Open Letter to People of Faith: Why we shouldn't wait for perfect agreement to build a better world

I've been thinking a lot about this lately. How are we, as a people of faith, supposed to move forward, in the process of building a better world for all people. Can we be building Zion/ Making Heaven a Place on Earth, for the greatest number of people here and now....just make a start, and tweak it and make it better all the time, or do we have time consuming dialogues with esoteric deadlines, in the decades of the future. The former argues in the vein of, " never let perfection be the enemy of the good", that waiting for all sides to perfectly agree, will likely never happen, in the mean-time, tangible real people are suffering, maybe dying. So it is better to get started on policies that progress a population into beneficent understandings of making the lives of people better. The latter argues, that Perfection must be striven for, and come as close as possible to it, before even whispering about changes in policy. This is favored out of a fear that some people will face harmful, malevolent repercussions if an entity makes an effort to make the lives of it's people better.

I will acknowledge that neither side has all the marbles, so to speak. No one has a monopoly on what is right. Although, I will always hold firm to the belief that, what is right now is always right, and what is right now, should be fought for now, and not waited for. We know there is malevolence, and harm, and death now, so why wait to make things better. Some argue that an entity that holds policies close to Zionic life-building for its people, that some of its members will be sanctioned, by the government of that country. In many cases, the people of that country may already be suffering terribly, even without any membership entity taking a stand, unpopular to a particular regime.

I will focus the remainder of my comments regarding the particular position of a need for a Global perspective, yet being unwilling to allow proclamations of being against terror, and being for LGBTQIA people, and Transgender People specifically.

The thing is, what is right is always right. Things don't suddenly become right, because any entity, or nation says they just became right, **for themselves**. How long should we all be acquiescent to the wrong, oppressive, and prejudicial, of laws, and policies, for the sake of coddling a handful of  nations, and their bigoted laws. It is their bigoted laws that are hurting and killing people, not the positions of a people of faith, or of any beneficent group.

We should advocate for the enlightenment of their laws, rather than impede our own policies that would save the lives of many people here, and many people throughout the world. Are the lives of people living in more enlightened countries less valuable, than those in less enlightened? No matter where we fall, or what we vote, blood ***will*** be on our hands. To be asked to acquiesce to a status quo, that does, in fact, harm and kill people, has no more intrinsic value, or moral, than furthering the cause of Zion, now. In fact, I would argue, it is a failure of humanity, and, a true International perspective.

I'm talking about soft-peddling the issue of the Policy Planks proposed for adoption at Conference, by Canada, Australia, and Europe, that publicly proclaim Terrorism to be wrong, and evil and are so right for a Peace, Justice, and a Radically Inclusive Church, but are planned to be curtailed, and silenced. Supposedly because some third world nations laws are against them, and our Church members can't be seen as being associated with them.

In no way am I trying to state that U.S. Laws have anything to do with enlightened human rights. We are, in fact, a human rights laggard, but the Church should be in ***front*** of a Nations laws, and not behind them.

In regards to LGBTQIA Human Rights, I feel equally strong, that the Church should be the Vanguard of Human Rights, and never behind, or an *after the party* laggard in response to acknowledging the truth of Doctrinal beliefs, which should be aligned with what a Creator God sees as Just, and not *cow* to the genocidal, detrimental, and decidedly maleficent, beliefs, policies, and laws, of nations, and churches.

I say again, people are dying, because we as a Church (and a nation), cannot bring itself to unequivocally, and undeniably state precisely, that LGBTQIA people are "born of their mothers womb",(Matt 9:12) and not only have a seat at the table, but are an invaluable part of God's plan, and have full-standing in the Church, eligible for all priesthood callings, and sacraments. We still do not say this. We still do not say that being Transgender is *not* a choice, we are born this way, for a sacred purpose, and that we can marry the person we love, be it a woman, man, or non-binary person.

The intentional *vaguery* surrounding LGBTQIA people in the Church, pertaining to members, potential members, and missionary work, does claim lives. Cowing to the Un-Godly human rights of any nation, leaves blood on all our hands. 

And by all means, we should have policies against torture, kidnapping, drones, terror, assault-weapons, coup-de-etat's, Christian Supremacy, Nationalism, and Fascism.