First, listen to this episode of the Standard of Truth podcast, particularly from the 29 minute mark.
Now, let’s do a Q&A.
- Can a faithful U.S. Latter-day Saint be a member of the Democratic Party?
The answer is emphatically yes, and the main reason we know this is, people are doing it. There are plenty of faithful Latter-day Saints in the U.S. who are members of the Democratic Party. But are they really faithful? Well, what do you mean by faithful? Obviously that word needs defining, so here is a possible definition:
- believe the church’s basic doctrines
- sustain church leadership
- are temple-worthy or striving toward it
- serve in church callings
Now, if you come up with a different definition, then of course you may have a different answer to this question.
2. What about the temple recommend question: “Do you support or promote any teachings, practices, or doctrine contrary to those of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?” The Democratic Party platform supports abortion, right?
Yes, it does. But belonging to a political party does not mean that you support everything in the party’s platform. The church’s official position is that “principles compatible with the gospel may be found in various political parties, and members should seek candidates who best embody those principles.”
It is perfectly fine to join a political party with the intention to advocate for the party positions you agree with, and counter the positions you disagree with. Political parties have factions that hold different views, and it would be great to see a pro-life faction emerge in the Democratic Party to rein in the pro-abortion zealots there. It would be great to see a Democratic Party that knows it will not be able to turn out its own base if its candidates hold extreme views on abortion, or promote a Marxist worldview.
Likewise, among a Republican Party full of Evangelical Christians, I would love to see Latter-day Saints wield enough influence that Evangelicals who disparage our faith become unelectable, and unable to even work as political staffers.
And now that President Trump has revised the Republican platform to allow the country to become more pro-choice at the state level, I would like to see Latter-day Saints influence state Republican and Democratic parties to craft abortion legislation that is effective and reflects the church’s teachings.
3. Is it practical to participate in a party as a reformer, though? How much influence can someone have in that situation?
Sometimes, a lot. For example, the Blue Dog Coalition of moderate Democratic members of congress used to wield a lot of influence in moderating the party’s tendencies, but their numbers have dwindled over time. Many of us would love to see them re-emerge as a force in the Democratic Party to counter extreme voices.
In the aftermath of Trump’s 2024 reelection, it has become clear that some Democrats understand how extreme their party has become, and how out of touch on issues from the economy to immigration to the gender delusion that men should play against women in sports.
Democratic strategist: “We are not the party of common sense… Stop with the virtue signaling and speak to people like they’re normal… Until we do that, we should stop blaming other people for our own mistakes.”pic.twitter.com/KzfGEIfpjK
— i/o (@eyeslasho) November 7, 2024
Many of those people are too far apart from Republican thinking to align themselves with the Republican party, and people like me hope that they can bring some common sense to their friends on the left. It would be a positive development if they could help reform the Democratic party.
4. What else have church leaders said on this?
In April 2021 General Conference, President Oaks taught:
There are many political issues, and no party, platform, or individual candidate can satisfy all personal preferences. Each citizen must therefore decide which issues are most important to him or her at any particular time. 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.
Such independent actions will sometimes require voters to support candidates or political parties or platforms whose other positions they cannot approve. That is one reason we encourage our members to refrain from judging one another in political matters. We should never assert that a faithful Latter-day Saint cannot belong to a particular party or vote for a particular candidate. We teach correct principles and leave our members to choose how to prioritize and apply those principles on the issues presented from time to time.
5. But doesn’t that position open up the possibility that church members might join extreme parties, like Nazi or communist parties?
It does. Church members might govern themselves that way.
But do they? How many members of the church in the U.S. are members of extreme Nazi and communist parties? Do we have any reason to believe it’s more than, say, 100 members out of 6 million? However many there are, how vocal and influential are they? Is extreme party membership in the church an actual problem?
If the church’s message on party membership is resulting in less than .1% of members joining extreme parties, that’s an indicator that the message is more than 99.9% effective.
And people who criticize President Oaks’ position bear the burden of articulating a better position for the church to take:
- Should the church develop a list of acceptable political parties and candidates in every country?
- What would be the standard of acceptability?
- Would the church need to keep a running audit of every party and candidate throughout the world to monitor their acceptability? What if a party made an adjustment to their platform? What if a candidate changed one of their positions? Would the church then announce that the party or candidate had all of a sudden become acceptable for church members?
Gosh, I never actually gamed all that out in my mind.
Right, and that’s one of the many differences between President Dallin H. Oaks and most other people. His views spend considerably more time in the oven than is typical of people like me and you. When the First Presidency takes a stance, they have to consider whether or not that stance is based in reality and whether it is even possible to operationalize throughout the worldwide church.
If we don’t want the church to decline in the U.S. the way Evangelical churches are tanking, then we should do everything we can to avoid politicizing the church experience and making Christ into an imaginary servant of Caesar.
Source: Wired
Source: Ryan Burge
We should also get our of our bubble and see the reality of the options people face in different places. There are places in the U.S. where the Democratic Party is the only viable party, so church members’ choice to participate in the Democratic Party is a calculation to have some amount of political influence in their area, versus no influence.
The same goes for political activity overseas. There are many areas of the world where the only viable political parties are extreme left- or right- wing. Church members’ choice to participate in those parties is a calculation to have some amount of reforming political influence in their area, versus no influence.
As Jesus taught, “Make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness…”
6. But how can we be one if we are divided politically?
Practice it. Look for examples of people who are divided politically, but come together in unity when it comes to important things. Organize a service project for your ward, and you’ll see unity among diverse people. Read The Righteous Mind and try to understand the moral intuitions that different people have.
Understand that unity is not the same as uniformity. Unity does not mean sameness, or thinking all the same things.
Think celestial, including understanding that 1) many of the people you disagree with politically are on their way to exaltation, and will be in the celestial kingdom. Moreover, if you are not careful, political grievances can turn you into a hateful soul that prefers drama and conflict over the kind of society that is found in the celestial kingdom.
Finally, follow the prophets. There is a message in the level of attention and loyalty they give to Christ versus Caesar.