Guns and a church's role  Ron Molen's well written "LDS and gun
morality" (Forum, Jan. 6), regarding The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints and gun control, brings up an important
question: What indeed is the proper role of any organized
religion in speaking out on societal issues.  Whenever the LDS
leadership has lobbied or spoken out on issues such as same-sex
marriage, liquor laws or immigration, there is often an
immediate backlash from those who feel the LDS Church is
violating the Constitution's separation of church and state.
Sometimes this is followed by petition drives and protests
demanding the church remain silent or face government sanction.
At the same time, however, when LDS leadership chooses not to
get directly involved on issues such as gun control or similar
hot-button topics (climate change or health care reform), they
are attacked for not being Christian enough or for ignoring
urgent moral matters that some feel the church has the power to
change.  When should churches speak out