This is the first in our five-part series titled "Mormonism, Agency, and Politics." In this post we will discuss the importance of agency in Mormon doctrine. In the second we will address Satan's strategy of limiting our agency. In the third, we will address the view that agency can be restricted simply by restricting freedom. In the fourth, we will examine the idea that agency can be restricted by removing differences between good and evil and explore its political implications.

There are few topics in the teachings of the Church that are as central to Mormon doctrine as agency. Our agency is one of the very few things we had in the pre-earth life that we brought with us into this life, and is one of the most important for our eternal progression:

If there is one thing people on all sides of the aisle can agree with it's this: parents do incredibly important work. While not everyone wants or needs to be parents, there's no doubt that LDS Church leaders regularly preach the centrality of parenthood to the family, society, and eternity.

Parents of the world, we here at MormonLiberals offer you a big THANK YOU.

And, in the American economic market, that's basically all you're getting.

It has been my experience that the majority of mormons choose their political ideology based primarily upon one issue: Abortion. It is sad that this happens as I know many mormon liberals who consider themselves pro-life. Harry Reid, for example, pursues most of the Democratic agenda with the exception of abortion (he is pro-life). So I want to first say that one can be liberal without being pro-choice. In this post however, I want to present the case for pro-choice mormons. In my experience, most pro-life mormons' views on abortion are influenced by two things: 1) The view that a fetus is a full human being. 2) That the church is "officially against" abortion.

In most political discussions in the US church, if one starts to advocate the liberal policies which most liberals feel are abundant throughout our standard works, many of our conservative sisters and brothers will cite Ezra Taft Benson in 'denouncing' such views. While we have a great love for the service President Benson gave, especially while President of the church, we strongly disagree with his political opinions. We often hear that his opinions were not his opinions, but rather 'the truth' or 'doctrine.' In an effort to address the view that Ezra Taft Benson's political opinions were doctrine, we present this condensed (and admittedly cherry-picked) summary of the reactions and interactions of Elder Benson with his church leaders on the topic of politics.