Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Would we have a United States if the early colonists had included Mormons?

Would Mormons have risen up to fight against England?

As Mormons, we believe in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law and being subject to earthly governments. We are anti-war, but support those who volunteer to serve the U.S. in the military.

Given our pro-government, anti-war positions, would Mormon settlers have advocated a peaceful resolution to any conflicts with King George, rather than violent revolution?

3 comments:

  1. I would want to think so. England was becoming very oppressive and I would imagine it would get to the point where many couldn't take it anymore, but I doubt we would have been united as a group -- we're a diverse lot with lots of opinions!

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  2. As a Mormon, I like to think we would have been inspired to fight.

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  3. Julia,

    I agree that we would probably not be united as a group, except via prophetic proclamation (and not even quite then, as we see in California right now).

    I suspect we would not get a prophetic proclamation, though. I see some churches (or church leaders acting as church leaders) actively oppose oppressive regimes, but our Church tends to oppose oppression without naming the names of the oppressors.

    Harley,

    "...inspired to fight." Hmm, perhaps. But would we constantly second-guessing ourselves? "Is this inspiration to fight from God, or is it the spirit of contention from the devil?"

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