{"id":94328,"date":"2022-02-25T15:07:03","date_gmt":"2022-02-25T22:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=94328"},"modified":"2022-02-25T15:20:57","modified_gmt":"2022-02-25T22:20:57","slug":"first-presidency-statement-on-armed-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/02\/first-presidency-statement-on-armed-conflict.html","title":{"rendered":"“First Presidency Statement on Armed Conflict”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Panoramic view of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, from the Saint Sophia Monastery
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Ukrainian<\/a>
The flag of the sovereign nation of Ukraine
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This just in:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst Presidency Statement on Armed Conflict: Church leaders plead that \u201cpeace will prevail among nations and within our own hearts\u201d\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

National Review<\/em>:\u00a0 \u201cMitt Romney Is Entitled to His \u2018I Told You So\u2019\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now seems an appropriate time for me to mention, and to recommend, one of the most powerful books I\u2019ve ever read, The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine<\/em>, by the late Robert Conquest (1917-2015).\u00a0 Here\u2019s what the blurb on Amazon.com has to say about it:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Harvest of Sorrow<\/em> is the first full history of one of the most horrendous human tragedies of the 20th century. Between 1929 and 1932 the Soviet Communist Party struck a double blow at the Russian peasantry: dekulakization, the dispossession and deportation of millions of peasant families, and collectivization, the abolition of private ownership of land and the concentration of the remaining peasants in party-controlled \u201ccollective\u201d farms. This was followed in 1932-33 by a \u201cterror-famine,\u201d inflicted by the State on the collectivized peasants of the Ukraine and certain other areas by setting impossibly high grain quotas, removing every other source of food, and preventing help from outside \u2014 even from other areas of the Soviet Union \u2014 from reaching the starving populace. The death toll resulting from the actions described in this book was an estimated 14.5 million\u2013more than the total number of deaths for all countries in World War I.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ambitious, meticulously researched, and lucidly written,\u00a0The Harvest of Sorrow<\/em> is a deeply moving testament to those who died, and will register in the Western consciousness a sense of the dark side of this century\u2019s history.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

By now, you\u2019ve probably heard the heroic story of the thirteen Ukrainian defenders of a small post in the Black Sea.\u00a0 Their last words weren\u2019t quite appropriate to a sacrament meeting talk \u2014 talk among soldiers often isn\u2019t, especially under fire \u2014 but their courage is beyond admirable.\u00a0 (They died just minutes later.)\u00a0 Ukraine\u2019s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has posthumously conferred upon them the well-deserved Hero of Ukraine medal, which is that country\u2019s equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSoldiers\u2019 defiant last words as Russian warship targets Snake Island\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I honor them, too.\u00a0 I\u2019m deeply saddened by the destruction and death that is being visited \u2014 without either justice or honor \u2014 upon the people of Ukraine.\u00a0 I\u2019m saddened, too, at the loss of life that is occurring upon young exploited and manipulated Russian soldiers.\u00a0 I\u2019m praying for people on both sides, but also that truth, justice, and freedom will prevail.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 *** \u00a0 This just in: \u00a0 \u201cFirst Presidency Statement on Armed Conflict: Church leaders plead that \u201cpeace will prevail among nations and within our own hearts\u201d\u201d \u00a0 *** \u00a0 National Review:\u00a0 \u201cMitt Romney Is Entitled to His \u2018I Told You So\u2019\u201d \u00a0 *** \u00a0 Now seems an appropriate time for me to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[28319,1809,28322,28328,19202,28266,28263,2905,1812,1815,7113,326,788,55,1667,5442,21863,28254,27494,4802,4315,8364,28316,18052,2292,28251,28325,28257,28260],"class_list":["post-94328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-black-sea","tag-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints","tag-harvest-of-sorrow","tag-holodomor","tag-joseph-stalin","tag-kiev","tag-kyiv","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-latter-day-saints","tag-lds","tag-lds-church","tag-mitt-romney","tag-mormon","tag-mormonism","tag-mormons","tag-murder","tag-murders","tag-putin","tag-robert-conquest","tag-romney","tag-russia","tag-senator","tag-snake-island","tag-soviet-union","tag-stalin","tag-ukraine","tag-ukrainian-terror-famine","tag-vladimir","tag-vladimir-putin"],"yoast_head":"\n"First 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