First Presidency promoting political participation and voting

[pam]

The following letter was issued by the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 9, 2014, to be read to Church congregations throughout the United States:

 

 

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/first-presidency-issues-letter-encouraging-political-participation-voting

[PolarVortex]

I forget whether I mentioned this earlier, but several decades ago I went to a cousin's bar mitzvah and was astonished by the rabbi's remarks.  He basically ordered everyone in the congregation to get on the phone later that day, call all their relatives in New York, and urge them to vote against Jesse Jackson.  (This was after Rev. Jackson's notorious "Hymietown" comment.)  I do not know whether this rabbi was the exception or the rule, but I was startled by the degree of political engagement in other religious groups.

 

Interesting that the LDS letter only claims institutional neutrality on political parties and candidates, not on general social issues.  But on second thought I would expect any church to have strong opinions about some social issues. 

 

However, I am against voting just because voting is good.  I only vote for issues and candidates that I know about, and I generally leave about half the ballot blank at each election.  Maybe I'm compensating for my dear grandmother, who in her declining years punched every single candidate and choice on the ballot.  I've always wondered how her ballot was tallied by the tabulators.