On September 16, the Mormon Church sent a letter to all 1,300 congregations in Idaho telling members to oppose the Idaho Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act, an abortion ballot measure. Five days later, 339 congregations in Nevada got a letter with the same instruction and the same wording about voicing opposition "in a respectful manner." Missouri and Virginia also have abortion measures on the November ballot. The Church has not weighed in on either one.
This Mormon Monday, Jess and Hannah go through both letters, including the Idaho sentence that cites the Church's own 2024 neutrality statement. Then they go back to October 2016, when First Presidency letters told members in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Colorado how to vote on recreational marijuana and physician-assisted suicide, and set each one beside the Republican Party position on the same issue.
You'll also hear about Prop 8: the 2010 California FPPC finding that the Church reported $36,928 in non-monetary contributions late, and the $5,539 fine that followed. Plus the legal line between the Johnson Amendment (candidates) and IRS lobbying limits (ballot measures), and what changes when one letter is read from the pulpit in 1,300 congregations.
Is the Mormon Church politically neutral? Jess and Hannah leave that one with you.
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