LDS Church issues statement after Trump orders ban on refugees

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Joel
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LDS Church issues statement after Trump orders ban on refugees

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LDS Church issues statement after Trump orders ban on refugees

SALT LAKE CITY — Amid the controversy swirling around President Trump's executive order banning refugees from seven Muslim countries, the LDS Church issued a statement late Saturday night urging solutions that relieve refugee suffering.

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is concerned about the temporal and spiritual welfare of all of God's children across the earth," the statement said, "with special concern for those who are fleeing physical violence, war and religious persecution. The church urges all people and governments to cooperate fully in seeking the best solutions to meet human needs and relieve suffering."

On Friday afternoon, Trump signed an executive order that suspended the U.S. refugee resettlement program for four months. It also cut the number of refugees the United States will accept this year to 50,000, down from the 110,000 set by President Barack Obama.

A federal judge blocked part of the order on Saturday.

The order barred Syrian refugees indefinitely and blocked entry to anyone from countries with terrorism concerns for 90 days. The State Department said those countries are seven predominantly Muslim nations — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

That led religious faiths throughout the United States to voice concerns about religious freedom.

This is the second time the LDS Church has responded to a call by Trump to block immigration.

Church leaders issued a strong statement in December 2015 soon after Trump, on the campaign trail, called for a ban on Muslim immigration to the United States.

Like Saturday's statement, the December 2015 statement did not name Trump or refer specifically to the controversy, but it said that while the faith is neutral in regard to party politics and election campaigns, "it is not neutral in relation to religious freedom."

It drew on two statements by church founder Joseph Smith to reaffirm its longstanding position of support for religious pluralism.

In 1841, Smith was the mayor of the largely Mormon city of Nauvoo, Illinois, when it passed a religious freedom ordinance that protected the rights of all faiths. In 1843, Smith said he was willing to die to defend the religious freedom rights of people of any denomination.

In September, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles called for governments to do more to help refugees.

"Governments today are not responding to the refugee problem urgently enough, nor on a large enough scale," he said.

He said the plight of the world's 60 million refugees should generate outrage.

"The world needs to be more outraged than it is," he said, "when we read of the persecution, the violence, the sexual violence, the murder, the rape, the destruction of families and any social structure that these people have had — almost entire cultures being destroyed."

Finally, Elder Holland made a clear reference to the faith's "I Was a Stranger" program, launched last spring. The program called on Mormons, especially the women of the faith's global Relief Society, to help individual refugees resettling in their communities.

"We need to encourage local citizens to welcome (refugees) into their everyday lives," he said.

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FTC
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Re: LDS Church issues statement after Trump orders ban on refugees

Post by FTC »

Did the Joseph Smith quote come from the Journal of Discourses? :ymtongue:

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David13
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Re: LDS Church issues statement after Trump orders ban on refugees

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It seems there are just times when the church should not dabble in politics.
The court has no power over immigration.
The immigrants have no standing in court.
dc

Juliet
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Re: LDS Church issues statement after Trump orders ban on refugees

Post by Juliet »

Is the church implying that the Muslim ban is against God's will, because last time I checked God expects men to protect their wives and children. The leaders in France and Germany will have to answer to God for all of the women who have been raped because of their policy.

The statement is not wrong, but what it is implying is, they just are not coming out and saying it.

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Different
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Re: LDS Church issues statement after Trump orders ban on refugees

Post by Different »

David13 wrote:It seems there are just times when the church should not dabble in politics.
The court has no power over immigration.
The immigrants have no standing in court.
dc
Agreed, they should just stay out of it. All trump is doing is trying to make the country safer. ISLAM has been at war for hundreds even thousands of years

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Mark
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Re: LDS Church issues statement after Trump orders ban on refugees

Post by Mark »

Read the statement from the church carefully before making any negative judgements against the church. There are countries around the world where it is open season against Christians for example. The church calls for the relief of human suffering by assisting those who are subject to physical violence and religious persecution in their lands. Would the Savior not be on board with that call? Part of the 4 fold mission of the church is to do just that. I understand the concerns here but we shouldn't abandon those who truly are in need of help because of the actions of some bad apples who are trying to exploit the situation to carry on nefarious deeds to harm others.

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cyclOps
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Re: LDS Church issues statement after Trump orders ban on refugees

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The church issued this statement only after multiple media inquiries for a comment. The statement takes no stand on one side of the immigration ban or the other. This statement isn't political. It calls upon all people and governments.

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gclayjr
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Re: LDS Church issues statement after Trump orders ban on refugees

Post by gclayjr »

The problem we have here seems to be that we have one group who wants full pedal to the metal immigration of Muslims without really checking to see if they could be a danger to the U.S. and we have another group that seems to want to slam the door on everybody who is from certain countries (I know that the current ban is only 90 days) without any concern for the desperation many who are fleeing are living under.

I think that there is a middle road here. For example, I would think that most would want to return to their own country after the chaos is over. Maybe providing funding for refugee camps, and locations nearer to their own country may be useful. Also, we should really consider bringing in refugees for whom there is no reasonable option near their home. One group that has gottten short changed in all of this "Open Doors" policy are Christians from Muslim countries. This to me, puts a lie to the humanitarian babbling of those on the left. What other group is being destroyed with as much general hatred there, than the local Christians? What other group can be as easily checked out as Christians from Muslim countries. Then why, when they represent more than 5% of the population, do they represent less than 1% of the refugees we let into this country?

I think that the Church is right in suggesting a measured approach to this. As far as President Trump is concerned, it is still too early to tell, but he does give reason for concern that he may be more in love with the sledge hammer than the scalpel.

Regards,

George Clay

eddie
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Re: LDS Church issues statement after Trump orders ban on refugees

Post by eddie »

David13 wrote:It seems there are just times when the church should not dabble in politics.
The court has no power over immigration.
The immigrants have no standing in court.
dc
I concur David13, I don't understand why they don't receive aid, as has been done in Haiti and other countries, why do they need to be brought here, we cannot sustain them, we can't even take care of our own veterans? I believe our last President simply wanted to break this country and bring enemies to our own land.

The Church not making the decision, but asking people to help them if here, is what we're all about.

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passionflower
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Re: LDS Church issues statement after Trump orders ban on refugees

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Mark wrote:Read the statement from the church carefully before making any negative judgements against the church. There are countries around the world where it is open season against Christians for example. The church calls for the relief of human suffering by assisting those who are subject to physical violence and religious persecution in their lands. Would the Savior not be on board with that call? Part of the 4 fold mission of the church is to do just that. I understand the concerns here but we shouldn't abandon those who truly are in need of help because of the actions of some bad apples who are trying to exploit the situation to carry on nefarious deeds to harm others.

I would rather err on the side of mercy than justice. By doing so, we have the Lord on our side. While I can see the concerns people have ( like the bombing at the Boston Marathon just a few years ago ), that still wouldn't excuse me from falling in line with "the brethren". And anyway, I thought so many people here were supposedly really into the US Constitution. The first ammendment strictly prohibits things like stopping someone at the airport based on their religion. There are strong world wide forces that would just love to see the overthrow of this ammendment, and they don't mind using fear as a tool in order to do it.

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skmo
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Re: LDS Church issues statement after Trump orders ban on refugees

Post by skmo »

gclayjr wrote:As far as President Trump is concerned, it is still too early to tell, but he does give reason for concern that he may be more in love with the sledge hammer than the scalpel.
Both are useful tools. Trump was elected because a large number of people are concerned with President Obama's open-door policy to everyone Muslim. When it comes time for surgery, I share your concern that he'll have skilled societal surgeons to do the work that must be done.* However, for the present he's living up to his campaign that he's there to protect and defend our country first, and the concerns of others around the world, no matter how bleak, come second.

He campaigned on building secure borders, and a scalpel won't help with that at all, but a hammer certainly will. All of his provisions are set to expire. He's not saying we're never going to take immigrants or refugees, he's saying the 7 the most troublesome countries out of the 200+ other countries and dependencies will have a new approach considered, and until we can do so safely for our citizens we're going to restrict immigration from those 7 countries.


*Selecting Ben Carson for HUD is a sign he's wanting real people to do the tasks which have to be done, not political stooges who want to line their pockets of political wannabes looking to curry votes.

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David13
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Re: LDS Church issues statement after Trump orders ban on refugees

Post by David13 »

passionflower wrote:
Mark wrote:Read the statement from the church carefully before making any negative judgements against the church. There are countries around the world where it is open season against Christians for example. The church calls for the relief of human suffering by assisting those who are subject to physical violence and religious persecution in their lands. Would the Savior not be on board with that call? Part of the 4 fold mission of the church is to do just that. I understand the concerns here but we shouldn't abandon those who truly are in need of help because of the actions of some bad apples who are trying to exploit the situation to carry on nefarious deeds to harm others.

I would rather err on the side of mercy than justice. By doing so, we have the Lord on our side. While I can see the concerns people have ( like the bombing at the Boston Marathon just a few years ago ), that still wouldn't excuse me from falling in line with "the brethren". And anyway, I thought so many people here were supposedly really into the US Constitution. The first ammendment strictly prohibits things like stopping someone at the airport based on their religion. There are strong world wide forces that would just love to see the overthrow of this ammendment, and they don't mind using fear as a tool in order to do it.

Passionflower
The ban has nothing (totally) to do with Muslims. It's 7 known and identified terrorist nations.
The Constitution and the first amendment does not apply to foreigners. It only applies to US citizens, and in some cases to resident aliens.
Further, the arab nations have the money and the space to take ALL of these so called "refugees".
Why are they taking NONE of them? Why bring them here. Tell Saudi Arabia to take them.
dc

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