Reader comments
LDS Church encourages attendance at caucus meetings

LDS Officials added:

"As long as it is the Republican Party, we support it!"

The church should have emphasized that participation should only take place from it's members who are citizens. Illegal alien LDS members are not allowed to participate in caucus meetings.

Why the "hollier-than-thou" comment? The LDS church has never endorsed a political...anything. This letter is just to remind everyone to get involved with the politics of your area. How else can we expect our voices to be heard. It doen't matter if you are belonging to the Republican or Democratic party. Each group does good.
Just get off the couch and do something good for our state and Country.

I was happy to see the LDS church recommend to it's members to attend Republican caucuses all around the right thinking state of Utah. As the party that the LDS church has endorsed for decades now, it is the only party that right thinking people should vote for. All one has to do is listen to the love, compassion, generosity, and spirituality preached by those great right thinking Republican spokespersons Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and Ann Coulter. Listen to the love that they preach and let it warm your heart and you'll realize that the Republican party is the only party for right thinking, religious christian people of the great state of Utah. Thank you.

Just once, can the Mormon Church stay out of politics? Let the citizens be.

In Iran, this is normal behavior. Just because Iran and Utah have four letters each does not mean we have to emulate the imirs.

As usual, people like Kerry and Utah Republican have difficulty understanding the English language. But that's to be expected by those who hate everything Utah and conservative.

That's ok, you too can have your opinion. Just stop misrepresenting the facts. I know, it's really hard to do for you libs. Jealousy will do that to someone.

And I'd bet that neither of you will get off your rear ends tomorrow night and go to your caucus. But you will continue to complain and lie on these pages, day after day. How do you look yourself in the mirror each day?

I'll see whoever is attending tomorrow night at my caucus meeting!

"Just once, can the Mormon Church stay out of politics?" ............Huh??????? What fossil bed did you just crawl out from?

Instead of wasting your time writing ignorant comments why don�t you all do some good and vote for what you feel is right.

Principles of the Gospel can be found in all parties....

Here are a few gospel principles to consider:

Debt is bondage.
Live within your means.
"Teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves."
Don't start pre-emptive wars.
The constitution is an inspired document.


There now. Go nominate yourself as a delegate on the Ron Paul platform....

I like to play a game when reading certain articles. It is called "how can someone possibly miscontrue or exaggerate this?", and I am rarely disappointed with the DNews comments section.

An unmentioned star in this endeavor is "russ". Apparently he's been in Utah a long time, knows everything, and can read minds and intentions. Either that or his is a troll looking for reactions.

Where I live outside of Utah, employers, schools, and most churches alike encourage participation in the political process as it occurs and discourage planning conflicting activities. In fact, several churches (non-LDS) host caucus events and even act as polling places during elections.

That the LDS Church encourages its members to participate, and its units not to plan conflicting activities, is consistent with the rest of the US organizational landscape and is the most benign encouragement we should expect.

Sorry, but how is encouraging civic participation with a very specific non-partisan statement meddling with politics?

I mean, it's obvious that people like Russ hate Mormons and would prefer they step out of the way so he can form his grand Utopia, but seriously - how does encouraging participation constitute meddling? Would you prefer the Mormons discourage participation? Or just not vote at all, so we can all sit idly by and accept your view of the world?

Russ, A church advocates its members to be active in politics, or to participate and be good citizens is obviously a horrible thing. How dare the church, whose members constitute an overwhelming majority in Utah and an underwhelming minority in other states, encourage political participation of its members. This thing is not only racist, but discriminatory. It doesn't encourage any one else to participate, and therefore must be construed as a desperate grasp at power over all the united states. This must be stopped. We should encourage no one to participate tomorrow, that way we won't offend anyone, and no one will get power from our encouragement. Thus we can offset this call to political action and good citizenship. How dare a church encourage its people to be moral, and good members of the community and to care about what happens? Especially in a democracy. The nerve. It makes me wish that I could hear more of Reverend Wright, that way I would feel no obligation to be an upstanding citizen in my community. I wonder if he is nationally broadcast. . . I'll have to find out.

I find it interesting that when liberal churches hold political fund raisers, have democratic candidates speak to their congregations and openly speak on political issues, the ACLU, along with the rest of the left-wing "separation of church and state" crowd are NO WHERE to be seen.

But then, when the LDS Church even hints at anything political, the shouting and finger pointing seem to go on for days and weeks and months.

Clearly, the left in this country love the separation of church and state, so long as their churches and their ministers are exempt.

Once again, Joseph is misquoted. He did not say "I teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves." That still gives him the control. What he said was "I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves." That suggests a quantum leap in our understanding and the actions we take because of that understanding.

But less than 30% of Utahans were in listening distance of that letter. I hope all of those who didn't hear this good advice will attend their party caucus and participate in the elections this year.

just go to your caucus and watch what the Eagle forum and pro vouchers groups do!

They will nominate their own and few will be there to stop them!

I love this statement by the Church. Over the last 5-10 years I have leaned away from the Republicans and more and more to the Democratic party precisely because there are so many principles of the gospel promoted by the democrats... just read King Benjamin's sermons.

...that Ezra Taft Benson made the statement about the incongruity of being a faithful Mormon and a liberal Democrat in an Associated Press interview in the early 1970s.

He WAS your president, LDS. Are you trying now to change history, or say he "doesn't speak for the church" (as is often the excuse)?

Utah Republican, you crack me up! Keep up your funny posts. You make these comment boards a little more entertaining!

to "may I remind the LDS"...
1) your argument would be stronger if you posted the exact quote, and the question,
2) just like all of God's prophets, Pres. Benson also had personal opinions, and occasionally spoke for himself, alone,
3) It depends on what he meant by "liberal" democrat, a term not even Hilary will use to describe herself.