The final session of Sunday’s general conference included a very interesting talk by Elder Ballard in which he said the following:
“We need to embrace God’s children compassionately and eliminate any prejudice, including racism, sexism, and nationalism,” Elder Ballard said. “Let it be said that we truly believe — and truly live — the words of the Book of Mormon prophet Nephi: ‘(The Lord) inviteth … all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female … and all are alike unto God.'”
Eliminating racism and sexism are not controversial, and many Church talks over the years have emphasized these points. Elder Ballard’s was the second talk of this conference to discuss the evil of racism.
Eliminating nationalism, however, is not as common a subject. I did a search on lds.org, and there simply are not that many talks about nationalism.
Such a subject is controversial for many reasons. There are more latter-day Saints outside the U.S. than inside. Eliminating nationalism in the U.S. seems politically correct, especially in the days of the nationalist president Donald Trump, but what about eliminating Brazilian nationalism or Japanese nationalism or French nationalism?
Are the prophets saying that no latter-day Saints in these countries should have nationalist feelings? Should they not love their countries and have feelings of patriotism?
