Culturing Joy: Why Living Traditions is the Ultimate Antidote to Hate

 In January 2025, in response to the re-election of the most xenophobic American president in a century, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued another brief, unsigned statement reiterating its nuanced stance on immigration. “We follow Jesus Christ by loving our neighbors,” it said. “The Savior taught that the meaning of ‘neighbor’ includes all of God’s children.”

This statement and similar ones that came before obviously weren’t enough, because many of the church’s American members feel no cognitive dissonance about cheering for the government’s wanton cruelty against marginalized people, then going to sacrament meeting to worship a man who said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

I can already hear those members retorting, “We believe in obeying the law.” With that glib statement, they intentionally disregard all nuance and basic human empathy, and their pioneer ancestors who told the government to pound sand while they broke the law for decades to practice polygamy must be rolling in their graves. I could say something about their church more recently breaking the law for decades to hide the size of its stock portfolio from the government and the public, too.

Furthermore, these members refuse to accept the obvious reality that the government itself is not obeying the law. Not even its own unjust law, and certainly not what Mormons ostensibly believe to be God’s law.

The LDS Church is obviously concerned about this administration’s human rights abuses – it didn’t issue that immigration statement for no reason – so why has it chosen to remain silent as they escalate? Why won’t it condemn ICE’s brutal, lawless behavior in no uncertain terms? Why won’t it speak out against the concentration camp being set up in its backyard with our Mormon governor’s support? Why won’t it clarify – since this somehow isn’t obvious enough – that members cannot simultaneously love God and support people who tear-gas children?

The church’s consistent silence on other authoritarian regimes throughout the world is understandable, albeit not particularly admirable. But on its home turf in the United States, it still enjoys special privileges simply for being a church. While maintaining a general stance of political neutrality, “it reserves the right to address issues it believes have significant moral consequences.” In recent memory, though, it’s mostly exercised this right to impose its current teachings about gender and sexuality on people who don’t believe in them.

And what of the recently anointed prophet, Dallin H. Oaks? I could almost be convinced that this former lawyer and Supreme Court justice was raised up by the Lord for this time, when the Constitution is undeniably hanging by a thread. He’s been vocal about the importance of “our divinely inspired Constitution.”

Oaks obviously has a certain political leaning, but he’s no Ezra Taft Benson. He’s more nuanced than he gets credit for. In 2017, he acknowledged the reality of climate change and lamented “the politics of conflict and the uncertainties sponsored by the aggressive new presidential administration.” (That was Trump.) In 2020, he said that “Black lives matter” is an “eternal truth that all reasonable people should support.” I used to love this quote of his: “I find some wisdom in liberalism, some wisdom in conservatism, and much truth in intellectualism – but I find no salvation in any of them.”

Yes, I vehemently disagree with many opinions Oaks has expressed – you can guess which ones – but I thought his refusal to back down on them in the face of widespread disapproval at least showed a degree of courage and integrity. Given his past demonstrations of nuance, I had hope that as the prophet, he would use the same courage and integrity to defend democracy and human rights. I’ve been disappointed.

If I had to guess, I’d say the LDS Church has taken the wrong lesson from the backlash of many American members against its “woke” positions in 2020-1 – racism bad, masks good, and Oaks’ own reminder that “we peacefully accept the results of elections.” I saw some members on Facebook tearing up their temple recommends after the prophet asked them to get vaccinated, which implies that they stopped paying tithing… but that’s just speculation on my part.

Somehow, without millions of followers, hundreds of billions of dollars, my own law firm, lobbyists, or government contacts, I’ve managed to find the courage to speak out unequivocally against fascism because once upon a time, I was taught, “Do what is right, let the consequence follow.”

I still believe that. I’m not sure if the people who taught me ever did.

In recognition of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I want to share a message that feels especially timely.

As you know, Minnesota has recently experienced a series of federal immigration enforcement actions that have led to tragic loss of life and widespread public unrest. Those deaths must be investigated to determine whether legal or moral lines have been crossed but I would caution against using inappropriate language to describe the situation. Governor Tim Walz compared these events to the Holocaust and to the story of Anne Frank and California Governor Gavin Newsom compared ICE to the Gestapo.

These comparisons are deeply troubling.

The Holocaust was a deliberate program of systematic genocide against Jews and other minorities by a state that sought their annihilation. Anne Frank was not hiding because she violated the law. She was a German citizen hiding because the law itself had declared her life illegal, and there was no appeal and no escape.

If Anne Frank and her family were offered plane tickets safely out of their attic, they'd have taken it.

To compare that to contemporary immigration enforcement is just wrong.

ICE is tasked with enforcing immigration law. If they're doing so inappropriately or their enforcement of the law has gone beyond their authority then we must press the government to reign them in. But disagreement over policy and implementation of policy is not genocide.
​
Judaism teaches that words create worlds. We say "Never Again" to remind the world of a specific historical evil, unique in its intent and execution. When Holocaust language is borrowed loosely, that does not honor memory. It diminishes it.

This is not a defense of any particular agency or policy. It is a defense of moral clarity.

If every injustice becomes the Holocaust, then the Holocaust becomes nothing more than a slogan. History becomes a weapon, and the language meant to warn humanity of ultimate evil is emptied of meaning.

​May we have the wisdom to name reality with precision, the courage to confront injustice wherever it appears, and the sensitivity to protect the sanctity of Jewish memory."

Those deaths must be investigated to determine whether legal or moral lines have been crossed

Governor Tim Walz compared these events to the Holocaust and to the story of Anne Frank...

​These comparisons are deeply troubling.

California Governor Gavin Newsom compared ICE to the Gestapo.

​These comparisons are deeply troubling.

The Holocaust was a deliberate program of systematic genocide against Jews and other minorities by a state that sought their annihilation.

Anne Frank was not hiding because she violated the law.

She was a German citizen hiding because the law itself had declared her life illegal, and there was no appeal and no escape.

If Anne Frank and her family were offered plane tickets safely out of their attic, they'd have taken it.

ICE is tasked with enforcing immigration law.

If they're doing so inappropriately or their enforcement of the law has gone beyond their authority then we must press the government to reign them in.

But disagreement over policy and implementation of policy is not genocide.

This is not a defense of any particular agency or policy.

It is a defense of moral clarity.

May we have the wisdom to name reality with precision, the courage to confront injustice wherever it appears

In Conclusion