A: Our church maintains strict political neutrality, and never forces us to vote for or against any measure or candidate. The church occasionally makes official statements regarding specific moral issues, and invites individual members to weigh the issues and vote according to their own conclusions. The church officially participates in the campaign to defend traditional marriage, as seen at an official church website: preservingmarriage.org.
The church's support of Prop 8 is based on moral principles. Elder Dallin H. Oaks, one of the modern day Twelve Apostles, summarized these principles in a recent interview:
"God loves all of His children. He has provided a plan for His children to enjoy the choicest blessings that He has to offer in eternity. Those choicest blessings are associated with marriage between a man and a woman by appropriate priesthood authority to bring together a family unit for creation and happiness in this life and in the life to come.
"We urge persons with same-gender attractions to control those and to refrain from acting upon them, which is a sin, just as we urge persons with heterosexual attractions to refrain from acting upon them until they have the opportunity for a marriage recognized by God as well as by the law of the land. That is the way to happiness and eternal life. God has given us no commandment that He will not give us the strength and power to observe. That is the Plan of Salvation for His children, and it is our duty to proclaim that plan, to teach its truth, and to praise God for the mission of His Son Jesus Christ. It is Christ’s atonement that makes it possible for us to be forgiven of our sins and His resurrection that gives us the assurance of immortality and the life to come. It is that life to come that orients our views in mortality and reinforces our determination to live the laws of God so that we can qualify for His blessings in immortality." (links added)
For the entire interview, click here.
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