Are Mormon Liberal or Conservative?

[zionminded]

Nobody would disagree that Mormon's lean Republican.

However, are we not more liberal than we think?

Think about it.

- The church position runs left of center (abortion for incest, rape or health of the mother), while most Christian's teach never.
- We do teach self dependency, but our tithing program is more liberal than most other belief systems.
- Mormon's have been pursecuted as a minority in the past, would we not embrace civil rights faster than most Red states (historically)?

... I could go on, what do you think?

[skmo]

However, are we not more liberal than we think?

Think about it.

- The church position runs left of center (abortion for incest, rape or health of the mother), while most Christian's teach never.

No, most accept a threat of life to the mother, and many even hold very open pro-choice beliefs. Southern Baptist, Pentecostal evangelicals, and generally only a handful of others hold a "not ever except to save mother's life" viewpoint. Compared to society as a whole we're WAY to the right. Compared to other US religions, we're center right.

- We do teach self dependency, but our tithing program is more liberal than most other belief systems.

Only if you're talking about classical liberals, like Thomas Jefferson. Classical Liberalism has the same philosophical similarity with today's democratic party as the Third Reich had with Judaism.

We tithe because we are following a loving God's commandments. Welfare is a dumb-as-crap pointing a figurative gun at your head and ordering you to give him money so he can go be compassionate to others. He also reminds you that he's willing to back up his figurative gun with a real one in the hands of some federal goon squad.

Mormon's have been pursecuted as a minority in the past, would we not embrace civil rights faster than most Red states (historically)?

Mormons were generally persecuted for similar reasoning that the Jews were persecuted. Mormons would move to a place, work hard and well together, be prosperous, but eventually others (like Gov. Boggs) decided you had more than they did and they were going to take it. Instead of lying down in a ghetto and waiting for a check to come from the government, the saints packer their wagons and moved elsewhere to start again. Eventually, with the death of Joseph Smith, they moved WAY far away. They kept going until the found a land so bleak, desolate, and inhospitable that Brigham Young said "Nobody will ever want this craphole, let's build here." (I think it was something like that.)

... I could go on, what do you think?

No. I think the last liberal politician I think very well of is Grover Cleveland. (JFK doesn't count, he was liberal by family ties but more conservative in action.)

[Strange_Matter]

- The church position runs left of center (abortion for incest, rape or health of the mother), while most Christian's teach never.

I wouldn't say most Christians. Also, Handbook 2 does provide that incest, rape, or health of the mother are possible exceptions; not automatically allowed in all cases. I can't say for certain (having never served as a Bishop or SP) but I would guess that, even in these cases, abortions are still a fairly rare occurrence. Here's what the handbook says:

Even these exceptions do not justify abortion automatically. Abortion is a most serious matter and should be considered only after the persons responsible have consulted with their bishops and received divine confirmation through prayer.

- We do teach self dependency, but our tithing program is more liberal than most other belief systems.

What do you mean by "liberal"? I would say charitable. Those who are truly in need get the help they need to get back on their feet. And it's managed as efficiently as possible by God's servants. Not an inefficient bureaucracy prone to waste or severe mismanagement.

- Mormon's have been pursecuted as a minority in the past, would we not embrace civil rights faster than most Red states (historically)?

I hate the term civil rights. It's a blanket term for a million different things and for some reason everybody assumes you are either entirely for or entirely against it. Are you talking about racial equality? Marital rights? Religious/conscience rights? Voting rights? I think one would need to be more specific on what aspect of civil rights they are talking about before saying that LDS members would embrace them faster than other Red states. There are some that we probably would embrace faster and others that we probably wouldn't.

[creator]

Originally, in Utah, the Mormons had their own political party called the People's Party. The Gospel of Jesus Christ doesn't fit fully with either the Republican or Democrat party platforms, which is why I side with neither of those parties. The gospel is more "conservative" but not like the mainstream Republicans and Neo-Cons claim to be conservative, and not quite libertarian either. That's why I just say I'm a "Juris Naturalist" (belief in God's Law).

[MormonPatriot]

Any Mormon who is a liberal doesn't understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ

[The ward heretic]

Any Mormon who is a liberal doesn't understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ

I agree.

Any neo/main stream conservative doesn't understand The gospel of Jesus Christ either.

[Dave62]

With all due respect to Zionminded's opening post, I feel like I'm being asked to choose between Shiz or Coriantumr. The question posed does not take into account the inaccurate definition of "Liberalism" that plagues America right now. A better term would be "progressive authoritarianism". No, LDS should not fit that mold. A better term for Conservative would be "regressive authoritarianism" and, once again, no LDS would ever hold their membership so cheap as to align with that. Zionminded has the key to the answer in his name.

[Robin Hood]

Nobody would disagree that Mormon's lean Republican.

I would.
Here in the UK most Mormons in my experience do not vote Conservative (our equivalent of the Republican Party). They tend to vote Labour for the most part, or Liberal Democrat.
However, I have noticed that those who are Conservative voters tend to be the more successful in business etc, and, rather worryingly in my view, tend to occupy the leadership positions.
Maybe this is just a coincidence.