It’s time to take an ethical stance — regardless of the political difficulties.

On Feb. 25, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints launched an announcement so anemic that it wasn’t fully clear whether or not it was speculated to be addressing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the day earlier than.

“We’re heartbroken and deeply involved by the armed battle now raging. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has members in every of the affected areas and all through the world. Our minds and hearts have been turned towards them and all our brothers and sisters.

“We proceed to hope for peace. We all know that enduring peace may be discovered by way of Jesus Christ. He can calm and luxury our souls even within the midst of horrible conflicts. He taught us to like God and our neighbors.

“We pray that this armed battle will finish shortly, that the controversies will finish peacefully, and that peace will prevail amongst nations and inside our personal hearts. We plead with world leaders to hunt for such resolutions and peace.”

Each the assertion’s timing and its be aware that the church “has members in every of the affected areas” definitely counsel that it was supposed to sentence (softly, feebly, unsteadily) what Russia did and is doing. However for the reason that nations in query are nowhere named, we’re left to guess.

On Monday, the church’s Europe Space Presidency additionally issued an announcement, asking members to quick for peace this Sunday, the church’s common month-to-month day of fasting. Once more, nonetheless, it didn’t title names. Russia and Ukraine are usually not talked about.

Now is just not the time to be like Switzerland, refusing to take a stand towards an unprovoked assault. (Apparently even Switzerland feels this manner, since earlier Monday it introduced it was setting apart its standard neutrality and imposing financial sanctions due to “the unprecedented navy assault by Russia on a sovereign European state.”)

I’m all for praying for peace and for church buildings that make such prayers a daily and pointed a part of our worship. We Latter-day Saints might do extra with that, daily and week to week. It’s not that I disagree with something within the church’s official “assertion on armed battle.” What’s there to disagree with, actually? It’s extra that its sweeping, all-inclusive nature removes any actual affect it may need had. Because the historian Ardis Parshall expressed it on Twitter, it was imprecise and lacked coronary heart.

So why is it so generalized? It’s an fascinating query, particularly contemplating the church’s deep anti-Soviet sensibilities of the second half of the twentieth century. Vladimir Putin has finished greater than some other chief to return Russia to these occasions of dictatorship. In 2020, for instance, he pushed by way of laws that may allow him to stay in energy till 2036, voiding the two-term restrict that had prevailed since a fragile democracy was established within the 1993 structure. He has labored to curtail freedom and promote authoritarianism. But the church has mentioned subsequent to nothing by the use of criticism of him or of those actions.

I believe that is because of the church’s personal self-interest. In 2018, President Russell M. Nelson introduced the creation of Russia’s first-ever Latter-day Saint temple. The truth that the placement for the temple has not been introduced suggests it’s nonetheless a delicate matter of negotiation. It appears seemingly that church leaders haven’t any want to antagonize Putin, no matter what he has finished in Ukraine and at dwelling.

It’s a fragile scenario for the church in Russia, fraught with rising pressure. Throughout Putin’s reign, missionaries there have been forbidden from non secular proselytizing; they must be referred to as “volunteers” as an alternative of missionaries and are restricted to service alternatives. And even with that proviso, two missionaries-cum-volunteers have been arrested in 2017 and detained for 3 weeks in an immigration facility as a result of they have been allegedly educating English and not using a license.

If Latter-day Saint leaders want a cautionary story, they want look no additional than what has been occurring with the Jehovah’s Witnesses to whom they’re typically in contrast. In 2017, Russia banned Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Putin’s regime has spent the previous a number of years cracking down on them, raiding their homes and imposing typically harsh jail sentences. As a result of Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse to salute nationwide flags or interact in navy service, their historical past has been characterised by frequent conflicts with totalitarian states, most famously in Nazi Germany.

However right here’s what I can’t cease fascinated with. Latter-day Saints, to our everlasting disgrace, had a extra amicable relationship with the Nazis within the Thirties earlier than warfare broke out. Because the ebook “Moroni and the Swastika” reveals, the church was very involved at the moment about not being expelled from Germany when its mission applications have been gaining steam, so members did what they may to accommodate Hitler’s insurance policies. For instance, members utilized their genealogical experience to assist Germans show their Aryan ancestry and even inspired Latter-day Saint missionaries to show German younger males methods to play basketball upfront of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Hitler hoped, the Deseret Information indicated, for a “Nordic win” on the Video games, and the missionaries might assist with that.

It could be marvelous if Latter-day Saints might study one thing from our personal historical past. Our shortsightedness in Thirties Germany enabled us to look the opposite method when nice evils have been being dedicated, so long as our missionaries have been allowed to proceed evangelizing.

Our priorities have been mistaken then, and I worry we could also be committing the identical mistake once more. Whereas I can perceive why the church right now could be reluctant to talk out towards Putin — that might imply saying goodbye within the brief time period to a brand new temple and presumably putting Russian church members in a precarious place vis-à-vis the state — it’s an ethical disappointment when one of the best we are able to provide you with is the equal of “ideas and prayers.”

(The views expressed on this opinion piece don’t essentially mirror these of Faith Information Service.)