Mormon leader urges tolerance despite political views at Utah conference

SALT LAKE CITY — Mormon leaders called on members to practice tolerance despite political differences, providing the faith’s U.S. members guidance at a church conference Saturday amid a presidential campaign marked by harsh rhetoric and bickering.

Kevin R. Duncan, a member of a second-tier leadership council of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said people should resist resenting others because they belong to another religion, hold opposing political views or even root for a different sports team.

“Let us all remember that God looketh not upon the color of the jersey or the political party,” Duncan said. “In the competitions of life, if we win, let us win with grace. If we lose, let us lose with grace.”

Mormon leaders don’t endorse candidates or parties, but they sometimes weigh in on what they consider crucial moral issues.

This presidential cycle, the church has defended religious liberty after Republican front-runner Donald Trump suggested banning Muslims from entering the U.S. It also renewed calls for an end to culture wars where people stake out extreme positions.

More than 100,000 Mormons are expected to attend five conference sessions over two days, with millions more watching live broadcasts from their homes. The conference is held twice a year.

Also in the Saturday morning session, Henry B. Eyring said the religion is the only true church.

Eyring, a longtime member of a top church leadership council called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, urged members to listen carefully to speeches from Mormon leaders during the conference so they can feel closer to the Lord. He is the second-highest ranking leader of the Utah-based faith.

Church President Thomas S. Monson, 88, is in attendance but has not talked yet. He is considered the religion’s prophet.

The Mormon church reports more than 15 million members around the world. By comparison, Catholics number 1.2 billion, according to the Vatican. The Pew Research Center says there are 1.6 billion Muslims.

In a nod to the increasingly globalization of the Mormon religion, Donald Hallstrom, of a second-tier leadership group called the Quorum of the Seventy, told a story of an inspiring worship service last year in the African country of Liberia.

Despite several thousand people dying in an Ebola outbreak and other challenges in the country, Hallstrom said he was touched by the congregation’s spiritual vigor.

“In today’s world, no matter where we live and no matter what our circumstances are, it is essential that our pre-eminent identity is as a child of God,” Hallstrom said.

The spring conference of comes as the religion’s proselytizing program is facing extra exposure after four missionaries were injured in the Brussels attack this month. Gary E. Stevenson, one of the newest members of the Quorum of the Twelve, advised young Mormons to serve missions to strengthen their faith.

The missionaries getting wounded in the Belgian airport bombing showed the inherent danger of sending young men and women into a diverse range of geopolitical situations around the globe. All four were expected to survive, and two of them returned this week to their home state of Utah to receive more treatment.

The missionary program gets daily updates from its security team so officials can relocate missionaries when areas become unsafe, program executive director Brent Nielson said this week in a Web posting.

Worldwide, 75,000 missionaries are serving, down from an all-time high of 89,000 last year. The peak came when church leaders lowered the minimum age to start a mission in 2012, sending out a double wave of young Mormons.