LDS stake president

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

LDS Stake President Matthew DeVisser's dystopian view makes you wonder why any Latter-day Saint couple would want to "multiply and replenish the earth" and raise children in this godless wasteland. ("Mormon stake president gets political at church, laments election results," Tribune, Feb. 22)

Contrast this with the infectious optimism of late LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, who often said things like: "Cultivate an attitude of happiness. Cultivate a spirit of optimism. Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, in the testimony which you carry in your heart concerning things divine."

I cut DeVisser slack for his positions and delivery, which seem to stem from a lifetime of well-intentioned but ill-informed choices and prejudice. I respectfully hope that DeVisser, and those who choose paranoia, isolationism, suspicion and cloudy-horizoned hand-wringing hear the bell tolling — Sen. Joe McCarthy is calling; the 1950s want you back.

Eric Wadley

Salt Lake City