The LDS Daily WOOL Home Page
(7/1/99)
"Every legislator and administrator should test proposed policies for
governing men in institutions, by the principles of religion, by the
requirements of the gospel. Many present propositions and practices would then
drop as putrid flesh from the body politic. Were that done in legislative halls,
or managerial offices, the old sores of misunderstanding and political
contention would soon heal, never again to open. Were that done, a new world of
peace would arise from our blood-sodden, hate-driven world. If legislators would
read the Bible publicly in their sessions, new light would guide them to wise
decisions."
John A. Widtsoe
"An Understandable Religion", p. 184
(7/2/99)
"A time is coming when the youth of these mountains [and all over the
world] will have to take part in governing the nation, and a greater or less
knowledge of political history will be absolutely necessary to them.... Viewed
in this light politics are worthy of the best endeavors of the brightest minds;
and such a system would we wish to see introduced to and studied by our young
men [and young women] whose destiny is to uphold and sustain pure government,
and be in this direction as the servants of God are in all others--benefactors
of the world of mankind."
George Q. Cannon
"Gospel Truth", p. 548 originally quoted in the "Juvenile
Instructor", 15 March 1885
(7/3/99)
"Let the people see to it that they get righteous men to be their leaders,
who will labor with their hands and administer to their own necessities, sit in
judgment, legislate, and govern in righteousness; and officers that are filled
with peace; and see to it that every man that goes forth among the people as a
traveling officer is full of the fear of the Lord, and would rather do right at
a sacrifice than do wrong for a reward."
"Discourses of Brigham Young", p. 427
(7/4/99)
"I will teach my firm conviction that the foundation of any righteous
government is the law that has been received from the Lord to guide and direct
man's efforts. Righteous government receives direction from the Lord."
L. Tom Perry
"For The Time Will Come When They Will Not Endure Sound
Doctrine"
General Conference, October 1975
(6/22/04)
"The Lord deals with individuals; and salvation is an individual affair;
but, nevertheless, he deals also with nations. for he is the God of nations,
which are set up or put down, are preserved or destroyed, according to their
fitness; and all this is done in the Lord's due time and way. 'Blessed is the
nation whose God is the Lord,' sang the psalmist. 'Righteousness exalteth a
nation; but sin is a reproach to any people,' declared the author of the book of
Proverbs." - James E. Talmage, "Conference Report," October 1923,
p. 52
6/29/09
“I believe, my brothers
and sisters, that our greatest danger as a people is from within, and I would
like to believe that the Latter-day Saints believe in the leaders of this great
Church to the point that they are willing to accept their counsel and advice. I
think sometimes we almost bind them so that when they have the inspiration of
Almighty God and would like to speak to us they hesitate for fear some of us
will feel that they are interfering with political affairs. If I had my way I
would welcome the day, come it as soon as God may grant, when these men with
whom I am associated so intimately and whose very intimate thoughts I know and
their desires for the welfare of this people and the welfare of the Kingdom of
God, might not only be issuing instructions to this great Church but to this
great nation, which we are told is a land choice above all other lands and over
which Christ our Lord, as decreed, shall reign, as King of Kings and Lord of
Lords, because in this land it is decreed that the new Jerusalem of the Lord our
God shall be established.” - LeGrand Richards,
“Conference Report,” October 1940, Afternoon Meeting, p. 85
7/5/09
“Another large class of men have supposed that war was a great evil, and so it
is; and they have striven to introduce peace; and some of the most influential
men in Europe have united together to form peace societies, but what do their
efforts in this respect amount to? What have they accomplished? Nothing; there
is nothing done; iniquity abounds just as much as it did before they tried to
prevent it. Temperance societies have tried to make people sober, but people are
as much given to intemperance as they were before the temperance societies were
introduced. There does not seem to be any difference. Their agents have been
sent forth, and their missionaries for years and years have been laboring to
ameliorate the condition of mankind and to lead them to the knowledge of God,
and what have they done? Let the world answer. What have they done among the
heathen nations? What have they done among what are called Christians? The Peace
Society—what has it done? Let the United States answer; let the present powers
of Europe answer; let the world answer. Notwithstanding human exertions may have
been very necessary in many of these moves to try to better the condition of the
world, it must be acknowledged that they have signally failed, and that unless
something more be done, a more powerful and a better kind of religion
introduced, and a better kind of temperance, of philosophy, a better kind of
morality, a more wise and liberal kind of government, and a better code of laws
instituted, the world has got to go on as it has done, without any amendment; in
fact it is getting worse and worse, instead of better and better. The great
problem, it is presumed, will have to rest with us and the Almighty in relation
to this matter.” – John Taylor, “Journal of
Discourses,” 26 vols., 10:52