Latter-day Saints Issue Joint Statement Condemning Anti-Semitism

Sometimes a signature is more than a name. It’s a declaration, a promise and a commitment. In this vein, Canadian leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have added their signatures to a statement condemning the rise of anti-Semitism and other forms of racist violence. The statement is issued by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

The statement is made in response to a rise in anti-Semitic and racially motivated crime in both the United States and Canada over the past three years. It denounces all forms of anti-Semitism, anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Black racism, anti-Asian racism and Islamophobia.

In November 2020, Russell M. Nelson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, addressed the issue of racism in private and public affairs, condemning it and reminding all that “each of us has a divine potential because each is a child of God. Each is equal in His eyes. The implications of this truth are profound. … God does not love one race more than another. His doctrine on this matter is clear. He invites all to come unto Him” (“Let God Prevail,” October 2020 general conference).

Such principles of acceptance and tolerance have a long history in the Church, impacting the doctrine taught from its pulpits and the sense of social responsibility encouraged among its members. Two hundred years ago, Church founder Joseph Smith taught

While one portion of the human race are judging and condemning the other without mercy, the great parent of the universe looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care, and paternal regard; he views them as his offspring; and without any of those contracted feelings that influence the children of men, causes ‘his sun to rise on the evil and on the good; and sends his rain on the just and unjust’ (josephsmithgpapers.org).

This condemnation of racist hate and the encouragement of love and civility is not unique to the signers of the declaration. It represents the highest expression of the common good and the hope of religionists across the spectrum. Certainly, it formed the substance of Jesus’s teachings in the Middle East and found further expression in the prophet Muhammad’s famous last sermon, when he declared, “Oh people! Your God is one. … An Arab is not better than a non-Arab, and a non-Arab is not better than an Arab, and a white or red person is not better than a Black person, and a black person is not better than a white or red person” (narrated in Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, #22978).

Along these same lines, President Russell M. Nelson further admonished, “We need to foster a fundamental respect for the human dignity of every human soul, regardless of their color, creed or cause. And we need to work tirelessly to build bridges of understanding rather than creating walls of segregation” (“President Nelson Shares Social Post Encouraging Understanding and Civility,” Newsroom, June 2020).

Or, as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel famously said, “In a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible” (Abraham Joshua Heschel, “The Reasons for My Involvement in the Peace Movement”).

And it starts again with a signature.