LDS Stake President Theron Jensen Helps Organize New Conservative Group, "Friends Of The Founding Fathers", In Mesquite, Nevada

A stake president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is among four organizers of a new constitutionally-oriented political group taking root in Mesquite, Nevada. The Mesquite Local News published a story on the first meeting of the "Friends of the Founding Fathers" on January 15th, 2010.

Theron Jensen, the president of the Mesquite LDS Stake, along with Dr. Leo Black, Art Hammerschmidt, and Bo Bingham, are four of the organizers of the group. They held their first meeting on Thursday January 14th from 6 P.M. to 8 P.M. in the auditorium of Virgin Valley High School. As many as 300 people were in attendance. The group showed religious diversity in its approach, beginning with the opening prayer offered by Dennis Lee, the pastor of the Living Waters church in Mesquite, and the closing prayer by "Pastor Bill" Stevenson.

Stevens is, of course, acting strictly under his own auspices, and not as an official agent of the LDS Church. The Friends of the Founding Fathers has no official Church connection or sanction. The organization has no website yet of which I'm aware.

Each of the four organizers addressed the audience in turn. Bo Bingham was first up, delivering what can be best characterized as the defining speech. He introduced the group's mission statement, which explains that "the Friends of the Founding Fathers is a nonpartisan, conservative organization dedicated to preserving, protecting, and enhancing the tenets of individual liberty, individual responsibility, and free enterprise as envisioned by America's founding fathers and as set forth in the U.S. Constitution for the benefit of our children and ourselves..." Bingham, an attorney in Mesquite, explained that the group is committed to promoting the principles contained within the Constitution.

Bingham also introduced the core principles of the group:

-- Freedom of speech, including religious speech and public prayer
-- The right to bear arms
-- Limited federal government and the preservation of the rights of the states and of the people
-- Fiscal responsibility at all levels of government
-- Strict interpretation and construction of the Constitution
-- Traditional family values and marriage

Art Hammerschmidt and Leo Black also addressed the audience. Jensen himself added his two cents worth, stressing that the movement had to remain positive. "The last thing I want to see is negativism," Jensen told the crowd. "We need to be careful not to allow it to become personal. You can attack the issue without attacking the person." Jensen also cited a powerful quote attributed to Edmund Burke, telling the audience "For evil to prevail, all that good men need to do is nothing. I've been doing nothing for too long."

While the LDS Church itself maintains a position of strict political neutrality on candidates and political groups, it encourages its members to get involved in politics in a way that is uplifting and builds community spirit. Theron Jensen is acting within the spirit of that counsel.