TonyOlsen wrote:Henmasher wrote:What about the church as a whole....are they a socialist organization?
Good point.
Not really.
LDS Doctrine on Socialism/Communism as religions
The following are selected quotes concerning the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints concerning socialism, communism, fascism, nazism, etc. are religions and that they are the counterfeit doctrine of Satan established for the purpose of conflicting with Christ’s work.
Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, A NEW WITNESS FOR THE ARTICLES OF FAITH, p. 626, 1985
One of the surest and most certain signs of the times is the near-omnipresence of false prophets. "There shall also arise . . . false prophets," saith the holy word. (JS-M 1:22.) It is now almost as though every fool or near-fool, and every person filled with self-conceit and a desire to be in the spotlight of adulation, fancies himself a prophet of religion or politics, or what have you. On every hand there are those who suppose they know how to save society, to save nations, to save souls. They preach all sorts of gospels—a social gospel; a racial gospel; a gospel of freedom or communism, of socialism or free enterprise, of military preparedness or reliance upon the wispy promises of foreign foes; a gospel of salvation by grace alone, or of this or that doctrine.
David O. McKay, Conference Report, April 9, 1966, pp. 109-10. Italics in original.
The position of this Church on the subject of Communism has never changed. We consider it the greatest satanical threat to peace, prosperity, and the spread of God's work among men that exists on the face of the earth. . . .
The entire concept and philosophy of Communism is diametrically opposed to everything for which the Church stands—belief in Deity, belief in the dignity and eternal nature of man, and the application of the gospel to efforts for peace in the world. Communism is militantly atheistic and is committed to the destruction of faith wherever it may be found.
The Russian Commissar of Education wrote: "We must hate Christians and Christianity. Even the best of them must be considered our worst enemies. Christian love is an obstacle to the development of the revolution. Down with love for one's neighbor. What we want is hate. Only then shall we conquer the universe."
On the other hand, the gospel teaches the existence of God as our Eternal and Heavenly Father and declares: ". . . him only shalt thou serve." (Matt. 4:10.)
Communism debases the individual and makes him the enslaved tool of the state, to which he must look for sustenance and religion. Communism destroys man's God-given free agency…
Ezra Taft Benson, 1960, So Shall Ye Reap
May I assure you that communism is not merely an economic program. It is a total philosophy of life, atheistic and utterly opposed to all we hold dear as a great Christian nation. While we might effectively bridle or destroy every so-called communist within our own borders, we shall not vanquish this political virus, and its common forerunner, state socialism, so long as people are determined to achieve security through state-imposed materialistic schemes rather than through righteous living and wholesome activity as free men.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie 1985, A NEW WITNESS FOR THE ARTICLES OF FAITH, p. 54
Sad as it may be, almost the entire history of mankind is an account of false worship, false gods, and all the ills that attend such a course. Communism is in reality a form of religion in which men deny the God of the Bible and worship the gods of compulsion and power and war. Philosophy in all its forms and varieties is a way of worship. It is an attempt by reason and without revelation to explain existence, ethical principles in general, and the whence, why, and whither of life.
Boyd K. Packer, 1975, Teach Ye Diligently, p. 225
Atheism, like theism, is divided into many sects: communism, agnosticism, skepticism, humanism, pragmatism, and others.
The atheist proclaims his own dishonesty in accepting pay to teach psychology, sociology, history, or English, while he is indeed preaching his atheistic religious philosophy to his students.
Apostle David O. McKay, Gospel Ideals, p. 304-305
Communist leaders have steadily insisted that communism cannot live in just one country. Just as we fought to make 'the world safe for democracy,' so they are fighting to make the world safe for communism. They are fighting this fight today. Every country must become communistic, according to their idea. So they have sent out missionaries…
Do not let advocates of communism mislead you in their attempt to denounce capitalism. Fundamental in the belief and promulgation of communism is the denial of the existence of God and the desire to substitute for the belief confidence in the state. The state is not an organization to suppress people. The state should have no power but that which the people give it; and when the state becomes a director, a controller of the individual, it becomes despotism; and human nature has fought that since man was created; and man will continue to fight that false ideal.
Individual freedom is innate in the human soul. God has given us our free agency, and next to life itself that is our greatest gift from heaven, and you red-blooded men and women know that is true because of your own love of liberty.
Stephen L Richards, 1955
There are some who may regard the acknowledgment of spiritual power as a stigma of weakness, that the humility which is essential to the acceptance of divine power is incompatible with strength of manhood and self-determination. That was in large measure the doctrine of Hitler and is today the philosophy of communism. I hope there are not many who adopt such a philosophy of life.
Now I know that there are many in Christian nations and many in prominent places who accede to this taboo on religion in the consideration of national and world affairs. They seem to think that they can fight aggressive, atheistic communism without uttering a word in defense and exposition of divinely given concepts, and without even seeking divine aid in the preservation of divine principles for the race.
Ezra Taft Benson, This Nation Shall Endure, p. 93
As Americans, we have marched a long way down the soul-destroying road of socialism, atheism, and totalitarianism. It is the price we pay when we turn away from God and turn to government to do everything for us. It is the formula by which nations become enslaved by their own leaders.
As England's Lord Acton so succinctly put it, "Power tends to corrupt—and absolute power corrupts absolutely." (Essays on Freedom and Power, p. 364.)
Increasing numbers of Americans are subscribing to the myth that you can get something for nothing—as long as the government is footing the bill. In fact, they believe it is the duty of government to take care of them, from the womb to the tomb.
There is no such thing as a free lunch. Everything we get from the government, we pay for in debilitating taxes. Everything the government gives to the people, it must first take from the people. This is something few Americans appear to understand.
(This Nation Shall Endure, p. 94)
But as those affluent years slipped by, voices were heard in the land, singing the siren songs of socialism. And many Americans tapped their feet to the beat of the music. Politicians were already promising something for nothing, that elusive free lunch. Thus, gradually the people let the government infringe upon their precious freedoms, and the preliminary signs of decay began to appear in our young republic.
Marion G. Romney, 1977, Learning For The Eternities, p. 2
Three of the major devices that have led men to reject the truth concerning God have been and still are (1) apostate Christianity, (2) the theory of biological evolution, and (3) communism.
President Ezra Taft Benson Of the Council of the Twelve, A Witness and a Warning
But whenever the God of heaven reveals His gospel to mankind, Satan, the archenemy to Christ, introduces a counterfeit.
Communism introduced into the world a substitute for true religion. It is a counterfeit of the gospel plan. The false prophets of Communism predict a utopian society. This, they proclaim, will only be brought about as capitalism and free enterprise are overthrown, private property abolished, the family as a social unit eliminated, all classes abolished, all governments overthrown, and a communal ownership of property in a classless, stateless society established.
President Marion G. Romney, in the First Presidency Message in the September 1979 Ensign, wrote: “Communism is Satan’s counterfeit for the gospel plan, and … it is an avowed enemy of the God of the land. Communism is the greatest anti-Christ power in the world today and therefore the greatest menace not only to our peace but to our preservation as a free people. By the extent to which we tolerate it, accommodate ourselves to it, permit ourselves to be encircled by its tentacles and drawn to it, to that extent we forfeit the protection of the God of this land” (p. 5).
President Marion G. Romney Second Counselor in the First Presidency, The Message: America’s Promise, New Era, Mar 1980, p.4
In distinguishing communism from the United Order, President David O. McKay said that communism is Satan’s counterfeit for the gospel plan, and that it is an avowed enemy of the God of the land. Communism is the greatest anti-Christ power in the world today and therefore the greatest menace not only to our peace but to our preservation as a free people. By the extent to which we tolerate it, accommodate ourselves to it, permit ourselves to be encircled by its tentacles and drawn to it, to that extent we forfeit the protection of the God of this land.
Relying on that part of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States which reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” the United States Supreme Court has ruled against Bible reading and prayer in public schools. By so doing, said President David O. McKay, “the Supreme Court of the United States severs the connecting cord between the public schools of the United States and the source of divine intelligence, the Creator himself,” who, of course, is the God of this land (Relief Society Magazine, Dec. 1962, p. 878).
Now, of course, we all believe and wholeheartedly support the separation of church and state; but we must not let this wresting of the First Amendment, nor communism, nor atheism, nor any other anti-Christ influence, weaken our conviction that Jesus Christ is the God of this land nor diminish our determination to obey his laws.
First Presidency Message, in Conference Report, Apr. 1942
False Political Isms
We again warn our people in America of the constantly increasing threat against our inspired Constitution and our free institutions set up under it. The same political tenets and philosophies that have brought war and terror in other parts of the world are at work amongst us in America. The proponents thereof are seeking to undermine our own form of government and to set up instead one of the forms of dictatorships now flourishing in other lands. These revolutionists are using a technique that is as old as the human race—a fervid but false solicitude for the unfortunate over whom they thus gain mastery and then enslave them.
They suit their approaches to the particular group they seek to deceive. Among the Latter-day Saints they speak of their philosophy and their plans under it as an ushering in of the United Order. Communism and all other similar isms bear no relationship whatever to the United Order. They are merely the clumsy counterfeits which Satan always devises of the gospel plan. Communism debases the individual and makes him the enslaved tool of the state to whom he must look for sustenance and religion; the United Order exalts the individual, leaves him his property, "according to his family, according to his circumstances and his wants and needs," (D&C 51:3) and provides a system by which he helps care for his less fortunate brethren; the United Order leaves every man free to choose his own religion as his conscience directs. Communism destroys man's God-given free agency; the United Order glorifies it. Latter-day Saints can not be true to their faith and lend aid, encouragement, or sympathy to any of these false philosophies. They will prove snares to their feet.
Apostle Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Point of Safe Return,” Ensign, May 2007, 99–101
The gift of the Atonement of Jesus Christ provides us at all times and at all places with the blessings of repentance and forgiveness.
Satan tries to counterfeit the work of God, and by doing this he may deceive many. To make us lose hope, feel miserable like himself, and believe that we are beyond forgiveness, Satan might even misuse words from the scriptures that emphasize the justice of God, in order to imply that there is no mercy.
James E. Faust, Second Counselor in the First Presidency , “The Forces That Will Save Us,” Liahona, Jan 2007, 2–7
Some of Satan’s most appealing lines are “Everyone does it”; “If it doesn’t hurt anybody else, it’s all right”; “If you feel all right about it, it’s OK”; or “It’s the ‘in’ thing to do.” These subtle entreaties make Satan the great imitator, the master deceiver, the arch counterfeiter, and the great forger.
Agency—Our Alternative: Our agency, given us through the plan of our Father, is the great alternative to Satan’s plan of force. With this sublime gift, we can grow, improve, progress, and seek perfection. Without agency, none of us could grow and develop by learning from our mistakes and errors and those of others.
Elder James E. Faust of the Quorum of the Twelve, “A New Civil Religion,” Ensign, Oct. 1992, 69A New Civil Religion,
There seems to be developing a new civil religion. The civil religion I refer to is a secular religion. It has no moral absolutes. It is nondenominational. It is nontheistic. It is politically focused. It is antagonistic to religion. It rejects the historic religious traditions of America. It feels strange. If this trend continues, nonbelief will be more honored than belief. While all beliefs must be protected, are atheism, agnosticism, cynicism, and moral relativism to be more safeguarded and valued than Christianity, Judaism, and the tenets of Islam, which hold that there is a Supreme Being and that mortals are accountable to him? If so, this would, in my opinion, place America in great moral jeopardy.
For those who believe in God, this new civil religion fosters some of the same concerns as the state religions that prompted our forefathers to escape to the New World. Nonbelief is becoming more sponsored in the body politic than belief.
Apostle Dallin H. Oaks, “Our Strengths Can Become Our Downfall,” Liahona, May 1995, 10
Elder Marion G. Romney of the Quorum of the Twelve taught: “Latter-day Saints know that there is a God. With like certainty, they know that Satan lives, that he is a powerful personage of spirit, the archenemy of God, of man, and of righteousness” (Ensign, June 1971, page 35). President Joseph F. Smith described one of Satan’s methods: “Satan is a skillful imitator, and as genuine gospel truth is given the world in ever-increasing abundance, so he spreads the counterfeit coin of false doctrine” (ibid., page 36).
Elder Bernard P. Brockbank Assistant to the Council of the Twelve, “Hearken Unto the Voice of God,” Ensign, May 1974, 11
President Harold B. Lee said, “Today you are witnessing the fulfillment [of a prophecy concerning Satan’s dominion]. Today is the day when the devil has power over his own dominion.” (Harold B. Lee, Decisions for Successful Living, Deseret Book Co., 1973, p. 221.) That is a prophetic statement from a prophet of God. He also said, “[Satan] is the master of deceit, adulteration and counterfeit.
Elder Marion G. Romney, Of the Council of the Twelve, “Satan—The Great Deceiver,” Ensign, Jun 1971, 35
We know that there is available to each of us the gift of the Holy Ghost—the power of revelation which embraces the gift of discernment by which we may unerringly detect the devil and the counterfeits he is so successfully foisting upon this gullible generation. Our course is clear and certain. It is to strictly obey the commandments of the Lord, as they are recorded in the scriptures and as they are being given by the living prophets.
Socialism
President Ezra Taft Benson President of the Council of the Twelve “Jesus Christ—Gifts and Expectations,” New Era, May 1975, 16
If we really did our homework and approached the Book of Mormon doctrinally, we could expose the errors and find the truths to combat many of the current false theories and philosophies of men, including socialism, humanism, organic evolution, and others.
Ezra Taft Benson, This Nation Shall Endure
We have accepted a frightening degree of socialism in our country. The question is, how much? The amount of freedom depends upon the amount of federal control and spending. A good measurement is to determine the amount, or percentage, of income of the people that is taken over and spent by the state.
President Marion G. Romney SOCIALISM AND THE UNITED ORDER COMPARED
The "communist manifesto" drafted by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, for the Communist League . . . in . . . 1848 is generally regarded as the starting point of modern socialism (Ibid.).
No, socialism is not the United Order. Distinguishing between these two systems need be no more difficult than solving the problem of the farmer who could not tell one of his horses from the other. They weighed the same, pulled the same load, ran at the same speed; from the looks of their teeth they were the same age. Finally, as a last resort, he measured them, and, sure enough, the white horse was six hands higher than the black one.
Now, not forgetting our duty to eschew socialism and support the just and holy principles of the Constitution, as directed by the Lord, I shall conclude these remarks with a few comments concerning what we should do about the United Order.
David O. McKay
Under Communism you lose your liberties immediately and perhaps your life. Under Socialism, you lose your liberties a little more slowly but just as surely.
The Prophet John Taylor on Socialism.
I attended a second lecture on Socialism, by Mr. Finch; and after he got through, I made a few remarks, I said I did not believe the doctrine.
Communism
Message from the First Presidency, Improvement Era, August 1936, p. 488.
Latter-day Saints cannot be true to their faith and lend aid, encouragement, or sympathy to false ideologies such as socialism and communism. The official Church position on communism remains unchanged since it was first promulgated in 1936: "We call upon all Church members completely to eschew Communism. The safety of our divinely inspired Constitutional government and the welfare of our Church imperatively demand that Communism shall have no place in America."
David O. McKay, Selections from the Discourses of David O. McKay (Gospel Ideals, p. 273)
THE NEW BARBARISM. "During the first half of the twentieth century we have traveled far into the soul-destroying land of socialism and made strange alliances through which we have become involved in almost continuous hot and cold wars over the whole of the earth. In this retreat from freedom the voices of protesting citizens have been drowned by raucous shouts of intolerance and abuse from those who led the retreat and their millions of gullible youth, who are marching merrily to their doom, carrying banners on which are emblazoned such intriguing and misapplied labels as social justice, equality, reform, patriotism, social welfare.
Ezra Taft Benson
We must keep the people informed that collectivism, another word for socialism, is a part of the communist strategy. Communism is essentially socialism.
David O. McKay, General Conference, October 1951, pp. 10-11.
At heart communism is atheistic, and fascism is equally antagonistic to freedom and to other Christian principles—even denying the divinity of Jesus Christ and the existence of God.
David O. McKay
A ruthless dialectical battle is being waged against the Christian way of life, against political liberty, against individual freedom, and it is being waged in the name of Freedom. Black becomes White; Tyranny becomes Freedom; The Forced Labor Camp stands for Liberty; The Slave State is represented as Democracy. This is the deadly challenge of Communism.
President Ezra Taft Benson, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles “Prepare Yourself for the Great Day of the Lord,” New Era, May 1982, 44
The Church is prospering and growing. Yet in undiminished fury, and with an anxiety that his time is short—and it is—Satan, that great adversary to all men, is attempting to destroy all we hold dear. The greatest system of slavery ever devised by the forces of evil—communism—has been imposed on over one billion of the earth’s inhabitants. We constantly hear or read of wars and rumors of wars. Atheism, agnosticism, immorality, and dishonesty are flaunted in our society.
President Gordon B. Hinckley, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, p. 232 – 233
Religion and the free exercise thereof, the right to worship God according to one's own conscience—how precious and treasured a boon it is. How necessary that it be safeguarded. Established religion becomes the guardian of the conscience of the people, the teacher of moral values, the defender of belief in the Almighty, the bridge between God and man. No people will live for long in freedom without it. The history of communism, whose founding father declared religion to be the opiate of the people, speaks with harshness and suffering concerning this basic matter.
Congress shall not abridge "the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
The history of tyrants is a history of the muzzling of free expression and the denial of assembly. ("The Bill of Rights," Bonneville International Corporation "Gathering of Eagles," June 20, 1991.)
President Gordon B. Hinckley, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, p. 407
The voices I hear are persuasive, seductive, fascinating, and confusing. Speaking across the earth, they are part of a mighty battle that is being waged for the minds of men. They are aimed at persuasion in political philosophy. There are voices of democracy competing with voices of communism, and each is winning converts according to the discernment and the judgment of listeners. The stakes are high, the weapons are sophisticated, the methods are clever.
Elder John A. Widtsoe, Evidences And Reconciliations
Modern communism, fascism, nazism, socialism, and other related systems, are all the same in essential theory. They oppose religion, except as they themselves claim to be revelations, and they reject Christian morality. They prohibit free speech and action; eliminate private ownership and initiative; hold without exception the state above the individual; regiment the people; allow the strong to dominate the weak; they take government out of the hands of the governed, and place it in the hands of a self-appointed, selfish, self-styled, super-group, and they culminate in dictatorships. The free agent has no place in their systems. Their claim that they believe in human equality, as shown by their tyrannical behavior, is false. Force and terrorism are their weapons. All that makes for human security and happiness is destroyed.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell, 1972
[A]s a nation we ignored the warning signals which preceded the great depression; we were also unready to face the onrushing realities of Fascism and Communism—whereas today many are blind to the dangers of self-oppression, the chains we put on ourselves, which is the real tyranny of our time.
Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, THE MILLENNIAL MESSIAH,1982, 66
We hear the voice of one false Christ, echoing from the camps of communism, expounding the devil-devised declaration that religion is the opiate of the people. We hear another such voice when races alien to Israel acclaim that the one God has no need for a Son to mediate between himself and fallen man.
Next Moroni turns the key so that all who have ears to hear can understand what the secret combination is and can identify those who build it up. "For it cometh to pass," he says, "that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries." This is a worldwide conspiracy. It is now entrenched in many nations, and it seeks dominion over all nations. It is Godless, atheistic, and operates by compulsion. It is communism. "And it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies; even that same liar who beguiled our first parents, yea, even that same liar who hath caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath hardened the hearts of men that they have murdered the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out from the beginning."
Ezra Taft Benson, This Nation Shall Endure
We must keep the people informed that collectivism, another word for socialism, is a part of the communist strategy. Communism is essentially socialism.
David O. McKay, Selections from the Discourses of David O. McKay, 1952
Latter-day Saints should have nothing to do with secret combinations and groups antagonistic to the constitutional law of the land, which the Lord "suffered to be established," and which "should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh according to just and holy principles."
Fundamental in the belief and promulgation of communism is the denial of the existence of God and the desire to substitute for the belief confidence in the state. The state is not an organization to suppress people. The state should have no power but that which the people give it; and when the state becomes a director, a controller of the individual, it becomes despotism; and human nature has fought that since man was created; and man will continue to fight that false ideal.
Individual freedom is innate in the human soul. God has given us our free agency, and next to life itself that is our greatest gift from heaven, and you red-blooded men and women know that is true because of your own love of liberty.
Fascism
Joseph Fielding Smith,1936, The Progress of Man, p. 397
On the one side the direction which is to make an end of all nations, is through communism; on the other side it is being reached through Fascism and Nazism. While these two forces are apparently arrayed against each other, nevertheless the goal to be reached by them eventually is the same.
Ezra Taft Benson, 1960, So Shall Ye Reap
Can communism, socialism, fascism, the so-called welfare state, or any other coercive system provide these priceless blessings which flow to us as a part of our American way of life? The common denominator of all these systems is the curtailment of individual liberty.
David O. McKay, General Conference, October 1951, pp. 10-11.
At heart communism is atheistic, and fascism is equally antagonistic to freedom and to other Christian principles—even denying the divinity of Jesus Christ and the existence of God.
Social Security
Ezra Taft Benson, This Nation Shall Endure
We have accepted a frightening degree of socialism in our country. The question is, how much? The amount of freedom depends upon the amount of federal control and spending. A good measurement is to determine the amount, or percentage, of income of the people that is taken over and spent by the state. In Russia, the individual works almost wholly for the state, leaving little for his own welfare. Scandinavia takes about 65 to 70 percent of the income of the people, England some 60 percent. The United States is now approximately 44 percent.
The chief weapon used by the federal government to achieve this equality is through so-called transfer payments. This is a term that simply means that the federal government collects from one income group and transfers payments to another by the tax system. These payments are made in the form of Social Security benefits, housing subsidies, Medicaid, food stamps, to name a few.
Today, total cost of such programs exceeds $150 billion dollars. That represents about 42 percent of the total of all government federal spending, or about one dollar out of every seven dollars of personal income. (See U.S. News and World Report, August 4, 1975, pp. 32-33.)
Our present Social Security program has been going in the hole at the rate of $12 billion a year. Recognizing that the present program will be insolvent by 1985, President Carter has now recommended that Social Security be funded out of the general tax funds. Charges were made in the last election campaign that the Social Security program was going bankrupt. These charges were denied. Now the truth is out. The President's recommendation must be regarded as an admission of the failure of the present system and as a calculated policy to take this country into full-scale socialism.
Our major danger is that we are currently—and have been for forty years—transferring responsibility from the individual, local, and state governments to the federal government.
President Heber J. Grant, Gerenal Conference October, 1936: 13.
“We have on, at the present time, a great political campaign (1936), and I want to say to the Saints that I hope they will not allow their political affiliations, their regard for political affairs, to cause feelings of ill-will towards one another. I have had some of the most insulting letters that ever came to me, condemning me for not being in favor of the Townsend Plan (Social Security), and that I must be ignorant of the plan. I am not ignorant of the plan. I have not read every word of it, but I have asked one of my secretaries to read every word of the plan and to give me the important points, and to my mind it is in direct opposition to everything I have quoted from Brigham Young and from the revelations of the Lord. The idea of allowing every man and woman who has reached the age of sixty years and wishes to retire from working to get two hundred dollars a month from the government! There is nothing truer than Brigham Young's statement, that we should give nothing to people, unless they are not able to work, without requiring them to do something for it.
Ezra Taft Benson 1960, So Shall Ye Reap
May I assure you that communism is not merely an economic program. It is a total philosophy of life, atheistic and utterly opposed to all we hold dear as a great Christian nation. While we might effectively bridle or destroy every so-called communist within our own borders, we shall not vanquish this political virus, and its common forerunner, state socialism, so long as people are determined to achieve security through state-imposed materialistic schemes rather than through righteous living and wholesome activity as free men.
Ezra Taft Benson, CR, April 1962, p.105-106
To protect this base we must protect the soul of America -- we must return to a love and respect for the basic spiritual concepts upon which this nation has been established. We must study the Constitution and the writings of the founding fathers.
Yes, we must protect the Lord's base of operations by moving away from unsound economic policies which encourage creeping socialism and its companion, insidious, atheistic communism. If we are to protect this important base we must as a nation live within our means, balance our budgets, and pay our debts. We must establish sound monetary policies and take needed steps to compete in world markets.
Secular Religion
Elder Boyd K. Packer, Official Report of the 164th Annual General Conference April, 1994
Satan's attacks on the family: The ultimate purpose of the adversary, who has "great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time," (1) is to disrupt, disturb, and destroy the home and the family. Like a ship without a rudder, without a compass, we drift from the family values which have anchored us in the past. Now we are caught in a current so strong that unless we correct our course, civilization as we know it will surely be wrecked to pieces. Moral values are being neglected and prayer expelled from public schools on the pretext that moral teaching belongs to religion. At the same time, atheism, the secular religion, is admitted to class, and our youngsters are proselyted to a conduct without morality.
Bruce R McConkie, A NEW WITNESS FOR THE ARTICLES OF FAITH A NEW WITNESS FOR THE ARTICLES OF FAITH Deseret Book Company 1985,
Thus, as we have seen, civil control of religion is Lucifer's way of enforcing an enduring state of apostasy and of darkness upon all who are subject to such control. Thus also, as long as government controls our way of worship, Lucifer is in control, and we have no hope except to await the day when the chains will be broken and the bondage will cease.
10. Atheism, a Fatal Belief—"During the Reign of Terror, the French were declared by the National Assembly to be a nation of atheists; but a brief experience convinced them that a nation of atheists could not long exist. Robespierre then 'proclaimed in the convention, that belief in the existence of God was necessary to those principles of virtue and morality upon which the republic was founded; and on the 7th of May [1794], the national representatives, who had so lately prostrated themselves before the Goddess of Reason, voted by acclamation that the French people acknowledged the existence of the Supreme Being, and the immortality of the soul.'"—Students' France, 27, 6.
Elder Boyd K Packer, TEACH YE DILIGENTLY,1975
The Religion of Atheism
Some years ago in the United States a plaintiff prospered in her grievance concerning the saying of prayers in public schools. The practice was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. That decision was partial to one ideology, for the effect, regardless of the intent, was to offer great encouragement to those who would erase from our society every trace of reference to the Almighty.
There is a crying need for the identification of atheism for what it is, and that is, a religion albeit a negative one. Atheism is a religious expression; it is one extreme end of religious philosophy.
One group of so-called believers in God teach in substance that He is man-made. That is, they admit, with tongues in cheeks, that there is a God. But, in the same breath, they explain that God is always a product of the human mind. Early peoples, they say, worshipped tribal Gods, of stock and stone. As the people developed, their conceptions changed, until, in time, God became a Being of spirit. This simply means that God is made by man, and in the image of man; instead of man being made in the image of God. Such colossal self-sufficiency is of the impudent order of King Canute defying the tides of the ocean. The notion of a man-made God is a variation of atheism.
Now it means we are to render unto ourselves that which is our own.