UPDATE (10/30/2016): Earlier this month, Rick Miller (chair of the Sociology Department at Brigham Young University) left a statement in reply to this article. In response, LDS Answers has published an “open letter” to Rick Miller explaining why so many Latter-day Saints are having a problem with the BYU Sociology Department’s “t-shirt giveaway”. Read more.

UPDATE 6:15am (9/29/2016): If you are interested in viewing the comments made before the BYU Sociology Facebook page suppressed opposing viewpoints, please see these screenshots saved by a participant.

UPDATE 1:30pm (9/28/2016): The BYU Sociology Official Facebook page has deleted all comments sharing the words of the Presidents of the Church from their Facebook post. We are saddened by this censorship of any discussion sharing an alternative viewpoint to Karl Marx and Socialism/Communism.

Yesterday, the official Facebook page for the Brigham Young University Sociology Department sponsored a free giveaway featuring a t-shirt with the words, “The class struggle is real” and a portrait of Karl Marx. Was it a joke? Was it humorous? Some of the students seem to be taking it serious. Others from the LDS community are voicing concern on how Marxism is taught at BYU. Is Communism cute and harmless? Is Communism a viable political alternative?

Comments left below the post revealed that many BYU students, because of the influence of the BYU Sociology Department, support Marx and some of his ideologies.

Karl Marx was identified by President Ezra Taft Benson as one of the five men whose ideas are very deceptive and intended to thwart the work of God. (Read more)

As a watchman on the tower, I feel to warn you that one of the chief means of misleading our youth and destroying the family unit is our educational institutions. President Joseph F. Smith referred to false educational ideas as one of the three threatening dangers among our Church members. There is more than one reason why the Church is advising our youth to attend colleges close to their homes where institutes of religion are available. It gives the parents the opportunity to stay close to their children; and if they have become alert and informed as President McKay admonished us last year, these parents can help expose some of the deceptions of men like Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, John Dewey, Karl Marx, John Keynes, and others. Today there are much worse things that can happen to a child than not getting a full college education. In fact, some of the worst things have happened to our children while attending colleges led by administrators who wink at subversion and amorality. (Ezra Taft Benson, Strengthening the Family, Conference Report, October 1970, pp. 21-25, also quoted in The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 307.)

The comments below this giveaway from the BYU Sociology Department revealed that President Benson’s warning was prophetic. Elder Bruce R. McConkie identified the secret combination of the Latter-day as Communism.

“Moroni here (Ether 8:23-35) speaks of one particular secret combination and prophecies that it will be among us in our day. Next Moroni turns the key so that all who have ears to hear can understand what the secret combination is and can identify those who build it up. ‘For it cometh to pass’, he says, ‘that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries’. This is a worldwide conspiracy. It is now entrenched in many nations, and it seeks dominion over all nations. It is godless, atheistic, and operates by compulsion. It is communism.” (Bruce R. McConkie, The Millenial Messiah, p. 65-66)

Learn more at What guidance have leaders of the Church given in regard to the threat of Socialism and Communism?

Some feel that this recent promotion of Marxism parallels with the Nephite civilization when the Nephites began to believe in the secret combination. (Helaman 6:38) This is a sobering call for parents to become informed and better prepare their children.

What can parents do?

President Benson taught that the purpose of the Book of Mormon is to bring men to Christ by “testifying of Christ and revealing His enemies.” (Ezra Taft Benson, A Witness and a Warning: A Modern-Day Prophet Testifies of the Book of Mormon, p.7)

Jayson S. Kunzler shares valuable insight on using the Book of Mormon to expose and correct Communist and Socialist ideology embraced by many LDS young people.

Teach your children the grim consequences of applying Marxist theory. Richard Wurmbrand was tortured for over 14 years in Communist prisons for his Christian faith.

Following his release, Wurmbrand worked tirelessly to bring awareness of the millions of persecuted men and women, brutally tortured and killed in Communist countries through the influence of the ideas of Karl Marx. Intense persecution continues today.

In addition to his own autobiography, Tortured for Christ, Wurmbrand authored a biography of Karl Marx documenting Marx’s involvement in Satanism, Marx and Satan. Purchase Marx and Satan or read online for free! Should we really be celebrating the man who has more blood on his hands than perhaps any other man in the last days?

Quotations from Karl Marx

“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” (Karl Marx, Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, Introduction, p. 1, 1843.)

“Thus heaven I’ve forfeited, I know it full well. My soul, once true to God, is chosen for hell.” (The Pale Maiden, poem by Karl Marx)

“Look now, my blood-dark sword shall stab

Unerringly within my soul.

God neither knows nor honors art.

The hellish vapors rise and fill the brain.

Till I go mad and my heart is utterly changed.

See this sword? The prince of darkness sold it to me. –

For me beats the time and gives the signs.

Ever more boldly I play the dance of death.” (The Player, poem by Karl Marx)

See also Invocation of One in Despair and Oulanem.

Please teach your children what the prophets have taught regarding Karl Marx, Communism and Socialism. (See the Joseph Smith Forum Government FAQ compilation) Share the stories of those who experienced the bitter consequences of Marxist ideology firsthand and instill in your children the principles of liberty and freedom.

“It’s just a joke.” some have responded, “It’s just for a good laugh.” One wonders how funny a Hitler T-shirt promoting antisemitism might be or a Governor Boggs T-shirt promoting extermination. The ideology of Karl Marx is not humorous, funny or just “a joke”. This is particularly true because these BYU students are defending the ideology and scrubbing any dissent.

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