I am in no way, shape, or form a supporter of Harry Reid. But what this bishop said was off base for a number of reasons.
To start off, let me say that I completely sympathize with this bishop's opinion regarding Mormons like Harry Reid who are pro-choice. I cannot comprehend how a faithful member of the church in good standing can be pro-choice on the topic of abortion. Nevertheless, there are faithful members of the church who are pro-choice. In fact, our beloved Republican presidential nominee in 2012 was a faithful Mormon who in the not-too-distant past ran for public office as a pro-choice candidate.
Now, I don't pretend to claim that modern day Mitt Romney is the same person as pro-choice Mitt Romney. People grow and change. My point is simply that political views can be reached for many different reasons. Using a person's political views as a vehicle to scrutinize spiritual worthiness is a dangerous path to take. Furthermore, many political topics are not as black-and-white as this bishop and many other Mormons seem to believe.
Perhaps even more troubling than the attacks on Harry Reid's political stances is this bishop's perception of what it means to be temple worthy (and I assume by extension, what spiritual attributes this bishop thinks are the foundation of righteous living). Let's start with the temple worthiness issue. The church is very strict regarding the guidelines for temple recommend interviews, which are the sole basis for deeming an individual's temple worthiness.
Temple recommend interview questions are sort of like democracy. Both are extremely flawed systems, except when compared to every other alternative. The scriptures teach us that the best form of governance is to appoint the most wise and righteous members of our communities to lead us politically. However, since there isn't a good way to ensure that such individuals will be consistently put in positions of power, we resort to a democracy as the next best option. Democracy is not a great option but the competition is pretty ugly so this is what we settle for.
The same is true for the temple recommend interview questions. There are plenty of people who are righteous enough to enter our temples who are not allowed and plenty of people who are not righteous enough to enter our temples who are allowed. The Mormon church will continue to function just fine despite this flawed system. This bishop fails to grasp this concept and is angry that Harry Reid's vile soul is permitted to enter the most sacred of places in the Mormon faith. Harry Reid isn't the first and he won't be the last. And there is nothing that can be done about it.
Finally, this bishop seems to believe that Harry Reid's most egregious spiritual crimes while in public office have to do with the political stances he takes. This goes along with the mentality sometimes erroneously perpetuated in the church that our spirituality is akin to a resume of checked boxes. Reid's political positions pail in comparison to the gross deception and dishonest political practices that rival just about any politician in Washington. Give me an honest pro-choice politician over a dishonest pro-life politician any day of the week. Reid is also known to be overly divisive and contentious in his political rhetoric in order to denigrate half of the American people simply because they do not align with his political party.
This bishop may have been right to boldly call out Harry Reid. But the thought process behind his attack on the former Senate Majority Leader was wrong.
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