The Politics of the Book of Mormon

Moroni 7:45-48 is frequently quoted in LDS circles; as a pick-me-up; as sentimentalism; as a sermon; as a call to love; as doctrine on the nature of God. Lately, I've also been treating it as a political statement.

Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys in the Book of Mormon? Initially, the Nephites and Lamanites split into a pretty even binary, with the latter intent on the destruction of the former. Yet before this family feud is a generation old, the prophet Jacob is calling the Nephites to repentance, declaring they are even worst than their enemies in their pride and adultery.

Capt. Moroni seems to present a clear contrast to the wicked Amalikiah--except that Amilikiah was also a Nephite; in fact, the Lamanite ranks were loaded with Nephite dissenters. And by the then certain of the Lamanites had converted to the Nephites, and in fact were more extreme in their pacificism. And when the Lamanites did choose to fight, they were blessed with a divine protection that the Nephite armies never merited. The binary has become very muddled.

By Helaman 6, the Lamanites and Nephites have completely switched--and within a few years of that, the two sides have collapsed into multiple sects, all wicked, except for a few here and there, of all sects.

As of 4 Nephi, there are no sides at all, but by Mormon's time, there is a binary again, both wicked.

So who's the good guys in the Book of Mormon? Mormon was a military general and therefore intimately involved in the politics of his people; when he wrote that "charity never faileth, for all things must fail," he would know, for he beheld the final collapse of his civilization. For Mormon, the good guys are whoever has charity, regardless of political affiliation, and he demonstrates this principle repeatedly throughout the Book of Mormon.

I was generally raised conservative; in college I became more liberal. Yet I've often felt the same reactionism against conservatives now days that I felt against liberals as a youth, which has made me wonder if my shift in political allegiances has failed to address the core problem.

Who are the good guys and bad guys today? Should I vote Republican or Conservative? Libertarian or Green? Capitalist or Communist? According to the Book of Mormon, these are all mis-leading categories--the good guys are whoever has charity. They exist among all parties, nations, religions, tongues and creeds. They are few and far between. The Book of Mormon is a warning against false binaries--it is a call not to categories but to compassion.