Tom Helme: Drop the culture wars and stand up for what is right

I read, with some dismay, The Salt Lake Tribune article discussing the latest “Mormon Land” podcast with Paul Mero and Stuart Reid, two men with considerable experience and accomplishment.

I, for one, applaud the position The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints took in relation to the Defense of Marriage Act, while not necessarily agreeing with the reasons behind it. I’m an Eleventh Article of Faith kind of guy and believe that adherents to a particular faith should probably conform to the beliefs of that faith. But I am uncomfortable pushing those standards on those who believe differently and who have no interest in what my church teaches or believes.

In response to Mero and Reid’s concern over members leaving the church in response to the Defense of Marriage position, I would point to a commentary by Jeffrey Nielsen on April 17 of this year. In it he describes the young people who visit his university office, who, with tears in their eyes, tell him they can no longer stay in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because of the stance the church has taken in relation to the LGBTQ+ community. Were I in a position of power or leadership, I would be much more concerned about the latter group, who are the future of the church. We old guys will be gone soon, anyway.

As I’ve contemplated this situation, I’ve questioned why the church discriminates against any group of people. For over 150 years we banned Black people from receiving full fellowship and blessings of membership, not because of their faithfulness or lack thereof, but because of the color of their skin, an inherent part of who they are. And we have yet to offer an apology.

Now we have a group of people again being discriminated against because of who they are. Not only that, but it seems that those employed by the church who might want to stand up for the LGBTQ+ community are losing their jobs, many after decades of dedicated service.

Concerning the culture wars that were brought up in the podcast, perhaps Mero and Reid are correct, the church should not be involved. We should not have marshaled our forces to stop same-sex marriage in California and Hawaii in the 1990s, where, hypocritically, Reid by his own admission, worked politically under the church’s direction.

Nor should we have rallied church members in California to campaign for the passage of Prop 8 in 2008 — a law that was ultimately deemed unconstitutional. That was a black eye for the church. Is this really the hill we are willing to die on?

In fact, we should disregard the whole notion of culture wars with their inevitable political calculations, and instead stand up for what is right. We should join in the fight for racial and gender equality, for the health of our planet, for access to health care, the fight against the huge wealth and income inequality that exists in the world and so many more issues that need our help. We could be doing so much good.

I’ve heard it said that the word Mormon, means more good. Perhaps we should take that to heart.

Thomas Helme has lived in what is now Millcreek for nearly 70 years. He is no one of consequence, but believes The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is his church, too.