a respectful, educated and calm manner. To my conservative friends, I love ya'll. You're what makes this nation great, along with us Democrats.