“The Church and the Proposed Equal Rights Amendment: A Moral Issue,” Ensign, Mar. 1980, 1

Copyright © 1980 by the Ensign Magazine

All Rights Reserved

Printed in the United States of America

February 1980

Recently there has been increasing nationwide interest in the stand of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the proposed Equal Rights Amendment. Many members of the Church are sincerely asking, “Why has the Church considered this a moral issue?” and “Why has the First Presidency taken so positive a stand on the matter?”

For the benefit of subscribers, members, and nonmember friends and neighbors, Church magazine personnel have researched this issue and have attempted to answer these questions with the following information: first, a contents listing of questions, answered in quick summary form, pages 2–3; second, a more detailed discussion on those questions, pages 5–17; and third, statements of the First Presidency on the issue, pages 19–23. Those statements are introduced by a review of the First Presidency’s responsibility to give such counsel, and members’ responsibility as they receive it.

Some issues that confront societies are strictly political issues, some are moral issues, and many are both political and moral issues. Though the proposed Equal Rights Amendment has both political and moral aspects, emphasis is given here to its moral implications.