Relation To Marxist Communism
This United Order was an attempt to eradicate poverty and promote a sense of unity and brotherhood within Latter-day Saint communities. The LDS Church's view is that the doctrine and the various attempts at practicing it should not be seen as part of the 19th century utopian movement in the United States, and is distinct from both Marxist Communism and capitalism.
LDS Church leaders in the 20th century sought to make a clear distinction between Marxist Communism and the Law of Consecration, teaching that the two practices' differed as related to the topics of free agency, private property and deity. The Law of Consecration and the United Order can be compared to Christian communism/communalism, presented in the New Testament as practiced by 1st century Christian saints. In the 20th century, LDS Church leaders, including David O. McKay, Harold B. Lee, Ezra Taft Benson, Marion G. Romney, and J. Reuben Clark, claimed that Communism is a "counterfeit" version of the Law of Consecration. In 1942, the church issued the following statement:
"Communism and all other similar isms bear no relationship whatever to the United Order. They are merely the clumsy counterfeits which Satan always devises of the Gospel plan ... The United Order leaves every man free to choose his own religion as his conscience directs. Communism destroys man's God-given free agency; the United Order glorifies it. Latter-day Saints cannot be true to their faith and lend aid, encouragement, or sympathy to any of these false philosophies ..."
Nevertheless, communal unity and equality are central tenets of the Latter Day Saint doctrine of Zion as described in Moses 7:18, "And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them."
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