International policy advocacy: Does the Church support Alliance Defending Freedom or any of these groups?

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Canadiandude2
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International policy advocacy: Does the Church support Alliance Defending Freedom or any of these groups?

Post by Canadiandude2 »

Hello, I was reading this thread by an American 2SLGBTQ+ activist-

https://Twitter.com/Esqueer_/status/163 ... 45315?s=20

- and I was wondering whether the church supports Alliance Defending Freedom or any other organization that contributes to growing hatred and criminalization of gender and/or sexual minorities?

One of the things that frustrates me about how we view the church is our tendency to assume that the church’s advocacy regarding minorities in the Global South will take its cue from how it behaves in the the Global North.

Progressive and post-Mormons, as well as nonmembers with an interest in Mormon Studies remain largely unaware of what the church is advocating in both the Global South and non-English-speaking countries. These latter two categories aren’t necessarily the same but speak to where the majority of Mormon-critical voices stem and the places where they remain largely ignorant of the church’s activities.

Even in nearby, liberal democratic countries such as Canada we remain woefully ignorant of how the church interacts with the political and cultural establishment in order to promote its interests. It took careful study of the church’s newsroom and lobbying to realize that it was one of the main organizers behind the resistance to a federal ban on so-called ‘Conversion Therapy’ up here in Canada.

Local nonmembers simply underestimate the church’s influence, and don’t realize the connections that someone more familiar with Mormonism would- especially as the church often tries to obfuscate these interests and influences.

This problem is exacerbated in areas of the world that lack institutional transparency and other liberal and social-democratic norms taken for granted in my country at least.

So is the church influencing the rise of anti-lgbtq+ hate elsewhere even as it preaches peace among the few places reconciling with gender and sexual minorities? Turkey. Uganda. Baltic States. So many more countries and regions are experiencing democratic backsliding.

If they are, what’s the endgame? What advantage does it bring them? My suspicion is that the church either hopes it can halt or slow down the development of ideas and values antithetical to their interests, and even turn the tide of places where they’ve so called ‘lost the culture war’, by turning the global momentum against (what they consider to be) the most dangerous ideas re: non-traditional families, sexuality, and gender.

Edit: removed assumption that the church supports the ADF. I confused the ADF and WCF.
Last edited by Canadiandude2 on Wed Mar 22, 2023 7:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Canadiandude2
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Re: International policy advocacy: Does the Church still support Alliance Defending Freedom?

Post by Canadiandude2 »

As an addendum:

I think we need to make sure we have reliable resources that are available to people who don’t speak English, or whose digital exploration rarely reaches sites ‘speaking truth to power’.
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Re: International policy advocacy: Does the Church still support Alliance Defending Freedom?

Post by Res Ipsa »

I'm not familiar with any support of this group by the LDS church. Do you have a link that discusses past support?
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Canadiandude2
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Re: International policy advocacy: Does the Church still support Alliance Defending Freedom?

Post by Canadiandude2 »

Res Ipsa wrote:
Wed Mar 22, 2023 5:53 pm
I'm not familiar with any support of this group by the LDS church. Do you have a link that discusses past support?
Mostly tangential. I know the church supports the WCF which partners with and shares organizers with the ADF:

https://assets2.Hillary Clinton.org/files/assets/re ... milies.pdf

Edit: I’m not sure why the above ^^ link isn’t working.


https://m.Facebook.com/latterdaysaintma ... 414216089/

But I acknowledge that it’s possible I’m 100% wrong on the re: the ADF.

What of the other organizations mentioned in the tweet?

Edit: most of what I’ve read suggests that the ADF sometimes shares organizers and goals with some of the same organizations that the church supports.

I realize that’s flimsier than I originally thought, and if there was a way I could edit the thread title let me know.
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Re: International policy advocacy: Does the Church still support Alliance Defending Freedom?

Post by Res Ipsa »

You should be able to edit the title using the edit function -- just like editing the content of a post.

for what it's worth, I've done a fair amount of reading on subject, and the U.S. links to anti-gay legislation are to far-right evangelicals. I've never seen the LDS church linked to those efforts.

OTOH, I think it would be fair to say that the church will avoid criticizing governments of the countries in which it is permitted to proselytize. For example, my recollection is that the church was pretty darn cozy with Pinochet in Chile. My brother in law served there, and talked about how friendly the government was with the church.

I would hope that the church would speak out against the new legislation in Uganda, but I don't expect it.

ETA: I found this 12-year old article, which seems to address what you were talking about. But I think it's pretty weak sauce in terms of support by the COJCOLDS.https://www.qsaltlake.com/news/2011/05/ ... ys-pastor/
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Re: International policy advocacy: Does the Church still support Alliance Defending Freedom?

Post by Canadiandude2 »

Res Ipsa wrote:
Wed Mar 22, 2023 6:46 pm
You should be able to edit the title using the edit function -- just like editing the content of a post.

for what it's worth, I've done a fair amount of reading on subject, and the U.S. links to anti-gay legislation are to far-right evangelicals. I've never seen the LDS church linked to those efforts.

OTOH, I think it would be fair to say that the church will avoid criticizing governments of the countries in which it is permitted to proselytize. For example, my recollection is that the church was pretty darn cozy with Pinochet in Chile. My brother in law served there, and talked about how friendly the government was with the church.

I would hope that the church would speak out against the new legislation in Uganda, but I don't expect it.

ETA: I found this 12-year old article, which seems to address what you were talking about. But I think it's pretty weak sauce in terms of support by the COJCOLDS.https://www.qsaltlake.com/news/2011/05/ ... ys-pastor/
Thanks for this. Do any of the organizations in the tweet have LDS connections? I confused the ADF with the WCF, which while still hateful isn’t listed within the tweet.
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Re: International policy advocacy: Does the Church still support Alliance Defending Freedom?

Post by Res Ipsa »

Canadiandude2 wrote:
Wed Mar 22, 2023 7:12 pm
Res Ipsa wrote:
Wed Mar 22, 2023 6:46 pm
You should be able to edit the title using the edit function -- just like editing the content of a post.

for what it's worth, I've done a fair amount of reading on subject, and the U.S. links to anti-gay legislation are to far-right evangelicals. I've never seen the LDS church linked to those efforts.

OTOH, I think it would be fair to say that the church will avoid criticizing governments of the countries in which it is permitted to proselytize. For example, my recollection is that the church was pretty darn cozy with Pinochet in Chile. My brother in law served there, and talked about how friendly the government was with the church.

I would hope that the church would speak out against the new legislation in Uganda, but I don't expect it.

ETA: I found this 12-year old article, which seems to address what you were talking about. But I think it's pretty weak sauce in terms of support by the COJCOLDS.https://www.qsaltlake.com/news/2011/05/ ... ys-pastor/
Thanks for this. Do any of the organizations in the tweet have LDS connections? I confused the ADF with the WCF, which while still hateful isn’t listed within the tweet.
I don't know. I've never looked.
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Re: International policy advocacy: Does the Church support Alliance Defending Freedom or any of these groups?

Post by dastardly stem »

I've known if the Church has any support for the ADF. I've looked. I'm sure they've teamed up. But, it'd be good to know if there was a continued long time support, particularly financial.
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Re: International policy advocacy: Does the Church support Alliance Defending Freedom or any of these groups?

Post by Moksha »

I suspect the current leadership realizes that its ideals are not held by younger generations, so they might want to set in motion some organization to help fund future hate groups. It could be called something innocuous like the Ensign Peak Advisors or the BYU Law Forum on Religious Freedom or something like that.
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