Last week a Salt Lake Tribune reporter called Tom and interviewed him on his stance on the Iraq War for an article he was doing on religious communities in Utah and their views on war.
Yesterday’s Salt Lake Tribune ran the article,Utahns and the War: A religious divide. Tom is quoted in the article (see excerpt below).
The reporter discovered, through his inquiries to people of different faiths and the results of a Tribune poll, that Mormons were fairly unified in their support of the President, event though the LDS church has not taken an official stance on the Iraq War.
The poll surveyed attitudes on issues ranging from the teaching of evolution in public schools to the prohibition of gay student support clubs to the banning of smoking in nightclubs. But no issue separated Utah’s Mormons and non-Mormons more than the war.
While 73 percent of those identifying themselves as Mormons in the poll said they….. supported President Bush’s conduct of the war, about 62 percent of non-Mormons said they disapproved.
The article leans heavily focused on the positions of members of the LDS church and quotes many Mormons on their views.
There are some that opposed the Iraq War, however. My husband, Tom King, was quoted in the article:
‘Truly despised . . . truly beloved’: A member of the anti-war group People for Peace and Justice, Tom King compares Bush’s war rhetoric “to the words of the Nazis, prior to World War II.”
The agnostic son of LDS parents in Utah, King’s ardent aversion to the Iraq war could be seen as a rebellious response to the conservative culture in which he lives. He said, however, that he arrived at his views after sampling many different faiths – all of which taught him “to turn the other cheek” and “what goes around, comes around.”
King said he rarely discusses religion with members of his group, in which there are several atheists, Catholics, Protestants and, indeed, some Mormons.
I found this quote interesting in the article by Michael Lyons, a Utah State University political scientist:
“People don’t generally understand the details of complex issues like the Iraq conflict,” said Lyons, a Utah State University political scientist. “Surveys often tend to reflect more personal attachments.”
Put simply, he said, Mormons might not like the war, but they do like George Bush.
“I think because the president is openly religious himself and they may welcome an openly religious president,” Lyons said. “I don’t think there is some connection between the belief in the LDS religion and the belief that a war halfway around the globe is justified.” Lyons said The Tribune poll may be showing “the polarizing quality” of Bush between people of a conservative religious background and others.
“There’s something about George Bush that provokes very strong emotional reactions in people,” Lyons said. “He is truly despised by many of the people who dislike him and truly beloved by many of his supporters. And it may be his self-confidence and open assertion of the values he believes in.”
And from this LDS Church Member who opposes war:
“Pacifism is a Mormon response,” said Dennis Clark, an LDS member from Orem who opposes the Iraq war on spiritual grounds. “I’ve always felt that it’s really not possible for me to hold priesthood and believe in the use of force.”
Clark, a poet and writer who spoke about his views at Sunstone Magazine’s 2004 symposium on Mormon history and contemporary life, says he does his best “to sneak in my subversive ideas” when teaching younger men at his ward.
But at 60 years old, he does not expect to see the day when a majority of LDS members are opposed to the use of military force.
I guess one can only hope that people will start to think for themselves.
The Tribune article has a link to the positions on war of churches nationally.
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 