President Gordon B. Hinckley
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Where does the church stand relative to the war and turmoil now engulfing many of the nations of the Earth?
"I recognize it is a very sensitive subject for an international congregation, including those not of our religious faith."
War has been a condition of mankind since the premortal life, when there "was war in heaven." Many great nations have had a dark side, including brutal conquest, subjugation, repression and "an astronomical cost in life and treasure."
"Let it be understood that we have no quarrel with the Muslim people or with those of any other faith. We recognize and teach that all the people of the Earth are of the family of God . . . But as citizens, we are all under the direction of our respective national leaders . . . There is opportunity for dissent. Many are speaking out, and doing so emphatically. That is their privilege. That is their right so long as they do so legally."
Based on scriptural precedence, people of God are required to fight when family and liberty are at stake and when tyranny, threat and oppression are the foes.
"Let us never become a party to words or works of evil concerning our brothers and sisters of the church in various nations on one side or the other. Political differences never justify hatred or ill will." As deaths inevitably occur, "May those who mourn be comforted with that comfort which comes alone from Christ the Redeemer . . . all shall go on living."
