Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
President Nelson, the NAACP, Senator Romney, and some observations on the passing scene

President Nelson, the NAACP, Senator Romney, and some observations on the passing scene

Last updated on: June 10, 2020 at 2:06 pm by Dan Peterson

President Nelson, the NAACP, Senator Romney, and some observations on the passing scene 2020-06-10T14:06:10-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Two Latter-day Saint missionaries walking down a street in Africa (LDS Media Library)

This is an older item, but one element of it has been on my mind since I first read it, and I still want to comment on it:

“More than 1,000 march downtown in more peaceful protest: Mayor issues weeklong curfew for Salt Lake City; governor declares emergency”

In the article, we’re told that the leader of the “more peaceful” Salt Lake City protest was one Deja Gaston, of something calling itself the “Party for Socialism and Liberation.”

Now, I have to admit that joining the words socialism and liberation together as coordinates if not synonyms strikes me as extraordinarily dubious. Let me be more specific, though: One of the ways of defining government — as opposed to non-government organizations, however powerful they may be — is that government possesses or at least claims a legal monopoly on force. Government has the legal power to compel and coerce. Judiciary, police, and military are the sine qua non of government.

So does it really make any sense for a protest against abuses of state coercive power to be led by an organization devoted to socialism, which (in any realistic sense of the term) entails a massive expansion of the state’s power to coerce? If police power tends to tyranny in a society such as ours, is it plausible to suppose that greatly augmented police power would be less tyrannical? Lord Acton’s dictum comes immediately to mind: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

One also has to wonder precisely what currently fashionable calls to “defund” or “disband” the police actually entail. (The Minneapolis city council has actually just voted to do so.) It seems obvious that there is a need to defend the public safety, and that a government that has absolutely abdicated that responsibility is no government at all. So, whatever happens to police departments as presently constituted, that role will need to be played by some sort of organization.

***

I very much liked this item, from Salt Lake City’s Deseret News: “This man’s protest against the protest went viral”

One comment on it: When, on 1 June 2020, President Russell M. Nelson of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shared a protest-related message on his social media accounts (“President Nelson Shares Social Post about Racism and Calls for Respect for Human Dignity: He reminds of the Creator’s call for each of us to abandon attitudes of prejudice against any group or individual”) his words were condemned in some circles. The complaint seemed to be that, by combining a denunciation of racism with a call to avoid violence, theft, and destruction, he had diluted his denunciation of racism. This revealed his “white privilege.” So, I ask, does a call to avoid violence, theft, and destruction also reveal “white privilege” when it comes from a Black Muslim man?

***

Chanting and banner-waving protests are fairly blunt instruments, even when they’re non-violent. (I once participated in a very small one decades ago, and I’m rather ashamed of having done so. It was intellectually dishonest; I was feigning an indignation that I didn’t really feel in order to score a partisan point.) There’s no nuance to them. But sometimes the issues they’re addressing are quite complex, and require nuance. They lend themselves to a simplistic, Manichaean, demonizing, pure-good-versus-pure-evil view that is very seldom justified. Still, at this emotional point in time, I’m proud of Mitt Romney for his gesture on Sunday. He made a statement that I’m very happy about:

“Sen. Mitt Romney joins Black Lives Matter march in Washington, D.C.: President Trump tweets sarcastic response”

And I’m wholly unsurprised by the characteristically graceless response from Mr. Donald J. Trump:

“Trump sarcastically cheers ‘what a guy’ Mitt Romney for joining George Floyd protest march”

***

I was absolutely delighted to see this morning’s joint statement from President Russell M. Nelson and the leadership of the NAACP:

“Locking arms for racial harmony in America: What the NAACP and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are doing together”

I note, first of all, that this statement condemns both racism and violence, theft, and destruction. Yet I don’t think it would be plausible to describe it as an expression of “white privilege.”

This line, though, jumped out at me: “We . . . invite people of goodwill everywhere to look for ways to reach out and serve someone of a different background or race. Everyone can do something.”

This is a serious challenge, and I hope to take it seriously. It may be the only way that we can overcome the current divide in America.

Uncategorized

Black

church

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Previous Post

June 7, 2020

A brief and perhaps somewhat too colorful autobiographical fragment

Next Post

June 8, 2020 "A Planet is Born"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Isaac's wife?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Sarah Rebekah Rachel Leah