On Congressmen, Religious Beliefs and Priorities Of

I need to express my thoughts. I’ve seen a number of posts now on FB by people freaking out that some individuals were sworn into Congress using the Quran instead of the Bible (side note: one was sworn in on a law book which amused me to no small end) and the question that really set me off the most, I think, was one asking, “Do you really believe they have America’s best interest at heart?”

And I’m going to refrain from sharing my initial reply as it was both profane and inflammatory which is not conducive to the rest of my thoughts and start with: Yes. Because them saying they are Muslim no more makes them evil than you saying you’re Christian makes you Christlike. Lest we ever forget that both the KKK and Westboro Baptist both claim to be Christian organizations. But they are generally considered extremists and “not real Christians” by mainstream Christianity. Well, guess what? That’s how ISIS and the Taliban are viewed by most Muslims!

I feel for the Muslims when yet another news report about the extremists hits the TV like I feel for me when one of the “Mormon Separatists” groups hits the news. It’s this *facepalm and cringe*, “No, we are not related or remotely like those crazy psychos. So please, don’t lump us together”.

It reminds me of when JFK was elected and there were people freaking out because he was Catholic *Gasp & clutch pearls!* So clearly he was secretly an agent of the Vatican and would take orders from the pope and not put the American people first! Sound familiar?

That was 1960. This is 2019. We have to be better. Learn from it. Don’t repeat it.

One of the core tenents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as stated in the Articles of Faith (a document written by Joseph Smith for a newspaper article that asked what it was those “Mormons” believed) - Verse 11 states: “We claim the privilege of worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may”.

I believe this and I will fight for this. For the respect and dignity of those good people in this world who worship whatever higher power they chose, or not as may be the case. Because I have not forgotten that once my people were not allowed this privilege. That once my people had an extermination order issued against them by the state of Missouri. That it was legal and encouraged to hunt down and kill members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints because of fear and bigotry. And we begged the President of the United States, Martin Van Buren, for relief and he did nothing. That because of this fear and this bigotry and misinformation, in the dead of winter, my people had to stage a mass exodus and leave their homes and flee a thousand miles across the plains to a desert on the coast of a dead salt lake to find sanctuary. I have not forgotten the thousands whose lives were lost on that trek.

“Farewell Nauvoo” by Glenn Hopkinson

So yes, I can believe that a good person who reads a different book of scripture and worships a different God can have American’s best interest at heart.