It’s been a few years, but I remember sitting in a High Priest group meeting (we’ll tackle “what’s a high priest?” some other time), when the teacher said, “I just don’t know how someone can be a faithful member of the Church and at the same time be a Democrat.”
I don’t recall whether I said anything in response, although my thought was, “I have gotten along quite nicely, thank you.” At that time, I was still the closeted “Lefty Larry” in the chapel. Now I’m well on my way to “old man” status, so I don’t care one whit what other people think as long as they stay off my lawn. It’s gotten to the point that my wife even lets me wear my Democratic Party tie once a year or so. I have even considered calling everyone “comrade” instead of Brother and Sister, but that would be over the top. (In truth, I’m a left-leaning moderate, but is so much more fun claiming to be a hippie).
Without a doubt, Latter-day Saints generally sit to the right of center. Some of them far right of center. President Ezra Taft Benson, for example, was a John Bircher, which my dad only mentioned once, with something to the effect of “Those people are nuts.” That said, Dad himself was a staunch conservative, even though he thought that Jesse Jackson might make a good president. Just when you think you know somebody.
Part of the reason for this is that we put a heavy focus on personal responsibility, self-sufficiency, moral cleanliness, and white shirts, so most LDS folks tend to feel that their values coincide more closely with Republican platforms. (I question whether that is still the case in our World Gone Mad, but don’t get me all wound up). That, and Utah probably isn’t the place to look for sensitivity to issues like civil rights. I don’t think that it is solely the product of racism or discrimination, although I’d be naive to think that those aren’t in play. But I believe it is more about the demographics of the place. Fun fact: Utah has the most people with British ancestry of any other state. That’s a whole lot of white.
(As an aside, once during a visit to BYU I observed that the University’s idea of diversity looked to be “brunette.” Not fair, but a good one-liner for my daughters to use to drive their professors up a tree.)
In other words, it has been a natural drift in that direction. And while Latter-day Saints remain socially conservative and overwhelmingly Republican, both the teachings of the General Authorities and the reality of our membership demographics suggest that there is much more room for political diversity. LDS politicians include the Mitt Romneys as well as the Harry Reids. In our twice-yearly General Conferences (including the one last weekend), members are counseled to be tolerant of differing political views and not permitting such views to divide us. The presiding authorities have been crystal clear that there is room in the Church for people of every political stripe. They aren’t going to replace Moroni on the tops of our temples with an elephant.
I’ve benefitted from that guidance. Where I have been pretty harsh to folks in the red baseball caps, I’ve managed to keep my mouth zipped. At least for two hours on Sunday. Because some of the people I respect the most as the epitome of disciples of Christ wear those same red caps. If I kept judging the nobility of their hearts by their political leanings, I would build up walls that would only hurt me.
Maybe that’s why we usually have double doors to our chapels. Perhaps it is a reminder that you can get into the chapel in more way than one. Those doors don’t close until we do so to encourage reverence while we are taking the sacrament: When all of us are sitting together in the same pews, eating the same bread and drinking the same water. Entering into the same ordinance and binding ourselves to each other through the same covenant.
Even the Democrats.
Mormonism: Really Want to Know? 