The LDS Church is “perhaps the largest stakeholder in [SLC’s] urban core,” per a recent article in the church-owned Deseret News.
The LDS Church owns at least four blocks surrounding the proposed downtown revitalization zone. In its article, the News reported the church’s first public comments on the initiative, from Todd Budge, an international banker and second counselor in the presiding bishopric, “three men who...manage such matters as humanitarian aid, welfare programs, tithing and fast offerings.”
In his remarks, Budge commented about SEG — would-be developers of the revitalization zone — “we will be neighbors. We are neighbors today.”
Representing a church bearing Jesus Christ’s name, Budge should recall Jesus’ response when asked “who is my neighbor,” by a man “willing to justify himself” regarding the commandment to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart...and thy neighbor as thyself.”
Jesus famously replied not with a literal answer based on shared property borders, socioeconomic or other similarities but with the timeless parable of the Good Samaritan.
It’s worth considering who might qualify as the revitalization zone’s analog to the parable’s “certain man [who] fell among thieves, which stripped him...and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.” (Luke 10:27-29)
Could it be the city’s homeless, or perhaps other low-income residents feeling battered and abandoned by the effects of inflation and high-cost housing? What does Bishop Budge imagine a regressive sales tax’s impact might be on those individuals? What, on the other hand, if a samaritan with the means helped finance revitalization and championed affordable “inns” rather than leaving those neighbors to fend for themselves?
Some of us hoped for more nuance and participation from the church but instead got a “Priest that...passed by on the other side.” As Jesus also taught, “ye shall know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:16)
Scott Johnson, Sandy
