X-ing out the MX
Forty years ago Wednesday, the church helped shoot down controversial plans to base a nuclear missile system in Utah’s West Desert.
In a detailed, descriptive and impassioned 700-word statement issued May 5, 1981, the governing First Presidency decried the arms buildup, the destabilizing nature of the proposed MX deployment, and the impact the weapons plan could have on the environment, the economy and all of humanity.
“By way of general observation, we repeat our warnings against the terrifying arms race in which the nations of the earth are presently engaged,” then-church President Spencer W. Kimball and his counselors wrote. “We deplore in particular the building of vast arsenals of nuclear weaponry.”
When the fellowship they yearned for turned to bickering, doubts arose and faith crises ensued.
(Illustration by Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
By Karcin Harris | Special to The Tribune
| May 2, 2021, 12:01 p.m.
It was six months into the COVID-19 pandemic when things became most frightening for John Davis.
His grandmother, who was 82 years old, had tested positive for the virus. Her symptoms were mild, at first, but she couldn’t go back to her nursing home and had to stay at a COVID care center in Salt Lake County.
Davis, who lives in Spanish Fork, was relieved when his grandmother was released. But a few days later, he got the news that she was in the hospital. Her kidneys were shutting down. Her brain, too. The doctors told his family COVID had caused too much damage. She died two days later. Davis was devastated.