Ezra Taft Benson, The John Birch Society, and the Peace Symbol

[BCSpace]

Have we... "polluted the holy church of God?".... The auxiliaries of the Church are to be a help, not a hindrance, to parents and the priesthood as they strive to lead their families back to God. Do any of us wear or display the broken cross, anti-Christ sign, that is the adversary's symbol of the so-called "peace movement"?

When I examine the values and modus operandi of those who display the "peace" symbol, I do see that which is antiChrist and contrary to the gospel of Christ.

[volgadon]

I think I was about the only missionary in the MTC who wasn't outraged when a Chicago Pole wore a Che Guevara t-shirt to gym.

Yes, there were dissidents and subversive elements, but the same could be used to justify the Soviet show trials, de-kulakisation, and, stretching back further in time, auto-da-fe's.

As for the JBS, I just can't take them seriously, one of the first CDs we bought was a Chad Mitchell Trio compilation.

As Ephraim Kishon once remarked, recollecting the time when he was miraculously spared being shot by Nazis, "they made the mistake of leaving a satirist alive."

[USU78]

Or, since USU78 owes you an explanation for not fully endorsing the political views of a particular church leader yet still respecting and admiring him

I'm confus . . . just what didn't I endorse in ETB's teachings as Apostle and later Prophet?

[Darth J]

I'm confus . . . just what didn't I endorse in ETB's teachings as Apostle and later Prophet?

Nothing. That's the point. Droopy thinks that anyone who doesn't agree with his political views has questionable faith.

[USU78]

Nothing. That's the point. Droopy thinks that anyone who doesn't agree with his political views has questionable faith.

I'll let Droops answer for himself on what he does and doesn't think.

I happen to agree, mostly, with ETB on political matters as well. His banging the "Watch Out For What Moscow's Up To" drum has proven to be correct in most particulars, given what the KGB and Stasi archives have shown us. Those who kneejerk "'50s Repubs are Evil and Stupid" ignore those archives' revelations.

Choosing ETB as "Mormon Prophets are Dumb" evidence is a poor choice. He didn't get put in a US Pres' cabinet because he was a maroon.

[Mark Beesley]

When I examine the values and modus operandi of those who display the "peace" symbol, I do see that which is antiChrist and contrary to the gospel of Christ.

Well, I guess I need to confess that my favorite suspenders are adorned with peace signs.

Symbols have meaning for the people who use them. Others may misunderstand a group's use of a symbol, like ignorant anti-Mormons who call us Satanists because we use inverted pentagrams.

When I was a senior in High School (very early 1970s), I did a research paper on the origin of the peace sign. Wish I still had it. The earliest depictions of the peace sign that I found were 15th or 16th Century woodcuts. It has variously been described as a witch's cross, a crow's foot, and a depiction of the inverted cross on which Peter was crucified.

I use it to express my committment to peace, and to keep my pants up.

[Darth J]

I'll let Droops answer for himself on what he does and doesn't think.

I happen to agree, mostly, with ETB on political matters as well. His banging the "Watch Out For What Moscow's Up To" drum has proven to be correct in most particulars, given what the KGB and Stasi archives have shown us. Those who kneejerk "'50s Repubs are Evil and Stupid" ignore those archives' revelations.

Choosing ETB as "Mormon Prophets are Dumb" evidence is a poor choice. He didn't get put in a US Pres' cabinet because he was a maroon.

Sorry, I meant Droopy's politics, not ETB's. As shown by the repeated threads he (Droopy, not Benson) has been kicked out of.