It is not surprising that Latter-day Saints have an extraordinary love for the Fourth of July, the day they celebrate the birth of the United States of America.
After all, Mormons are from the United States, where they believe founder Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus in a forest in New York, and where the early church was established.
And for most of its nearly 200-year history, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been dominated by Americans, at times supporting major U.S. policies (including the invasion of Iraq) and extolling the country as a God-approved “promised land.”
But today, the church of 17.2 million members sees itself, and its politics, as global rather than local.
For example, he has not spoken out about the war between Russia and Ukraine and plans to remove the national anthem from the hymnbook altogether.
While the majority of American Latter-day Saints are Republicans, the Utah-based church maintains strict political neutrality and declares that “principles compatible with the Gospel may be found in the different political parties.”
The church urges its members to “seek out the candidates who best embody” these principles, and that they should study the candidates carefully and vote for those who “have demonstrated integrity, compassion and service to others, regardless of party.”
BYU Professor Explores Faith and Politics
Richard Davis, professor emeritus of political science at Brigham Young University, tried to explore what that means for Latter-day Saint politicians.
With the help of some BYU students, he interviewed more than 70 politicians from around the world, the nation and state of Utah, selecting 25 of them for his book, Faith and Politics: The Story of Latter-day Saint Politicians.
Foreign politicians featured in the book include five Europeans, one Canadian, and one African. Non-Western U.S. politicians include three Republicans and one Democrat, holding positions ranging from city council member to congressman.
Western politicians include the late Harry Reid, who served five terms as a senator from Nevada and achieved the position of Senate Majority Leader, making him the highest-ranking elected Latter-day Saint in U.S. history.
Utah politicians include Republican Deidre Henderson, the current lieutenant governor of Utah, longtime Utah state representative and Democrat Brian King, now running for governor, and several former federal and state officials.
How, Davis wondered, do these men and women navigate their faith and public life? Should these believers be involved in politics at all?
Is political involvement anathema to faith?
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Church Office Building near the Utah State Capitol, Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Salt Lake City.
“Aren’t politics dirty?” some church members ask, Davis said. “Doesn’t that mean church members have to compromise their beliefs, verbally attack others, or join groups or parties that attack other groups?”
Davis found their answers insightful and inspiring.
“These politicians revealed, sometimes quite poignantly, how they dealt with the tensions they faced in government service while trying to maintain their faith and practice,” he writes in the introduction.
In her interviews, the political scientist said she was moved by the politicians’ candor about the challenges they faced “— anti-Mormon hostility, sexism in LDS culture, personal conflicts with other politicians—and how the teachings of the gospel helped them overcome those challenges.”
The book is divided into four regions: International, Outside the Western US, Inside the Western US, and Utah.
Davis said he wanted a wide range of political opinions and perspectives, from liberal to conservative, men to women, from outside the U.S. to the mountain west and the beehive states, and from the smallest municipal elections to the state and federal levels.
He especially wanted to highlight the stand of staunch Democrats from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who are often demonized by the church’s Republican majority, many of whom see the party as at odds with the church.
Davis himself had been involved with the Democratic Party for many years, having been one of Utah County’s Democratic leaders, and later helped found the Utah Union Party to be “non-partisan” and to advocate “moderation over extremism.”
In his book, he talks about the growing number of Latter-day Saint women who are becoming more politically active.
As a global faith, the church is “a world away from where it was 50 years ago, or even 20 years ago, when it was defending American policies like the Vietnam War and the Iraq War,” Davis said.
The change makes sense for church leaders to be careful about what they say, he said: “As an American church that defends American politics, there’s no way we’re going to send missionaries to countries that don’t share those views.”
“Negative Perceptions of Latter-day Saints”
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has dozens of flags from around the world flying near its church office building in Salt Lake City.
Being a minority in some countries means it is difficult for Latter-day Saints to become, say, members of parliament in Europe or mayors in Africa.
People featured in Davis’ book describe the challenges they face, including “negative perceptions of Latter-day Saints and the difficulty of representing constituencies with few people of their faith.”
But their involvement can also generate “goodwill toward Latter-day Saints” and “show the public that Latter-day Saints are good citizens,” Davis wrote.
Generally speaking, Latter-day Saint politicians in Europe are politically diverse, said Ralf Glünke, a German who is an Latter-day Saint bishop and ran as an independent for the Green party on Nidderau city council.
“The political stance of politically active Latter-day Saints…is much broader. [in Europe] “In many more states than Utah,” Grank wrote in his book, “I know Latter-day Saints who are active in every political party: Conservatives, Social Democrats, Old Community Party, Liberal Democrats, Greens, my little party, the far right, the far left.”
Grunke could not cite any studies on the issue, but his impression was that “in continental Europe, church members tend to lean politically to the left.”
Davis agrees.
He noted that even politicians considered “conservative” on the continent are “much more liberal than American conservatives.”
Running for office in a male-dominated culture
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake City Tribune) Amy Winder Newton speaks after being sworn in for her third term as a Salt Lake County Councilwoman, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, at the County Government Center in Salt Lake City.
Nine of the 25 politicians featured in the book are women, a higher percentage than the actual number of Latter-day Saint women holding public office, Davis noted.
He purposefully “over-represented women” to showcase the female perspective in Utah, the Western United States, and beyond.
“The purpose was to provide a model for future involvement of Latter-day Saint women,” Davis said.
Amy Winder Newton, a Republican who ran for Utah governor in 2020, said women must work against the perspective of a male-dominated culture.
“We grow up seeing mostly male leaders. On Sundays, we see men sitting at the podium,” she writes in the book. “Our culture is very patriarchal, and I don’t think many people are used to seeing women in leadership roles.”
During her campaign, Newton received text messages saying things like, “Women shouldn’t belong in government or the law” and “They should be at home cooking meals and cleaning the house instead.”
She ignored that, she says, and focused on policy.Currently, Winder-Newton serves on the Salt Lake County Council, whose leadership is all women.
Her perspective on faith in politics is similar to the other men and women featured in the book.
“Jesus Christ is my model for how to treat people. I have a lot of empathy for others and I can put myself in their shoes,” she says. “I also have a desire for unity and peace, which I think comes from the teachings of the Church.”
The challenges of participation
(Brianna Scroggins | Special to the Tribune) Former U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams speaks at the 2022 Utah Democratic Party Convention, Saturday, April 23, at Cottonwood High School in Murray.
Several Latter-day Saint politicians said their two-year missionary service with the church sparked their careers in public service.
Ben McAdams, a former Democratic U.S. representative from Utah and former Salt Lake County mayor, was concerned about the poverty he saw in Brazil, while Andria Tupola, a Republican who served in the Hawaii House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019 and is now a Honolulu City Council member, wanted to fight the government corruption she witnessed in Venezuela.
Some have been encouraged by friends and mentors to enter politics, but outside of Latter-day Saint-majority areas, this is often not the case.
“No one may encourage participation,” Davis wrote, which “could undermine the church’s ability to engage with government in these areas.”
Still, Davis believes Latter-day Saint politicians can play an increasingly important role in public life around the world.
“It is vital that all those involved in the political process see all other people as children of God, regardless of whether they agree with them or not,” he concludes.
Notes to editors: • This article is available to Salt Lake City Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.
