No member of the Church can be accepted as in good standing whose way of life is one of rebellion against the established order of decency and obedience to law. We cannot be in rebellion against the law and be in harmony with the Lord, for he has commanded us to `be subject to the powers that be, until he reigns whose right it is to reign.... (D&C 58:22.) And one of these days he is going to come.

Source: President Joseph Fielding
General Conference, April 1971

Topics: Law

Let us always remember that the planting of America in the strain that determined our country’s character was a spiritual planting. The fathers who planted this nation were Christians. They came here as Christians. They came because they were Christians. They came on a specifically Christian venture. Get it fixed in your mind that the planting that determined the genius of America was a Church—not a town, not a colony, not a trading or exploring venture, not a gold rush, but a church, a little Pilgrim church crossed the sea for the sake of its church life. That is the origin of the United States.

Source: Destiny Magazine, 1965

Topics: America, History; Christianity

When men obey commands of a creator, it is not blind obedience. How different is the cowering of a subject to his totalitarian monarch and the dignified, willing obedience one gives to his God. The dictator is ambitious, selfish, and has ulterior motives. God’s every command is righteous, every directive purposeful, and all for the good of the governed. The first may be blind obedience, but the latter is certainly faith obedience.

Source: Spencer W. Kimball
General Conference, October 1954

Topics: Obedience

To defend one’s country is a worthy deed! Patriotism is a virtue. In protecting the good name and holding inviolate the word of their country, men in the service of their country may rise to the heights of true nobility. . . .

The same virtue is possessed by him who with unwavering integrity protects the honor and good name of his friends and associates [yes, even his competitors]. It is the best within him expressing itself.

Source: President David O. McKay
The Instructor, Vol. 95, June 1960, pp. 177-178

Topics: Virtue

We should continue to speak out for freedom and against socialism and communism as President McKay has consistently admonished us. We should continue to come to the aid of patriots, programs and organizations which are trying to save our Constitution through every legal and moral means possible.

Source: Elder Ezra Taft Benson
General Conference, October 1963

Topics: Citizenship; Responsibility

In the revelation to Joseph Smith previously quoted, he was told that the Constitution should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles, that it is not right for man to be in bondage one to another. It guarantees what God has always bestowed upon his children—the rights, privileges, and honor of a free people. So important is this latter-day gentile nation established by God that he required the land to be redeemed by the shedding of blood. The blood of the Revolutionary patriots was freely spilled upon the field of battle to insure independence and to redeem the land and make it sacred to those who possessed it. When the North and South became divided over state rights which included slavery, it was most important in the plan for this nation that it remain united and strong. Only by so doing could the nation fulfil its destiny and God’s purposes and work. The Civil War resulted in the death and misery of many souls, and thus for the second time the land was redeemed by the shedding of blood.

Source: Elder Delbert L. Stapley
General Conference, October 1963

Topics: America; America, Heritage

The founding fathers knew that “. . . where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Cor. 3:17.) The United States of America began and lives as a result of faith in God. The Bible has been and is the foundation for this faith.

“It is impossible to govern the world without the Bible,” said George Washington.

“The Bible is the rock on which this Republic rests,” Andrew Jackson proclaimed.

The fathers of our country had to turn to religion in order that their new experiment make sense.

Source: Elder Ezra Taft Benson
General Conference, April 1963

Topics: Christianity

George Washington acknowledged God’s direction and stated: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.... Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” (Washington’s Farewell Address.)

Source: Elder Ezra Taft Benson
General Conference, April 1963

Topics: Morality

I became alarmed as I reviewed what has happened in our schools under so-called “progressive education.” What about the loss of patriotism, faith in God, and the teachings of character building principles once so much a part of our education? We have all but “forced Americanism out of the classroom to make way for temporary trivialities.” (DeLove.) I remembered President Joseph F. Smith’s warning of the three dangers to the Church from within, viz., the flattery of prominent men sexual impurity, and false educational ideas. (Gospel Doctrine, p. 312.)

Source: Elder Ezra Taft Benson
General Conference, April 1963

Topics: Change; Education

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