Recently, Los Angeles LDS Bishop Mark Paredes, went under fire when he wrote a blog article in which he questioned the good religious standing of Senator Harry Reid because Reid is a member of the Democratic Party.

Paredes’ article was picked up nationally and it has become such a hot topic that LDS Church’s spokesman, Dale Jones, issued the following statement:

“Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are, of course, entitled to express their own political opinions, however, publishing such views while using a title of a church officer, even if only as a leader of a local congregation as in this case, is entirely inappropriate.”

Paredes starts his article by quoting one of the LDS Church’s Temple Recommend interview questions:

“Do you support, affiliate with, or agree with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?”

Paredes’ point is that Reid by being a Democrat, supports all tenets in the Democrat Party’s platform, thus Reid cannot, in good conscience, answer “yes” to that Temple Recommend interview question and therefore, by association, Reid cannot be found worthy to enter The House of The Lord or be a member of the Church in good standing.

All-them-liberals with their ‘killing unborn baby’s policies’, ‘gay marriage policies’, and, ah, don’t forget their redistribution/entitlement/socialist/bailout policies’…

Make sense right? Not so fast buckaroo…

First off, in terms of what they stand for, the Democratic Party of today is not exactly the same as the Democratic Party of the 19th century. Mr. Paredes failed to research LDS history and recognize that back then, LDS members sided with the Democratic Party to the point that a LDS democrat could question one’s religious good standing of another because of his or her affiliation with the Republican Party.

Mr. Paredes is right when he said that eleven out of the current fifteen highest governing officials of the LDS Church are registered Republicans and that four of them are politically unaffiliated (Uchtdorf, Bednar, Cook, and Chritofferson), but he failed to mention that President Faust was a Democrat.

So let me throw a few facts in the air…

President James E. Faust (one of the 15 highest ranked LDS leaders – an Apostle), served in the House of Representatives for the 28th Utah State Legislature as a Democrat for Utah’s eighth district, and he also served as chairman of the Utah State Democratic Party. President Faust was called to be an Apostle by President Spencer W. Kimball on September of 1978 and called to be the Second Councilor in the First Presidency by President Gordon B. Hinckley in March 1995. President Faust passed away on August 2007. Assuming that Mr. Paredes was a member of the Church on April 2007, he, most likely, during that April’s Semi-Annual General Conference, sustained President Faust as a Prophet, Seer and Revelator, and as a member of the First Presidency of the Church.

So I’ll ask you:

If Harry Reid should not be considered a member of the Church in good standing because he is a Democrat, is it fair to conclude that President Faust, because he was a Democrat, was also not a member of the Church in good standing? Assuming Mr. Paredes sustained President Faust, would it be fair to question if Paredes is a member of the Church in good standing? And last, because of Paredes’ support to a Democrat (Faust), would he be in a position to answer ‘yes’ to the same Temple Recommend question?

The most troubling point in this discussion is that Paredes is associating worthiness or righteousness with a political party. If this person is a Republican, then he must be a good person and therefore this other person, who is a Democrat, must be a bad person (or vice-versa)… We turn a blind eye about both major political parties having policies that go against Church principles not to mention the principles of Liberty. We fail to recognize that instead of emphasizing political affiliation we should emphasize principles regardless of party ticket.

Take your pick… If it is not abortion by the Democrats, it is the military industrial complex by the Republicans. If it is not gay-marriage by the Democrats, it is the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) by the Republicans. If it is not the two-party system by the Democrats, it is the two-party system by the Republicans.

No political party is absent of policies that drives us away from Church principles or the principles of Liberty. If you think that you’re better than your neighbor just because you belong to political party A, B, or C, I would urgently suggest for you to consider removing the beam from your own eye before noticing the mote in your brother’s.

When we start to defend principle and not whether you’re blue or red, we become an influence for good and we begin to generate change. We behave differently. We become better people. We’ll respect and care for others more sincerely. We’ll be less influenced by the temptations of the world and we’ll become more Christ-like.

In my opinion Harry Reid is not a bad politician because he is a Democrat. In my opinion Harry Reid is a bad politician because he is not motivated by principles.