Monday, June 30, 2008
The LDS Church on Illegal Immigration
What are the polices and positions of the LDS Church in regards to matters of illegal immigration? With the widespread Mormon identification with the Republican right in this country, one would think that the LDS Church would be very much on the ‘law and order’ end of things when it comes to illegal immigration. Now when your dealing with the average American member of the Church you would probably be right, but the official Church position is a kind of neutrality, but can in fact be argued to fall on the side of the illegal immigrants. Take for instance the issue of temple recommends, small cards that grant members who meet certain requirements of ‘righteousness’ entrance into the Churches temples. While the Church stresses obedience to civil law, members who have come into this country illegally are permitted to have temple recommends if they meet the same requirements as native born American members, mainly fidelity to the Church, tithing payments, and abstaining from serious sin (adultery, robbery, abuse, ect.). Analogy may be made to the Roman Catholic Church, which like the LDS faith has a strong presence in Latin America. Some critics claim that the Church’s ‘neutrality’ on this issue is a concession to this base of membership (more Mormons speak Spanish then English), though it should also be pointed out that to think Mormons globally resemble Utahan’s in there politics is a mistake.
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2 comments:
I have thought about this very situation as well. I considered weather or not it should be considered as a political statement or a statement of policy in any nature.
I found that when evaluating such questions it is easy to only see things from the perspective of a member of the Church within the United States and only consider the laws of our nation. It is sometimes difficult (or at least requires extra focus) to think of it in terms of a global Church and having to deal with global problems and not just those on the home front.
When I considered it from a global perspective I realized that if the Church were to even attempt to deal with such an issue in the US it would set a precedent that could theoretically require the Church to develop a system for temple access that would vary from country to country. Tracking such requirements would become rather laborious and complicated.
Seeing as to how the Church favors a system of relative uniformity I see the lack of a position on temple access to illegal immigrants as not much of an issue.
That being said I still wish more could be done in regards to the issue.
Thank you, that was a very cognate analysis.
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