This is a beautiful video from the Mormon Channel and it's a great reminder of how absolutely important it is for us to help one another - but, for me, it's also a source of great frustration. I watch this, I listen to Elder Kearon's words from a conference talk just last year, and I marvel that so many Mormons voted for Trump. This is the Church I grew up in. This video shares the sort of expectations I've had for the Church and its members for most of my life. The Church is supposed to help people. As members, as Christians, we're supposed to reach out to those in need - to feed the hungry, clothe the poor and heal the sick.
Trump's actions this week are completely in line with his campaign promises.
Trump's actions go against Church teachings.
And, yet ... most Mormons I know voted for Trump.
Why? The Mormons and other Christians I know said it was "for the babies" ... because Trump claimed to be pro-life and chose Mike Pence, a famously pro-life Republican governor, as his running mate ... they believed Trump would stop abortions and save the babies.
But let's consider this - abortion rates, according to the CDC have been decreasing for years. A quick google search will tell you that abortion rates per 1000 live births in the United States was 430.2 in 1980, but that number had dropped to 200 by 2013 (the most recent year listed on the CDC website) and had been steadily declining for ten years. In other words, if we want to stop abortions, we were on the right track already. Abortion rates are already dropping. Why, then, is abortion more important than the very real, immediate, and growing plight of refugees and immigrants around the world? Why is abortion a reason to vote for a candidate who wants to repeal healthcare laws and create a Muslim registry and cut off entry to the United States for refugees?
I don't understand it. I don't even know how to talk to people about it anymore so I've come back here instead, to this lost and forgotten blog, to vent a little of my frustration into the ether.
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